Based at their Home of the Brave winery in the Barossa, First Drop describe their wine-making philosophy as a sensibility for tradition with a passion for innovation. The Cream is blended at the optimum time from the best barrels from First Drops most prized vineyards to create the ultimate expression of Barossa Shiraz from the vintage.

Sourced from the Standish Family Vineyard Siegersdorf Road, Vine Vale, Barossa Valley. Planted on own roots in 1912. Dense, latent and strapping, this flaunts the flawless purity that can be leached from the famed sandy flints of Vine Vale. Tightly wound with its cards close to the vest, deep-set aromatics of coal, pressed currant and black truffle are foiled by redolent tones of tilled soil, beef broth and slow roasted meats. Dark and brooding with immense concentration, persistence and energy it is somewhat of a heroic style but is gently laced with a long fine cloak of silken tannin.

THE STANDISH WINE COMPANY Lamella Shiraz, Barossa The Standish Wine Company produces a number of small-volume, single-site wines from various parts of the Barossa and Eden valleys. This one is 100% Shiraz from Hutton Vale Farm in the Eden Valley. Dan Standish is a sixth generation Barossan and seven generations of the Angas family have worked Hutton Vale. The Lamella is a transcendent Shiraz of great density and purity, yet also has a feeling of elegance maintained through careful and sensitive winemaking. Dan Standish is an important figure in the Barossa. He founded The Standish Wine Company in 1999 and in 2000, after leaving Torbreck (then soon to have two Langtons Classified wines), he co-founded Massena, another label that has played an important part in redefining modern Barossa Valley.winemaking.He has also made wine in Californias Napa and Sonoma valleys, the Rioja in Spain and the Rhone Valley of France. His aim is to showcase some of the Barossas finest sites with seductive wines that combine power and finesse. He has built a reputation for being able to make wines with a distinctive X-factor.

Sourced from dry-grown, hand tended vines in the north east of Victoria, this Beechworth Chardonnay from Savaterre will surely convince even the most hardened Chardonnay critic that modern Australian Chardonnay is of supreme world-class standard. Keppell Smith handcrafts a Chardonnay of utmost power and concentration that produces a length of flavour that borders on the immortal.

The Glaetzer family have been part of the Barossa winemaking scene since 1888 and now Ben takes over the reigns and produces Shiraz of the utmost intensity and concentration. Named after the ancient Egyptian god Amon-Ra who was the champion of the poor and troubled and was central to personal piety, the temple of Amon-Ra is believed to be the first to plant a vineyard to produce wine for the citizens of the temple. This incarnation is rich, full-bodied and viscous to the palate, yet with sublime oak integration and a balance on the back palate that is quite lifted allowing it to be paired with many meals and a prime candidate for medium to long term cellaring.

David and Jenny Jones are making wine with tremendous depth of fruit flavour, reflecting the relatively low-yielding but very well- maintained vineyards in The Pyrenees. Their flagship Dalwhinnie Eagle Shiraz is a perfect example of this. Pristine and fresh with more of everything providing plenty of stuffing, redcurrant, blackberry and sage characters.

Wynns Michael Shiraz is a 'best-of-vintage' Shiraz from Wynns vineyard sites in Coonawarra and is named after David Wynn's youngest son. Made in the years that best show Coonawarra's unique terroir, this latest release displays the qualities that have made the 'Michael' one of the most highly regarded of all Australian Shiraz with aromas of red currants, cherries and raspberry that mesh every so well with the olive and white spice characters. The palate follows with an elegant structure bursting with dark brooding spice and succulent ripe tannins.

Small parcels of fruit from old dry grown vines are selected for their intensity of flavour and individual qualities. Complex and concentrated this classic Barossan will continue to develop for a decade at least.