At the weekend we had what (for me) was one of the nicest bottles of wine I think I have ever had.

It was a Wirra Wirra, Shiraz, 2013 called ‘The Good Catch’

Any idea where I can buy it ?
I have found other Wirra Wirra Shiraz but not that one.

https://www.wirrawirra.com/shop/
Can’t see the Good Catch in Shiraz
Might be that it’s been allocated out, could probably find a few similar
https://mclarenvale.info/
Wirra is in the Mclaren Vale so lots of similar styles Shiraz, for the main stream that is easy to find take a look at the Older/Pricier D’arenburg,
http://www.winecompanion.com.au/wineries/south-australia/mclaren-vale/darenberg
Generally less big and in your face as the guys up the road in the Barossa
What were the flavours like in it?
https://www.fowleswine.com/ladies-who-shoot-their-lunch-2013-shiraz
The ladies who shoot lines are very good also and I’ve seen a bunch of Adelaide Hills wines which will probably come out similar.
As always your good local wine shop is of great help – yes the one where the bloke looks like he has tried every one

BTW @mike lives in Australia / Tasmania whch is a big wine producing area so has a head start on oocal knowledge.

OP best bet is to ask the restaurant / wine bar where they get the wine from. Their supplier may sell to you direct for a minimum order size. Next up wouod be to go to a good small independent wine shop and ask them to recommend something similar, try 1 bottle at a time till you find something.

IMO Aussie wines are pretty formulaic so if you can find a wine from the same area it’s likely to be reasonably similar (more so than with French / Italian etc). Also Aussie wines tend to vary less by year due to production techniques (they have much more freedom to tweak the wine) so the year isn’t so important.

IMO Aussie wines are pretty formulaic so if you can find a wine from the same area it’s likely to be reasonably similar (more so than with French / Italian etc). Also Aussie wines tend to vary less by year due to production techniques (they have much more freedom to tweak the wine) so the year isn’t so important.

That’s just the main stream we send out 😉 the big guys can keep a consistent level
http://www.shawandsmith.com/
another one you might be able to find

🙂

“Church Block” is their ‘standard’ plonk that’s surprisingly good, and can be had in some chains over in the UK. It’s a blend, but rather nice, and its grape composition varies each year depending upon which varieties do better. “Wood Henge” is one of their more upper-end mainstream shirazes, which is also rather good. I thought the “Good Catch” was a Shiraz-Cabernet blend?

Contrary to the #Jambyfacts above, Australian wine is extremely varied, and shows quite large seasonal differences in some regions, the McLaren Vale included. 2013 was a pretty good year all in all for most of SA’s wine regions, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll get something very similar even from the Vale in that year given how varied the soil, drainage, and vine ages are. Cheap stuff is of course formulaic, but then it’s cheap. The most of the decent Australian wine never leaves our shores except in small batches to specialists.

I’m sure you’ll discover many decent Australian wines if you look, just avoid anything from 2011 – most decent makers didn’t even bother harvesting that year it was so wet.

Yeah, most of what he said. Except 2011 was pretty good in Tassie.

Only thing I saw exported from here Kiwi was Devils Corner Pinot!

Looks like Majestic commercial exclusive, so you may not be able to source it directly. Looks to be a Shiraz/Cabernet/Petit Verdot blend, so a bit more difficult to find an alternative.

D’arenberg is a good shout. Laughing Magpie is nice and not a straight Shiraz so might suit?

We don’t export. Sell it all here.

Take a look at Naked Wines, it’s a scheme to collect your cash but I got a lot of good stuff when I was in the UK from there and some really good stuff that I had to dispose of over a couple of weeks before moving out 😆

Church Block you can get in Waitrose.

As richpenny, looks to be an exclusive commercial Wine for majestic, which means they don’t sell it to the public. It’s standard practice in the trade to trade wines exclusive for the ‘on’ trade (restaurants, hotels, etc). It adds value to the wine in so much as you can’t go into your local ‘off’ licence and get a shock at how much margin they’re banging on in the restaurants. Still worth going and asking in your local majestic tho.

Aussies and Kiwis make some very nice wines, however personally I prefer the style of the French and Italians and price wise we are paying £10 for Premier Cru Burgandy direct from grower vs £30-40 being asked for Tassie or Kiwi wines of similar quality / style (this is through the wine society who buy and sell at very good prices generally)

TBH I’ve never found much good Australian wine in the UK at a reasonable, and this is mainly because it’s produced in small quantities and is thus drunk mostly in Australia, or even within its state of origin. Generally speaking, the bigger producers who make enough to satisfy larger markets aren’t quite as focussed on which parcel of which vineyard produces the best quality grapes for that particular wine after that particular season.

But then maybe I’ve become quite snobbish when it comes to wine – I’ve driven over Jacob’s Creek many times, but never turned left into their Cellar Door to see if they do actually produce something worth drinking. I don’t think I’ve seen a car that’s not a rental (and thus driven by a tourist) turning in there either.

Think of it like our craft beers vs Fosters, if you will…

Adnams or Lay & Wheeler would be my go to people in this part of the world for a specific wine type. Wines of Interest in Ipswich are also pretty hady for some good stuff.

Fairly easy to get D’Arenberg over here (McLaren Vale) and the “Footbolt” and “Dead Arm” Shiraz are pretty good. Had lunch there a few years ago and met the owner d’Arry Osborn. A really nice, down to earth bloke.

Langmeil “The Valley Floor” Shiraz from Barossa is pretty good too (IMO). Never seen it in the shops but you can get in through online resellers in the UK

however personally I prefer the style of the French and Italians

Good on then indulge me, what is the style of Australian and NZ wines, I’d be hard pushed to pick a style of France, the variation is huge from pish/cask to fantastic bottles.

Two Paddocks Pinot Noir is one of the best Australian/New Zealand wines I’ve tried, but you need deep pockets.

Planella (2010 if you can get it) is a magnificent red, far superior to most things I’ve tried from Spain including other Montsants.

I tend to buy French whites as (and I’m not sure why, but…) Australian whites give me a raging headache.

we are paying £10 for Premier Cru Burgandy

That’s a pretty good price, what is it?

thx all.

I’ll try majestic & also the restaurant – see if they’ll sell me a bottle.
It’ll make a good stocking filler !!

Good on then indulge me, what is the style of Australian and NZ wines, I’d be hard pushed to pick a style of France, the variation is huge from pish/cask to fantastic bottles.

I know you weren’t asking me, but if you’re going to accept mouthfeel as a character or style (and I reckon you will), then you might argue that the higher average alcohol is a defining style of Oz/NZ; and lower alcohol between 11.5 and 13 as a style of France for the most typical vintages.

I’ve had some exceptional wines from NZ and Oz, but I tend to prefer the lighter alcohol from some winemakers in cooler spots like Margaret River, Pemberton and so on.

He could mean that he prefers traditional methods such as used in rioja or in Amerone. Also new world producers have a rep of tampering with the tannins to make fruit forward wines. Old world producers tend not to do this. A good example would be a £15 burgundy pinot noir against a £15 New Zealand pinot noir, anyone with basic wine knowledge could tell them apart instantly. That’s as much down to dif in production methods as it is climate and soil. IMO of course, I’m no jancis robinson. Another burgundyish example would be, I don’t believe any or many French wine producers use American oak chips in Chardonnay production, it’s heavily used in new world Chardonnay production, even in Chablis price level wines.