Deep and bright colours with a purple hue, the Optimist Shiraz also offers aromas of lifted satsuma plum, raspberry, violet flower, with a hint of cherry oak. The palate is bursting with bright fresh blue fruits, a rich middle palate with lots of satsuma plum and dark cherries. A long fine tannin structure throughout gives an excellent backbone to this food friendly style of Barossa Shiraz. Awards: • Trophy

Chris Hatcher of 'Hatch Wines' has been a winemaker for almost 50 years including more than 35 years at Wolf Blass, 27 as Chief Winemaker. After many years of contemplating releasing his own wines, Hatch retired from TWE in June 2023 and then in October/November released my own label HATCH, his monicker for most of his life. Hatch Barossa St Johns Shiraz is a powerful, full bodied and opulent wine with vibrance and purity. Intense and concentrated with great aromatics of plum and dark cherry, the palate has dark red fruits, is round, soft with seductive oak and silky tannins.

Concentrated and intense yet built in an elegant framework. Grenache provides beautiful lifted sappy red fruits with floral accents, Shiraz provides mid-palate richness with some spicy overtones and Mataro rounds out the blend providing structure and savoury meatiness.

Vibrant in colour the nose shows plum and berry fruit with spice pepper and well integrated oak. The palate has good fruit weight with attractive berry flavours and a fine tannin finish.

St Hugo GSM is aromatic and bright, yet exudes the style and pedigree which are hallmarks of the St Hugo label. This Grenache Shiraz Mataro blend shows lifted fruit aromas of Turkish delight and briary complexity. The palate is plush, full and complex. Ripe fruit flavours are complemented by silky tannins and subtle oak.

Dark fruits and licorice intermingled with forest undergrowth notes precede a long lasting, fine tannin Rosemary flavoured finish. The medium weight but firm structure and vibrancy of this wine ensure it has many possible food matches.

St Hugo Cabernet Shiraz displays a dark ruby red with purple hues. The bouquet of dark forest fruits such as plum, blueberry and cassis lead into a beautifully complex palate of blackcurrent, sweet plum and chalky tannins. There is a underlying savoury oak hint and a finish of lingering dark chocolate.

Aroma: Complex ripe cherry and plum aromas on the nose. Palate: Rich black cherry and plum with liquorice and a hint of mint on the palate with length and finesse.

Earthy, smoky, gravelly nose, with hints of cured meats and gunflint, intriguing and complex. Robust and very dark on the palate, plush and powerful, mouthcoating density of fruit, that is ripe and textural. A substantial wine with longevity and presence.