Spinifex Esprit
Spinifex Esprit is a Grenache Mataro blend that has a vibrant, youthful and fresh palate driven by a tangy herb infused line of red fruit red currant, sour red plum, pomegranate and marjoram that gains warmth and depth turning to tobacco, game, cedar and darker fruit to close. Pulpy, fleshy fruit is drawn long with plum skin acids and stony tannins.
Spinifex Papillon
Spinifex Papillon is a vibrant and luscious red from the Baross Valley that is a blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Mataro. Made in the typical modern Australian mould, the Papillon is bright and aromatic with lifted cherry, red currant and spicy raspberry. A very perfumed wine with earthy flavours of beetroot and white pepper which lends itself to being a terrific food style wine with lovely acid structure and a medium weight.
Shaw & Smith Shiraz
The trailblazers of the Adelaide Hills have created another outstanding wine. A superb expression of modern cool-climate Shiraz; Shaw & Smith is elegantly spicy and brimming with supple red-fruit flavours matched by fine tannins. An absolute ripper.
Guigal Côtes du Rhône
Guigal Côtes du Rhône has always been the beacon for quality in the southern Rhône. This is one Grenache blend you must get your hands on. An attractive nose of cinnamon, liquorice and wild herbs, the palate is medium-bodied and balanced with a spicy savoury mid-palate and clean finish.
Paxton Jones Block Shiraz
From the single vineyard site in the McLaren Vale comes this intensely dark crimson coloured Shiraz from the team at Paxton. Intense dark crimson in colour and equally intense flavours - this is for lovers of beautifully complex wine. It is a clear expression of its unique site.
Lightfoot & Sons Pinot Noir
Lightfoot & Sons Pinot Noir gives lifted floral aromas and bright red cherry fruit which make this an immediately appealing wine. The whole bunch ferments bring cherry and plum fruit characters to the fore of the palate and contrast with the French oak, tannins and savoury elements. This is a classic Gippsland Pinot Noir, it has texture, bright clean fruit and great balance.
Te Mata Estate Gamay Noir
Craggy Range Gimblett Chardonnay
The Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay is made using very traditional winemaking techniques involving wild yeasts and the use of French oak barriques. The resulting wine is always finely flavoured and softly textured with a linear elegance that allows the wine to retain its freshness. Lovely aromatics of white flowers, peach, biscuit and flint. Integrated fresh flavours of stone fruits, lemon zest and roasted nuts create a generous and complex feel across the palate which is elegant and long on the finish.
Spinifex Syrah
Beautifully sculpted, racy, red-and-blackberry-fruit along with a lifted rosehip note as well, and some inky depths on the driven finish. Gets more and more perfumed and lively with air, it's another terrific effort from one of Australia's most gifted wine people. The wine, naturally fermented with a judicious use of whole clusters (on average 30%) in a combination of stainless steel, wood and concrete fermenters, also sees a shorter maturation than the Esprit and Bête Noir, et al. The 2018 was cropped from five high, exposed parcels in the Barossa and Eden Valley, where the soils are generally poor and skeletal - for the most part light, gravelly and silty sands over deeply weathered base rocks of varied origins. Vine age varies from 25 to 115 years old (averaging 50 years old), and all fruit is hand harvested. Spinifex was started in 2001 with the opportunity to source some great old vine Mataro growing in deep white drift-sand on the Barossa Valleys Western Ridge. Owned by husband and wife team, Peter Schell and Magali Gely, their focus is on regional wines from the traditional Mediterranean grape varieties that have been grown successfully in Australia for over 150 years - Shiraz, Mataro, Grenache, Cinsault, Carignan, Ugni Blanc, Grenache Gris, Marsanne and Semillon. They aim to make wines that display signatures of vineyard provenance and vintage, show regional typicity and have a consistent thread of 'house style' that reflects their preferences and experiences with wine. The wines they choose to make are predominately blends, the synergies derived from blending wines of differing character enhance the subtle complexities, even textures and profound personalities delivered from great old vine vineyards.