Wine’s a wonderful thing. It tastes great, is full of mystery and romance, tells a fascinating story and evokes memories to treasure time and time again.

Not your bog average wine which has no providence, the favourite of the chain store and bargain bin, but wines with a rich heritage, or back story.

Best’s Bin No.1 Shiraz 2012 $25 from Great Western, Victoria.

The Great Western region has long been a favourite of mine, so much so I indoctrinated Rachael into it’s seductive charms, and we got married there. Not at Best’s but down the road at Seppelt, outside Vine Lodge.

Great Western and I go back a ways, from the obligatory speeding ticket outside Ararat (more cops per square mile than anywhere on earth!) on the way to the Great Western Cup, to drunken wine tours at Seppelt fancifully called “conferences”. Suffice to say, we got ourselves barred from most of the motels in Stawell and Ararat at one stage or another.

The Great Western Cup is a ripper race day (Australia day weekend) on a very rustic dirt track, with sponsors marquee and plenty of sponsors product. As well as a poultice of beer…and heaps of flies!

One year brother-in-Law, Bruce had a pony going round in the cup with a bit of a chance, so the boys and I laid down our hard earned on it…..it dutifully saluted, and paid the princely sum of $1.05! Didn’t stop us celebrating long and hard back at the pub, though……long and hard! Ouch!!

A few years back Rachael and I discovered the “Grampians Grape Escape” weekend where we attempted to try every sparkling shiraz the region has to offer, as well a a few reds. A terrific weekend, highly recommended.

If you’re up that way and are looking for a bit of history to go with your wine, you’d be hard pressed to go past Best’s. Established in 1866, run by the 5th generation of the Thomson family, history reeking out of every gnarly pore, this is a winery with backbone, and style.

None better on display than the No.1 Shiraz. Here is a wine perfectly in sync with the region, with the history of the place, with the terroir. (had to put some wine stuff in!)

Like another one of our favourites, Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz, we’d be happy drinking this stuff every day.

And if we go to the Great western Cup weekend again, we probably will!