AUSTRALIA

SHIRAZ

93 Walsh & Sons 2017 Felix Syrah (Margaret River). From a single, family-owned vineyard on sandy, clay soils in eastern Margaret River, this is small-batch, minimal-intervention winemaking at an affordable price. It weaves together black currant and raspberry, with licorice, pepper, earth and a touch of vanilla, but it’s not from oak. It changes rapidly in glass, the aromas reminiscent of a winery at crush time. In the mouth, it’s textural, peppery and tangy, buoyed by bright acidity and granular earthy tannins. Wine Dogs Imports LLC. —C.P.

abv: 13.5% Price: $35

This excellent value Shiraz from Western Australia’s Great Southern region doesn’t convey its cool climate origins at first sniff. But give it time in glass or decanter and those initially ripe, primary strawberries and blueberry aromas will morph into more heady floral and spice tones: violets, ground pepper, olives. There’s a velvety plushness in the mouth but linearity