The spectacular deep ruby/purple-colored 2002 Shiraz/Viognier boasts a gorgeous (my notes said yummy), huge aromatic display of black fruits, peach jam, and white flowers with subtle oak in the background. Dense, full-bodied, and voluptuous, with great purity, this compelling Australian red is a total hedonistic as well as intellectual turn-on. It can be drunk young, but promises to last for a decade. Don’t miss it! The wine was aged 12 months in new French oak, with the Viognier representing 10% of the total blend co-fermented with the Shiraz. This is an Australian version of Guigal’s brilliant Cote Rotie La Mouline, but sells for one-tenth of La Mouline’s price. Kudos to owner/winemaker Kevin O’Brien for fashioning these fine as well as realistically priced wines. Given the exceptionally high quality of Kangarilla Road’s offerings, prices are extremely fair. These are full-throttle, impressively-endowed reds with plenty of class as well as complexity.Importer: Peter Click, Click Imports, Seattle, WA; tel. (800) 859-0689

Goes for elegance over power, with delicious blueberry, plum, olive and black pepper flavors mingling effectively. Has fine tannins and refined texture to lift the flavors through a long finish. Drink now through 2012. 6,000 cases imported.??–HS??Region: Australia / McLaren Vale Select to Add

An unusual, enjoyable Shiraz. A mint-and-chocolate peppermint-patty quality pervades the wine, nose to tail, but the quality is an attracive one. Feels steely and linear on the palate, as though oak contributes to the wine's flavor, but not to its texture. Red and black plums, and some toasted oak flavors, persist through the finish.——D.T.(3/1/2005)—— 89