Wine of the week: a mighty leviathan

One of Australia’s greatest red wines arrives on these shores in six weeks. It's one you must buy, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
By
published
in Features

2005 Jim Barry, PB Shiraz/Cabernet, Clare Valley, South Australia (£32.99, Noel Young, 01223-566744; SH Jones, 01295-672296; Planet of the Grapes, 020-7405 4912; Hermitage Cellars, 01243-431002; Abbey Wines, 01896-823224).

This is the first wine that I have written about in MoneyWeek which isn't available for sale yet (excluding en primeur wines, of course). PB is on the water' a glorious expression meaning it's in the back of a canoe being paddled from Port Adelaide to our shores.

You can, however, order this phenomenal creation from the prescient and exemplary merchants above whose anticipation levels are no doubt matched by my own. The 2005 PB arrives in six weeks and it is one of Australia's greatest red wines. The 2006, which arrives later on this year, is in my 100 Best Australian Wines list, too!

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It is made by Peter Barry (hence PB) from about 70% Benbournie (their iconic cabernet) and 30% McRae wood shiraz (the 2005 was actually in this column on 14 May 2010), and it is a mighty, leviathan of a cult wine, with towering tannins and indomitable fruit character.

It is the essence of Clare heroic, impactful, memorable and a ridiculous bargain bearing in mind its imperial quality. Both the 2005 and 2006 scored 19/20 in my notes you must collect this wine.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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