Oliver’s Taranga Shiraz 2019
- 95
- $30
- Drink by: 2021-2030
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Put aside the fascination and the success which Corrina and her team have had with all manner of varieties, new, quirky and wonderfully weird, it is Shiraz that is the bread and butter of their estate (as well as their own wines, they are also highly regarded growers for many of our big names). We are talking about a winery in the very heart of McLaren Vale, so it certainly should be. This is a perfect example of what they are capable of – a cracking, deeply flavoured Shiraz. The wine was open-fermented and then aged in a mix of French and American hogsheads for 18 months.
The colour is near opaque. Lifted, alluring and yet dense aromas here – black olives, roast meats, cocoa powder, black cherries, chocolate, campfire notes. There is good intensity throughout, continuing on the lengthy finish. Good acidity, immaculate balance and silky tannins, the oak holds it all together but never interferes. A wine of line and length. A big future here. This is a serious Shiraz and a very fine example of what McLaren Vale can do. Also, great value.
And the story? This was the year in which ‘Corrina won ASVO Winemaker of the Year’. Now that is a good story.
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.
