Ulithorne Singularis McLaren Vale Shiraz 2019
- 94
- $175
- Drink by: 2024-2034
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The name sounds more like something that Captain Kirk might be talking about on Star Trek than a fine McLaren Vale Shiraz from an excellent vintage with plenty of years already in the cellar, but no matter. From a vineyard approaching 70 years of age in the Blewitt Springs sub-region, the wine spends the best part of a year and a half in French oak, a portion new. Bottled under cork, the colour here is a dark maroon. There are many wine lovers who will absolutely adore this wine – big and rich and ripe, but it is the use of oak that might be its defining character. This is a wine for lovers of toasty, chocolatey oak – whichever way you fall, the oak is certainly well handled. There are also notes of blackberries and boysenberries, mulberries and plums, mocha and coffee beans. A supple and dense palate with slippery tannins and good length, enjoy this now and for the best part of a decade. If you are a lover of toasty oaked reds, then feel free to add a couple of points to the score.
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.
