Sideshow Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon

Corks & Cheers, the importer's portfolio site, names Johnson Scutt as winemaker for Sideshow Wines, though a founding story or cellar note specific to this exact blend is not something we have beyond that. The name itself carries two grape words, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and for now they remain words in a name; what is actually in the bottle, and in what proportions, has not been established. The store listing, though, carries scores. 4 shoppers have rated this wine there. The average of those scores is 4.75 out of five. With that few raters, the number reflects a handful of individual reactions rather than a broad sample.

The origin is given as Australia, the country itself rather than any one region inside it. Australia's official register of wine origins protects the country name itself as a geographical indication; below it the register runs through state, zone and region names to individual subregions. The vineyards gathered under that one word sit in very different settings, some cooled by the ocean, some planted at real elevation, some in hot districts well inland, so the single word cannot stand for one growing season or one kind of site. The store listing itself does not narrow the geography past the country level. The one regular price on record for it, $9.88, comes from our August 2026 checks. The store listing gives the package as a 750 ml bottle.

Corks & Cheers, the importer's portfolio site, carries a product page for this exact bottling and narrows the picture some. It gives the wine's marketing handle as "The Puppetmaster" and describes it as "a playful blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz from Southeastern Australia," one step down from the bare country name on the store shelf, though still a broad regional label rather than a single vineyard or subregion. The page's tasting notes describe "blackberry, plum, and a hint of dark chocolate and licorice" on the nose, with "ripe raspberry and strawberry notes" on the palate, and "sweet tannins" giving what it calls "a soft but satisfying structure." The page lists the wine as medium-full to full in body and dry, though it gives no alcohol level or exact blend percentages.

Our call: worth a look if a named winemaker and the maker's own tasting notes are enough to hang a decision on; Corks & Cheers names Johnson Scutt as winemaker and describes blackberry, plum and licorice character in its own words. Pass if you want the blend spelled out in percentages or an alcohol level on record; neither exists yet, and the 4 shopper ratings on file, at 4.75 out of five, are too few to lean on hard.

The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Aug 17, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.