Riddoch Coonawarra The Author Shiraz 2019

An inviting generosity of fruit has allowed for a greater emphasis on oak here. The Author laps it up, turning on a cedary, charry, savoury show of force. Blackberry, blackstrap licorice, chocolate, woodsy spice, cedar, smoky aromas. An ample Coonawarra Shiraz by any measure, it delves further into savoury and spice territory on the palate with more oak weighing in with bacon, smoked meats, earth, truffle, chocolate against a blackberry fruit intensity. And, my, how the spice shines: nutmeg, star anise, clove with a splash of menthol. Tannins roll fine and smooth completing the rich, complex scene. It may seem strange to note in a four-year-old Coonawarra Shiraz, but despite being a wine of plenty, it needs more time to fully integrate, to meld and to achieve full balance. It’s impressive but the best is yet to come.

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