Kaesler The Bogan Shiraz 2018

The name says it all and yet, nothing at all. That’s the way winemaker, Reid Bosward, saw it when he was called a “country bogan” when studying winemaking at Roseworthy College. His answer was to make a wine called The Bogan that would surpass many of the wines of his college rivals.

In 2018, The Bogan (2016 vintage) took out Australia’s Best Shiraz at the Great Australian Shiraz Challenge. The wine might defy its name, but it is most reassuringly Barossa in style. Enjoy the deep, almost impenetrable colour. Taste the generosity, the blackcurrants and all that spice. Yes, that touch of vanilla oak is poking its head up, but it will settle. And doesn’t it work the tastebuds and gums, so dense, so smooth.

The Bogan is ‘modern’ enough (read medium-bodied rather than full, and moderate in alcohol) while retaining a strict sense of place and vinous history. The Bogan does the Barossa proud.