CLARENDON HILLS Sandown Vineyard Syrah, McLaren Vale

Of the three Syrahs tasted alongside each other today, the 2021 Sandown Syrah has the clearest display of fruit purity. The tannins are earthy and savory and even a little gritty (which only adds to the charm for this taster), and they counterbalance the purple fruit. It is elegant and fine—if a wine this big can be called that—with a squid-ink disposition, salted licorice, a hint of pistachio and rosewater, petrichor, wet slate, graphite and black tea. This is a wholly terrestrial wine here, like kicked autumn leaves, vineyard dirt and hot granite. It is angled, beguiling and complex. The acid through the finish has a sweet orange character to it—I want to say blood orange, but it's not quite right. Mandarin zest, perhaps. This is the most complex and restrained of the Shiraz in 2021.

Erin Larkin

MITOLO WINES G.A.M. Shiraz, McLaren Vale

This is good Vale shiraz. Powerful, sure, but the ripe fruit and extract are compressed into a foil of tension by impeccably massaged tannins, peppery verve and well-placed oak. Lilac, clove, charcuterie, tapenade, blue and black fruits and all the trimmings. A lithe, compact finish of considerable detail and refinement without the drying oak tannins of other wines in the range. This cuvee has stepped up in recent years. Drink or hold.

PIRRAMIMMA Trademark Shiraz, McLaren Vale

This is a significant red wine. Everything about it feels substantial. It’s bold with dark, inky, blackberried fruit; it’s coated in oak that tastes of coffee, dark chocolate and cream; it carries a slick of firm, authoritative tannin; and it prosecutes its case in full through the length of its extended finish. It’s old school in the best of ways; by delivering flavour and structure in spades.