Geoff Merrill Henley Shiraz shows a deep brick red colour lined by cherry red hues. A whiff of the wine reveals generous scents of berry fruits and toasty French oak. Ripe fruit flavours combine with fine and powerful tannins on the full flavoured palate, to provide an elegant structure. This delightful Shiraz ends in a captivating finale. It tastes marvellous with lamb shanks in a red wine jus, chocolate-dipped honeycomb, and sharp Cheddar cheese.

Geoff Merrill Parham Cabernet Sauvignon is a deep red coloured wine with purple hints. It was aged in brand new American oak hogsheads for 27 months. Its complex and powerful bouquet exudes aromas of roast beetroot, dark chocolate, black olive, blueberry, licorice and mint. The focussed yet balanced oak creates depth as it opens up in the glass. The palate is fleshy, full of tannins, structured with tight acidity, and displays flavours of dark blue fruits, black cherry and olive. Enjoy it with runny double brie, white castello, or pork belly.

The Old Vine Syrah patch was planted in the 1930s and is on a slope of the property with a westerly aspect. These old gnarly vines are planted in heavily decomposed ironstone and quartz. The style of wine is completely individual and the winemaking team always comment on how light the style is and how exotic the spices are in this vineyard. The spices come across like incense mixed with deeply aromatic and smoky lapsang oolong tea. Exotic characters such as sandalwood, cocoa powder, sarsaparilla and cola elements top the roast meat and flinty, strawberry and cream palette of this wine. The lighter frame on this style is highly attractive and the intoxicating spices combine to create something highly exotic.

Z-Force is named in tribute to the Z Special Force, which was a special Australian Army unit created in World War Two to operate behind enemy lines. Z-Force’s members were from many countries and specialised in unique guerrilla warfare. Although disbanded after the war, Z-Force pioneered numerous operational techniques and tactics, many as daring as they were brilliant, that remain a model to this day. The surviving members of Z Special Unit last marched together on Anzac Day in Sydney 2010. The extraordinary bravery of their unit and its lost brothers are honoured in this wine, which is Zonte’s Footstep finest. Each bottle of this wine sold helps support the work of Legacy South Australia.

This is a smart wine. It feels very harmonious, there's fruit intensity but it's not *too* fruity, there's present oak but it's not *too* overpowering, there's spice and tannin but they're not *too* drying. Everything has been worked into this classy number in thoughtful moderation and the result is a wine greater than the sum of its parts. From the well known, hand-tended, vineyards of the Willunga sub-region of McLaren Vale, picked in the (widely lorded) year of 2021 - it's safe to say we were holding this one to a pretty high standard. Well, this wine exceeded even our lofty expectations. Juicy dark mulberry and black cherry, vibrant spiced plum and chocolate characters are expressed with both intensity and complexity. Subtle, but ever present, oak characters manifest themselves in slight chocolate and vanilla notes along with fine grained tannins and build to a silky, spice driven finish. Happy to sit in the cellar for 15+ years, but why delay happiness right?