2024 Battles Estate Shiraz | 95 Points | Western Australia

🔥 95-POINT WESTERN AUSTRALIAN SHIRAZ FOR $38. BEAT THAT.

One of Western Australia's Most Exciting Emerging Producers 

95 Points – Halliday Wine Companion | 93 Points – The Wine Front

Geographe & Perth Hills, WA

If you think great Western Australian Shiraz needs to cost $60, $80 or $100 a bottle, here's a wine that might change your mind.

The 2024 Battles Estate Shiraz is exactly the sort of wine we love discovering — a relatively new producer, serious fruit, thoughtful winemaking and a quality level that completely over-delivers for the price.

And the critics agree:

95 POINTS – HALLIDAY WINE COMPANION

93 POINTS – THE WINE FRONT

The RRP?

JUST $38.

That's a hell of a lot of Shiraz for the money.

Battles – A WA Producer to Watch

Battles is one of the more exciting new names emerging from Western Australia.

The project brings together Lance Parkin, Kris Ambrozkiewicz and Richard Healy, with the focus firmly on finding interesting vineyards and allowing site and variety to do the talking.

Rather than restricting themselves to one region, Battles searches across Western Australia for vineyards that suit the individual variety.

And that's exactly what makes this Shiraz so interesting.

It brings together fruit from Geographe and the Perth Hills.

Two different Western Australian growing environments combined to produce a Shiraz built around perfume, spice, freshness and texture rather than sheer weight and alcohol.

This is modern Australian Shiraz.

A Different Side of Western Australian Shiraz

When most people think of serious WA reds, their mind immediately goes to Margaret River Cabernet.

This wine shows there's much more happening in the west.

The combination of Geographe and Perth Hills fruit gives Battles the opportunity to build complexity rather than simply chase power.

Expect an aromatic mix of:

Blackberry & blueberry

Dark cherry

Violets

Black and white pepper

Dried herbs & savoury spice

Subtle oak

The palate is medium-bodied and energetic, with juicy dark fruit sitting over fine tannins and refreshing acidity.

It's Shiraz with flavour, but without heaviness.

There's spice.

There's perfume.

There's savouriness.

And importantly, there's genuine drinkability.

95 Points for $38

This is where the wine becomes particularly compelling.

There are plenty of 95-point Australian Shirazes out there.

Not many have an RRP under $40.

Halliday Wine Companion awarded the 2024 Battles Estate Shiraz:

95 POINTS

while The Wine Front gave it 93 points.

That's serious critical recognition for a wine sitting at:

$38 RRP.

And it's exactly why Battles should be on the radar of anyone looking for the next generation of exciting Western Australian producers.

Why We Love It

There is so much Shiraz in Australia that it takes something genuinely interesting to make us stop and take notice.

This did.

It isn't trying to be another enormous, heavily oaked Australian Shiraz.

Instead, there's a lovely combination of dark fruit, pepper, perfume, savoury complexity and freshness.

It's got enough depth for the serious Shiraz drinker but enough brightness and energy to make it incredibly easy to drink.

And then you look at the equation:

Geographe & Perth Hills

Western Australian Shiraz

95 Points – Halliday Wine Companion

93 Points – The Wine Front

One of WA's exciting emerging producers

RRP $38

That's outstanding buying.

Battles is a producer worth watching very closely. Their wines are already appearing on serious wine lists in WA, including the 2024 Shiraz in Perth, which is another good sign that the trade is taking notice.

95 Halliday. 93 Wine Front. $38.

👉 If you love Shiraz but want something fresher, spicier and more energetic than the traditional blockbuster style, the 2024 Battles Estate Shiraz is an absolute cracker — and at $38, it seriously over-delivers.