2008 Bremerton, Tamblyn, Langhorne Creek, South Australia (£12.99, reduced to £11.69 by the case, SH Jones of Banbury, Bicester and Leamington Spa tel. 01295 672296 & www.shjoneswines.com). I love it when a prescient merchant in the UK can sell a wine for the same price as the actual winery does from its cellar door thousands of miles away. Congrats then to the terrific team at SH Jones from accurately procuring one of the most alluring and essential red wines of the year. Tamblyn is made by the ridiculously talented Bec Willson and it is named after her grandmother’s ancestors who hailed from Cornwall! It is made principally from Cabernet and Shiraz (my beloved duo in perfect harmony here) and augmented with some Malbec and Merlot for spice and lush duties respectively. The result is a wine which I opened the other day for seventy tasters at SHJ’s HQ in Banbury. It was the wine of the night by a margin, with some very stiff competition, I can assure you. This was probably because the value is simply jaw-dropping. This is one of the model reds from Down Under and it is an everyday price. Funnily enough another wine from Bremerton also kicked goals from all around the room – the 2009 Verdelho (£13.99/£12.59) looked so ravishing, with its pineapple husk nose and pink grapefruit acidity. A spectacular pair of beauties.
