Bright medium red with purple hue in colour; On the nose: pronounced Blackcurrant, crushed wet leaves and dark plums, bouquet of wild violet and a decent amount of almost wet tobacco oak. A full bodied wine that has great length on the palate with firm but refined tannins. Simply outstanding in its class.

This tiny vineyard of century old vines produces a wine of formidable structure with an intense Cabernet style of mixed fruits and berries.

The inaugural 1997 vintage of this Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec blend set a new standard of quality for wines from South America when it won a series of blind tastings against first growths and other prestigious cuvees from around the world. In 1898, Nicola Catena left his homeland of Italy, and sailed for the land of plenty and opportunity: Argentina. It wasn't long before Nicola planted his first Malbec vineyard in Mendoza in 1902. Although traditionally used as a blending grape in Bordeaux, Nicola believed in the potential of Malbec as a single varietal wine, and suspected that it might uncover its hidden splendour in the cooler climes of the Andes. Flash forward a few decades, to where Nicola's grandson, Nicolas Catena Zapata, has taken over the management of the business. He sold off the bulk producing parts of the company, focusing instead on producing premium Mlabec and Cabernet. To that end, he began searching for the best sites in Mendoza to plant. In 1992, he settled on Gualtallary Alto - the highest and moste Western part of Tupungato. Today, the wines of Bodega Catena Zapata are sourced from six historic estate vineyards: Angélica, La Pirámide, Nicasia, Domingo, Adrianna and Angélica Sur.

This wine is generous and rounded at first with juicy, deep berry compote fruits then yielding to a tightly woven frame of firm yet generous tannins. There are alluring, coconutty oak and fine dark chocolate characters, with a deep, soft centre of ripe berry fruits. Elegant acids and light, long tannins carry the palate to deliver a lingering finish.

Penfolds Bin 407 began life back in 1993 with the release of the 1990 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon. Created as a result of the availability of high quality Cabernet fruit, Bin 407 is inspired by its older brother, Bin 707. Not only offering varietal definition, but also approachability, structure and depth of flavour. The Bin 407 highlights the Penfolds approach to multi-region, multi-vineyard blending to create a Cabernet that rewards the drinker in both early and later years.

With plenty of blackberry, plum, mulberry and menthol-like fruit and fine, rusty, almost unyielding tannins, this is a strong, firm wine by Wendouree with plenty of lasting power. The Shiraz component derives from vineyard plots that include bush vine material. Parcels of very old vine Malbec bring further distinctiveness. The wine is vinified in open fermenters and matured for 12 months in new and used French oak.

Wendouree has achieved cult status with its tiny production from ancient vines. Luscious dark berry Shiraz fruits and some meaty characters run through the full-bodied palate with ripe tannins.