Biggest Australian Wine Tasting Ever: 2,700+ Ratings Dark plums and spice with toasty oak on offer, leading to a plush, fluid and rich texture, as well as a very fleshy and fresh, compact feel at the finish. Dark berries and cherries and a sleek, assertive tannin edge complete the picture. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Australia: Catching Up From vines planted in 1962 with a southeastern (cool) exposure, the herb-tinged 2016 Elder Hill Grenache (roughly 15% was fermented as whole clusters) features elegant strawberry and raspberry fruit on the nose. It's medium to full-bodied and silky in texture on the palate, picking up hints of roses and mocha on the long finish. It shows ample body but also the sense of weightlessness that often marks great Grenache. It should drink well for another 4-5 years, at least, and probably many more.

Precise, firm and focused, featuring a rich milk chocolate dimension that mingles with concentrated raspberry puree and blueberry flavors, showing dashes of dried rosemary and black tea. The finish is spectacular, revealing accents of sandalwood and spice. Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.

Fragrant and expressive, offering mocha-laced maraschino cherry, framboise and raspberry flavors, with details of dried sage and tobacco on a plush, velvety frame. Delivers wonderful presence and harmony on the finish, where the tannins provide appealing traction.

Australia: Catching Up One of the best Merlots I've tasted from Australia, Hickinbotham's 2016 The Revivalist Merlot does hint at cherry tomatoes, cedar and vanilla on the nose, but it nails the mouthfeel. It's medium to full-bodied, with a rich, velvety texture and layers of cherry and mocha flavors that linger onto the long, plush finish.

Australia: Catching Up Overtones of vanilla and cedar mark the nose of the 2016 Brooks Road Shiraz, which aged in 20%-30% new French oak. Herbal notes and hints of green peppercorns add nuance to the ripe cherry flavors of this full-bodied red. The tannins are supple, making this wine approachable now, but they also linger softly on the finish, suggesting up to a decade of additional ageability.

There’s a sense of coolness to this wine, from the deep, rosy black-cherry color to the foresty fruit— black plum and blackberry with an evergreen edge. That freshness includes a gingery spice and the scent of asphalt after a rain. This is a balanced, medium-weight cabernet, delicious with duck, or with meaty roast eggplant.

Vibrant and juicy, with blueberry and raspberry flavors that sing out amid a chorus of espresso, green tea, white pepper and sage details. Spice notes linger on the long, expressive finish.

This blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon and 44% Shiraz offers notes of dark red fruit, black raspberry and currant, and toasty oak on the nose. It has a finely honed palate. Shows good freshness and concentration with firm tannic grip and rich extract on a very long finish, Will need 5-7 years to show its best.

Medium ruby. Ripe plum with earth notes and a smoky nose that carries over to the palate. Soft on the attack with a silky texture, concentrated flavors with lots of spice and forest floor notes. Good depth, firm tannins and a lingering finish.

This dark ruby and opaque colored Shiraz from Hickinbotham is terrific. It opens with a unique Sprite and boysenberry jam bouquet. On the palate, this wine is full bodied, very well-balanced, refined and nicely coats your mouth. The flavor profile is a plum and gentle minerality blend with notes of mild raspberry tea and a touch of blackberry and oak. The finish is dry and its flavors and refined tannins are nicely extended and drift away nicely. This elegant Shiraz would pair perfectly with a filet mignon.

Fair bit of gum leaf perfume, and a truffle and flower water pong, mocha, blackcurrant and blackberry. It’s medium bodied, with a blend of sweet black fruit and undergrowth and savoury things, a touch meaty and the like, but with fleshy tannin and a solid finish. A little old school in its delivery but very nice, and almost certainly age-worthy.

Australian Charlie Seppelt and American Chris Carpenter are the blokes behind the Hickinbotham revival pushing this Clarendon cabernet front and centre. The wine is shaped by its texture and hence tannins which remain dense throughout framing the wine’s structure to perfection. Pure black fruit/cassis with bits of tobacco, menthol and dark chocolate. The fruit is hand-picked from Clarendon high country at 220 metres where it builds weight and flavour in the warm mornings and freshness and acidity through cool nights. The richness and density makes you think of Pomerol, while the drinkability and savoury aspects remind one Tuscany. First planted in 1971 by Alan Hickinbotham it remains well cared for today under the Jackson Family Wines banner. Delicious especially when decanted for three hours. Cellar through 2025.

Take Note: Real Australian Wine Is Here The nose here is refined, showing freshly picked blackberries, oyster shell, slate and a hint of undergrowth. Full body, grainy tannins and a chewy finish. Drink in 2019. Screw cap.

Plum, red fruits, gamey, tobacco, cedar and vanilla oak. Medium bodied, strawberry and plum, savoury, grainy graphite tannin, cool acidity, tomato paste flavour on the finish.

560 cases. From vines planted in 1976 and 1989. 18 days on skins. Basket pressed (some blended back; heavier pressings kept separate). All French oak (Bordeaux coopered). Sturdy wine but with plenty of flesh and flow. Tannin churns throughout but black cherry, boysenberry, blackcurrant and loamy earth notes carry the day. Mint, fennel and herb notes too. It’s drinking well now but it’s not going anywhere in a hurry; this will sail on for many a year. Clear quality, if not necessarily X-factor.

Toasty nose with lush plum and berry fruit; crisp and deep with a lovely style and long finish; made by Aussie master Charlie Seppelt and California superstar Chris Carpenter.

Deep red colour with the merest tint of purple; rich chocolate, vanilla, plum and dark berry aromas, without any leafiness. Medium to full-bodied and very soft, with supple, rounded tannins and a long carry. Very approachable. Drink 2016 to 2030

Take Note: Real Australian Wine Is Here The nose to this shiraz is quite unique with fresh citrus and orange peel running through layers of blackberry crumble, crushed stones and vanilla. Full body, ripe tannins, uplifting acidity and a fine finish. Drink now or in 2018. Screw cap.

The Cabernet Sauvignon Trueman offers an effusive bouquet of dark red fruit with hints of Christmas cake spices. It is huge and mouth filling, very broad and polished with firm underlying tannins. It is also rich and spicy at this stage of development.

Notes of chocolate-covered coffee bean add richness to the ripe blackberry and plum flavors, with fragrant details of dried violet and cigar box complementing the savory notes of meaty black olive on the finish. Shows plenty of intensity and focus, offset by fleshy tannins. Drink now through 2030.—M.W.

The most powerful, complete and long of the four 2013 wines tasted, this has a heady mix of liquorice, cassis, toasty oak spices and crushed purple flowers, really fresh, smells concentrated and full of ripe dark purple and black fruits – cassis, plum and blackberry, some redder fruits here too. The palate has a powerful core of deep tannin with density and depth, really assertive and long, immense composure, a superb wine with clarity, refined power and length. Best from 2022.

Notes of chocolate-covered coffee bean add richness to the ripe blackberry and plum flavors, with fragrant details of dried violet and cigar box complementing the savory notes of meaty black olive on the finish. Shows plenty of intensity and focus, offset by fleshy tannins. Drink now through 2030.—M.W.

Austere, tannic and chewy, this Cabernet could use a few years in the cellar. Classic mint and cassis notes are framed by cedar and vanilla, but the fruit comes through on the firm, dusty finish, a sign of positive things to come.

Broad and generous, this is supple underneath a layer of crisp tannins, layering chocolate and tobacco flavors with ripe currant and plum fruit. Has ample depth and complexity, and finishes with finesse. Drink now through 2022. 135 cases made.