I was only talking to the Lobster the other day about a bottle of wine I'd been subjected to at the weekend by my fiance. On paper, it sounds atrocious; Leopard's Leap South African Pinotage / Shiraz.

Let me stop you there, I thought. To paraphrase Dr Johnson; a South African wine should be "opened with care, carefully decanted over a flame, allowed to breathe in a decanter and then poured down the nearest drain, as fit for nothing". Pinotage, being an SA only variety, tends to have a reasonably bad name. And by that I mean whenever I drink it, it's shit.

But lo and behold, this was not only drinkable - it was good. I'd recommend it. Nay, in a fit of charmed wine insanity, I went back and bought a half case of the stuff!

The Lobster took it all in his stride. "That's because it's got Shiraz in it", he indicated by shifting his antennae. "It's a magic grape."

Now generally, I'd always associated a Shiraz with overly-peppery "big reds" but it seems the Lobster is right. Cue this weekend and another Shiraz sensation - this time d'Arenberg 'The Dead Arm' Shiraz 2005. More new world wine I figured I could take or leave - this time made from (and get this) dying vines that have been deliberately infected with a fungal virus so that parts of the vine die, leaving small yields of intense (hopefully non-diseased) fruit.

The verdict: Outstanding. Rich, intense mouthfuls of berries and great smooth finish, overtones of chocolate, dates and a sharp woody nose.

So, to recap, Shiraz can:

- make Pinotage taste attractive
- make diseased fungally infected vines taste so good you want to cry
- look under the hood and teach you tai-chi

This year I'm voting Shiraz for president. It's even the name of a town in Iran so it's, like, politically correct and everything.