Penfold's Koonunga Hill

For those of you who just came over from Yellowtail, Little Penguin, and the like -- or those of you who have yet to -- let me recommend the Penfold's Koonunga Hill Range ($).
I'm going to take a lot of heat from the uppity winos, but I think this is a decent suggestion to the beginner. Koonunga Hill wines are a buck or two more than Y/T, and taste like a million bucks when put up against the typical Aussie swill. There are quite a few varietals available, so whatever your taste, there's something to suit it.
Just to be sure, I opened a bottle of Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2002 ($). I found the wine to be enjoyable, but not overly complex. It was fruity and drinkable, with a dry aftertaste. This is a trick that many major wine mass-producers use to sell their wine. They blend grapes to make wines that are suitable to many tastes, as opposed to one style of drinker. This also comes into play with the vintage. I opened a bottle of 2002, and my tasting notes were quite similar to a bottle of 2004 of the same varietal I had had recently. Also, there wasn't much difference to a bottle of 2002 that was opened a couple of years back.
I would love to see these wines at local art openings instead of Papio, etc. It'd make all you artists look a little more refined, but it still suits your "starving" budget.
If the novice wino wants any more impetus to purchase this wine, I poured a glass of the Shiraz/Cab. for Mo along with a glass of the Sierra Cantabria and held a little blind taste test. Mo chose the Penfold's, saying it had more flavor and was less watery -- terms the Joe Regular in all of us can understand.