Shiraz Archives - It Must Be Wine O'clock

A smooth, well-balanced Shiraz from New South Wales

PepperBox Shiraz, 2020 (Southeastern Australia)

Having recently tried the PepperBox Chardonnay from the Casella winery in New South Wales, I was keen to try other wines from the winery and I was very impressed with this Shiraz.

Deep ruby in colour, this rich, well-balanced PepperBox Shiraz is very good value for money. With blackberry, cherry and plum on the nose, and black fruits, chocolate and tobacco, with a hint of spice on the palate, this is a smooth wine with plenty of character, medium tannin and acidity, and a lengthy finish.

Perfect for a Sunday roast, with grilled meats, or roasted vegetables.

Available from Sainsbury’s (£9)

Enjoy this red wine and help save a rhino!

It’s not often I’m able to help a good cause at the same time as enjoying a tipple. So when I saw this opportunity to contribute to Care for Wild’s sterling work to save rhinos while trying a bottle of South African red, I couldn’t resist.

Care for Wild is a charity that rehabilitates, rewilds, releases and protects rhinos in South Africa, and runs the largest sanctuary for orphaned rhinos of its kind in the world. The Care for Wild Wine Collection aims to showcase South Africa’s excellent wines while at the same time supporting a charity that does so much to save the country’s black and white rhinos from extinction.

The Care for Wild Red Blend is a velvety blend of Pinotage and Shiraz grapes, from South Africa’s Western Cape, the country’s dominant wine-producing region. With aromas of cherry, raspberry and plum on the nose, and ripe red fruit flavours and a hint of pepper and cinnamon on the palate, it’s a medium bodied wine with medium tannin and medium acidity. This is an all-round balanced wine which is a perfect match for grilled meat and a great introduction to Care for Wild’s range of wines.

Available from Slurp (£8.95)

Stump Jump Shiraz 17 d’Arenberg

This is a full-bodied deep ruby wine from McLaren Vale, Australia. Minty and fragrant on the nose, and concentrated with lashings of pronounced black fruit as well as liquorice and sweet spice on the palate. A smooth wine with a nice long finish. It works well with your Sunday roast, and is a good match for a steak and pepper sauce or something similarly robust.

Red wines for autumn

As the temperature starts to drop and the nights draw in, here are a few suggestions for red wines for autumn, to enjoy along with those casseroles, pies and stews as we look towards Halloween and Bonfire Night …

Ramón Bilbao Crianza Rioja 2016 (Tempranillo)

This deep red Tempranillo wine from the Rioja region of Spain is a well-balanced wine of medium intensity and medium acidity. Aromas of blackberry and cherry together with sweet spices and vanilla on the nose; and intense flavours of black fruits, vanilla and spices, with hints of hazelnut and liquorice, on the palate. It’s a smooth wine with medium tannins which pairs well with red meats, sausage dishes and casseroles. Also, goes perfectly with a hard cheese.

Stump Jump Shiraz 17 d’Arenberg

Chianti Classico 15 Campomaggio

A medium-bodied Sangiovese wine with high acidity and medium tannins. It has quite intense flavours of strawberry, plum, and blackberry with a hint of cedar and toasted wood. A balanced wine with a medium finish. An appealing wine, a good all-rounder, which is ideal for a big casserole or roast.