Intense bouquet of complex dark red fruits with spicy peppery notes and a touch of mint. Concentrated, blueberries and cream on the palate, very juicy but elegant and vibrant. Nicely structured with fine tannins and good length.

A delightful wine that has just reached it's maturity, showing classic Barossa Shiraz power albeit in a more savoury limelight. Earthy and leathery undertones give this wine a point of interest that wasn't there when it was big, young and sweet. Enjoy only with great food and good company.

A vein of ironstone runs through the vineyard producing Syrah of exceptional quality. Landau displays red fruits, a medium-bodied palate with whole bunch influence giving, spice, complexity and structure. Downer naturally ferments the Landau with approximately 50% whole bunches and whole berries in small one tonne, open fermenters. Again, oak maturation is minimal, with the wine raised in older French oak puncheons for roughly 9-10 months. Adelaide Hills is buzzing with change and innovation and Murdoch Hill is a producer that is now at the forefront of this action. Its worth pointing out that Murdoch Hills is not a new player in the Australian wine scene - the Estate vineyards were planted by the Downer family in 1998. But it has been the return of the familys youngest member, Michael Downer, to take over the winemaking duties in 2012, that has created the excitement here. Pumped from stages at Vietti (Piedmont), Best's Great Western and Shaw+Smith, Downer has wasted little time in applying his experience and passion to his family vineyard practices and winemaking. The most obvious changes he has implemented have been bringing the winemaking in house (it was previously outsourced to a neighbouring winery) and the creation of the Artisan range of single-parcel, minimal intervention bottlings. Tapping into the freshness gifted by his high-altitude vines, while keeping winemaking artefact to a minimum, Downers approach has led to a range of juicy, vibrant wines that highlight the detail and freshness of each site. We are not the only ones who have been following this young winemakers progress with interest - Downer was a Young Guns of Wine finalist in 2014 and the joint winner of the Winemakers Choice in 2015. His wines have also been getting great reviews and a number of gongs in recent times (including two wines in the top ten at the Adelaide Review Hot 100 last year). The winemaking specs include wild yeast ferments, various degrees of whole bunch, extended skin contact and more and more older wood in the aging. Bottling is without any fining or filtration. In terms of the vineyards, the original 1998 Estate plantings are situated around the winery, nestled in the undulating hills of Oakbank. The shallow red loam soils here are shot through with varying levels of schist and ironstone. Varieties include Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition to the home vineyards, Downer also works with a range of nearby sites in Lobethal and Basket Range and the high altitude Uraidla vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley. These sources offer Downer a broad range of flavours, structures and textures with which to do his thing.

The wine displays a strong bouquet of blackberry and earth, with a soft but pronounced tannin structure. The hand-picked fruit was fermented in small open fermenters, and hand plunged several times daily. 2014 was an excellent vintage, and the perfect opportunity to start a flagship red. Beautiful winter rain, set us up with excellent vineyard balance. We had a great vintage, with warm conditions allowing perfect ripening across all varieties. A soft but pronounced tannin structure. Jacob Stein The Robert Stein Vineyard and cellar door is located just a short drive from the centre of Mudgee, in the Central West of New South Wales. Robert Stein Vineyard and Winery is one of Mudgee's premier labels, established in 1976 and now in its third generation of expertise. Winemaker Jacob Stein has worked in many regions around the world including Germany, Italy, Canada and Margaret River in Western Australia. His experience abroad has brought wealth of new technique and theories and is working well to maintain the traditions and quality of all wines made at Robert Stein. Robert Stein produces a wide range of single vineyard wines, made solely from their 70 acre vineyard. The exposure of the brand and quality of wines has rapidly increased, with Jacob Stein at the Helm. Jacob was awarded the Gourmet Traveller Young Winemaker of the Year award in 2012, further proof of his achievements in Mudgee. Robert Stein Winery has also been consecutively awarded a James Halliday 5 star winery in The Wine Companion since 2010.