d’Arenberg (Australia) ‘d’Arry’s Original’ Shiraz/Grenache 1996
d’Arenberg’s extensive range of wines share a profile of being powerful, fruity and crowd-pleasing but at the same time they avoid being jammy, hollow and overly commercial. This typical example has a juicy, super-ripe nose of sweet cherries, vanilla and cinnamon. The palate is quite firm, with blueberry fruit, big mouth-drying tannins and well judged lemony acidity. If you haven’t yet discovered d’Arenberg’s wines, this should make a pretty convincing starting point. Oddbins 6.99