Wynn’s Coonawarra Estate Michael Shiraz 2021

Michael serves to remind us that while Coonawarra Cabernet might rule in the marketplace, the region is also mighty good when it comes to Shiraz. The 2021 also shows what it is capable of in a high-quality vintage. There’s a real statement of authority for Coonawarra Shiraz in the ’21 Michael, of both power and finesse. Floral scents in violet and lavender blend with riffs of black cherry, cassis, aniseed and crushed herbs. Michael has been slowly evolving over the years, you sense the firm structure and pronounced American oak of yore has now given way to a more relaxed approach, undoubtedly more harmonious. Maybe it’s the oak. The sheer density of fruit and spice is given prominence with oak a polished, refined and smart accompaniment, but not the star.

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