Springs Road Kangaroo Island Shiraz 2022

A wine of impressive logistics with fruit from Kangaroo Island harvested and sent to the producer’s McLaren Vale winery for fermentation and maturation in French oak (30% new). Astonishing, brilliant purple hues. Lovely lifted aromatics, almost Viognier-like, in dark florals with black plum, dark berries, blackstrap liquorice, toasty oak and gorgeous spice – lots of it – with an almost pungent persuasiveness. Held firm and tight in savoury tannins and offering a background of woody, spiced oak, the wine is surprisingly dense and generous on the palate after such a lovely, aromatic introduction. Black fruits aplenty, liquorice block, earth, oak spice with an inky, dry astringency to close. Could wait a little longer before opening if you wish.

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