Wynn’s Coonawarra Estate Black Label Old Vines Shiraz 2022

Sweet black berries rise from the glass followed by red fruits, aniseed and a whisper of woodsy oak before a rush of Aussie bush scents and bay leaf. Old Vines – widely known as Black Label Shiraz – unfolds in the glass with ease, unforced, comfortable in its own skin and almost ageless in style (it reminds me a little of Penfolds St. Henri from that point of view). The back label tells us that “vineyards planted in the 1890s and 1920s form the backbone and define” the wine’s style. Old vines are less vigorous and set smaller crops resulting in a greater concentration in fruit flavour. It’s all here to enjoy in a world black and red fruits, chocolate and spice with a touch of savouriness against a background of easy flowing, elegant tannins.

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