Oliver’s Taranga RW Grenache 2021

Built for a marathon with a measured and balanced approach. Speed is not an option here. Neither is the historic McLaren Vale predilection for heavy oak and full-throttle power which has traditionally driven the region’s style of grenache. The RW grenache – named in honour of Robert William Oliver, third generation owner – embraces a different iteration, at times savoury, at times full of spice, with an almost embarrassment of rich fruit and oak-derived flavours.

Blackberry, chocolate, anise, earth and leather introduce the wine – a mix of fruit, spice and oak – which remains true when tasted. Full-bodied to be sure, but there is no jamminess allowed thanks to the role of clean, savoury tannins. These will come in handy for the long future predicted for this wine. Charry oak is just a little heavy from the middle palate to the finish, but the overall effect is true to the new school of grenache emanating from this part of the wine world.

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