Every wine lover knows that there’s seldom a shortage of decent Shirazes from Australia. It’s not every day that we can enjoy a Mollydooker Velvet Glove or Enchanted Path, or a Clarendon Astralis. But we can, every day, enjoy a mouthfilling, bold rendition of the grape the Aussies do so well.

Which brings me to Oliverhill (yes, it’s one word) Red Silk Shiraz from one of my favorite places, McLaren Vale. One thing I love about McLaren Vale is that it’s literally right down the road from Adelaide. Closer, even, than Napa is to San Francisco. You get off the plane, hit the A13 to the Southern Expressway, and you’re there in about 40 minutes. It’s great.

When we were there in January of 2011, the entire area was overrun by enormous flocks of cockatoos that basically stripped every leaf off every tree, but that didn’t diminish our enjoyment (or our sampling) one bit.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of Oliverhill’s excellent wines during our last visit, but did discover the Red Silk in Costco a few weeks ago. Bought a bottle, tried it, went back, bought a case.

The nose has a rich, loamy barnyard scent, along with overtones of cedar. Even with a healthy 14% alcohol (give or take), the wine is soft on the palate, with notes of caramel, vanilla, and some blueberry on the finish.

Being a marketing person, I wasn’t that fond of the label, because I felt that the wine had more class and distinction than the design communicates. It’s pretty serious stuff, and for the price, it’s hard to beat. WW 91-92