The Wild Pixie by d'Arenberg has an unmistakeable connection with the earth from which it emerged, and is the perfect accompaniment to a rustic BBQ cooked over a glowing camp fire on a cold starry night. The flavours and aromas of earth, soot and game perfectly complement the setting. Primary blackberry and mulberry notes appear as the Shiraz develops in the glass. A generous warm wine with an abundance of savoury and dark fruits, completed by a fine emery like tannin trailing to subtle wood spice and vanilla notes.

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.

Joe and Dina Grilli masterfully blend their Italian heritage with their McLaren Vale fruit to produce wines that are food friendly and utterly glugable! This delicious blend of Shiraz and Sangiovese is made in a drink now style. Elegant savoury supple and refined with a long smooth finish. Thoroughly enjoyable!

The nose is teeming with red fruits and florals.Raspberry and cherry with a hint rose and violet. The true giveaways to the vintage however, lie in the distinct white pepper and spice notes. The palate follows suit with bright red fruit and spice.

This McLaren Vale Nero d'Avola from the talented team at Coriole has an incredible swag of awards including two Gold medals and four Trophies! In the glass: Medium density dark red. On the nose: Fresh red and dark cherry aromas with herb and violet perfume. On the palate: Medium weight yet quite intense with raspberry and redcurrant fruit freshness and lifted acidity. Very youthful, lively and Pinot-like with light, silken lingering tannins and savoury spice. Quite delicious!

Beresford wines capture the timeless elegance, powerful complexity and unique essence of McLaren Vale, resulting in wines of great substance, balance and depth. Their McLaren Vale Shiraz is a beautiful example of this, rich plum and blackcurrants with overtones of mocha and spice. A rich full palate, with hints of mocha and spice. Subtle use of oak further adds complexity while the palate finishes with a firm, but soft tannins. A well balanced wine with great depth, length and resistance of flavour.

This elegant wine shows a deep and dark colour, with light hints of purple along the edges. The bouquet exhibits dark fruit and chocolate fragrances, with underlying oak hints. The rich and juicy palate is full of chocolate and licorice flavours, with nuances of vanillin oak supporting the palate.

When you open a Blackstrap, you know you’re heading into seriously dark, rich, red territory. It’s from McLaren Vale, so it shows all that inky, chocolatey, deep black fruit richness the region is known for. A good dose of oak tempers the richness, and fine tannins smooth it out even further, so it’s drinking well now. But it’s definitely an ultra-velvety, mouthcoating, lipstaining, rich and powerful red that you need to approach carefully!

Grant Nash is a name coined by an autocorrect of the word Grenache. A group of like-minded Grenache fans produce the wines, largely from McLaren Vale sites and they are very good. Ironically this blend with Shiraz and Mourvedre – puts Mourvedre into ascendancy. "... a mixed spice nose of clove, pepper and other brown spices, the palate full-bodied and deep with good tannin structure and a touch of firmness. The fruit does the talking but it's far from simplistic. The Mourvèdre shows through and it has ageing potential.” (Huon Hooke, The Real Review).