The pinnacle of Chapel Hill's best parcels of red come together to form The Vicar, a prestige full blooded McLaren Vale Shiraz of great distinction. Painstakingly chosen from selected single-vineyard McLaren Vale sites, The Vicar is overflowing with ripe mulberry and licquorice flavours interlinked with sublime oak influence from over 80% French oak influence.

Old, extremely low-yielding McLaren Vale vines are responsible for d'Arenberg's Dead Arm Shiraz - a wine of enormous power, intensity and real complexity - an absolute must for any serious wine cellar and d'Arenberg lover. One of the flagships for McLaren Vale for many years, this wine continues to shine with a balanced between tradition and Chester Osborne driven innovation.

Vibrant, youthful colour, medium density and lovely purple tints for this Shiraz by Brokenwood. Being a cooler year the aromas are more on the spice cherry side than ripe and opulent. Medium weight palate and again spice and savoury edges. The tell-tale McLaren Vale jube fruit is there along with background oak.

The Vicar is one of Chapel Hill’s flagship wines and is an annual vineyard selection of Chapel Hill’s most outstanding and expressive parcels of McLaren Vale Shiraz. The vineyard blocks were harvested and fermented separately in small batch open fermenters. Gentle plunging was utilised for cap management and all of the ferments were left on skins for a range of 13 days to 22 days. Following gentle basket pressing, the free run and pressing fractions were combined. During the subsequent 21-month oak maturation period, the barrels were periodically racked and returned to ensure the integration of the tannins back into the structure of the wine. To preserve purity and character the wine is made with minimal additions and is allowed to clarify naturally without the use of fining or filtration. This is wonderfully opulent Vicar. Inky black and packed with blackberries, plums and dark chocolate with a twist of aniseed. The nose brims with a complex mix of wild herbs, violets, black liquorice and a sprinkle of wild fennel. A powerful wine that flows across your palate unveiling layers of delicious flavours and succulent tannins with an impossibly long finish. Purity in a glass.

Mollydooker Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz is a truly phenomenal Shiraz that proudly displays Sarah and Sparky Marquis' son Luke on the label. Definitely no shrinking violet, this explosion of a wine has a dense black crimson colour and leaps from the glass with powerful aromatics of blueberries, ripe sweet fruit, licorice and undertones of chocolate biscuit. The seductive texture is laced with fresh fruit flavours, coffee and warm spice, a full bodied Shiraz with an endless depth of fruit.

Lloyd Reserve Shiraz is produced from a single vineyard at Coriole, planted in 1919 by Geoffrey Kay. It was first retained as a separate wine in 1989, and is one of Langton's Classified Wines of Australia. This vineyard typically produces a wine of great intensity and can be cellared for many years. The wine is matured in French oak with typically about 40% new.

A new label and new take on a classic. The Eileen Hardy Shiraz is juicy, plump and full of life with a magnificent backbone of tannin and spice without being overbearing. A classic in the making.