Allegiance Wines The Artisan Cabernet Shiraz 2016

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Mattinson review of Allegiance Wines The Artisan Cabernet Shiraz 2016

Allegiance Wines The Artisan Cabernet Shiraz 2016
$40, 14.0% alcohol, screwcap, McLaren Vale.

I tasted this wine in early 2025, or when the wine was nine years old. It still comes across as fresh and fruitful, with cherry-plum flavours, roasted spice, toasty oak and bitumen characters powering through the palate. Some mellowing has occurred, with dried herb, earth and fresh leather characters evident, along with a gentle, coffee-cream softness. My only real hesitation on this wine is the acidity, which trails slightly off to the side of the main carry of flavour. This wine is though drinking well now and it will continue to do so for some years. 91 points.

Campbell Mattinson

This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, founder of The Winefront and mattinson, and former chief editor of Halliday.

When you pick up a wine book and see thousands of top-scoring wines, it’s hard to know which wine to choose. Mattinson guides you through this maze, giving you an honest view of the best Australian wines, the best wine stories, the best wine producers, the best value wines and simply, the best tasting wines. Importantly, Mattinson will tell you about the top-rated wines and also about the underrated wines. In short, Mattinson knows Australian wines inside and out.

Mattinson has been a photo-journalist since 1987. For the past 25 years he’s been a voice that you can trust when you’re looking for the best wines. 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, and is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter. He’s not afraid to put a score beside a wine. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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