Red Blend

Margaret River

Red Blend

The colour has a certain luminosity about it. It's a pale copper onion blush and most attractive. This is a combination of pinot noir, malbec and cabernet franc, varieties that certainly suit this style. It was barrel fermented, which introduces a degree of complexity and palate texture. It's a dry style with a slightly savoury character and beautiful refreshing acidity...

Western Australia

Red Blend

This is a blend of grenache, shiraz, and pinot noir from the Swan Valley, Margaret River, and Mount Barker. Each of the varieties was treated slightly differently, but when they come together, they produce a wine that is complete, loaded with juicy red fruits. It has a precise purity about it, which is highlighted by the subtle use of older...

Western Australia

Red Blend

This is a rosé style sourced from grenache, pinot noir, and pinot gris off vineyards in the Swan Valley, Pemberton, and Margaret River. The grenache and pinot came off dry-grown vineyards that were handpicked and saw a little time in older oak puncheons. The gris certainly gives it an aromatic lift. It is a delightful, fresh, and spicy wine loaded...

Margaret River

Red Blend

This is a great-value blend of the main Bordeaux varieties, with cabernet franc providing the dominant contribution. It's lively with great fruit, soft, almost supple, and with very fine, gentle tannins providing subtle support. Bright, plummy blackcurrant fruits with an ethereal lift of red fruits and bright florals. Such a supple, easy-drinking wine of medium weight but immense generosity.

Western Australia

Red Blend

It's a pinot and tempranillo combination. Have been making rosé since 2015. The pinot comes from the Bellarmine vineyard in Pemberton. Intense red berry fruit on the nose with strawberry and cranberry characters. Picked early, whole bunch pressed, some in ceramic egg. Has a slightly savoury character. Lovely slightly viscous texture which adds another dimension to it. The fine chalkiness...

Margaret River

Red Blend

The rich opulence of the 2022 vintage is clearly evident in this classic Bordeaux blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, petit verdot, and malbec. Displays bright red intense fruit on the nose with a blackberry-blackcurrant combination, and then the palate, which is soft, supple, but still with a firm, fine thread for structure. It's one of the better examples...

Swan Valley

Red Blend

This has developed into an excellent wine for Riverbank, and it's sourced from a combination of Donnybrook Malbec and Swan Valley Shiraz from Riverbank's own estate. The two wines were kept separate in small open fermenters before pressing directly into new oak. The Malbec was in there for 20 months in French hogsheads, and interestingly, the Shiraz spent 20 months...

Western Australia

Red Blend

A medium-bodied example of this GSM blend. Captures the perfumed red fruit aromatics on the nose and then the palate, with its medium body, delivers with a plummy, red-fruit combination supported with really fine tannins. A very faint, subtle hint of oak. It's long, it's balanced, and it's totally seamless.

Margaret River

Red Blend

A beautiful example of the quality of this vintage. It's simply loaded with red fruits, but with some nice darker fruit and dark chocolate influences. The palate is soft with a scrumptious juiciness about it, supported by a firmish thread of chalky tannin, and a nice lick of oak. I could see a bit of this being consumed around a...

Margaret River

Red Blend

Although the blend is changed slightly over the years, I can't begin to tell you the number of times I've turned to this one when looking for a scrumptious ready-to-drink red wine. It's a blend of shiraz, malbec, and grenache, and it's loaded with punchy, vibrant fruit. Lifted florals of red fruits, slightly spicy, and a palate that is plush...

Margaret River

Red Blend

A blend of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and malbec, this wine consistently delivers excellent value and drinkability. Rich and succulent, with a juicy, fleshy palate, loaded with black fruits and supported by good structure. Has to be consistently one of the best value reds from Margaret River.

Margaret River

Red Blend

A combination that works beautifully, with each variety playing its part. Grenache brings bright energy and lifted red fruits, tempranillo adds rustic, savoury notes, and touriga contributes fruit intensity with light florals. Designed for earlier drinking, yet it offers plenty of depth. Darker fruit, medium weight, with intensity and energy that play out across the palate. A slightly chalky texture...

Margaret River

Red Blend

A beautiful medium-bodied example of this Margaret River blend from a good season. Loaded with a mix of black fruits with a hint of blueberry and red fruit. It's a vibrant wine with a palate delivering a plummy mix of light fruit cake and blackberry with a subtle juby raspberry note. Impeccably balanced and poised, and tremendous value.

Pemberton

Red Blend

This combination of varieties has always been one preferred by the Kosovichs, and in this case, it comes from Pemberton. It's an example of the cooler climate influence on these varieties. Small open vat fermentation and then time in barrels for about 12 months has created a wine of elegance and style. The reserve wine is only made in the...

Margaret River

Red Blend

A blended red that harnesses the outstanding fruit of this low-yielding vineyard, brought together in a seamless and suave expression of Margaret River. Aromas of red fruits, tobacco, bay leaf and a trace of cocoa lead into a smoothly woven palate where crunchy red fruits interplay with darker elements in compelling fashion. A polished, refined wine of great style.

Great Southern

Red Blend

The combination of separate parcels and clones has been brought together here with cabernet, merlot and malbec off the Riversdale property combining into an exceptionally stylish and flavoursome wine. Lifted aromas of black fruits, blackberry and bay leaf lead into a palate delivering richer dark chocolate and black fruit combinations, seamlessly integrated with fine oak and minerally tannins. Everything sits...

Great Southern

Red Blend

This is a blend of shiraz, counoise, mataro, and grenache from vineyards in the Great Southern. It was a coolish year, but in the Great Southern it allowed the fruit to ripen fully, producing some exquisite medium-bodied, generous wines offering delightful, perfumed aromas and supple, perfectly integrated palates. This is a prime example, and the combination of these four varieties...

Frankland River

Red Blend

The influence of the Piedmont variety nebbiolo seems quite evident, first with the slightly brambly herby notes on the nose, then with the fine thread of firmish steely tannins on the palate. The ovoid method of allowing the lees to influence the palate has helped build a generosity and opulence while not losing those essential structured nebbiolo elements.

Western Australia

Red Blend

This is such a pretty wine. The cooler vintage has contributed to its elegance and charm. Opens with a perfumed African violet and red berry combination on the nose. And then the palate provides such an exquisitely integrated, balanced mix of bright and lively red fruits with the support of fine, silky tannins and perfectly weighted oak.

Margaret River

Red Blend

Juicy and fleshy blend of these two delightful varieties. High-end aromatics of red fruits with bright cherry and subtle spicy raspberry notes. The palate, while soft and supple, has a fine chalky thread of acid and grainy tannins holding its line.

Frankland River

Red Blend

This is a Bordeaux blend of cabernet sauvignon, malbec, petit verdot and cabernet franc from the Frankland River. It was generally a cooler vintage, and yet in the Great Southern things worked out pretty well. This is a cracking good wine, seamlessly woven together and laced with fine tannins and cleverly managed oak. It was made in micro detail with...

Great Southern

Red Blend

Pretty hard to go past this blend of counoise, mataro and touriga from the Great Southern. Perfumed floral notes with a slightly spicy character. It’s medium-bodied with a delightfully soft and supple palate supported by a fine thread of tannins. Has a lip-smacking crunchy finish. Ideal in the short term.

Margaret River

Red Blend

One of the very best cabernets from Lenton Brae in recent years, and it comes off vines that were planted way back in 1983. Cabernet takes the dominant place, but malbec and petit verdot add that palate-filling richness and finish to complete an excellent wine. Blackcurrant and slightly bay leaf notes with a little oyster shell complexity on the nose....

Perth Hills

Red Blend

The warm vintage has suited this style of vintage fortified wine. It's about 76% touriga, with a balance of shiraz, durif, and cabernet. It was made in the typical vintage style, and was bottled just six months after the initial maturation. And the result is a wine that retains its vibrancy and energy, but with the boost, of brandy spirit,...

Perth Hills

Red Blend

This is a combination of Swan Valley grenache, and shiraz, and mourvèdre from the Perth Hills. It’s a stylish, delicious, medium-bodied wine displaying wonderful fruit vibrancy and generosity, delivered with some poise. It’s all about bright red fruits on the nose with a little bit of confectionery, raspberry-like character. The palate is just scrumptious, with the grenache providing all of...

Pemberton

Red Blend

An elegant and stylish example from what was a cooler vintage, though it still crams plenty into its tight frame. There's a mix of blue and red fruits and a floral aroma. The palate is still quite tightly wound, yet the seamless integration of oak and fruit controls and extends through to a long finish with effortless ease. A nice...

Margaret River

Red Blend

This is a Bordeaux-type blend that is largely cabernet with smaller percentages of merlot and cab franc. It was a good season in Margaret River, and this has flowed through into this medium-bodied and highly flavoursome, beautifully poised cabernet blend. Highly aromatic with floral violet notes and red berry, and just a trace of blackberry and plum on the palate....

Frankland River

Red Blend

This is a juicy and delicious blend of mataro, grenache, and shiraz. So, it's your classic GSM blend, and it comes from Frankland River. Medium-bodied and loaded with bright red fruits, showing a mix of redcurrant, mulberry, a little cranberry, and some nice spices and dried herbs. The palate is just so appealing, with its vibrant, high-energy red fruits bursting...

Western Australia

Red Blend

This combination of varieties has come together so well. The fruit came from Margaret River, the Swan Valley and Geographe. It is designed as a buoyant, bright and fruity wine with whole bunch and carbonic maceration before maturation in old barriques. It captures the plummy rose petal notes that you expect, with lifted raspberry and dried herb characters. There is...

Margaret River

Red Blend

A blend of malbec, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot from the wonderful 2023 season. Captures the vibrancy and energy of the fruit with clever winemaking which includes co-fermentation, basket pressing and a quite high percentage of new French oak that seems to integrate easily within the powerful fruit. Seamless and textured palate with a slightly grainy texture that...

Margaret River

Red Blend

This is the pinnacle of McHenry Hohnen’s thoroughbred stable. It’s a blend of around 57% cabernet, 36% malbec, and the remainder petit verdot. This combination has worked extremely well over the years. The 2020 vintage offered great fruit concentration and power, and this wine exemplifies that, though with the regional character of southern Margaret River, it achieves balance and refinement....

Margaret River

Red Blend

This blend of cabernet, malbec and petit verdot has been a consistent winner for Victory Point over the years, consistently delivering quality at a valued price. Needless to say, from this outstanding season, this has to be one of the best yet released. Captures all the essential fruit characters of these varieties, with the linear structure of cabernet, the flesh...

Swan Valley

Red Blend

If you're looking for soft, supple and generous red wine drinking on a budget, it's pretty hard to go past this excellent combination of these two varieties from the Swan Valley. It has a nice aroma of plummy spiciness with a lifted rose petal nuance. The palate is vibrant, punchy and medium-bodied, and loaded with flavour. Excellent drinking over the...

Western Australia

Red Blend

There are lots of different varieties here: tempranillo, montepulciano, shiraz, nero d’avola, grenache, mencía and arinto. I don't expect you to find the subtle nuances of each variety, but what you will find is a wine that is supremely balanced and integrated, with a fine, silky, velvety palate and great depth of flavour that is wonderfully sustained. It's bright and...

Swan Valley

Red Blend

The first thing you notice is the colour—brilliant crimson and ruby red hues. The nose is all swirling red berries with lifted perfumed florals. On the palate, the three varieties combine in a mix of red berry, cherry and spice, with just a little sprinkling of dried herbs. It's medium-bodied with a fine thread of chalky tannin and a gentle...

South West

Red Blend

This is a pretty classy blended red at this price point. Intense aromas of blackcurrant and plum with leafy black olive addition on the nose. The palate is typically quite firm in line with its cabernet dominance, yet the warm flesh of merlot provides an additional feel. Delicious juicy fruit fills out a balanced and poised palate.

Margaret River

Red Blend

It’s a take on the well-known GSM with these excellent bedfellows producing a wine of generosity and softness while representing deep fruit intensity. Matured for 8 months in older puncheons and then blended in equal parts. Floral red fruits with some mice chocolate and spicy characters. It’s medium weight with fine minerally tannins. An appealing wine over the next few...

Geographe

Red Blend

This is an exciting example of what can be achieved with quality fruit from Geographe. Colby Quirk has handled it with kid gloves, not pushing it too hard. The bright red malbec was given 18 months in French oak and the shiraz 18 months in American before they came together. The Mulberry plummy dried herb thing on the nose works...

Swan Valley

Red Blend

There have been some solid temps from this vineyard, and this blend with just a little grenache works mighty well. Ripe red cherry and raspberry fruits with some nice spicy dried herb notes. It’s soft and supple with a generous middle palate displaying typical plumpness. Oh, yeah, we’re ready to drink.

Swan Valley

Red Blend

Riverbank Estate Rebellious Field Blend Red 2023 ($19.50) This blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec is from the Swan Valley. It is a delicious wine for current drinking. Loads of ripe red fruit presented with medium-bodied and typical Swan Valley softness. Bright and vibrant, screaming for some pasta. Score: 90/100 Cellar: 5 years