An intriguing aromatic mix of warm spices, dried herbs, dark red rose petals and dusty cherries. Craggy Range Aroha Pinot Noir is complex and well integrated with fine oak and tannins, which provides the structural backbone.

McWilliam's Mount Pleasant Maurice O'Shea Shiraz continues lead the pack of great Hunter Valley Shiraz. A lovely return to old form, this Maurice has a striking purple hue to it in the glass. To the nose aromas of liquorice and spice with hints of cedar will beguile. Layers of complex flavours dance across the palate including savoury, spicy dark fruits like dark plums and cherries. A classic of classics.

Made from fruit grown in ultra close planted vineyards Bass Phillip wines are eerily like Pinots from Burgundy. Fully mature now, the wine has lovely spice and earthy characters ready to be enjoyed now.

The Chapoutier Estate has been present in the Rhone Valley since 1808, always on a quest to find different tastes and expressions of terroir, or sense of place. Hermitage is regarded by some as the greatest expression of Shiraz from anywhere in the world. If you're a Shiraz lover and haven't yet explored the wines of the Northern Rhone, you're simply missing out.

The times ahead for Château Léoville-Poyferré are very exciting indeed. After many years of changing ownership, the fortunes of the vineyard have also ebbed and flowed. With the younger generation of the Cuvelier's now at the helm, the results speak for themselves. No more so than the quite exuberant 2009 Léoville-Poyferré which has seen the estate produce what is possibly the greatest wine to have been produced there. Close to perfection in so many ways, the layer upon layer of complex flavours is something to behold. Blackcurrant, graphite, espresso, mocha, menthol, blueberry to name but a few. A modern Bordeaux classic in the makings.

This village Vosne-Romanée shows all the typicity expected of its commune with beautiful ripe cherry strawberry perfume, lovely weight and mouth-feel and abundant fine discrete tannins. Matured in 30% to 40% new French oak barrels, it has the concentration and structure to cellar gracefully for many years.