Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017

The Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017 is a beautiful example of McLaren Vale Shiraz. It’s big and round with plush flavours of fruit and vanilla balanced by a nice earthiness and long finish. Perfect for pairing with food, this is the sort of wine you’ll find all too easy to polish off! 

This week I had to share a Shiraz I enjoyed over the weekend with my parents. We headed down to the beach for the first time since this craziness all began. It was so great to get out of our suburb and enjoy some much-needed downtime by the ocean. This, of course, meant bringing some great wine to enjoy with them over a delicious dinner!

I think one of the best things about wine, other than it being delicious, is that it brings people together. My parents love wine almost as much as I do, and so we always have great conversations about what we’re drinking. I love trying new bottles of wine with them, and this one was one I’m glad we opened! The Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017 was perfect on a cool winter night along with some roasted meat and great conversation.

The Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017: bold, blush and easy-drinking at once

I absolutely love wines from McLaren Vale and am particularly partial to their Shiraz, and so I was very excited to try the Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017. We visited Hugh Hamilton on our trip last year, and we had the best tasting experience there! If you ever get to McLaren Vale make sure you check them out! Not only are their wines delicious, but they have great wine tastings which really help to educate you about the wine while you sip.

Hugh Hamilton and his daughter Mary are the 5th and 6th generation of a dynasty lasting back over 180 years. Hugh’s great-great-grandfather planted Australia’s first wine grapes in 1837! Now, Hugh Hamilton exists to create exceptional wines and new experiences. Expect fun and quirky descriptions along with absolutely delicious wines!

The Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017 has been created using grapes from across vineyard sites in order to develop a wine full of great depth, structure and flavours. Although you could cellar it for a few years, something I was tempted to do, it is drinking so well now there’s no reason to wait!

Why I loved it

The Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017 is a beautifully complex wine that drinks all too easy for something a bit bigger. I got a lot of dark fruit and ripe berries on the nose – think blueberry and blackberry especially. There were also some nice notes of vanilla to round this out, as well as some subtle floral notes.

In flavour, this wine was big and rounded with plenty of texture. I got the same notes as the nose, but a nice earthy tone in the flavour to really balance it out. A good hit of acidity and tannins really balanced the wine as well, and it had a nice, long finish. This wine is big and plush, but so nicely balanced that it is all too easy to drink.

So who would love the Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017? Well if you like a big wine, but don’t want something too bold, this wine is for you. It is plush without being overly rich, and perfectly balanced with fruity yet earthy notes. It was easy to drink but complex enough that you wished you had another bottle lying around.

What to enjoy it with

The Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017 is the perfect food wine. Although we continued to enjoy it after dinner over a board game, I think this wine really shone with a meal. Think steak or bbq to pair beautifully with this wine. Nothing too heavy as this might drown out the complexity of the flavours. Grilled vegetables would be the perfect accompaniment to a nice steak and this wine.

The final word on the Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017

The Hugh Hamilton ‘The Rascal’ Shiraz 2017 is an absolutely delicious McLaren Vale wine that I honestly wish I had another bottle of. Drink now or age for a couple of years, either way, you’ll have a good time. It’s fruity characteristics and lots going on with the texture give a nice lush flavour that keeps the wine bold, but it is also nicely rounded and balanced. This wine would easily be enjoyed by the Shiraz lover or someone who doesn’t love heavy wine. It is all too easy to drink though, so be warned that long finish will leave you wanting another sip!

Find out more on the Hugh Hamilton website.

Note: I was sent this wine as a sample. I was under no obligation to post about it.