Pillar Box Red a good value

While there's no shortage of great wines in Australia, few winemakers there achieve the kind of superstardom that Chris Ringland has. His wines, always pure shiraz monsters, sell for upward of $2,000 per bottle in the best vintages.

So I was surprised to find out that he's the consulting winemaker on a project dubbed Pillar Box Red, in reference to the old English mailboxes. At less than $10, this wine is truly priced to sell, so be sure to jump on it.

In addition to the great price, the wine is sealed with the increasingly popular screw cap, which will ensure that you can enjoy another glass or two the day after opening it.

In the glass, Pillar Box Red wine is a deep crimson-red color with a dense, opaque core, going out into a fine, garnet-red rim definition with streaks of ruby and high viscosity.

On the nose, the wine offers soft, ripe, freshly crushed black cherries, blueberries, creme de cassis, almost buttery spicy components of vanilla, raspberry zest, creme brulee, licorice root, eucalyptus leaves, phenolics and toasted oak references.

In the mouth, it coats the palate with ripe black and red berry fruits, cherries jubilee, blackberry liqueur, strawberry jam, cassis, boysenberry sorbet, raspberry coulis and licorice components. The midpalate is fresh, with a wonderfully rounded medley of red berries, black currants and brambleberry fruit, then shows superb balance with tannins kept in harmony by the fruit and the alcohol, going into the tasty, long finish that lingers with red licorice and cherry liqueur.

Pillar Box Red is a nicely complex and layered wine with good structure and density. It shows just what can be done with high-quality purchased fruit, although this could easily be known as the "second label" of the great wines otherwise made by Ringland. It should drink well for four to five years and pair up nicely with lamb chops cooked rare on the grill.

Wine: Henry's Drive Pillar Box Red

Grapes: Shiraz (50 percent), cabernet sauvignon (42 percent), merlot (8 percent)

Region: Padthaway, Southern Australia

Vintage: 2006

Price: $9.99

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.