Wine of the week: A lusty red Rambo

published 4 May 2012

2008 Magpie Estate, The Sack Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia (£14.65, Noel Young Wines of Trumpington, 01223-566744).

I first met Noel Young around the time he started his company, some 20 years ago. We happened to be at a rather grim awards dinner and his black tie was already looking battle-worn midway through dinner. As it turned out, he picked up an important gong that evening and, by that stage, he looked like Rambo as he punched the air and gurned at the crowd. A star was born.

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His Magpie Estate has a superb range of great value, precise wines, all loaded with flair and excitement. The Sack Shiraz is a lusty, brooding, damson-soaked, cinnamon-spiked red with immense appeal and a price tag that should be double.

Other stars are the 2008 Fakir Grenache, 2009 The Call Bag Mourvdre/Grenache, 2010 The Mixed Thing (an incredible and exotic red blend which is the leader in its field) and the flamboyant, top cuvee, 2009 The Election Shiraz. I would urge you to buy a mixed case of these star wines.

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

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.