O’Leary Walker Clare Valley Shiraz 2019

While the Barossa Valley gets most of the accolades, the Clare Valley, on its day, can craft shiraz on par with its near neighbour, which show a delicious mix of ripe fruit with a distinctly savoury side. O’Leary Walker have long been a dependable source in Clare and this wine shows some quite serious power and complexity for the price, made with fruit from Polish Hill River and Armagh.

It shows superb colour and aromatic poise with a core of blue fruits, liquorice allsorts plus a dusting of fennel seed adding delicious interest. It is followed by a fleshy but quite savoury palate – earthy, violet and spicy flavours supported by acidity and mouth coating tannins before a long and supple finish. Fantastic now but don’t be in too much of a hurry as this wine has plenty of staying power. Enjoy with Mechoui lamb.