Australian Shiraz is definitely different from French Syrah… just ask any Australian winemaker. Although both wines are technically made from the same grape, it’s the terroir and the art of the winemaker that sets them apart from each other. He (or she) decides when to pick, what degree of ripeness, how long to macerate, how long to ferment, stainless steel or barrel, and a variety of other choices that go into winemaking.
Shiraz is far and away Australia’s most popular variety. Australian wines made from 100 percent Shiraz are often full-on powerhouses, from the first scents of blackberry, blueberry, violet, spice, and black pepper to tastes of black cherry, cassis, jalapeño, chocolate, and espresso that lead to a long, chewy finish. Here are some of our current favourites:
Yalumba 2017 The Octavius Old Vine Shiraz Barossa South Australia
Photo: Yalumba
Yalumba is one of Australia’s oldest family-owned wineries, established in 1849. Today, it is owned by Robert Hill Smith, and wines are made by Louisa Rose. We had the opportunity to sit down with Louisa the last time she was in N.Y.C. Her 2017 Octavious Old Vine Shiraz is amazing. It is garnet to purple in colour with enticing aromas of liquorice, raspberry, cherry, and cassis. It has opulent tannins and flavours of black cherry, red raspberry, and red plum.
Clonakilla 2023 O’Riada Shiraz Canberra New South Wales
Photo: Clonakilla
John Kirk purchased 18 hectares of land in 1971 and named it Clonakilla after his grandfather’s farm in Ireland’s County Clare. The name roughly translates to “meadow of the church,” and he thought it would appropriately honour his family. John is known for producing the first commercial wine in Canberra. The current winemaker is Tim Kirk, and his 2023 O’Riada is absolutely stunning. It has aromas of crushed rose hips, freshly ground pepper, and red raspberry that lead the way to flavours of freshly picked bright red cherry, raspberry, and rolled tobacco leaf.
Shaw + Smith 2021 Shiraz Adelaide Hills South Australia
Photo: Shaw + Smith
Martin Shaw and his cousin Michael Hill Smith (Australia’s first Master of Wine) founded Shaw + Smith in 1989 and remain the current owners. The pair owns two vineyards in the Adelaide Hills that total 55 hectares. The Balhannah vineyard was planted in 2000 and consists of plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Shiraz. It has soils comprised of sandy loam over red clay with smatterings of shale and quartzite. Shaw + Smith 2021 Shiraz has aromas of black cherry, blueberry, crushed violet petal, and a touch of forest floor that transition to flavours of black raspberry, cherry, and black plum.
d’Arenberg 2021 The Dead Arm Shiraz McLaren Vale South Australia
Photo: d’Arenberg
Joseph Osborn was employed as a director at Thomas Hardy and Sons Winery, but wanted something he could call his own. In 1912, he purchased the 39 hectares property that would eventually become d’Arenberg. His son Frank released the first vintage in 1927 and built the cellar to age the wines. Chester Osborn represents the fourth-generation winemaker, and when we visited a few years back, we had the opportunity to taste his organic and biodynamically produced wines. His 2021 Dead Arm Shiraz has aromas of blueberry, dark chocolate, licorice, and espresso with flavours of blueberry, plum, and black cherry.
Hickinbotham 2019 Brooks Road Shiraz McLaren Vale South Australia
Photo: Hickinbotham
Alan Robb Hickenbotham was the first wine science professor at Australia’s Roseworthy Agricultural College, which is often favourably compared to University of California at Davis. He helped his son Alan David Hickenbotham plant vines in 1971, and in 2012, they sold the winery and vineyards to California’s Jackson family. The vineyard was converted to biodynamic and organic farming in 2019, so this wine was at the forefront of that change. The 2019 Brooks Road Shiraz has beautiful aromas of crushed violet petals, black cherry, and blackberry that transition to flavours of black currant, espresso, chocolate, and cherry supported by a strong backbone of minerality and generous tannins.
Henschke 2019 Mount Edelstone Shiraz Eden Valley Barossa South Australia
Photo: Henschke
Johann Christian Henschke immigrated from Silesia (now Poland) to South Australia in 1868 and began making wine. Today, the Henschke family has been producing wine for over 150 years through six generations of winemakers, making it one of Australia’s oldest family-owned wineries. This tasty Shiraz has aromas of black plum, black pepper, eucalyptus, underbrush, and crushed violet petals. It has nice heft in the mid-palate, with flavours of blackberry, black liquorice plum, and a touch of dried blueberry in the finish.
Penfolds 2019 RWT Bin 798 Shiraz Barossa Valley South Australia
Photo: Penfolds
Penfolds became South Australia’s largest winery in 1907 after its initial establishment by Dr. Christopher Penfold and his wife Mary in 1844. Although Penfolds is not the largest Australian winery today, many wine experts—ourselves included—agree that it is one of the most important wineries with the most sought-after wines. Most collectors know their flagship wine, Grange, which is consistently ethereal, but if you’re looking to enjoy a wine that’s a little closer to the ground and easier on your pocket, look no further than RWT Bin 798. It’s inky purple in the glass with aromas of violet, cassis, and blackberry. Silky soft tannins guide you in for full-on fruit flavours of black raspberry, plum, and blueberry.
The Swiss watchmaker just unveiled its new Constellation Observatory Collection today, the next step in its Constellation lineage and the first two-hand hour and minute timepieces to ever earn Master Chronometer certification. And if you were paying attention to any of the dazzling watches spotted at the Oscars this year, you would’ve caught a glimpse of the new line already: Sinners star Delroy Lindo rocked one of the models on the Academy Awards red carpet, giving us a pre-release preview of the collection.
Developed at Omega’s new Laboratoire de Précision (its chronometer testing lab open to all brands), the collection houses a set of nine 39.4 mm watches. The watches underwent 25 days of scrutiny there, analysed via a new acoustic testing method that recorded every sound emitted from the timepiece to track irregularities, temperature sensitivities, and more in the name of all things precision. (Details such as water resistance and power reserve are also thoroughly examined.) This meticulous process is all in the name of snagging that Master Chronometer label, meaning that the timepiece is highly accurate and surpasses the threshold for ultra-high performance. The Constellation Observatory Collection has now changed the game, though, thanks to its lack of a seconds hand.
A watch from the Constellation Observatory Collection, with the Observatory dome on display. Omega
“Until now, precision certification has required a seconds hand,” Raynald Aeschlimann, president and CEO of OMEGA, said in a press statement. “The development of a new acoustic testing methodology has made that requirement obsolete. It is this breakthrough that has enabled us to present the Constellation Observatory, the first two-hand watch to achieve Master Chronometer certification.”
In addition to notching its place in history, the collection also debuted a new pair of movements: the Calibre 8915 and the Calibre 8914, each perched on a skeletonised rotor base. The former’s Grand Luxe iteration will appear on the 950 Platinum-Gold model in the collection, which offers up that base in 18-karat Sedna Gold alongside a Constellation medallion in 18-karat white gold with an Observatory dome done in white opal enamel surrounded by stars. The second Calibre 8915, the Luxe, will find its home on the other precious-metal models in the line, either made with the brand’s 18-karat Sedna, Moonshine, or Canopus gold seen across the case, the hand-guilloché dial, and, of course, the movement itself. (Lindo chose to rock the Moonshine Gold on Moonshine Gold iteration, priced at approximately $86,000, for Sinners‘s big night at the Oscars.) As for the Calibre 8914, it can be found in the collection’s four steel models.
A look at a gold case-back from the collection. Omega
Each model is a callback to myriad design features on past Omega models. That two-hand dial, for one, comes from the 1948 Centenary (the brand’s first chronometer-certified automatic wristwatch), while the pie-pan dial (seen in various blue, green, and golden hues throughout the line) and that Constellation medallion caseback both appear on watches from 1952. The star adorning the space above 6 o’clock also harks back to 1950s timepieces from Omega. And to finish off the look, you can opt for alligator straps in a variety of colours, or perhaps a gold iteration to match the precious-metal models; the brick-like pattern on the 18-karat Moonshine bracelet was also inspired by Omega watches from the ’50s.
We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for any other Constellation Observatory timepieces (or any other unreleased models from the brand) at the rest of the star-studded events headed our way this year—perhaps the Met Gala?
A modern classic in the making, combining naturally aspirated power with elegant restraint to deliver performance that feels as refined as it is visceral.
In a year when carmakers of all persuasions sheepishly extended hyperbolic electric targets, it’s fitting that the monastic puritans of Maranello—who, lest we forget, won’t finally yield to the sin of battery power until October with the Elettrica—opted to make combustion their major power play.
As an uncertain future of AI omnipresence barrels towards us, the 12Cilindri—an analogue, open-topped tribute to Ferrari’s late-’60s/early-’70s grand tourer, the Daytona—represents a defiant fade into the past, a pause for breath, a fleeting return to The Good Times when nascent technology provoked excitement rather than existential dread.
Guiding this automotive nostalgia trip is, as the nomenclature suggests, a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine, generating an unceasing wave of power as it sears towards the 9,500 rpm redline with relative nonchalance. That’s because the 12Cilindri is not a mouth-foaming attack-dog. It scales performance heights with the refinement of the finest Italian works of art; its “Bumpy Road” mode facilitates comfy al fresco GT cruising, and even the imperious powerplant is mannerly at most speeds.
For all the yesteryear romance, progressive technologies and engineering, such as a world-class 8-speed transmission, advanced electronic aids and independent four-wheel steering, are baked into the deal. The 12Cilindri’s clean, stark design somehow toggles between retro and modern; and while vaguely polarising, one can’t ignore its magnetic road presence.
In terms of aesthetics, Ferrari describes the 12Cilindri as being “ready for space”; in many ways, a fantasy vehicle that transports users to another dimension is probably what the world needs right now.
On the fourth floor of Westfield Sydney, near the Castlereagh and Market Street entrance—in the space formerly occupied by Chanel—Loro Piana has opened its first Australian boutique. It is a significant address change for that corner of the mall, and a meaningful one for the Italian house, which has sourced Australian merino wool for decades but until now had no retail presence here.
The facade is understated—creamy, tactile, more about texture than theatre. Inside, the store unfolds across a single, expansive level divided into distinct men’s and women’s wings. The separation is clear without being heavy-handed: womenswear leads from soft accessories and leather goods into ready-to-wear, while menswear occupies its own assured territory, with tailoring and outerwear given proper breathing room. Footwear (supple loafers, luxurious slides, pared-back sneakers) is particularly strong, and the sunglasses are a quiet standout: mineral-toned frames with a disciplined elegance that feels entirely of the house.
That same restraint carries into the interiors, where the surfaces do much of the talking. Walls are wrapped in the company’s own linen and cashmere; carpets are custom, dense underfoot, softening the acoustics and the pace. Oak and carabottino wood add warmth without fuss; marble accents introduce a cool counterpoint. The effect is a composed space calibrated around material, proportion and restraint.
The Spring 2026 collection now in store underscores that sensibility. Silhouettes are elongated and fluid; cashmere, silk and featherweight merino move in sandy neutrals, creams and muddied earth tones, with flashes of marigold and pale turquoise breaking the calm. Tailoring is softly structured and projects confidence without aggression. Leather goods arrive in buttery skins that feel almost pre-lived, as though time has already worked its magic.
What distinguishes Loro Piana, particularly in a market that has grown noisier by the season, is its refusal to perform luxury in an obvious register. There are no oversized insignias telegraphing allegiance. Instead, the status is encoded in fibre count, in hand-feel, in how a coat hangs from the shoulder. It assumes the wearer knows and, crucially, does not need to announce it.
Sydney’s luxury landscape has matured in recent years; global houses no longer test the waters but commit to them. Yet Loro Piana’s arrival feels different. It is not trend-driven expansion but material logic. For a country whose sheep stations have long contributed to the house’s fabric story, this boutique reads almost as a thank-you note written in cashmere.
If all you’re going to do is look at it, a leather Dopp kit from a fashion house is a fine choice. But if you take travelling seriously—and do it often, for business, pleasure, or both—such a bag will inevitably end up blemished with droplets of water or stained by errant flecks of toothpaste. Get stuck with a cavalier team of baggage handlers, and it can even get soaked in your favourite fragrance or anti-ageing serum.
But Patricks, the high-performance Australian grooming brand stocked in Harrods and Bergdorf Goodman, has a solution. Its limited-edition bathroom bag, called BB1, is purpose-built to protect everything inside and out. Conceived by industrial designer George Cunningham with brand founder Patrick Kidd, the cuboid design is executed in a water-resistant recycled nylon you can rinse clean. It’s lined with a thin layer of shock-absorbing foam to safeguard your products, but if a bottle somehow gets cracked in transit, the two-way water-resistant zippers and sealed seams (which keep liquids from seeping in or out) ensure that whatever leaks won’t ruin your cashmere. Inside, two dual-sided zippered compartments are ideally sized to fit toothbrushes, razors, and other small essentials.
And though its clean lines and rugged construction make it undeniably masculine, its greatest feature is borrowed from women’s makeup bags. Like the best of these, BB1 unzips to lie flat, giving you unobstructed access to everything inside. Well, you and the 999 other gentlemen who move fast enough to snag one. $289
Courtesy of Patricks
1. Hanging Loop
The G-hook system isn’t just a stylish handle: You can also use it to hang the bag from a hook or secure it to your carry-on.
2. Two-Way Zipper
The closures are water-resistant in both directions, meaning liquids won’t get in or out.
3. Fold-flat Construction
BB1 opens to 180 degrees, letting you scan its 4.2-litre capacity at a quick glance.
4. Technical-Fabric Shell
The durable recycled-nylon is easy to maintain and woven to survive splashes and leaks from your go-to products.
You can bet on pretty much anything these days, from when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will get married to who will be the next James Bond—and now that includes the Rollies on your wrist, or on your wishlist.
Prediction market platform Kalshi, regulated in the U.S., and luxe watch marketplace Bezel have teamed up on a new platform called Watch Futures that allows users to splash down cash on where they think the prices of a particular luxe timepiece are going, whether that’s a Rolex Submariner or a coveted Patek Philippe, Time & Tide reported.
You can also place a wager on which models might be discontinued, as well as any future launches from the top watchmakers on the new platform; with Watches and Wonders coming up, it’s certainly a well-timed launch that could see a lot of activity as a slew of new releases are announced at the event.
Watch Futures is all based on Beztimate, Bezel’s system (once used only internally) to help it accurately calculate the market price of a timepiece. It draws data from real-time transactions, live bids, verified sales, and other market offers to spawn its own series of independent valuation models to establish a watch’s value. From there, it’s up to bettors to place their wagers, and then the platform will showcase any price fluctuations or other updates as time goes on.
This new platform could have some pretty large implications for the watch industry. As any horological savant would know, the internet and collectors alike are constantly chattering about which models are on the way out or when a certain timepiece of the moment’s time in the limelight will fade, of course, having a large impact on the prices of said model. And now, a Watch Futures user can have a direct stake in where a model is headed—and if they own said timepiece, it can be a protection from dwindling values on the marketplace, say, if a user places a bet on their model losing value and that actually comes to fruition.
To see Watch Futures in real time (and scope out how some pieces in your collection are faring), you can use the Kalshi app or its website.
Courtesy of Patricks
