Two cheap shiraz wines that speak of their region

Still staying at a mate's house while the boat is repaired. He's not really into wine but is curious and asked me to help him choose a dozen. Budget was $150 -- I wanted to select wines that are representative of their regions. We had two of them tonight.

I won't dissect these wines in great detail -- know that they are both well-made, quality wines of considerable flavour and character. What I am pleased with, in particular, is that they are identifiably regional and show clear differences in origin. I think it's great that we can purchase wines in the $10-15 range that are very much of their region.

The Seppelt Victoria Shiraz 2004 is all blackberry jam, white pepper and spice. The palate encourages immediate drinking, although the finish, which is lightly drying with powdery tannins, indicates the wine would not die with a year or so in the cellar. But why bother -- it's such nice drinking now. Sensational value.

The Peter Lehmann Barossa Shiraz 2005 is a pretty reliable number year in year out, and this one shows clear differences from the cooler climate Seppelt -- it's a relative fruit bomb, with flavoursome stewed plum-like fruit and sweet American oak the highlights. Soft, generous, medium bodied -- this is easy Barossa shiraz in "by the gulp" mode. This wine doesn't have the structural finesse of the Seppelt, but really, what's not to like here?

Charles Melton Nine Popes 1996

Beguiling aromas that mix savoury, fruit and oak characters in a slightly lifted bundle of joy. There's also a meatiness in there that straddles a savoury/sweet line. In terms of palate, it has a thick, seamless mouthfeel that delivers a similar mix of flavours as was smelled, but more fruit forward and richer than one would anticipate from the nose. There are some faint aged characters, but it's still predominantly primary character driven. As I drink, there's a lovely brambly note that is emerging too, a sweet delicious stalkiness. The wine is actually still quite acidic, so it's probably got a ways to go, but I can't think how it could get better than this.

This is a seriously good wine that is still quite young tasting but with the clean, developed mouthfeel and flavour integration that comes with bottle age.

Note that I've subsequently had a couple more bottles of this wine that have not quite attained the same level as this one.

Kilikanoon Medley Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2002

It's a wet, windy night outside, and the boat's rocking a lot more than usual. The perfect night for a generous, warming red wine.

We decided to open this Kilikanoon number, and it turned out to be the perfect selection. It's got this delicious blackberry bush nose, alongside a fair hit of oak-derived vanilla and spice. A little bit of VA enhances the generosity and warmth of the nose. In the mouth, this wine is smooth and full bodied, with a fruit sweet mid palate that leads to a smoothly tannic, toasty vanilla finish. This is not a hugely sophisticated wine, but it's got an attractive spectrum of flavours on display, and it's so giving, flavoursome and warm, it's hard not to love, especially on a stormy night.

Charles Melton Rose of Virginia 2007

This is the first wine I've tasted from the notoriously difficult 2007 vintage. I've had the Rose of Virginia quite a few times and always look forward to revisiting this wine.

When we first opened this wine, it felt a little one-dimensional, with a very attractive but simple floral fruitiness at its core. Over the course of half an hour, the wine rebalanced and opened up to greater complexity. This is a very well-judged wine. On the nose, there's a nice duality between seductively sweet, lifted floral notes and a subtle meaty savouriness. The palate echoes and amplifies this structure, with an entry that is predominantly fragrant/floral, leading to a middle palate that is quite full (owing partly to some residual sugar). The back of the palate is most engaging, with the fruitiness whisked away by more of that savoury meatiness and quite a dry, lightly tannic finish. Refreshing acidity supports the wine and prevents it from being at all cloying.

Really nice wine.

Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 1998

I had a fresh one of these (2004) the other day and it was quite nice, albeit somewhat boring, with good varietal definition and a pleasant structure.

I'm not sure about this one, though. On opening, the wine reeked of VA and tasted of camphor. I left the glass for a while and came back to it, whereupon it had changed to show dusty cabernet fruit flavours and chocolate/vanilla oak. In the mouth, the wine has (to my taste) an unpleasantly thick feel, mouthfilling but in a coarse way. Structurally, the wine strikes me as pretty one-dimensional. It's not a bad wine, just stylistically far from the sort of cabernet I'd like to drink.