Darling Cellars SMG
£13.89
£18.52 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
Only 3 bottles left
Here's a weeknight red that punches well above its price. Darling Cellars SMG is a Shiraz-led blend with a splash of Malbec and Grenache, all smooth red plum, dark cherry and a twist of fresh black pepper. Easy to love, generous to pour, and just the thing when you want something honest and delicious without overthinking it.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
UK wide delivery
Expert curated
Our Verdict
We listed this one because it does something genuinely difficult: deliver real character at a price most of us can pour on a Tuesday without a second thought. The peppery lift over all that plump red fruit is what won us over. It's not trying to be a blockbuster, and that's exactly its charm. Perfect for the drinker who wants something reliable, friendly and ready to go, with no decanting drama. Stock is limited at the moment, so if you like an easy house red with a bit of personality, don't leave it too long.
Tasting Notes
Lift the glass and the fruit comes first: ripe red plum and dark cherry, with a curious sweet note like candyfloss that makes it instantly approachable. Underneath sits fresh-crushed black pepper, the unmistakable Shiraz signature that keeps things savoury rather than sweet. The palate is smooth and juicy, easy to drink with no hard edges, and the fruit carries through to a finish that lingers longer than the modest price suggests. This is a wine built for pleasure, not contemplation.
About This Wine
If you've been hunting for a red that simply gets on with the job of being delicious, you've found it. Darling Cellars SMG is built around Shiraz, with small additions of Malbec and Grenache rounding things out, and the result is a wine that's juicy, supple and ready to please from the first sip. Expect ripe red plum and dark cherry up front, a playful note of candyfloss, and a lift of freshly crushed black pepper that keeps it interesting. The palate is smooth and easygoing, sliding into a finish that lingers longer than the modest price tag suggests. There's no need to wait on this one. It's made for drinking now, served lightly cool, perhaps with twenty minutes in the glass to let the fruit stretch out. It comes from Darling, a pocket of the Western Cape better known for wild flowers and dairy than vines until recent decades. That cool coastal influence gives the wine its freshness and that peppery edge. Pour it with oven-roasted lamb, smoked duck, or a Friday-night pizza. It's an effortless crowd-pleaser for a dinner with friends, and it makes a thoughtful, no-fuss gift for anyone who appreciates honest value. Delivered to your door anywhere in the UK.
Food Pairing
This wants roasted meat with a bit of richness. An oven-roasted lamb shoulder, slow-cooked until it falls apart, is the natural match: the peppery fruit cuts through the fat beautifully. Smoked duck breast works just as well, the wine's cherry sweetness echoing the smoke. For an easy weeknight, pour it alongside a midweek sausage and mash or a homemade burger.
- —Oven-roasted lamb shoulder with rosemary and garlic
- —Smoked duck breast with a cherry glaze
- —Pork and herb sausages with creamy mash
- —Homemade beef burgers with caramelised onion
- —Sticky barbecue pork ribs
How to Serve
Decanting
No need for a long decant. A short 20 minutes in the glass or a quick splash decant is plenty to lift the plum and pepper aromatics on this approachable style.
Ageing & Cellaring
This is an easy-drinking style made for early enjoyment, not the cellar. Drink it on release and over the following two to three years while the plummy fruit and peppery lift are at their freshest. There is little to gain from holding it longer.
The Winemaking
This is a blend built around Shiraz, with small dabs of Malbec and Grenache lifting the edges. After picking, the grapes are crushed and destalked, then fermented warm over five to seven days to draw out all that juicy red plum and crushed black pepper character. Malolactic fermentation softens the acidity and rounds the texture, and the wine then rests in stainless steel with oak staves added. The result is smooth, supple and gently spiced rather than heavily oaked: a deliberately easy-going style.
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.