Packed full of mint, blackcurrants, spice and cedary oak, this wine is indicative of how a great the 2004 vintage was. Drinking beautifully now.

Petaluma Merlot is medium body with a brick red colour, the superbly perfumed bouquet is a tangle of marzipan, spice, plum and confectionery and is the best nose of the early Petalumas. On the palate, flavours of cherry, plum and spice emerge, with very good depth and complexity.

Barbera can be a bit of a chameleon, so let's set the record straight immediately; this wine falls into the pure-fruited, punchy, lighter bodied, good-times category. Pure, black cherry, raspberry, nettle and anise aromas and flavours - perfumed and engaging - it has both sweet and savoury notes and more than enough structure to keep the palate fresh. It also showcases the finesse that is so typical of Massolino's wines. Matured in stainless steel and concrete tanks, this wine hails from a 2.2-hectare limestone-rich vineyard in Serralunga d'Alba where the vines are between 10 and 35 years of age.

MICHELE CHIARLO, La Court Riserva, Barbera D'Asti Nizza DOCG

2006 Patrick of Coonawarra Home Block Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes were grown at the Toccaciu Coonawarra estate, and the wine was matured for 26 months in French and American oak; while I am not a fan of ProCork, this is a very attractive wine, which has cruised through six, rising seven, years, the cassis and cedar flavours supported by very fine but persistent tannins.

2016 was a superb vintage in Wrattonbully, and Shiraz was one of the stand-out varieties, as this impressive example shows. Drinking well.Inky deep brick colour. Aromas of prune, blackcurrant, leather, white pepper, earth and mocha. A developed Shiraz with a concentrated plummy core, firm and layered tannins, plenty of chocolatey oak, and secondary cigar box and old leather notes.

We’ve now seen two vintages of this ripper deal fly out the door. For those in the know, this wine never disappoints upon pulling the cork. This cellar release may have eight years of development behind it, but give it a taste and you’ll see that it is only starting to touch its prime drinking window. This wine is usually exclusive to the producer’s database, but somehow our charming wine buyers have managed to get some for the site.

John Riddoch MHA, who entered South Australia’s parliament (1865) as the South-East’s representative, founded the Coonawarra region (1890) with the aspiration of making the finest wine in the country. The Representative Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot pays homage to this history as an iconic red wine blend for Coonawarra. Blackberry, blueberry and plum flavours with fleshy characters on the palate. Long fine tannins on the palate flow into a generous finish with a long length of flavour.