Australia wrote the book on Shiraz—and what a bestseller it’s become! Here, we buy it by the boatload. The August edition of the B.C. Liquor Stores product guide shows them all, and the total runs to 182—not counting another 30-something Shiraz blends—making it far and away the single biggest grape-variety wine in the whole system.

Most people who know a little about wine think Australia produces the best Shiraz across the board. If not the best, then certainly the most. You can get in for $9.99 (Mangrove Jack or Hardy’s Varietal Range), or knock yourself out to the tune of $429.99 (something called Greenock Creek). That won’t be happening on my watch any time soon; sorry about that!

A recent development has been the blending of the red Shiraz with some of the white Viognier—a mellowing influence from the Viognier, five, six percent or so, to tame the big and sometimes brawling Shiraz.

These wines now number 10 in the B.C. catalogue, with quite likely another dozen or so out there in the private stores. In this subcategory, the cheapest, called Johnny Q, is $14.99. The costliest is $249.99, called Torbreck Runrig—and none today, thank you. But in the midrange, there are another five to sample.

Yalumba made such a blend as long ago as 1998, but it was probably Peter Lehmann who first tossed in Viognier with some of his reds, Shiraz included, as far back as the mid 1960s.

I think it adds a lovely spicy, herbal, even sometimes floral note to the big-boned Shiraz, and it’s become a summertime favourite this season. Let’s see what we’ve got. The pleasant surprise was that there’s not a dud in the lot; we all agreed we’d drink any of them anytime. All are bottled under screw caps.

Johnny Q 2006 ($14.99) We start with the budget model, which for the price seems a real steal here. So dark purple it doesn’t look like any Viognier got anywhere near it, it tosses off fruity Rhone aromas and a palette of cherries and berries for the front palate, culminating in a big, dark finish, rich and deep. It could well be the next Big Deal, edging up into Yellow Tail Shiraz country.

Hungerford Hill Fishcage 2006 ($16.99) This one has even bigger, darker, raisinier fruit and a terrific roundness. It’s a big wine that brooks no wimpy dinners; don’t bring any quiches round here. Get the best grilling sausage, some well-marinated ribs and such, and enjoy a well-made, handsome, sturdy, significant wine that will do wonders for anything barbecued.

Wirra Wirra Catapult 2006 ($24.99) It gets its moniker from a project the winery’s founder wanted to undertake: building a medieval siege machine, or trebuchet, to—and this is probably apocryphal, but so stated on the tag—“bomb neighbouring wineries with bottles of fine wine.”

Whatever the reason, the result is a good one. This is a wine with glorious fruit, the Viognier adding a hint of something ameliorative to the already smooth and mellow Shiraz. Discover what it will do for a potato salad with smoked salmon and julienned kohlrabi, or some Valdeón blue cheese, or Pecorino al Tartufo, or that ultra-creamy Château de Bourgogne.

Wolf Blass Gold Label 2005 ($28.49) The 15-percent-alcohol reading on the label scared me a little. But once the wine got in the glass, all fears evaporated in a fragrant, fresh, mellowed, easy Shiraz with a bite on the front of the tongue. Someone at HQ drew attention to white pepper, black figs, and violets all interwoven. Taste it and draw your own conclusions—it’s sensational.

Yering Station 2006 ($29.99) It begins with that beautiful, deep Welch’s colour. Here, the Shiraz is fermented with Viognier grapes, then aged in French oak, resulting in a rich, almost blowsy wine that hits the tongue right at the front and never lets go. It’s a very dramatic red wine, favouring ripe fruit over some subtlety, but resulting in a delicious dinner wine for anything from stews to Kobe beef roasts.

D’Arenberg The Laughing Magpie 2006 ($29.99) This is the first such wine for the venerable label. It starts with a minty, almost charcoal aroma, opening up into dark-roast coffee scents and developing quickly into something quite complex, with big, dark fruit, not quite so mellow as some of the others. Meaning it’s good with things like blackened or Cajun cookery—anything that brings its own spiciness and requires something that can stand up to it.

It was hard to pick favourites this time—barely a point and a half separated the various wines. If I were only allowed to take two to dinner, it would be the Wirra Wirra and the Wolf Blass, for flavour and overall satisfaction; the Fishcage and the Johnny Q for value and price.