- Singlefile Wines - Premium Fine Wines Australia | Reserve Chardonnay | Shiraz | Semillon Sauvignon Blanc | Rose

Tastes are a changing – from 'big' red to elegant and stylish

In January 2009 we attended the Australian Wine Show held at the Emirates (Arsenal) Football Stadium in north London.  The event is held to showcase Australian wines to UK wine merchants and buyers.

A feature of the show was the plea, from at least some of the large UK wine buyers, for more of the elegant and stylish Australian “reds”.  In some quarters there is a clear move away from the characteristic Barossa style +14.5% alcohol full bodied big red wines to the so-called elegant French-style red wines delivering some 12 to 13.5% alcohol.

At least one of the reasons for the change is the desire, among those who enjoy red wine, to have the option of a second glass (or third) and remain within the permissible limit for safe driving.

It appears that some within the Barossa wine making community have already noted the changing red wine landscape and are “quietly returning to European styles that will bring more elegance, sublety and modern sensibility to the Australian winescape” (Country Style, May 2009, p 86).

Grant Burge is identified as one of those winemakers leading the charge with its two Rhone-style wines: 2004 The Holy Trinity grenache shiraz mouvedre and the 2004 Balthazar shiraz viognier.  Grant Burge has specifically sought out cooler climate shiraz from the Eden Valley area for its Rhone-style wines because of its softer more elegant style shiraz.

The Denmark wine region of Western Australia has for some years been delivering to market precisely the style of red wines readily identified as displaying the elegance of the very best the French have to offer.  Denmark’s climate which is remarkably similar to that of the Bordeaux region of France (similar annual rainfall and similar summer temperatures – Bordeaux’s average winter temperature is less than Denmark), encourages the slow and even ripening of full flavoured grapes that deliver truly elegant wines.

Singlefile Wines’s red wines are crafted by our winemakers from the very best shiraz, merlot and cabernet sauvignon grapes grown in the heart of Denmark’s cool climate wine region.  The wines, with alcohol contents in the range 12.8 to 13.4%, meet the elegant and stylish criteria in all respects and are full bodied, rich and complex.  Our wines are on the wine lists of some of Perth’s best restaurants and wine bars and can be purchased from selected wine merchants in Western Australia or from Singlefile Wines’s website.

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