Clonakilla 2024 Hilltops Shiraz

 
Classy, medium-bodied red wine that is ready to enjoy in its youth and is lip-smackingly food friendly? That's a big tick. When the wine comes from one of the country's best family producers and costs well under $40 then you are onto a good thing. While Clonakilla is based at Murrumbateman, outside Canberra, Tim Kirk and his team also source some excellent fruit from several vineyards in the Hilltops district around Young. Open fermented with regular pump overs, this spent 12 months in mainly older oak to add texture and palate structure. It has aromatics and impressively ripe - but not too ripe - dark fruit flavours and savoury notes. Drink now, or cellar. Your choice. Excellent buying for Christmas enjoyment. $35. https://clonakilla.com.au/

Wynns 2024 Black Label Messenger Chardonnay

This a very impressive addition to the Wynnsday collection of wines released earlier this week by winemaker Sue Hodder and her team at Wynns Coonawarra Estate. It is a composed, very varietal cooler-climate chardonnay that also offers formidable value. The Messenger Vineyard has 32-year-old chardonnay vines, which produced stellar fruit in 2024. This is a very classy wine with plenty of flavour and a brisk acid finish. Hand-picking, whole-bunch pressing, barrel aging, and malolactic fermentation all play their role in a release that is complete and very varietal with stone fruit flavours, youthful enthusiasm and waves of texture producing a very smooth customer indeed. $45. https://www.wynns.com.au/