Glaetzer Wines Anaperenna by Ben Glaetzer 2021

Descriptors such as mellow, rich and generous are expected from Ben Glaetzer’s reds. For Anaperenna 2021, you can add elegant and lively. The ’21 sees the idiosyncratic Aussie blend of Shiraz (79%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (21%) follow a similar path captured in the ’20 with a fresh and energetic interpretation of the style. Red fruits fuse with black pepper spice, licorice with chocolate against a clean, structured background of well-placed oak (100% new French and American oak hogsheads) and tannin. Rolls along at a pace – there’s that energy – where the role of acidity comes into play. We don’t talk enough about acidity in red wine. It’s contribution here can’t be denied. There’s a touch of alcohol heat to close on the ’21 Anaperenna which reminds the drinker that this remains a rich, ripe and generous young Barossan red. It’s also one that is just starting out on life’s long journey.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic