Black Granite Shiraz by Darling Cellars
£12.49
£16.65 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
Only 5 bottles left
Bush-vine Shiraz from Darling's decomposed granite soils, this is the Cape coast doing what it does best: lifted red fruit, white pepper spice, and a whisper of smoke. Medium-bodied, generous, and seriously food-friendly. If you want to see what unirrigated old-school farming gives you without paying boutique prices, start here.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
Our Verdict
We keep coming back to this one because it punches so far above its price. There's a perfumed, pepper-led character to Darling Shiraz that you simply don't get from the warmer inland sites, and the unirrigated bush vines on granite give it a fine-grained tension that lifts the fruit. It's the bottle we reach for when friends drop by unannounced and we want to pour something interesting without raiding the cellar. If you've been drinking supermarket Aussie Shiraz on autopilot, this is the wine that quietly rewrites your expectations.
Tasting Notes
Lifted aromatics greet you first: pomegranate and bright strawberry, a curl of woodsmoke, white pepper crackling around vanilla warmth. The palate is medium-bodied and plush rather than heavy, with red fruit carrying through on a supple frame. Eight months on French and American oak staves adds gentle spice and a savoury edge without smothering the fruit. The finish lingers softly, peppery and red-fruited, leaving you reaching for another sip rather than another glass of water.
About This Wine
Here's a Shiraz that proves you don't need to spend big to drink seriously well. Darling sits up on South Africa's West Coast, a windswept patch of the Western Cape better known for wildflowers and dairy than fine wine. But dig into the soil and you find the secret: deep, decomposed granite that drains hard and forces bush vines to dig deep. No irrigation, no shortcuts. Just vines fending for themselves and producing fruit with real character. In the glass it's medium-bodied and beautifully perfumed. Think pomegranate and crushed strawberry up front, then a twist of white pepper, a brush of vanilla, and that hint of woodsmoke that good Cape Shiraz always seems to deliver. The texture is plush rather than weighty, with fruit and oak in genuine balance. Eight months on a mix of French and American oak staves in second and third-fill barrels adds structure without ever dominating the fruit. This is a midweek hero with weekend ambitions. Pour it alongside a sticky lamb shoulder, a peppered ribeye, or a charred aubergine with tahini. It'll happily handle a Tuesday spaghetti bolognese too. Decant it for twenty minutes, serve it just below room temperature, and watch it open up. Delivered to your door anywhere in the UK, it's also a smart, generous gift for the Shiraz lover in your life. Not the obvious choice. Just a very good one.
Food Pairing
This is a midweek Shiraz with manners: medium body and soft tannins mean it works with more than just heavy reds. Try it with a herby lamb burger, a Sunday roast chicken with thyme and garlic, or a plate of grilled boerewors. The peppery edge loves anything off the barbecue, and it's friendly enough for a midweek bowl of beef and tomato pasta.
- —Grilled lamb burgers with rosemary and red onion
- —Roast chicken with thyme, garlic and crispy potatoes
- —Boerewors and chargrilled vegetables off the braai
- —Slow-cooked beef ragu with pappardelle
- —Mature Cheddar with chutney on a ploughman's board
How to Serve
Decanting
A short decant of 20 to 30 minutes is ideal. The wine isn't tannic enough to need hours of air, but a quick splash into a decanter lifts the perfumed nose and lets the smoky, peppery aromatics show their best.
Behind the Wine
Darling sits close enough to the Atlantic to feel its breath, and that maritime influence shapes everything in the glass. Cool ocean air slows ripening on these unirrigated bush vines, letting the Shiraz hold onto bright acidity and perfumed red fruit rather than tipping into jam. The decomposed granite soils force the roots deep, and dry-farming concentrates flavour without bulking up the wine. The result is a medium-bodied Shiraz with lift, freshness, and that signature whisper of white pepper.
Ageing Potential
Drinking beautifully now, with enough fruit and structure to develop gently over the next 4 to 5 years. With time, the bright red fruit will mellow into something more savoury and dried, and the peppery edge will soften. No rush either way: it's already in a lovely place.
The Land
The vines here are dry-farmed bush vines planted into deep, decomposed granite soils. Granite drains freely and warms slowly, pushing roots down in search of moisture and giving the wine a savoury, mineral-tinged backbone. Combined with the Atlantic-cooled climate, it is a site that naturally favours perfume and balance over weight.
The Winemaking
Hand-harvested fruit is crushed, de-stemmed, and fermented gently for five to ten days at a controlled 24-26°C, coaxing out colour and perfume without bullying the tannins. Malolactic fermentation finishes in tank, softening the edges, before the wine is racked into second and third-fill French and American oak barrels and stainless steel tanks fitted with oak staves. Eight months of ageing adds quiet structure and a thread of spice, but the fruit stays firmly in the driver's seat.
The Western Cape Region
Le Domaine draws its fruit from vineyards scattered across the Western Cape, from coastal sites cooled by Atlantic breezes to warmer inland slopes, all planted between 50 and 300 metres above sea level. This broad sourcing is deliberate. By blending components from different microclimates, the cellar builds a consistent house style that balances the crisp acidity of cooler sites with the ripe generosity of warmer ones. It's the Western Cape's extraordinary diversity captured in a single glass.
About the Producer
Darling Cellars
Darling Cellars sits on the Cape West Coast, about seventy-five kilometres north of Cape Town, in a landscape that was dairy country long before anyone thought to plant vines. Founded in the mid-nineties as a privately owned cellar, it's run by a cooperative of around twenty shareholders farming roughly 1,300 hectares, a community venture in the truest sense. Nearly all their vineyards are unirrigated, with bush vines doing what they've always done: pushing roots deep into decomposed granite to find their own water. It's dry farming in its purest form, and it gives the wines a concentration and honesty that you simply can't manufacture. Under the direction of red wine specialist Pieter-Niel Rossouw, the cellar has built a quiet reputation for wines that overdeliver at every price point, genuine, terroir-driven, and refreshingly unpretentious.