McWilliam’s Wines has a long heritage as a family-run winery in Australia since 1877. They tout themselves as “Australia’s most awarded winery,” and they certainly have earned a number of awards over the years.
McWilliam’s has vineyards in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales—the latter being the area where the grapes for this Shiraz were harvested. While there are a couple different lines of wine available under the McWilliam’s name, the Hanwood Estate is their entry-level wine in terms of price.
The nose on this wine is beautiful. It has a nice nutmeg nuance layered on top of blackberry, cherry, toasted oak and black pepper. The palate is equally enjoyable. It starts out with a lively spice feature which I would call a combination of black pepper and nutmeg. Raspberry and blackberry flavors are the next thing you notice, and I would say that the fruit is full, but not jammy. Some cocoa flavors come to life in the mid-palate and the nutmeg returns on the finish, which is relatively long.
They used both French and American oak barrels in the production of this wine, as well as oak staves. I know some purists scoff at the idea of using staves, but if good wine can be produced using oak staves and it saves a few bucks on the price of the wine then I have no problems with it.
I’m usually one to avoid Australian Shiraz in this price range due to the fact that it’s often filled with overtly jammy fruit, a whack of spice and nothing else. But this wine is quite nice, especially for the price.
Wine: McWIlliam’s Hanwood Estate
Variety: Shiraz
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 86
Price: $12.00
I met winemaker Scott McWilliam back in September, when he was touring the US to promote his wines. I got to spend a fair amount of time with him since I was writing a print article (why that’s more important than a blog, I’ll never know). I was surprised to find out that they’re one of Australia’s largest wineries, with vineyards all over the gigantic SE Aus appellation. They sell mostly entry-level wines in the States, but he apparently makes a killer line of sherries. Unfortunately, we have to head down under to get them. I’ve always been pretty impresssed with his lines available here – esp for the price.
Oh, and he’s this young (maybe 35, tops) blonde guy. He looks like he’d be more at home with a surfboard than a vineyard. I was happy to spend some time with him.