Want to enjoy some hearty red wines on these cold winter evenings without having to raid the piggy bank?
Well check out some of the best value, super tasty winter-warmers around, as recommended by The Big Red Wine Book (by Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh from The Wine Front) one of the most hotly anticipated and interesting wine guide books on the market.
Released on the 1st June each year, The Big Red Wine Book gives all the information you’d ever need on the current best value red wines in the country. One of the wineries highlighted in this year’s edition was Kirrihill Wines, from one of arguably Australia’s most beautiful wine regions, the Clare Valley.
Author Campbell Mattinson claims, “Kirrihill has done it again!” after a fantastic result with two of their wines being voted in the Top 10 Best Cabernet Sauvignons in Australia for $20 or less!
Rush down to your local Dan Murphy’s or good independent bottle shop and try a bottle of the Kirrihill Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (priced around $19) or Kirrihill Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (priced around $15).
Both wines show the classic Clare Valley cabernet characters of blackcurrant and crushed violets on the nose and a palate of plum, mulberry and dark cherry, however the Single Vineyard Cabernet has been made from grapes from winemaker Donna Stephen’s favourite vineyard which she believes to produce the best fruit with “greater intensity of colour and flavour” and “it is the wines produced from this vineyard which are bigger, bolder and more structured than from anywhere else.”
Donna and the vineyard team now know exactly what each row
of vines will deliver so the vineyard is painstakingly picked in very specific sections over a period of a few weeks.
The winemaking team then has the facilities and space, in their state-of-the-art winery, to keep those parcels separate and treat in different ways.
Donna says, “By keeping the batches separate we can treat them almost like colours on an artist’s palate at final blending. Adding different colours to paint a captivating, layered D picture. We could just harvest it all and call it Single Vineyard but where’s the fun in that? This process enhances our creativity and the final results keep our customers happy.”
Donna also comments that, “Oak selection is vitally important and once you’ve found the one you love you tend to stick to it. We have a favourite oak supplier to help us achieve Single Vineyard reds with subtle oak flavours that let the fruit shine through.”
And the Kirrihill Shiraz wines weren’t overlooked either with the Kirrihill Single Vineyard Shiraz 2008 (priced around $19) being voted the ‘Best Bargain Shiraz’ in Australia! A lovely wine with a perfume of ripe red berries and spice and a rich and savoury palate.
Another wine that did very well considering it’s a relative new comer to the scene is the funky-looking and stylish-tasting Wine by Brad Cabernet Merlot 2008 (priced around $17) which was voted in the Top 3 Best Red Blends for $20 or less.
The Wine by Brad range was started in WA's Margaret River in 2003 when winemaker Brad Wehr decided to leave behind the large corporate wine companies and create quality wines, without the hefty price tag, which deliver both flavour and personality.
Brad recently commented, “It has been a wild seven years. Thanks to some hard work and some great mates we have been blessed with some of the best southern Margaret River fruit I’ve ever had the pleasure to taste and we’ve been committed to turning that fruit into equally exciting wines - with the obvious necessary breaks to enjoy the WA surf!"
The fun and funky 60s-esque pop art packaging on the 2008 Wine by Brad Cabernet Merlot holds a serious Margaret River red, ready to warm your body and soul. The blend includes a little more Merlot (45%) than usual to add some plummy and red-berried character to the dark chocolatey blackcurrant of the Cabernet (50%) and the remaining 5% a blend of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The wine spent just over 15 months in French Oak to add subtle tones and complexity and having now spent another six months in bottle this wine is very approachable, but will also be a keeper for years to come, if you can wait!