Wirra Wirra Church Block Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2023

Written By Campbell Mattinson

Wirra Wirra Church Block Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2023
AU$22, 14.5% alcohol, screwcap, McLaren Vale.

As I’ve said previously on this site: “Wirra Wirra’s Church Block red blend has been a favourite of Australian red wine drinkers for decades. It’s a cabernet blend, it almost always punches above its weight, you can drink it right now or you can even cellar it, should you really want to.”

Wow this is good for $25. It’s mid weight, well balanced, well structured and well sustained. It tastes of berries, mint and chocolate, though it also carries a slightly dusty, gently autumnal edge. Fruit though is the mainstay. Excellent is the word. Top Value.

93 points – Campbell Mattinson.

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
Previous

Wirra Wirra Church Block Shiraz 2024
Next

Wirra Wirra Church Block Grenache Shiraz 2024