Out Of The Bottle

With David Ellis

Great-Value Wine's Towering Heritage

When you’ve been making wine for 120 years you’ve every reason to believe the public’s accepted that you’re pretty much on top of what you are doing.

The Barossa Valley’s Chateau Tanunda has certainly achieved that acceptance with the diversity of reds and whites its been turning out since 1890, in those 120 years covering the whole gambit from the finest traditional varietals from hand-picked single vineyards, to blends brought together from a melange of acreages, topographies and climatic zones.

For those looking for great-value, drink-now wines, their Barossa Tower range is something to look out for. Amongst its budget-priced treasures are a 2010 Pinot Grigio that’s a real lip-smacker – and only their second-ever Pinot Grigio (their first, a 2009 sold out in just weeks) – with fruit for this one coming from South Australia’s cool-climate Eden Valley.

With softly delicate citrus and melon flavours, coupled with crisp pear-like inferences, it’s a wine with a nice balance of fruit and acidity: at just $15 don’t look past taking a bottle or two along to your favourite BYO seafood restaurant – or serve it at home with creamy pasta dishes.

One For Lunch

One of our most-loved home-grown red varietals is Shiraz, and its not just here that it’s taken off with such acclaim – America’s Wine & Spirits magazine has just named Australian Shiraz as The Number One Red Wine served in US restaurants.

With a climate that gives growers long sunshine hours, our Shiraz rewards consumers with full-on rich and ripe fruit flavours for enjoyment with a wide diversity of winter-time dining ideas. One in particular, McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Shiraz is packed with rich, spicy, blood plum and dark berry flavours, and with its long soft tannins is an ideal barbecue red at just $12.99.

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