Wynns Coonawarra Estate Coonawarra Shiraz 2021

Viewed as a high-quality vintage, the 2021 shiraz tells a story of both ripe fruit and firm tannins. The result is a quiet elegance, almost unassuming. Brilliant purple-cherry juice red in colour. Expressive scent of blackcurrant, juniper, fennel seed and anise. Supple, ripe fruit follows. Medium bodied and restrained, it’s tempting to portray this youngster as still in development phase, working its many parts out and slowly coming together. Everything is in place, but not all are apparent. Wynns reds are never showy. The ’21 shiraz follows that model as is evident by the taut line and length, the subtle use of oak, the quiet layering of fruit flavour. This is top quality at the price, and, better still, the best drinking window may be 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