Hewitson, L'Oizeau Shiraz, McLaren Vale

Tight cork with no seepage. Deep read color with no hint of aging. Ripe and round but not ponderous. Nice concentration of fruit but not overbearing. Plush but just enough acidity to keep everything in check. A nice mouthful of Aussie Shiraz without veering into cooked fruit notes and only 14% alcohol. Still not exactly cool fruit tones either. Smooth but without much complexity. This is as large as shiraz should get. A nice drink.

A plesant surprise given some of the over rought Aussie shirazes that I have drunk recently. This is a little more classically structured maybe indicative of a cooler climate south of Adelaide compare to the hot Borossa. More reminiscent of a Magill Estate which I also like. Medium red color and certainly not opaque. Nicely balanced with cool fruit, medium tannins and a decent finish. Only 13.5% abv is exceptionally low by typical Aussie standards is possibly due to the …