Aussie Cabernet-Shiraz Dozen

“A sumptuous 2016 Langhorne Creek red, from Ben’s Heartland venture, headlines The Australian Wine Club’s special dozen deal this week, featuring a line-up of four cabernet-shiraz blends from some of Australia’s best producers. Save $324 (51%) at $24.99 a bottle. Cabernet-Shiraz blends – often referred to as clarets - are Australia’s gift to the wine-drinking world. While traditional French winemaking rules forbid the blending of these grapes - leaving Cabernet to Bordeaux and Shiraz to the Rhone Valley - our winemakers have always found harmony in the duo, going back to Penfolds Grange creator Max Schubert, who used cabernet to add complexity to his Shiraz-dominant blend. In our special mixed dozen, you’ll find McLaren’s five-star Coriole and Clare Valley icon Pikes putting their stamp on this archetypal Australian blend, along with Wrattonbully’s distinguished Terre a Terre Wines. (As a footnote, Terre a Terre shows that if you take a Frenchman out of France, he too will blend cabernet and shiraz. Terre a Terre co-founder Xavier Bizot hails from Champagne’s house of Bollinger, while his wife, Lucy Croser, is the daughter of Australian winemaking innovator Brian Croser.)