If ever a single brand wreaked havoc on the reputation of a country’s entire output of wine, it was Australia’s original “critter label,” Yellow Tail. The effect was deliberate. The wine was designed with a profile that American drinkers (especially those shelling out less than $10 a bottle) presumably liked—ripe and soft (hold the acid and tannins, please). And since little Australian wine had made its way to our market before the cheerful wallaby landed in the early 2000s, Yellow Tail became the known quantity and the reputation stuck. Aussie wines, in our minds, were super-ripe, alcoholic fruit bombs.
While there might have been years when producers Down Under leaned toward ripe, fruit-forward styles, the rep was always too simple. And today, it’s beyond a disservice to profile Australian wines this way. The continent, of course, is an enormous place and in recent years, winemakers have been dialing in on the strengths of their unique parts of it. Paul Bridgeman, head winemaker at Levantine Hill in the Yarra Valley, explains: “Australia’s wine regions offer growing conditions, soils and topography that are as diverse as those anywhere else in the world. This spectrum lets wine lovers drill down into the details and disappear down the rabbit hole of regionality, taking them beyond the broad perception of Australia as a whole … and smashing any long-held preconceptions that Australian wines are merely one-dimensional cheap and cheerful plonk from the ‘land of sunshine.’”
In Bridgeman’s view, Australia’s best-kept secrets—and the vanguard of the next wave of appreciation for its strengths—are its cooler-climate regions, including the Yarra Valley. His model there leans more to European elegance and restraint than on what he calls “overt conspicuousness, heavy in extract and alcohol and monolithically brutish and bombastic. We prefer to pull our wines back, not push them forward,” he says.
And from cool weather to warmer, across the diverse country, talented winemakers are delivering wines with authentic character of place, combining nuance with power, structure with personality. Here are some recent gems that deserve space in your cellar.
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Vasse Felix 2015 Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec Margaret River
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Vasse Felix Named for Dr. Thomas Brendan Cullity, who founded Vasse Felix (Margaret River’s first wine estate) in 1967, this Cab-Malbec blend is an elegant tribute. Opening with tobacco leaf, pencil shavings, spice and red currant, the nose leans to the savory side, slightly briny and loamy. Red fruit continues on the palate—berry and cherry—with an undercurrent of minerality and a fine structure of mature tannins.
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Powell & Son 2017 Kraehe Shiraz Marananga District Barossa
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Powell & Son This inky, concentrated Powell & Son Shiraz—the product of century-old vines in the historic Kraehe Vineyard—delivers the best of classic Barossa Valley. Rich and opulent but focused and terroir-driven, it opens with black and blue fruit, mint, cedar and smoked meat under high-toned florals. The structured palate brings on mixed dark berry and plum fruit layered with pepper, black olive and tobacco, finishing in savory territory.
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Powell & Son 2017 Chatterton’s Shiraz Barossa
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Powell & Son Lovely purple flowers lead on the nose of this Shiraz from Powell & Son. Crushed-rock minerality and briary berry aromas keep things savory. On the palate, deceptive tannins amount to that old “iron fist in a velvet glove,” delivering exotically spiced dark plum and berry flavors laced with savory herbs through a lingering finish.
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Yangarra Estate Vineyard 2016 Ironheart Shiraz McLaren Vale
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Steve McCawley/Yangarra Estate Vineyard This flagship Shiraz from Yangarra comes from the cooler, northern edge of McLaren Vale, where an outcropping of ironstone earns the wine its name. Concentrated, vibrant and perfectly balanced, it opens with toasted spice, blackberry fruit, pungent tobacco leaf and gravelly notes. The wine harbors plenty of structure, but it’s tamed and wrapped in juicy blackberry and blueberry flavors with delicious hints of cured meat.
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Penfolds 2018 Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon South Australia
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Penfolds Bin 407—one of the few 100 percent Cabernets Penfolds makes—isn’t afraid of its savory side. Resiny, foresty notes open, with a crushed herb character joining cedar and cassis. The savory vein continues on the palate, framing dark cherry, blackberry and mocha flavors with fine tannins.
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Penfolds 2018 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz South Australia
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Penfolds Collectors might pine for Penfolds Grange (in the $800 range at the moment), but savvy drinkers know there’s a gem in the Bin Collection, known as “Baby Grange,” that will set you back one-tenth the amount. Bin 389 has the honor of maturing in American oak barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. The 2018 is lovely—walking a line between sweet and savory, with sage and tobacco leaf opening on the nose along with blackberry and a cherry cake character (sans sugar). A juicy core of blueberry and mulberry flavors is buoyed by impressive tannin structure and satisfying concentration.
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Cullen 2017 Diana Madeline Wilyabrup Margaret River Red
Image Credit: Photo: Courtesy Cullen Made from a biodynamically farmed vineyard, this Cabernet-based blend (with bits of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec) from Cullen pulls you in with an earthy mélange of aromas: loam, spice, anise, resiny herbs and red berries. The palate is lush, balanced and long, with tart red fruit and mulberry flavors getting a kick of orange peel at the end.
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Levantine Hill 2015 Samantha’s Paddock Mélange Traditionnel Yarra Valley
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Levantine Hill This flagship blend from Levantine Hill (and a memorable vintage in the Yarra Valley) is built on Cabernet Sauvignon (73 percent), joined by the other four Bordeaux varieties. Dark aromas unfold, with wild fennel following warm spice (nutmeg, anise), black currant and berries touched by high-toned florals. The palate offers a savory side of resiny herbs mixed with juicy mulberries, blueberry, plum and a kick of raspberry, all delivered with concentration and satisfyingly rustic textures.
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Levantine Hill 2016 Colleen’s Paddock Pinot Noir Yarra Valley
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Levantine Hill Crystalline, perfumed, velvety and long, this Pinot from Levantine Hill offers the beautiful savory character a cool climate can deliver. Florals and baking spice join herbal and mineral aromas on the nose, followed by lovely salinity opening on the palate. Red berry and cherry fruit are laced with dark spices, building to a complex finish.
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Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard 2017 The Peake Cabernet Shiraz McLaren Vale
Image Credit: Photo: courtesy Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard This elegant red from Hickinbotham winemakers Chris Carpenter (of Napa’s Cardinale, Lokoya and more) and Peter Fraser belies any rustic reputation this signature Australian blend might harbor. In fact, Carpenter and Fraser were inspired to make a Cabernet Shiraz their top wine by a bottle of Penfolds Bin 60A they shared over dinner on one of Carpenter’s first trips to Australia. In their 2017 version, beautiful aromatics on the nose combine red fruit, earthy damp loam and high-toned florals. The palate is generous, vibrant and balanced, its raspberry and blackberry fruit layered with dark chocolate, spice and lovely minerality.
