The Wine Front – The Big Red Book 2009/2010 - WINE OF THE YEAR!

It announced itself as the wine of the year the instant we tasted it. We wanted a red that best captured the essence of the year – a wine that combined both quality and value better than any other. Sure, we rated a few reds higher, but this Adelaide Hills beauty slays them for value and, more simply, tastes fantastic. Even better, it should be widely available. It has so many things going for it: complexity, charm, moderate alcohol and a vast array of flavours. It is a beautiful wine, full of X-factor. Welcome to centre-stage, Starvedog Lane – you deserve it.

Wow. What a fabulous drink. It’s spicy, juicy, vibrant and cherried, with drifts of peppery, almost gingery character before big booms of potpourri-like flavours shoulder forwards. Just a ripper of a wine. Great dry, sweet-savoury length. A drink and a conversation in a bottle. They made 2000 dozen of this, and they are going to fly – get in quick. Brilliant wine. Drink 2009–2015. Price $24; Alcohol 13.5; Screwcap; Value * * * * * 95 Points; The Big Red Wine Book; Campbell Mattinson & Gary Walsh.

The previous vintage (2006) of the Starvedog Lane Shiraz Viognier made a name for itself winning one of the biggest Trophies on the Australian Wine Show circuit. The Max Schubert Trophy for the best red wine at the Royal Adelaide Show 2008 was just the start with the wine also taking out the Trophy for best dry red blend. By the time I got around to trying the 2006 it was too late, I wasn't going to make the same mistake with the 2007 which in true retailer fashion is at least as good*. Along with the Victorian cool climate duo of Yering Station and Turners Crossing the Starvedog Lane these are the three best value Shiraz Viognier styles on the market.

If you have ever wondered what the term 'opulent' meant in describing wine, get yourself a look at this ripper. It's bright, it's plush, it is, well...opulent. This is only the start of the attraction here. The wine shows impeccable balance. On one hand it reveals its 'showy' side with ripe and luscious fruit flavours yet on the other it shows its serious side, the spice, the savouriness, the drying acidity. If you told me this was a $40-$50 wine I wouldn't bat an eyelid. In a quick plug for the region, it is further evidence that while the Barossa churns out Aussie Shiraz, not so far away the Adelaide Hills is making world class Northern Rhone style Shiraz. In a huge wrap for this, I tried it alongside the Shaw + Smith (same variety, vintage, region and twice the price) and couldn't split them. Drink: Now-2020; Quality: Excellent BW; WineStar© May 2009

If you’ve already read about our Shiraz, you’ll already know what that has in store. But this blend with Viognier is something quite unique. Not to mention quite delicious! Mixing a white grape like Viognier with a red might seem a little out of the ordinary, and that’s true because there’s nothing ordinary about this drop. When you taste it, chances are it’ll leave you begging for more as well. If you’re hungry for something like tempura mushrooms with plum sauce, chilli quail or even a good old pizza, try sliding into a glass of this. Paul, the winemaker responsible for this little gem describes it as ‘luscious’, and we’d have to say, Paul, you’re absolutely spot on mate. What people ‘in the know’ say; Magenta. Bright fresh raspberry, plum and blackberry with fragrant cinnamon, anisette and white pepper spice. Medium bodied, fine savoury tannins with a creamy luscious texture. Great length of flavour, blackberries, plums and spice. Sourced from Starvedog Lane