under $15

X. Angoves
1998 Shiraz
Classic Reserve - South Australia $11
Intense and rich grapey fruit with great supporting oak and tannins. We haven't seen value like this since little Johnny hit us with the Get Stuffed Tax.

X. Ashwood Grove
1999 Shiraz
Murray Valley - Victoria $14
Jammy with a good grippy finish, good value. Sweet and unsophisticated. It reminds me of ... I've gotta stop hanging around those girls' school front gates.

X. Cockatoo Ridge
1999 Shiraz
Australia $11
Stewed plum fruit palate with big tannins and complementing oak. Like a swim in the Yarra -a little murky but a hell of a lot of fun and great memories are made of it.

X. Deakin Estate
2000 Shiraz
Australia $11
Spicy, jammy, sappy palate with a grippy finish. A little rough around the edges but with a sweet heart. Angry Anderson in a bottle.

XXx. Deakin Estate
1999 Shiraz
Select Murray Darling - Victoria $14
Excellent cedary oak and fruit combination - great balance and finish. Grange it ain't, but who cares when you can get 30 bottles of this for the same price. The wallet and palate win again.

XX. Four Sisters
1999 Shiraz
Victoria $13.50
Sweet, ripe fruit with spice and tea leaf characters. The palate is soft and ripe with a minerally mouthfeel and gentle tannins. You'll like this.

XXx. Honey Tree
1999 Shiraz
Estate - New South Wales $13
Ripe strawberry and black pepper rose. Youthful, packed with fruit and good oak. Bags of flavour and great value. Sophie Dahl, overflowing with ... well, everything.

X. Miranda Wines
1999 Shiraz
High Country - Victoria $13
Ally McBeal on a good day - light and easy and with no Tom Jones in the background. Simple, sweet, plumy fruit backed up by some firm acid and soft tannins.

XX. Rosemount Estate
2000 Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon
Hunter Valley - New South Wales $12
Sweet plum and blackcurrant fruit, a rich mouthfeel that finishes long and clean. The most fun you'll have for $12 that's legal and doesn't involve furry animals.

X. Salena Estate Wines
1999 Shiraz
South Australia $14
Chocolate, green, minty, spice nose. Open, easy, unsurprising and everything you want. Like Brittney Spears in her pyjamas and slippers.

X. Saltram
1998 Shiraz
Barossa Valley - South Australia $12
Like Manpower, this wine's masculine and very meaty. Unlike Manpower, this wine will get more interesting with a bit of time.

Xx. Sandalford
2000 Shiraz
Element - Australia $13
A good combo of blackberry, spice and grip. Big sweet fruit, crushed blackberries in a glass - drink me.

XX. Tollana
1998 Shiraz
Bin TR 16 - Adelaide Hills $10
Sweet, stewed plums backed up by sweet cloves and cinnamon. Warm and delicious like a middle of July tongue pash at Falls Creek.

X. Yaldara Wines
1999 Shiraz
Lakewood - South Australia $10
Chocolate spice and a touch of coffee. Good texture and pretty ok value. It's got that feel good in the mouth texture - one that really satisfies.

$15 - $22

X. Andrew Harris
1999 Shiraz
Mudgee - New South Wales $16
Dark and rich in colour with a sweet, rich, and slightly flimsy palate. Like a track from Kylie Minogue - although the sound is familiar, it's still a little sexy.

X. Annie's Lane
1998 Shiraz/Grenache/Mouvedre
Old Vine Clare Valley - South Australia $22
Sweet spicy fruit with great supporting oak. Though like Lolita, it'd be a crime to go near it too soon just as it'd be worth the wait.

Xx. Basedow
1997 Shiraz
Barossa Valley - South Australia $15
Decent wine for the price. Fly-by your local and grab a bottle now. A good fruit and oak ratio with little complexity and nice length.

X. Basedow
1996 Shiraz
Johannes Barossa Valley - South Australia $20
Solid brick red with plums, raspberries and oak on the snozz. The palate is concentrated, soft and rich. Like the hostesses in economy, this wine has all the bits in the right places but falls slightly short of those found in business class.

X. Beresford Wines
1999 Shiraz
Belleville Estate Langhorne Creek - South Australia $18
Good black jammy fruit. Concentrated with good spicy wood. Take off shelf, put in basket, go home, drink. How easy is that?

Xx. Brewery Hill
1998 Shiraz
South Australia $20
Very smooth, big chewy tannins and a whack of acidity that finishes with lovely sweet juicy fruit. Buffy the Vampire in long spiky boots and not much else - frightening in appearance but quite sweet underneath.

X. Connor Park Wines
1999 Shiraz
Bendigo - Victoria $18
A fine palate that's flavoursome, full and fragrant. Like waking up at 11am on Sunday morning - relaxed, easygoing, full of promise.

X. Dalfarras
1997 Shiraz
Victoria $19.50
Cool climate, rich spicy shiraz - clean palate and long finish. Like being locked up in a Middle Eastern spice factory. Rock the Casbah.

X. Fox River
1998 Shiraz
Mt Barker - Western Australia $16
Cooked apples, plums, spiced with cinnamon, all with an smoky oaked character. All the best smells of autumn and home cooking in one bottle.

X. Gapsted
1997 Shiraz
Ballerina Canopy King Valley - Victoria $20
Caramel, toffee apple, sweet confectionary and high oak. Thick, sticky caramel oozing slowly down the torso ... oh, use your own imagination.

X. Glenara Wines
1997 Shiraz
Adelaide Hills - South Australia $21
Sweet vanilla oak nose, cloves, cinnamon and plum cake palate. Great stuff - a great beat and you can dance to it.

XX. Hamilton
1999 Shiraz
Synergy South Australia $15
The nose is a touch cooked with spicy notes and plumy fruit notes. The palate is full bodied and firm with dry, gripping tannins. Great value. To be drunk with food.

Xx. Hamilton
1998 Shiraz
Gumpers' Block - South Australia $21
Dense, dark, deep, chewy black fruit and good use of oak. Underlying jammy notes and cedar spice. If a gruff, 'baccy-chewing Texan could be bottled and made pleasant, this here, is it.

X. Ingoldby
1998 Shiraz
Reserve McLaren Vale - South Australia $16
Solid plums, concentrated pepper and raspberries with spice and soft centre. A rich bargain, like marrying an 80-year-old billionaire.

X. Jindalee Estate
1999 Shiraz
Geelong Fettlers Rest - Murray Darling Region $20
A green stalky nose but some sweet dense black fruit on the palate, nice tannins and good finish. Like taking Jim Carrey's clobber off and finding a surprisingly good body.

Xx. Kangarilla Road Winery
1999 Shiraz
McLaren Vale - South Australia $18
Sweet, sexy and approachable, just like ... You insert the person, we're too busy drinking.

X. Kingston Estate
1999 Shiraz
Riverland - South Australia $15
Smells of plums, soft spice and mocha oak while the palate is concentrated and long. Like hangin' out with Kareem Abdul Jabbar - talkin' jive, shooting hoops and listening to choice 'hip hop'. Too good.

X. Macaw Creek Wines
2000 Shiraz
Yoolang 'Preservative Free' Clare Valley - South Australia $15.50
Big nose, fruity and earthy. Romping with Gerard Depardieu in the cowshed.

XX. Maglieri
1999 Shiraz
McLaren Vale - South Australia $19
Sweet, woody nose with good body and well integrated oak. Fruity and slightly high alcoholic finish. Julian Clary - fruity, full-bodied and with great legs.

X. Margan Family Winegrowers
1999 Shiraz
Hunter Valley - New South Wales $20
Great depth of fruit with a solid tarry palate. Phone off the hook, favourite video, this wine.

Xx. McGuigan Wines
1998 Shiraz
Shareholders - New South Wales $16
Overly ripe nose leads to a sweetly powerful wine at a great price. Try it for value. Like shopping at Dimmeys and stumbling across a cheap pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes.

X. McWilliams Barwang
1998 Shiraz
South Australia $23
Full, rich, creamy blend cushioned in layers and layers of oak. Daisy the cow with a splinter.

X. Miranda Wines
1997 Shiraz
Family Reserve Old Vine Barossa - South Australia $20
Big, sweet American oak covers up most of the sweet by slightly rhubarby fruit. There's some good wine amongst the forest here - go searching.

X. Miranda Wines
1999 Shiraz
Rovalley Ridge Barossa - South Australia $16
Complex, spicy, black, juicy fruit and the palate has good strong tannins. Big and brash like Dame Edna and with tannins as grippy as 'her' handshake.

X. Mitchelton Wines
1998 Shiraz
Preece Central Victoria $15.50
Peppery, fairly light, some nice fruit, pretty easy drinking. Get a bottle and drink it on your next long weekend.

X. Mitchelton Wines
1998 Shiraz
Central Victoria $16
Hearty on the spices with some sweet fruit and firm tannins. This ones got the whole spice rack - cummin get it.

X. Redman Wines
1999 Shiraz
Redman Coonawarra - South Australia $16
A toffee apple for grown ups - sweet toffee fruit with an acid kick right in the middle.

X. Scarpantoni Estate Wines
1999 Shiraz
Block 3 McLaren Vale - South Australia $21
Sweet, ripe, red fruit, spice with smooth sexy oak. Harrison Ford as Indiana - glasses, leather pants and hat. Rather sexy when you think about it.

X. Wolf Blass
1998 Shiraz
Barossa - South Australia $15
Like a glass of Ribena, neat. Drink to your health.

X. Yarra Ridge
1998 Shiraz
Yarra Valley - Victoria $21
Fragrant with attractive fruit lift, some delicate and spicy aromas - not overpowering but just enough. Like rubbing your wrist against the free perfume sachet in trashy chicks' mags.

$22 - $35

XX. Balgownie Estate
1998 Shiraz
Bendigo - Victoria $22
Pepper, herbs and spice. Concentrated fruit with dense blackberry fruits. Don't just serve this with your rack of lamb, marinate it in it as well.

X. Beckett's Flat
1999 Shiraz
Western Australia $23
Well balanced, warm combination of spice, Christmas cake, leather and oak. It's like eating fruitcake off a good friend's leather chaps.

X. Brokenwood
1999 Shiraz
Hunter Valley - New South Wales $23
Reasonable length and palate weight. The nose is a little shy and the fruit not overly complex. Like a good waiter, this wine will move a great evening along and noone will even know it's there.

XXx. Cape Jaffa
1999 Shiraz
Siberia Limestone Coast - South Australia $35
Sweet fruit and elegant black pepper spice. Rich, complex with beautifully integrated oak. So soft, so smooth. This is Brad Pitt in red velvet hot pants, a six pack of blackberry yogurt and no spoon. Giddy-up.

X. Cape Jaffa
1999 Shiraz
Mt Benson Limestone Coast - South Australia $23
Burnt toffee spice with bags of blackberry fruit. Good density, big tannins. A monster - and a young monster at that.

X. Cobaw Ridge
1999 Shiraz
Sunbury - Victoria $30
Slightly herbal aroma with fruit tingling palate. Dark cherry, chocolate and shaved pine but like your first day at uni, a touch restrained.

XX. De iuliis
1999 Shiraz
Show Reserve Hunter Valley - New South Wales $23
This wine has great subtlety and finesse which features as common in Aussie Shiraz as a Jeff Buckley third album.

X. Dromana Estate
1999 Shiraz
Mornington Peninsula - Victoria $30
Pepper, plums and spice all wrapped up in grippy tannins. This is cool-climate shiraz. Enjoy it.

X. Evans and Tate
1998 Shiraz
Margaret River - Western Australia $26.50
Solid plum in colour. The nose is super-solid, backward and ripe. The palate is concentrated and long. Like 'Big' Barry Hall down the backline helping to kick the Saints off the bottom of the ladder.

X. Fermoy Estate
1999 Shiraz
Sentinel Margaret River - Western Australia $23
Strong aromatic nose, ripe berries and tannins as grippy as a Mike Tyson handshake.

X. Goundrey
1998 Shiraz
Reserve Mt Barker - Western Australia $24
A rich mouthful of plum and spice with some good solid oak hanging around in the background like a J-Lo Bodyguard.

X. Hamiltons
1998 Shiraz
Ewell Vineyards Railway Barossa Valley - South Australia $25
Aniseed on the nose, lots of tannin, fruit and a big chewy mouthful. Lots of everything. Big, busty and beautiful - Pamela Anderson but all parts 100 per cent genuine.

X. Hamiltons
1999 Shiraz
Leconfield Coonawarra - South Australia $30
Beguiling with a spicy mint-leaf nose and floral lifts of lavender and violets. A little French in flavour, elegant and most attractive. What many women want to be and what most men what them to be.

X. Knight
1998 Shiraz
Granite Hills Macedon - Victoria $26
Big licorice and raspberry nose with underlying ripe fruit. Surprisingly smooth on the palate although lots of acidity keeps it going. Like a really good selection in your mixed bag of lollies - one that's got a taste of everything.

X. Langmeil Winery
1999 Shiraz
Barossa Valley - South Australia $23
Sweet, ripe fruit matched with vanilla oak and a grippy finish. An Aussie with a French accent - sweet, ripe with a herbal finish.

X. Maglieri
1998 Shiraz
Steve Maglieri McLaren Vale - South Australia $34
Raspberry cream nose, big fat American oak barrels and a fat and juicy palate. Tom Arnold sneaking lollies from Rosanne's stash.

XX. Mildara Blass
1998 Shiraz
Mount Ida - Victoria $35
Vibrant purple ink appearance, with a palate of violets, raspberries, cherries and vanilla. If Ida was anything like this wine (incredibly sweet, vibrant and rich), you probably would mount her.

X. Moss Brothers
1999 Shiraz
Margaret River - Western Australia $30
Well-handled fruit, ripe berries with a thick long finish. Like a five-star hotel hooker - quality but you pay for it.

X. Moss Brothers
1999 Shiraz
Western Australia $30
A solid six pack of flavour - plum cake, mocha, chocolate, mint earth and herbs. If your palate suffers ADD, this one should be enough.

XX. Mount Pleasant
1997 Shiraz
Rosehill $29
A great combination of flavours - plum cake, licorice and vanilla, all with the balance of a Cirque du Soleil high walker.

Xx. Penley Estate
1998 Shiraz
Hyland Coonawarra - South Australia $25
A nose of sweet, ripe raspberry and soft spice qualities and a palate that's as ripe and intense as Liv Tyler in Stealing Beauty. And just like her daddy, it has good length.

X. Plunkett Wines
1999 Shiraz
Reserve Strathbogie Ranges - Victoria $33
Some ripe, sweet, cherry fruit on nose with good concentration on the palate. All the things in all the right places - the women of Dallas.

X. Plunkett Wines
1998 Shiraz
Reserve Strathbogie Ranges- Victoria $33
Smells of berries, plums and soft earthy notes and tastes minerally with gentle acid and fine grained tannins. Dark and dense like an episode of Twin Peaks.

X. Sandalford
1998 Shiraz
Margaret River - Western Australia $23
Powerful nose of white pepper and spice. The palate is long with the fruit remaining elegantly bound by firm, fine grained tannin. Stylish and classy like Julia Roberts winning Best Actress in a classic Valentino.

Xx. Shadowfax
1999 Shiraz
Geelong - Victoria $29
Intense sweet fruit approaching cough syrup consistency on the palate. Bring on winter, this is my kind of cough syrup.

X. Tatachilla
1999 Shiraz
McLaren Vale - South Australia $23
Strong tannin and wood influence. Nice structure and concentration of fruit. Fun and games at the Moomba festival - colourful, eventful and even a little sexy.

X. Tempus
1998 Shiraz
Two Vine Vale Vineyard - New South Wales $28
A sweet confectionery nose gives way to violent pepper and spice. Rich, full flavoured, but perhaps a little unbalanced. Russell Crowe after a few too many celebratory beers.

Xx. Wignalls Wines
1999 Shiraz
Albany - Western Australia $23
A great combo of spice, jam and fruit cake. A Kryptonite of a wine, even Superman would go weak at the knees over this.

Xx. Yering Station
1999 Shiraz
Yarra Valley - Victoria $23
Smooth red fruit, weight and tummin. Not hugely intellectual but really hits the spot. A little dose of Meg Ryan - nice to look at and well worth a try.

over $35

Xx. Annie's Lane
1996 Shiraz
Coppertrail Clare Valley - South Australia $38
A dark and brooding blend with a rich concentration of fruit berry and oak. Ralph Fiennes sends a piercing look of lost love straight down the camera lens to your heart. Take it now.

XX. Bannockburn
1999 Shiraz
Australia $40
Lots of earth and ripe berryfruit with a long earthy finish. Back to being a kid and going berry picking - lots of fruit, earth, sunshine - fantastic.

Xx. Evans and Tate
1998 Shiraz
Redbrook Margaret River - South Australia $40
Smooth, concentrated, beautiful black fruit and tannins. Seriously good. Madonna in her later years - clean, beautiful and seriously rich.

X. Fox Creek Wines
1999 Shiraz
Reserve McLaren Vale - South Australia $60
Bags of spicy oak on the nose. Barbecued meat, smoke, rich, dense colour. Huge tannins but integrated underlying red fruit. Closed and, like the new breed of juniors in the AFL, needs a few footy seasons to really develop.

X. Hamilton
1998 Shiraz
Reserve 100-Year-Old Vines - South Australia $50
The nose is alcoholic and volatile with dense plumy fruit, and the palate is rich and intense. A bit like Al Pacino - only imagine him bigger. Too exy for the price.

XX. Hewitson
1998 Shiraz
L'Oizeau - McLaren Vale $36
Sweet ripe fruit nose. Tastes peppery, complex, rich and has a lovely mouthfeel with a hot finish. Think of a smooth, rich guy, put him in boxers and place on a waterbed. Hot stuff.