I can't remember the last time I recommended a whole batch of Australian wines. I think it was most probably directly after Michael Vaughan and the boys gave the Australian cricketers a good thrashing in this green and pleasant land last summer.

I am a fan of Aussie wine, not least for the fantastic names they think of to put on the label.

I mentioned last week that I'd like to have a wine named after me and preferably before my time is up.

If I could set up a winery in Oz and produce my own range of wines I would have great fun thinking up the names myself.

For shiraz and other 'macho' reds the name would be appropriately 'male'. Perhaps Tipples Tannin Titan Cabernet Sauvignon, or Tipples Testos de Rhone Shiraz. The whites could be more new age. Maybe Tipples Tantric Tincture Riesling or Tipples Totempole Talisman Tealeaf Chardonnay.

The reality is that I have to content myself with wines of other people's making. But it is great when a good wine also has a ridiculous name, take Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz 2004 for instance. Named after some granite outcrop overlooking the Limestone Coast of South Australia, from where the wine comes, this is a rather dense affair too. A dense, full-on shiraz with bucket loads of black fruit, toasty oak and titanic tannins. Streuth mate...

Staying in the Limestone Coast but this time with a wine that oozes female sex pheromones (my opinion not the manufacturer's claim). It would be unfair to say that Stonehaven Limestone Coast Viognier 2004 has a nose like a tart's boudoir but it does have plenty of viognier characteristic perfume aromas. This is a complex mouthful with creamy perfumed flavours too, like mandarin peel and peaches. Delicate, lingering stuff, waiting to be paired with smoked salmon.

When a wine producer announces an addition to its super-premium range I feel duty bound to sample the new wine. This is simply because if it was rubbish you could take my word for it and save yourself twenty quid. I'm pleased to report that I won't be asking you to save £20 on Grant Burge Abednego 2002 because it's pretty good. A Rhone-style blend of shiraz (syrah), grenache and mourvedre from Barossa old vines it is velvety smooth and juicy with berries, cherries and strawbs. It has a spicy, fiery kick, a little vanilla and some fine tannins. A barbecue wine for the very rich?

Tippling term of the week: weighty

Describes a full wine with powerful aromas and flavours.

Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz 2004, £7.99 at Somerfield 17/20

Stonehaven Limestone Coast Viognier 2004, £11.99, at www.virginwines.com 16/20

Grant Burge Abednego 2002, £19.99 at Wright Wine Company (Skipton), BJR Hanby (Boston Spa), Nidderdale Fine Wines (Harrogate) and John Kelly Wines (Wetherby) 16/20

Updated: 09:05 Saturday, April 22, 2006