Pertaringa Belonging to the Hills Shiraz 2024
- 95
- $60
- Drink by: 2026-2041
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The releases here, both Pertaringa and other, across several vintages, are as good as any I can recall from this winery. For this wine, maturation is for over a year in a mix of French and American oak, both new and older. This is an absolute standout Shiraz. Inky dark maroon with a deep purple rim, the oak is still in the process of integration here, but it is all going very well. On the nose we have notes of chocolate, licorice, plums, blackberries, mocha and coffee beans. This is big, bold, balanced, intense and with very good length. It finishes with fine tannins, and the palate sees the emergence notes of black cherries. A fifteen-year proposition.
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.
