Posted on Thu, Jul. 24, 2008

Aussies are a strange lot. No offense, but there's a certain perversity about them when it comes to naming wines. Sometimes they bend over backward for color -- Black Guts shiraz. Muddy Waters riesling. Wild Dog chardonnay. Other times they shrug and name the wines after the bins they're stored in -- Penfolds Bin 707 cabernet sauvignon, for example, and Bin 28 shiraz.

In the Barossa Valley, a cool, 64-square-mile area 40 miles north of Adelaide, it's Two Hands Winery's Brilliant Disguise Moscato and Brave Faces Shiraz blend.

There's history behind ''Brave Faces.'' German and English growers brought shiraz to Australia in the 1830s from France's Rhne Valley (where it was called syrah). By the 1980s, shiraz was out of fashion, and the Australian government urged growers to pull out the vines and plant chic chardonnay.

Many Barossa growers resisted, and today are making fabulous wines from 150-year-old vines -- buck-the-tide boldness that Two Hands honors with Brave Faces.

Following a common practice in the Barossa, Two Hands is a ''negociant'' operation, meaning it buys grapes and/or wine from independent growers, then bottles and sells it under its own label.

Former construction exec Michael Twelftree and accountant Richard Mintz founded the company in 1999 in Marananga, a subdistrict of Barossa. They're turning out top-notch stuff, routinely making Wine Spectator magazine's Top 100 list and earning 90+ scores from influential wine writer Robert Parker.

They deal in unusual wines. One is an aperitif/dessert sip in the spritzy, slightly sweet style of a moscato. In fact it's made from the grape the Italians called moscato, known as white frontignac in Australia. It's almost like a nouveau wine, best drunk young and cold.

Brave Faces is a rich, ripe red blend of shiraz, grenache and mataro that goes well with red meats and other hearty dishes. (What the Aussies call mataro is simply mourvèdre, an old Spanish grape.)

Barossa Valley Estate, a cooperative of more than 80 third- and fourth-generation growers, also has a quirky naming system, beginning all its wines with the letter E: E. & E. Black Pepper shiraz. E Minor chardonnay. E Minor shiraz. Turns out E & E refers to the two original founders -- both named Elmore.

My theory is that when you live at the bottom of the world, you do whatever you can to be noticed. And these are wines that deserve attention.

HIGHLY

RECOMMENDED

• 2008 Two Hands ''Brilliant Disguise'' Moscato, Barossa Valley, Australia: delicate, spritzy, fresh, lightly sweet, with flavors of oranges and grapefruit; $19 per 500-milliliter (two-thirds) bottle.

RECOMMENDED

• 2007 Two Hands ''Brave Faces'' Shiraz Grenache Mataro, Barossa Valley, Australia: Fresh red berry aromas; rich raspberry flavors; ripe and smooth; $36.

• 2005 Barossa Valley Estate ''E Minor'' Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Australia: soft black plum and black pepper aromas and flavors; ripe tannins; $13.

• 2006 Barossa Valley Estate ''E Minor'' Chardonnay, Barossa Valley, Australia: light and crisp and tart, with citrus and apricot flavors; $13.