Spice Trader Shiraz

Do you like big, bold red wines? And would you prefer to spend less, rather than more for that wine?

If the answers to the above questions are yes, then this wine is for you.

Australian wines have endured a cataclysmic three decade stretch. In the ‘90s and ‘00s, they were the darlings of the market; critics gushed over them, consumers flocked to them. Their full throttle, fruit forward style, easy to understand labels and ‘drink now’ philosophy appealed to a wine consumer that wanted enjoyable wines that were easy to find and comprehend. But the cognoscenti became less and less enthused as the so-called ‘critter’ (labels with brightly colored cartoonish animals) wines flooded the market. These fruity, simple and cheap wines became the darlings of, well, everyone and the market for more substantial and structured (and more expensive) wines collapsed. The critter wines popularity waned as they became even more ubiquitous and each new label and release cannibalized the success of its predecessor. It was a classic race to the bottom; as each new wine delivered lower prices and less substance, the discriminating public walked away from the entire category.

Higher quality Australian wines never went away however, instead, they retrenched and retooled and we’re now seeing a re-birth of those wines, showcasing the same underlying characteristics that made them so popular, with just a little less exuberance and a little less expensive.

This wine, Ben Glaetzer’s “Spice Trader Shiraz’ beautifully illustrates the old, new world of Aussie wines. Glaetzer is a superstar winemaker with a briefcase full of 100 point wines in his portfolio. This wine, from lesser known Langhorne Creek, is chock full of dark berry fruit and savory herbal spice yet with enough drying tannins to balance the richness of the fruit. It's a big, full, pleasing mouthful of wine at a ridiculously low price. This is a wine that rewards your shopping acumen rather than rewarding your ability to overspend. (PW)