A recent addition to the Petaluma stable, the Petaluma of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is a great example of modern Australian winemaking when let to mingle with traditional wine estate and aged vineyards. Notes of dark chocolate, mocha, espresso and forest floor sit alongside bold blackcurrant fruit and cedar nuances. The finish is long and sustained.

As with its Caberent Sauvignon sibling the Coonawarra Series Shiraz is made in a ripe, generous style with classic spicy varietal characteristics and definitive structure. Showing great depth of flavour, the palate is host to notes of cherry, mulberry and hazelnut with an underlying cool, mineral line and fine oak tannin. Parker Estate is a wine that's very approachable in its youth but can also be cellared short to medium term.

Parker Estate Terra Rossa Shiraz is a little gem from Coonawarra. Generously rich with ripe dark forest berries complimented by mocha, cassis and a hints of spicy oak.

Parker Estate Terra Rossa Cabernet Sauvignon is a Coonawarra Cabernet that always looks classy. Big rich cassis, blackberry and raspberry fruit ripple with an appealing suggestion of leafiness. The very best oak is always used for Parker's wines and that is evident again with fine integrated influence of French oak that delivers a balanced cedar and cigar box finish.

The Parker Coonawarra Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is made in a riper, more generous style to its peers, yet with enough restraint to display the distinct varietal and regional characteristics. Dark chocolates, violets and notes of liquorice capture the nose, revealing a expansive soft palate layered in berry fruits. Supported by fine grain tannins, the wine encompassing a classic structure, one that can be enjoyed on release and or cellared short to medium term.

Katnook is a beacon for quality in Coonawarra for many a decade. Their Cabernet is their flagship that has a rich and elegant bouquet with aromas of cedary blackcurrant. Supported by well integrated toasty oak while the palate shows long fine varietal flavours.

Leconfield's Cabernet Sauvignon is the flagship of Leconfield and a classic Coonawarra Cabernet. Blackcurrant aromas are combined with cedary oak and the palate is laden with sweet berry fruit balanced by fine lingering tannins. Paul Gordon has taken this classic beauty to even greater heights in recent years as its award history can attest.

Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon is the beacon of quality that all Australian Cabernet Sauvignon is compared to. Coming off the iconic red soils of Coonawarra, Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon is classic elegance. Chief winemaker, Sue Hodder, is able to craft a wine brimming with aromas of blackcurrant and plum that combine with spicy minty notes. The palate is well structured, long and fine. With the right cellaring condition, this could easily be a cellar gem.

It has a classic lift of essential Cabernet fruit aromas, a perfume of dark mulberries with a lift of white mulberries, tayberries and bramble-berries that have been baked with a fresh pie crust. A great heady aroma with rich red ripe fruits but also some hints of crushed violets and whiffs of mushrooms, olives, dried herbs and suggestions of briar and undergrowth wisping in and out. There is also a shot of old school glossy tri-coloured boiled sweets character to this most complex Coonawarra Cabernet. Two years in oak has allowed a meshing of some spice and cedar oak maturation to complex.

Deep garnet with aromas of blackcurrant, cedar and graphite. The palate is rich and structured, showing concentrated cassis, dark chocolate and fine-grained tannins. Elegant and powerful, it finishes long with classic Coonawarra mint and oak spice.

Never forget the teeth. Especially with a good cabernet like this. You’ve got 36 gleaming ivory sensors to swirl the flavours around. To thresh the tannins against like waves on rocks. To chew the chewiness and know it’s real. Swirling, filtering, rewinding the tape over the playback heads in the back. And letting it all go, bar the mouth-filling echo that lingers just long enough to make you second-guess. And have some more.