Finally, as I search for very high class but affordable red wines to serve this holiday season I can’t help but be impressed with the Penley Estate 2010 ‘Hyland’ Shiraz from Coonawarra, Australia ($20).
Penley Estate is among the most consistent wineries in this cooler area of southeastern Australia, near the Southern Ocean.
Although Coonawarra is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz benefits from the same conditions that make the Cabernet so successful in the area. There is sufficient warmth in the region to ripen Shiraz, but not so much to produce the high-alcohol fruit bombs typically found in the nearby Barossa Valley. The terra rosa soil also makes for wines that express minerality and earthy complexities that are very attractive.
This vintage is still so young that at this stage it’s extremely tight and not so expressive when first opened, but it’s a revelation with a bit of aeration from decanting, or after being opened overnight. This is one of those wines that tastes far more expensive than it really is, and one sip is all you need to understand how it earned a platinum award at the 2012 Sommelier Challenge International Wine Competition in September.
Best of all, it has the structure and character to improve with age, making it an excellent candidate for longer-term cellaring as well as immediate consumption.
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