Tait The Border Crossing McLaren Vale Shiraz 2021

Tait fashions only bold, full-throttle wines and Tait’s 2021 The Border Crossing is all that and more. Bottled un-fined and un-filtered to preserve all of the rich, bold flavors that McLaren Vale Shiraz has to offer, the 2021 Tait The Border Crossing nearly jumps out of the glass. Fresh blueberry and blackberry notes with chocolate and spicy vanilla tones waft from the glass to delight the nose. In the mouth, The Border Crossing comes front and center, offering a wealth of hedonistic blackberry, blueberry, plum, and espresso flavors, infused with a fine patina of oak from 18 months in French and American barrels. Plush, textured, and long on the finish, this wine is truly a meal in itself. Afford Tait’s 2021 The Border Crossing 15-20 minutes of aeration and enjoy it at cool room temperature (58°-62° F). Anticipated maturity: 2024-2030. Here’s to you, mates!

Tait’s 2021 The Border Crossing constitutes a meal in itself, though why not double the pleasure? Consider pairing this wine with flavor-filled foods rich in personality. Herb and Black Olive Tapenade Encrusted Pork Tenderloin served with garlic mashed potatoes offers superb companionship. Add a highly charged ratatouille served with homemade pasta and the pleasure quotient rises precipitously. Thin slices of beef with a Shiraz demi-glace on a bed of sweet potato mash and accompanied by roasted root vegetables earns high marks, too. A venison burger topped with black pepper aioli and onion confit provides another tasty treat in the company of Tait’s 2021 The Border Crossing. And, if the idea if a beef hamburger sounds unexciting, consider this version: House ground beef tenderloin burger with bacon, mushrooms, port wine pearl onions, herb goat cheese, arugula, and jalapeno cream cheese spread on a large brioche. A spicy andouille sausage pizza with broccoli rabe and fior de latte also makes a tasty accompaniment. Enjoy!

Tait is truly a boutique winery in all respects. Located in the small town of Lyndoch in the southern end of South Australia’s Barossa Valley, the winery overlooks the spectacular Barossa Ranges and is owned and run by Michael and Bruno Tait and Bruno’s wife Michelle. They acquired the property in 1994 to continue the Tait family’s winemaking tradition. Although relatively new to winemaking, Michael and Bruno’s family had long been involved with wine. The brothers’ father, Giovanni Tait, was a master cooper who migrated from Italy to Australia in 1957 where he worked in Barossa, making and repairing oak casks for ageing wine. He learned his trade in Italy from his father and grandfather; together they share over 100 years of experience crafting oak casks. Nevertheless, Giovanni’s ultimate dream was to one day establish a family winery called Tait Wines, which came to fruition with sons Michael and Bruno.

Tait’s winemaking philosophy is quite simple: produce hand crafted, bold-flavored, full-throttle wines that exhibit intense flavors and aromas. They use only the highest quality Barossa and McLaren Vale fruit from low yielding vines, many of which are 50-80 years of age. All of Tait’s wines are made on site and are hand crafted using traditional winemaking methods including open fermentation, extended maceration and basket pressing to ensure the highest quality and consistency. Tait’s wines are also un-fined and un-filtered to preserve all of the wines’ freshness.

Tait crafts three iconic wines: The Border Crossing, a sumptuous Shiraz from McLaren Vale and this month’s feature; The Wild Ride, a superbly made GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) that ranks among Australia’s finest; and The Ball Buster, a classic full-bodied Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot blend. Tait also bottles small amounts of a varietal Cabernet Sauvignon to round out its portfolio.