Aussie Wines!

Orlando is one of Australia’s biggest companies, responsible for the famous Jacob’s Creek label, as well as Steingarten Riesling, Jacaranda Ridge, St Hugo, Trilogy and the Lawson’s Shiraz. Recently, they’ve downplayed the Orlando name and instead focussed on Jacob’s Creek, so instead of seeing Orlando Steingarten Riesling, you see Jacob’s Creek Steingarten Riesling. The aim of all of this is to entice international buyers, particularly in big markets like the UK, to drink the more expensive wines considering that they know the cheaper Jacob’s Creek brand. Personally, I think it’s a shame because, in my mind anyway, they’re reducing the value of the famous brands, but then I don’t get paid the big bucks to make those decisions.

Anyway, on to this wine. Lawson’s is from a region in South Australia called Padthaway, on the Limestone Coast, south of Adelaide. It is a recognised wine region, but always seems to be in the shadow of the neighbouring Coonawarra region. Named after an early patron of Padthaway, Robert Lawson, this wine comes from relatively youngish Shiraz vines (33 years old). Don’t get me wrong, they’re not incredibly young vines by any standard, but compared to some of the old gnarly bastards in other areas that go back over a century or so, they’re not old. The grapes for this wine are only taken from one vineyard.

Now, this wine is 11 years old at the time of opening, but it’s still got a long way to go in the cellar. It’s incredibly deep in colour and really quite rich on the nose and palate. Very intense bugger, this one. On the nose, you’ll notice that this wine has seen loads of oak with spicy plum and vanilla odours, loads of chocolate and coffee odours and a dash of mint for good measure. On the palate, it’s pretty much exactly the same with drying tannins that still need time to settle down. Add in a bit of cigar box/cedary characters and you’ve got the idea. This isn’t a wine, it’s an experience! Hell of a drop that still needs time in the cellar to let the tannins die down a little more. 96 points.

Over the years, Lawson’s has won 23 trophies and 134 gold medals, according to their website… I can see why.