McLaren Vale’s Bereford Shiraz
Beresford wins world’s best shiraz at $25 per bottle
To be the world’s best at anything is outrageous. Most of us would settle for being the best in our own kitchen at locating the scissors, or the best in the family at reversing out of a Bunnings car park. To be declared the world’s best at something suggests rarefied air and a tiny plinth. The world’s best omelette. The world’s best left-footed goal. The world’s best hotel pillow, which I am convinced exists and is being kept from us by powerful interests.
And now, with a flourish of McLaren Vale confidence, a $25 bottle of Shiraz has wandered into the room, straightened its collar and been named the best in the world.
Beresford Estate’s Classic Shiraz 2023 has just taken out the top Shiraz honours
Beresford Estate’s Classic Shiraz 2023 has just taken out the top Shiraz honours at the 2026 International Wine Challenge, scoring 97 points, a Gold Medal and four major Trophies, including the International Syrah Trophy. It finished first out of 111 Shiraz entries from around the globe, which is the sort of result that makes rival bottles cough politely and study the carpet.
The delicious absurdity is the price. Twenty-five dollars. That is approximately the cost of a very emotional trip to the chemist, or a candle that claims to smell like “rain on a Tuscan veranda” but mainly smells like someone has frightened a lemon. Yet here is Beresford’s Classic Shiraz, sitting at a modest RRP, performing cartwheels in the international judging room and outscoring Trophy-winning wines from names such as Penfolds, Tolpuddle, House of Arras and Stefano Lubiana.
There is something deeply Australian about this. The quietly dressed bottle at the party turns out to have a black belt in excellence. No trumpet fanfare. No peacock nonsense. Just McLaren Vale fruit, serious winemaking and a result that must have caused several expensive cellars to sit down heavily.
Beresford Estate sits on a 70-acre vineyard in one of South Australia’s most loved wine regions
Beresford Estate sits on a 70-acre vineyard in one of South Australia’s most loved wine regions, where the landscape seems almost offensively suited to producing generous reds. McLaren Vale has the advantage of looking relaxed while doing very serious work. It has sunshine, sea influence, old vines and the sort of earthy confidence that makes Shiraz feel less like a wine style and more like a regional birthright.
The Classic Shiraz 2023 knows exactly where it comes from. In the glass, it has that deep ruby glow that suggests winter has finally been given a decent outfit. The nose brings blueberry and plum, with a lifted floral note that keeps things elegant rather than lumbering in wearing boots. On the palate, it opens into red cherry, dried fruit, gentle eucalyptus and savoury spice, all held together with bright acidity and fine-grained tannins. It is generous without behaving like a lounge singer. It has polish, warmth and a very pleasing sense of control.
It belongs beside a pot of ragù or a board of aged cheddar. The timing is rather perfect. Just as Australia begins reaching for jumpers and meals that require more than one saucepan, Beresford has produced a bottle that feels made for the season. It has enough richness to satisfy the Shiraz faithful, but it also has freshness, which means it will not flatten dinner like a large relative with a grievance.
Natalie Cleghorn has recently joined Beresford as Head Winemaker.
There is also a new chapter beginning at Beresford, with Natalie Cleghorn recently joining as Head Winemaker. She brings more than 26 years of experience across some of Australia’s most respected wine producers, and her arrival adds another layer of interest to an estate already enjoying a rather splendid moment. Beresford has had serious form, with more than 2,000 medals and 200 trophies to its name, but this latest result feels especially cheering because it puts everyday pleasure in the same sentence as global prestige.
That may be the real charm of the Beresford Classic Shiraz 2023. It has won a title that sounds wildly grand, yet it remains a bottle you can actually open without first consulting your accountant or dimming the lights.
To be the best in the world is a ridiculous achievement. To do it at $25 is almost indecently satisfying. Beresford has given Australian wine lovers one of the year’s happiest surprises: a global champion with local manners, a McLaren Vale red with a trophy cabinet groaning under the weight of its own success, and a Shiraz that proves greatness can arrive without a trust fund.ether, they are the yin and yang of McLaren Vale’s finest.
