Wine of the week: two cunning Australian blends
Matthew Jukes tastes a pair of gorgeous Australian reds – a fruity shiraz mixed with glossy zibibbo, and a three-way combo of montepulciano, nero d’Avola and barbera.


2021 Thistledown, Gorgeous Old Vine Shiraz, Small Batch, Riverland, Australia
£14.75, vagabondwines.co.uk
The shiraz or syrah grape variety is equally at home flying solo or being used as a component in a blend. It dominates the partnership in this thrilling wine by taking up 86% of the bottle, and the remaining proportion is a rather unlikely 14% zibibbo, or muscat. I have never tasted a shiraz/zibibbo blend before, and it occurs to me that the name Gorgeous is entirely apt here. This is a wine that majors on fresh berry fruit notes drawn from a single vineyard of old-vine shiraz while the zibibbo adds lustre and gloss, a little like those wines that employ viognier to do a similar, but perhaps more perfumed, task.
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
While some find shiraz/viog blends a little heady and fulsome, I doubt they would have a problem here because the white-grape addition augments the silkiness and slipperiness of this delicious wine. With only 13.5% alcohol on board, there is a freshness here, too, that lifts the finish and completes the picture.
From the same stable, there is another spot of cunning blending in the form of 2021 Wilder & Wilder, Cloud Cuckoo Land Montepulciano/Nero d’Avola (£69 for a case of six bottles, thefinewinecompany.co.uk; £12.99, haywines.co.uk). The blend is a three-way combo of 60% montepulciano, 28% nero d’Avola and 12% barbera. There is always something new to discover in this wonderful world of wine!
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
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.
-
Families suffer £20,000 lost income growth – are you feeling the pinch?
Average incomes for working age families have increased by just 7% in the past two decades, research suggests
-
How to achieve a secure retirement, as more retirees admit to struggling with debt
Twenty-six percent of retirees now have unsecured debt – a sharp rise compared to two years ago – with many underestimating how much a typical retirement costs
-
The alcohol industry is suffering as consumers sober up – is it still worth investing in the sector?
Changing consumer tastes are rocking the alcohol industry, but the best players are adapting their strategies. Buy them while their shares are still cheap
-
Giorgio Armani: the irreplaceable Il Signore
Giorgio Armani started his fashion business in 1975 and built it into the world’s largest private luxury brand. Where can it go without him?
-
8 of the best properties for sale with mountain views
The best properties for sale with mountain views – from an Arts & Crafts house with holiday lets in the Carding Mill Valley in Shropshire to a highland lodge with wood-burning stoves near the Rogie Falls in the Scottish Highlands
-
Review: Puerto Rico – embrace the spirit of Boricua
Travel Natasha Langan discovers why the indigenous name for Puerto Rico has come to define this Caribbean island’s vibrant culture
-
8 of the best beachside properties for sale
The best beachside properties for sale – from an Arts & Crafts house in Hampshire with 128 metres of beach frontage, to a 16th-century house in Norfolk, just 300 metres from a Blue Flag beach
-
A voyage of discovery through the Baltic countries
Travel Max King explores the rich history, culture and cuisine of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
-
Are wealthy whisky enthusiasts leaving Britain?
Collectables Wealthy whisky enthusiasts are heading to tax-friendly countries such as Dubai, where there is more disposable income to spend on collectable luxuries like rare whisky.
-
8 of the best properties for sale with kitchen gardens
The best properties for sale with kitchen gardens – from a 17th-century timber-framed hall house in Norfolk, to an Arts & Crafts house in West Sussex designed by Charles Voysey with a garden by Gertrude Jekyll