Decanting Digest - Exploring Australia via Vintages - Part 1

The Australians are here! Australia Vintages releases are always among my favourites. With the country’s diverse regions and climates all favouring bold red wines in unique ways, there’s always plenty to explore.

We’ve picked up four bottles from the latest release. All of them are priced below $30, and each highlights a separate wine region in Australia. This is part 1 of our tour featuring McLaren Vale and Clare Valley. Part 2 will follow in the next Decanting Digest column.

Richard Hamilton Little Road Shiraz 2019
McLaren Vale, SA, Australia
LCBO # 16056
$20.95

When wine lovers think of Australian reds, their thoughts often turn to two regions: Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Both are adjacent to the city of Adelaide on the country’s southern coast. McLaren Vale is just south of the city and, like most of Australia, features a very hot climate. It’s not at all unusual for daytime temperatures to crest well past 40 degrees Celsius during the summer months here, which contributes to thick, full-bodied, and jammy reds. Shiraz is one of the region’s signatures, and this example is perfectly in character. It presents with an opaque burgundy colour, sweet maraschino cherry and black fruits on the nose, and similar flavours on the palate with an intermingling of licorice, interwoven with soft and smooth tannin. Enjoy this with tomato-based meat or cheese dishes.
Score: 8/10

Claymore You'll Never Walk Alone Grenache/Shiraz/Mataro 2018
Clare Valley, SA, Australia
LCBO # 409086
$19.95

Clare Valley is another wine region near Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It’s set a little further north and is best known for its Rieslings, but in keeping with the red wine theme we’ve selected this Grenache/Shiraz/Mataro blend from Claymore Wines. This boutique winery names its wines after some of the founder’s favourite music, and the song this wine is named after is also a nod to the founder’s fandom of the Liverpool Football Club. The bold and tannic Shiraz grape, which is the same one the old world refers to as Syrah, is often cut with Grenache to add more fruit and Mataro/Mourvèdre to add richness and spice. This blend is known colloquially as GSM and is a go-to choice for value-driven Aussie reds. This deep burgundy wine has fresh aromas of plum and black cherry that turns warmer on the palate with flavours of plum and other tart black fruits alongside spicy undertones. This is a pizza wine, hands down.
Score: 7.5/10