St Hugo Attunement Shiraz Cabernet 2018

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Mattinson review of St Hugo Attunement Shiraz Cabernet 2018.

St Hugo Attunement Shiraz Cabernet 2018
$100, 14.5% alcohol, cork, Barossa Vallery/Coonawarra.

This is a wonderful example of this classic Australian blend. It’s made with 64% Shiraz and 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, from vineyards in the Barossa Valley and Coonawarra. What I love about it, other than its quality, is that some of the ageing has been done for you. At seven years of age it’s mellowed to a beautiful place: leather, blackberry, mocha and woodsmoke characters come tipped with aromatic herbs and mint. It’s firm, well structured, well-flavoured and well sustained, with bottle-age complexities working in its favour. It’s just a lovely wine to sit back and to settle in with. And it evolves (very) nicely as it rests in the glass too. 94 points.

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
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