A classic McLaren Vale Cabernet offering up aromas of dark, juicy blackcurrant, cassia bark, toasted anise, sage flower, dusty cedar and worn leather. It is an elegant Cabernet getting more exciting in the glass as it gets some air. A medium to full-bodied wine full of black olive and jubey fruit, firm, fine and textural tannins with spice and comfort redolent of Christmas pudding with warm brandy sauce.

Round yet fine and detailed, this medium bodied wine is brimming with lovely fruit density. Notes of red current, cassis, black cherry, and plum lead the charge, supported by secondary notes of bay leaf, graphite, wet clay and chocolate. Starting early, tannins are savoury in nature and run long through the palate complimented by lovely accents of ash and coal dust. Dense and chewy through to the finish, this wine has excellent length.

The Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz is an opulent concentrated and complex style with plenty of spicy fruit and a dash of chocolate. True to the style that Wolf himself made from the very beginning of this now iconic brand, this is very tasty and enjoyable now yet it has the weight and complexity to improve with cellaring.

This sensational Shiraz is made by the “exceptionally gifted” Elena Brooks (Halliday). Her medal cabinet bulges with Trophies and Golds won all over the world, and she regularly earns seriously high scores from acclaimed wine critics. Just recently, Elena’s Dandelion Vineyards also won the Southern Hemisphere Winery of the Year Trophy in the US. How does she do it? With a lot of skill, and a lot of passion, like the kind that went into the Lioness. The 2016 has already won TWO Gold medals and a rare Platinum - plus a stellar 96 points from the San Diego Wine Competition. You can look foward to cherry liqueur and chocolate aromas, while on the palate, lush, red fruits jostle with black cherries, plums, dark chocolate, vanilla and sweet spice. Enjoy in big glasses for full effect.

Chapel Hill's Cabernet Sauvignon is a superb McLaren Vale wine which rivals others well beyond its price range. Generous blackcurrant, dark cherries, cedar and spice mixed in with fine, firm tannins. This wine can be enjoyed now but will continue to improve with a few years in the cellar.

Some would say McLaren Vale is the spiritual home of Australian Grenache. We are not about to start arguing when Grenache like this one from Chapel Hill are produced. Generous rich red fruits with smattering of dried herbs and a fleshy mid-palate. There is real concentration and complexity to this wine.

Produced from low yielding, hand harvested vines and made using traditional techniques, D'Arry's Original is a smooth, textured, full bodied red which typifies the generous McLaren style. Always one of those little cellar stars that you can buy up a case or two, hide under the house for a decade and be quietly content that d'Arry's Original will be shining in a decade.

Chapel Hill makes great value wines in the maritime climate of McLaren Vale. This Shiraz is a beauty. Dark berries and vanillin oak are evident in the bouquet with spice coming through on the palate.

Geoff Merrill's winery in the Mt Hurtle south of Adelaide has been making wines that express variety, vintage and terroir with as little intervention from the winemaker as possible. Full bodied with good tanins and intense fruit and spice characters, the elegance and harmony of this Cabernet Sauvignon are allowed to shine.

We managed to secure the last stocks of this Trophy and double Gold-medal winning vintage. In the winery: Selected bunches were hand picked in the third week of March and gently crushed into open top fermenters.In the glass: Vibrant, dense red black.On the nose: Appealing mix of super-ripe black fruit with classic mint herbaceousness. On the palate: Excellent balance with a powerful black fruit core cloaked with bright spice and herb and underlying cedary oak.