Hobbs of Barossa Tin Lids Aria Secca Shiraz 2024

This wine is made as an Amaronesque Shiraz from the Barossa, which is rather intriguing. Amarone is one of those styles of wine which one hears about far more than one drinks. It is a style, as Rodney Dangerfield may once have said, which ain’t got no respect. That is a shame, but if you doubt me, nothing sums this up better than Hannibal Lector (a story which I have told before but…). Who will ever forget the iconic line in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, when Anthony Hopkins notes that he ate the liver of a census taker “with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” Aside from the damage that must have done to recruiting future census takers, what was disturbing about this (okay, one of the disturbing things) was that in the book, he ate the liver with an Amarone. Apparently, the director decided the audience would relate more to a Chianti. To return to the wine at hand, and apologies for the diversion, the grapes are hand-picked into ten-kilo buckets and then rack-dried in an insulated shed with high-intensity fans. This concentrates the flavours and can leave the grape with a slightly elevated level of sugar. Winemaking then decides if they will retain the sweetness or enhance the alcohol (and much more, of course). Call it all ‘appassimento’, but the result will be a richly flavoured and bold red. Opaque maroon, with a vibrant mauve rim, the nose reveals aromas of plums, chocolate, coffee beans, mulberries, black fruits, sage, licorice and smoked meats. Quite delicious, there is good length and a sleek texture with intensity maintained throughout, through the very fine, slightly velvety, tannins. Enjoy this over the next ten to twelve years.

Ken Gargett

Contributor at Winepilot

Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.

Wine writer and critic