For many years a champion of premium Australian Cabernet Shiraz, Yalumba first created FDR as an elite quality wine to reward staff and to enter high end wine shows. Now available to us mere mortals, it is rich in black fruits and spice.

Murphy-Goode Pinot Noir comes from vineyards up and down the coast of California, including Arroyo Seco, Santa Maria Valley, and Monterey. Cool conditions in these prime growing spots keep grapes at a perfect balance between vibrant dark fruit character and bright acidity. Notes of vanilla from aging in French and American oak add complexity to the intense black cherry aromas and flavours.

I am so excited about Californian wine production - it’s always a thrill to see these wines on our shores. This is pinot with power - smokey and meaty at the fore, which gives way to a dried cherry and pink flower potpourri and sweet baking spice. On the palate it’s silky smooth and delightfully shapely with some punchy acidity give the wine real get-up-and-go. This isn’t so much lithe and supple as it is round in the mouth; almost (but not quite) enough to be stepping outside the bounds of varietal typicity. Structured and bold but ethereal none the less.

The Eden Hall Cabernet Sauvignon from the Eden Valley is a wonderfully striking Cabernet with swathes of lifted violets, ripe plums and blackcurrant all supported by a quality oak regime that has integrated brilliantly. While youthful the wine is plump and juicy, it will age very nicely and improve with some careful cellaring over the next decade.

This Merlot blends the craftsmanship of California winemaking with the exotic tradition of dark rum barrel aging, resulting in an incredibly bold sensory expression. Dark ruby red in colour, this wine opens up with aromas and flavours of ripe black cherry and raspberry. Aging select lots in rum barrels enhances the notes of baking spice, brown sugar, vanilla, and cocoa when added to the final blend. Dark chocolate notes carry through to a long, lush finish. A superb accompaniment to spiced meats and poultry, brie with fig jam, and chocolate desserts.

Deep, rich ruby in colour, it opens with concentrated aromas of blackberry cobbler, ripe dark berries, graham cracker, brown sugar, vanilla, milk chocolate, and toasty oak with notes of coffee and smoke. Flavors of ripe blackberry cobbler, blueberry pie, praline, sweet vanilla custard, brown sugar, caramel, and mocha, with hints of coffee and smoke. Soft, chewy tannins and toasty oak round the wine out with a long, lush finish.

Based on Cabernet, Sassicaia is one of the first Italian reds to be made in the image of Bordeaux. In the late 1990s Sassicaia was granted its own DOC, the only wine from a single vineyard to enjoy this privilege.