Living in Singapore gives us many opportunities to get acquainted with wines from around the world. Superb French and Italian reds are available to us, we also have the opportunity to enjoy wine from the New World- Australia, specifically.
The same is true for the range of wine available; while there are unabashedly pricey premium bottles being hawked by speciality merchants, there are also humble supermarket wines meant for everyday drinking. While one might be tempted to splurge on an expensive bottle of Burgundy Grand Cru for “good wine”, there’s actually an abundance of quality available at every price point. One can drink well at a budget of his or her own choosing, and need not burn the proverbial hole in one’s pockets simply to enjoy a good wine.
The main difficulty that arises, once one accepts that quality can be had at different prices, is in separating the gems from the gravel.
Unfortunately, that is in itself no mean feat, and has become the bread and butter of trained sommeliers the world over. What the average man can do is to educate himself, read others’ opinions, and lastly, look for trusted brand names. With Australian wines, this last part inevitably draws one to Penfolds.
Penfolds has been making our favourite red ingestible since 1844, but has really risen to prominence in modern times through the efforts of its chief winemaker from 1948 to 1975, Max Schubert. Yet, the man was not originally trained in oenology; he started off working at Penfolds as a messenger boy. Yet, in his lifetime, he was recognised as one of the biggest contributors to the Australian wine industry. It was he who created the Grange Hermitage, one of Australia’s most prominent wines, using a combination of unorthodox techniques and winemaking wisdom learnt from the French. The inaugural 1951 vintage of Grange now commands a hefty price of $60,000.
Other than the top end Grange, it also produces other ranges, like the Bin 707, the Koonunga Hill…and now the Max’s range.
The Max’s range is intended for the supermarkets and is priced at a very sane $40. Targeted at beginners, it is meant to be drinkable straight away, without any requisite cellaring. The tastes are less tannic and lean toward bigger fruits. These make the range more approachable, with less complexity involved in purchase and enjoyment.
There are three varieties:
Max’s Shiraz 2014
Powerful nose, full of berries and dark fruit, with a hint of spice. On the tongue, the distinctive Shiraz flavours come in full force. Plums, dark cherries, a slight sweetness and only a light whiff of oak. Finish is light and sweet, recalling the fruit, but I tasted a light bitterness at the end.
Max’s Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Blast of spice and berries on the nose. Earthy flavours of blackberry and blackcurrants. Spice and herbs, tomatoes, mixed with a healthy dose of tannins. Finish is long and lingering. A noticeably lighter body than the Shiraz.
Max’s Shiraz Cabernet 2014
Combining characteristics of the Shiraz and the Cab, Full-berried nose of the Shiraz. Huge sweet fruit tastes, with a more powerful tannic midpalate than the Shiraz. Only a hint of spice. A thicker, buttery texture that satisfies. Long and lingering finish. I like this; it combines the powerful flavours of the Shiraz with a nice tannic structure from the Cab, granting a good mix of tones from nose to finish.
Overall, I find the wines good value for money. They’re not incredibly complex wines that require an hour of breathing in a decanter before they begin to open up; they’re meant to be easy-drinking, approachable wines to be enjoyed right after the trip to the supermarket. You can get them at Cold Storage at the recommended retail price of $40.
