Australian Shiraz: Panel tasting results

Sidewood was only founded in 2004, but is now the largest sustainable winery in the Adelaide Hills. Should you ever visit the estate in the autumn or winter, you may do a double-take at the sight of flocks of sheep nibbling their way between the rows of vines. These are not escapees from the nearby farm, but an integral part of Sidewood’s methodology, acting as roaming weed killers and fertilisers, where the environment is at the core of its practices. Winemaker Darryl Catlin covers the hard yards in the vineyards, selecting the best fruit from the best parcels for this Shiraz. It is fermented in barrel, with 25%-30% whole bunch, after which it spends 18 months in new and one-year-old French barriques. Tine Gellie: Lovely savoury aromas of spiced leather lead into a developing fruit palate of dark berries and sappy, whole-bunch fruit tannins. Refreshing acidity makes it very quaffable. A top-drawer Shiraz that will mature well. Roger Jones: A beautiful, savoury nose leads into a palate of gentle, evolving fruit with classy, restrained elegance. It has nice acidity, making this fresh, clean, vibrant and exciting - a real feminine style. Just stunning. Anthony Rose: Excellent vibrant, spicy aromatics are followed by an intense and concentrated palate with a rich, dark berry quality. It has a spine of incisive cool-climate acidity and firm, sinewy tannins for structure. Finessed and complete.

Vinteloper was founded by husband and wife team, David and Sharon. David cut his teeth in both France and Australia before his Vinteloper journey began in 2008. He sources fruit from a clutch of small-scale vineyards that span Adelaide Hills, as well as boosting their volume with farm-grown fruit from Clare Valley and Langhorne Creek. This Shiraz comes from the Glengrove vineyard, a single vineyard located in the Kangarilla Hills. It’s treated with kid gloves, following a minimal intervention principle. Fermentation is with wild yeasts, after which it is matured for 18 months in French oak, 25% new, then bottled with minimal sulphites. Tine Gellie: A vibrant wine boasting amazing purity and concentration of smoky, gamey, autumnal fruit on a velvety palate. It has delicious suppleness with bright acidity that balances the evolving savoury fruit. Roger Jones: Mature tasting, with a luxurious, textured quality. Soft, delicate oak lingers on the palate, sitting alongside savoury, meaty flavours with notes of berries, tobacco and cocoa. Anthony Rose: Spicy, peppery aromas lead into rich, concentrated flavours of blackberry and smoky bacon. The fruit has evolved into a seductively-textured, dark berry quality, with that cool-climate element that brings a northern Rhône level of class.

Kilikanoon was founded in 1997, producing just 25,000 bottles in its first vintage. As the name suggests, this wine comes from a miniscule, dry-grown vineyard planted on Terra Rossa soil over 150 years ago. Only around 800 of the original vines remain, but they produce tiny crops of small, powerful berries yielding 3kg per vine. The wine is fermented in open vats, then basket pressed before spending 22 months in French oak hogsheads. It is bottled unfined and unfiltered, but this does not signal the end of the cycle, as it is sat on for at least a further two years before being considered for release. Tine Gellie: Dense, full, inky and tannic. It's an 'old-style' Aussie Shiraz that's not shy on the oak, but it has plenty of brooding black fruit and peppery spice to balance. Power over grace here, but it has great grandeur and complexity, and will have lots of fans. Roger Jones: An elegant, perfumed nose leads into a seductive and charming palate. The purity of the fruit is immense, and there's a gentle Arabic spice note in the background. The savoury, meaty backbone is engulfed by some rather pristine, tiny clusters of perfect Clare fruit. A stunning wine. Anthony Rose: There's plenty of sweet vanilla on the nose, suggesting a traditional style of Shiraz, and indeed the dark berry fruit is rich, concentrated and powerful. Just as this threatens to overpower the palate, a new savoury dimension kicks in, salvaging balance and bringing complexity, power and a sinewy texture to the enterprise. Classic Clare Shiraz.

Julian Castagna's eponymous estate sits at 500m above sea level near Beechworth, in the foothills of the Victorian Alps. He is devoted to operating in accordance to biodynamics, although he’s not convinced by the spiritual side of the movement, merely seeing it as a farming practice which enables him to extract the very best from his land: ‘Our intention is to make a wine which is an expression of the place where it is grown, and this is the best way to achieve optimum fruit quality that best expresses its terroir,’ he says, as evidenced by the Genesis, whose fruit is lovingly cared for and aged in fine-grained French oak. Tina Gellie: A really vital, lifted wine with elegant, savoury fruit dancing on a silky palate. What a joy after so many over-oaked examples! It has a supple, velvety mouthfeel and beautiful purity of red fruits, supported by dusty, spicy oak. Delicious. Roger Jones: A savoury, whole-bunch style, the stalkiness carried well by the fruit. I love the perfumed, fruity element on the palate, which shows fine evolution. Anthony Rose: There's lots of energy and verve to the medium-bodied, charmingly textured raspberry red fruit, which is tinged with spice. It displays nicely evolving tannins and juicy acidity, and comes as something of a surprise in this line-up of big-hitters and traditionalists. But it's a spot-on, classy surprise.

Southern Italian Francesco Miranda and his family arrived in Griffith, New South Wales in 1938, founding a wine estate the following year. His son, Lou, now runs the estate along with his wife and daughters The flagship Old Vine Shiraz is made from bush vines planted in 1907 in what is known as the Church Block. The vines are largely left to look after themselves, receiving no irrigation whatsoever, before being hand-picked, carefully pressed, then transferred to small, open-top fermenters. It's gracefully matured in fine, medium-toast American oak for over 18 months. Only 7,400 bottles were produced. Tina Gellie: This is showing some secondary characteristics of soused dark fruit, coconut and cigar box spice on the silky palate – it's very well made. There's plenty of oak, but it's sexy and polished, ably balancing the big, bold fruit. Roger Jones: Elegant chocolate and savoury nuances are balanced by perfect fruit, with notes of violets and silky smooth grapes. The flavour is polished and wonderful, yet maintains its restraint and poise. This is Barossa at its best. Anthony Rose: Attractively evolving, though still youthful scents of pepper, spice, coconut and dark berry fruit. The palate is wrought from sinewy black and red fruits tinged with peppery notes, all resolving brilliantly. It's starting to drink beautifully, but no doubt has enough fruit weight and power to develop complexity as it turns from adolescence to middle-age over the next decade. Classic Barossa.

Having found an ideal vineyard site in the foothills of the Victorian Alps, at an elevation of 440m above sea level on ancient granitic soils, winemaker Keppel Smith founded Savaterre in 1996. Mild summer days and cool nights encourage the high-density plantings to produce small crops of high quality fruit. The estate is run organically, and winemaking is inspired by minimal intervention concepts. Wild yeasts are used for fermentation, and the wine is aged in French oak barriques, 50% new. Tina Gellie: Beautiful maturity here, full of exotic spices, toasty oak and lifted, ripe bramble fruits on a satin-textured palate. It's drinking beautifully, with great freshness, grip and balance. Roger Jones: A soft, delicate perfume on the nose, with restrained but pure fruit. The silky, textured palate is spiced, layered, vibrant and elegant. Anthony Rose: A distinctive, seductively spicy perfume is accompanied by a hint of mint. It's richly concentrated in the mouth, with a spice-imbued, savoury dark fruit quality that's evolving nicely, and silky tannins which coat the tongue. Almost plush and Cote Rôtie-like.

Baptista is named after Baptista Governa, an immigrant from northern Italy who established a winery and vineyard in Graytown in 1891. Fast-forward to 1988 and independent winemaker David Traeger began purchasing fruit from this site, before eventually acquiring it in 1993. Now organically farmed, the vineyard is planted on fertile alluvial soils over gravel, where the shallow water table helps to keep the vines quenched during the warmer months. The first vintage of Baptista Shiraz was produced in 1996, and it is aged for 12 months in a combination of French and American oak. Tina Gellie: Graceful maturity – showcasing the savoury, meaty qualities of old Shiraz. It has a fine concentration of leathery, dusty, ripe red fruits and baking spices, with supple, integrated oak. Roger Jones: Aromatic and perfumed, with ripe fruit aromas. This has evolved beautifully, and shows a sweet-fruited character and great balance. Anthony Rose: This is holding up well, with a fresh, intense and complex fragrance with a touch of liquorice. It's showing positive evolution on the palate too, with notes of fennel and spice. The fruit is concentrated, rich and chocolatey, with malty notes and good complexity. There's a lovely silky Rioja Gran Reserva mellowness to it, and excellent balance.

Aged just 16, Ed Schild took over the running of his family vineyard following the tragic death of his father in 1956. This wine is a tribute to his father, Ben Schild, made from carefully selected fruit grown in a single vineyard overlooking Lyndoch. It is fermented in open top fermenters, then aged for 18 months in an eclectic mix of French, American and Hungarian oak. Tina Gellie: Fresh, pure bramble aromas are lifted by a floral edge. The weighty, meaty palate has nice juicy, sappy red fruits and dusty tannins, with appealing Chinese five spice notes. Well done! Roger Jones: Spiced, juicy and voluptuous on the palate, with a lovely meaty, bacon character intertwined with luscious red and black fruits which linger on the palate. It's a luscious wine that's crying out for pork belly. Anthony Rose: A good, rich colour and attractively spicy aromatics lead into a full-bodied, full-throttle palate. Spicy, sweet blackcurrant fruit tapers nicely to a seductive finish. It has a juicy texture, and background notes of pepper and spice. A lovely wine.

Owned and run by husband and wife team James and Taiita Champniss, you could never truly accuse Ten Miles East of chasing a buck. ‘Our Syrah vines are now so low yielding, that if we were to make a decision based on economics alone, we’d probably rip them out,’ says James. ‘We make one or two barrels a year; that’s it. But the resulting wine? Wow.’ This Syrah is produced from vines grafted over underperforming Carmenere in 2005 and 2006, and the wine is styled to be reminiscent of St-Joseph. Following a cold soak and a wild ferment, it's aged in a combination of new and old barrels. Tina Gellie: Smooth, enticing creamy blackberry fruit is joined by appealing touches of peppery salami and bright acidity on the velvety palate. It's textured, lifted and long, with a firm, tannic frame. Roger Jones: A beautifully gamey, meaty wine with refreshing fruit aromas. The palate has a creamy balance of fruit, with notes of savoury cherries, violets and some lovely textures. Anthony Rose: Pleasingly spicy and ripe, with an accent on espresso coffee and lots of sweet, juicy blackcurrant fruit in a full-bodied framework of grippy tannins and fresh, balancing acidity. Great value!

Bekkers’ genesis was the result of a chance meeting between youthful French winemaker, Emmanuelle, and Australian viticulturist, Toby - now one of Australia’s most respected authorities on organics and biodynamics. They have visited some of Europe's top producers, gleaning precious knowledge and advice. This Shiraz is Bekkers’ flagship wine, a dovetailing of fruit from two different vineyards. The fermentation is kicked off by native yeasts, and afterwards the wine is matured for 20 months in 500 litre French puncheons, 40% new. TIna Gellie: An excellent balance of fresh cherry fruit and vibrant acidity here, lively and lipsmacking! Integrated sweet oak and a hint of tobacco spice sit alongside a refreshing herbal character and fine fruit tannins. Roger Jones: Very bright in acidity, with cherries, frangipane and soft vanilla oak. This needs time, but evolves beautifully in the glass; the cherries get riper, and there is a lovely softness to the wine. Anthony Rose: Vibrant fresh fruit aromas show lots of energy, as if some whole-bunch pressing has been going on, delivering a slight stalky element. Overall the picture is bright, with lots of vivacious black cherry and kirsch fruit in a seamlessly textured, albeit still elementally youthful red.