One of the joys of working in the wine industry is, ahem……..drinking wine!

I have plenty of contacts, and good understanding of varietal/vintage/region/maker, a reasonable understanding of what is (and isn’t) a good drop………….and an expense account!

So, how about I pick a wine each week, picked randomly by either myself or by recommendation from learned wine folk, and force myself to drink it (with Rachael, of course) and ruminate…

Nothing over $40. Unless its impossible to say no!

So, here goes…

YARNBOMB by Corinne Wright 2012 McLaren Vale Shiraz $22 @ Dan Murphy’s

What, not a Dromana Estate Pinot to start things off, you ask? Well I don’t want to come across as a complete tightarse, so just take it as given that it is a brilliant wine, and c’mon people..buy some!

I know. Of all the retailers, I pick the biggest first. Still, they do have quite the selection, prices are keen….and we just happened to be passing when I developed a thirst.

This wine is made exclusively for Dan’s, has a great label, cute story, and an awesome winemaker delivering the goods. I picked it ‘cos one of my favourite wineries is Oliver’s Taranga, in the McLaren Vale, and Corrina is the winemaker there. Simple really.

Rachael, on a girls weekend in SA a few years ago, discovered  Oliver’s Taranga Winery,  loved it, bought me a bottle of 2008 Shiraz, and I was hooked. They have provided Penfolds with fruit for Grange in the past, which is a big deal amongst winegrowers, but now use all their fruit in their own wines. And it shows, they are uniformly excellent.

But, if you don’t want to stump up the extra dollars for Oliver’s, then this wine is the next step. The label features a vine which has been “yarn bombed”, something Corinna’s Gran used to do. Hence the label, the name, the story!

The wine is great, medium bodied, plenty of fruit, not too much oak. Spot on for the money. I could blah blah on about structure, balance, acid levels etc, but that’s not the point of the exercise. Just a quick yep or nup, and on we go.

We liked it, the price is about right, would recommend to anyone.