A reacquaintance with Australia's best Shiraz

IT has been a long time since I last tasted a whole bunch of Australian Shiraz wines. Which prompted me to attend the "Barossa Valley Treasures" Masterclass at The Wine Advocate's "Matter of Taste" event last week. It featured Shiraz wines from wineries totally new to me, a sure indication how long it has been since my last serious tasting of Australian Shirazs.

If there is one iconic wine especially associated with Australian wines, it would be the Barossa Shirazs. They have virtually made this their signature wine, the most famous of course being Penfold's Grange, deservedly called Australia's only First Growth. (Purists may dispute this by holding up a poster saying "Hill of Grace"!) Still, there's no question that Australian Shiraz does indeed fly the flag for Aussie wines - and they do show very well indeed.

The 12 wines of the masterclass were finely presented by Lisa Perotti-Brown MW. Her presentation greatly added to the value of the tasting as many of the wineries represented were new to me.