Mitchell Peppertree Vineyard Shiraz 2018

It’s a delight to see an aged Aussie Shiraz hit the market at such an affordable price and the Peppertree Vineyard Shiraz comes with a strong track record. It has been a mainstay of the Mitchell brand for years and is well known to many, that said, the 2018 appears finer and more elegant than some previous releases. The benefits of bottle age are there to be enjoyed from the integration of fruit and toasty oak through to the seamless line of fine tannin that continues to hold strong, providing length and endurance. Ripe plum fruits, black berries with a sprinkling of lovely spice notes are deep, inviting and still so fresh. Peppertree captures Clare Valley Shiraz as the attractive, approachable, medium-bodied, spiced up, black fruited, warm-hearted wine that we know and enjoy. It has to also be noted that age has been more than kind, and it’s set to enjoy many more birthdays.

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