The Islander 2008 The Red

Jacques Lurton, a member of one of France's most famous winemaking dynasties, splits his time between Bordeaux and his second home on Kangaroo Island, where he makes a range of extremely interesting wines under the Islander Estate label. This is the bargain basement offering; an unlikely but very impressive blend of malbec, cabernet franc, shiraz, grenache and viognier (Bordeaux meets the Rhone in South Australia). It's a wine that is extremely comfortable in its own skin, savoury and structured with a foot in both New World and Old World camps. Well worth a look. $20. www.iev.com.au.