To mark our milestone 100th episode we thought we would have a special episode where we look at the four best wines in Australia. To narrow it down a little we decided to break it up into four categories.

The first category is a white, and unusually for us the top wine is a chardonnay, and not a riesling. It’s a great drop from the Margaret River region and will be no shock to anyone being named Australia’s best white, especially given the current vintage.

Our next top wine is a cult wine, from a relatively new producer. It’s a big, powerful, red from a Barossa producer who has a legion of fans across the globe thanks to some great reviews from the top wine writers. But it’s not all about power with this red, as a splash of viognier adds subtlety and grace to the super old shiraz vines.

Of course no list of Australia’s top wines would be complete without our next wine. A true icon of Australian winemaking, the name is known across the world. People who don’t drink wine know this wine’s name and know it’s reputation as Australia’s finest drop. This red is ideal for cellaring for the long term, and is the wine that so many Australians have celebrated important milestones by opening.

To round things out we thought we would include a wine that is uniquely Australian. The fortified wines of the Rutherglen region are truly distinctive and recognised as singularly exceptional when at their best. Some producers from the region have stock of old wine dating back many generations. Our pick has dipped into some incredibly old wine to offer a blend that is exceptionally rare and worth every dollar of it’s high price tag.

Wine Tasting Clip of Penfold’s Rawson’s Retreat Merlot 2006, from the Virtual Wine Tasting Event, ‘A Taste of Wine Relief’ held on 03 Mar 2007.
WINE: Penfold’s Rawson’s Retreat Merlot 2006
VINTAGE: 2006
PRODUCER: Penfold’s
GRAPES: Merlot
REGION: South Australia
COUNTRY: Australia
ONE WORD: Deep
TASTING: A definite crowd-pleaser. Very bright, purple colour with a bouquet of juicy red fruits and hints of spice from the oak. The palate has noticeable juicy cherries and plums with well-integrated oak and soft tannins.
FOOD MATCH: Superb roast beef, best spuds and huge yorkies - “Happy Days with the Naked Chef” by Jamie Oliver

This wine from Sarah and Sparky Marquis is made from Shiraz. Wow! The nose…blackberry, black current, cola, toffee, black Maynard wine gum, sweet potpourri, violet, spicy wood and cream vanilla all emerged out. Forward and upfront, this powerful full bodied aromatic wine is packed with complexity that rivals the Sarah’s blend…this time it’s even fruitier with a hodgepodge of spices, black pepper, dark chocolate, black licorice and incense. The tannin is sweet but ripe. This is another full blown new world excitement especially especially accounting for the price. Viewers should make attention that Sarah & Sparky will not longer continue this project with USA importer Dan Philips after the 2005 vintage. Sob, sob, sob…hurry up — get the remaining stocks for Cad$20 for a $40-50 wine! Can age further for 3-5 years to gain complexity! (Rating 91-93+ points) by Michael Lam of the Beverage Review.

When it comes to port we think of Portugal but the Aussies are surely making much port style wines from their own grapes. The NV Tawny port comes with a brown amber color and smells of the typical raisin, caramel, sweet fig, ripe prune but here I detected cola. More coffee and caramel fruit comes out upon tasting. The body is medium by port standard and overall although not an outstanding port, it does have its fair show of structure. This is a steal for the price. Hey we can’t always afford vintage port first for their higher prices but most practically wait for it to age…so in the meantime drink tons of these while wait for the VP to mature! (Rating 87-89 points) by Michael Lam the Beverage Review.