James Halliday's Wine Companion Magazine Top 25 Reds - $30 and under

"This is a wine worth championing. It's not the biggest or burliest red on offer but boy is it a joy to drink. It's one of those wines that just feels effortless. It's balanced, bright-fruited and spice-laden, the flavours offering various shades of cherry, aniseed, twig, raspberry and clove. It's a wine that will please a wide variety of tastes; a wine for a dinner party, perhaps."

2013 was a top notch year for the Clare Valley, warm days and balmy nights allowing the fruit to fully ripen and express all the potential flavour while still retaining it’s acidity and balance. Dark ruby in colour the nose is heady with musk, rose petals and liquorice, with a touch of charred oak and woodsmoke. Texture is silky and strikes a good balance between richness and liveliness. Dark cherries, liquorice, chocolate and coffee flavours are all given equal weight and form a perfect union with peppery tannins and well integrated acids. The result is immensely drinkable right now, but will keep for at least 12 years.