Wine of the Week: Rethinking shiraz

Taster: Jessica Wishart, Licensee/director MG Settlements

Wine: Heydon Estate The Sledge Shiraz 2009

When given the opportunity to sample this wine I was four days out from a European holiday.

Usually drinking a bottle of wine, a red no less, would not be a hard task for my husband and I, however with time against us, packing for the trip and trying to finalise work details we thought it would be nice to share the bottle with friends from our French class.

I found Heydon Estate’s The Sledge Shiraz 2009 to be everything I expect from a shiraz — a deep rich colour, lovely aromas and a smooth taste which rounded out for a perfect winter wine.

I must say, I am a fan of shiraz and surprised that people still associate shiraz with words like peppery, bitey and generally too strong for their liking.

The thing I liked the most about this shiraz is that from the first sip, you were instantly warmed, to quote one of my friends ‘‘this wine warms the cockles of your heart’’.

It was the perfect antidote against the bitter cold weather that we have just started to come into.

The Margaret River camembert that we accompanied it with was great and brought out the rich flavours in the wine.

I would encourage wine drinkers, if they have not ventured to taste a shiraz for a while, to give it another try.

The Sledge Shiraz 2009 is the perfect example of a good shiraz and I would imagine you will be pleasantly surprised at the style of shiraz on offer these days.

I believe you will find shiraz to be quite an easy wine to drink, just like I found this one to be.

It will be on my list when I next visit the Margaret River region.