We Love Ozzie Wines and Ozzie Winemakers

Australians alway seem to be  traveling as far away from it as they can. Especially Ozzie winemakers who are out and about the whole world promoting their wines. We were visited by two eccentric Australians. We covered the Some Young Punks wines and their colorful winemaker Colin McBryde in a previous post. Today we discuss the fine wines of George Shinas.
The Shinas family immigrated to Australia from post WWII Greece in the 1950’s and grew their home winemaking practice into a family business. The vineyards are in Mildura, part of
Victoria in Southeast Australia, with a hot dry Mediterranean climate that produces stressed gnarly vines and beautiful fruit. The names of the wines follow a criminal justice theme. The Verdict, The Guilty, The Innocent, Sweet Justice & The Executioner. George is not a gentleman farmer, he is intimately involved every step of the way from the first buds on the vine to the final juice in his glass and he makes terrific terroir driven wines that are amazingly low priced for the quality they deliver. The reds are treated to long aging in used barrel which allows for a lot of flavors to express themselves with out imparting a lot of wood flavor.

Who is this George Shinas character? None other than your standard night court judge by evening and winemaker turned partying rockstar by day/weekend. Let’s say Judge Harry Stone has nothing on George in the charisma department. The honorable George Shinas is truly the international man of mystery especially when partnered with his dynamic duo brethren and de facto winemaker, Stephen Black of Small Gully.

The Shinas Line Up of Wines

 The Verdict Cabernet spends 30 months in used French oak and has delicious flavors of dark berries, mineral dust and a little brambliness with a long finish and a rich, fleshy mouthfeel. Next to the top of the line “Executioner” this is my favorite of the reds. Read more & buy..,

The Guilty Shiraz spends 24 months in oak, which is a heck of a long time for any wine. The fruit is picked at high ripeness and has the stuffing to warrant such extended wood aging. It is a powerful, inky wine with dark mulberry and blackberry flavors and a little spice as well. Read more & buy..,

The Executioner This is The Judge’s reserve wine, it is a Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz blend with a touch of Viognier (ala Hermitage and Cote Rotie) from estate vines that are in excess of 50 years of age! This wine really rocks, I get more Cabernet Sauvignon character out of it than Shiraz, and the splash of Viognier really sparks the aromatics. Read more & buy..,

The Innocent Viognier Is not like any other I’ve had. It has the floral honeysuckle quality but also has some honeycomb and a little mineral note. It also has a little acidity and backbone missing in many Viogniers and I commend the Judge on his great success with this hard to cultivate variety. Read more & buy..,

Sweet Justice Moscato Very yummy Italian style Moscato with a bit of fizz and low alcohol. It has a bit more fizz than the Italian and besides the floral, honeysuckle and grapey peach stuff going on it has a nice acidity (though still sweet) and a touch of mineral notes. It’s a very high quality version of this style of wine. Read more & buy..,