Any price
Catch 22 Vineyards Barossa Valley Red Blend
You can't be a winemaker until you get experience, but you can't get experience until you make wine! Catch 22 is made at a winery owned and run by a highly acclaimed winemaker who teachs fledgling winemakers how to make quality wines at a top price. This one shows all the amazing flavour you expect in a Barossa red - it's a beauty.
Glenlofty GO Pyrenees Shiraz
Cool climate Shiraz with 93pts and a Special Value star. "... even flow of fruit... softness ... and the attractive complement of coffeed oak are all clear positives here. This has been very nicely turned out. It offers plums, violets, deli meat and spearmint characters with fennel and coffee notes resting above... 93pts. Great Value" (Campbell Mattinson, The Halliday Wine Companion).
Il Basso Merlot
Pikes The Dogwalk Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
You'll love this 93pt Clare Cabernet from the excellent Pikes. “Easy drinking, charming and fresh-feeling cabernet sauvignon that delivers good, true cassis, black cherry, green olive and gum leaf notes all dusted with clove and pepper. Nicely done. Good sense of vitality and graphite tannins tighten the wine gently, but with refreshment factor in tow. A cracking drink for the bucks. 93pts. Great Value” (Mike Bennie, The Halliday Wine Companion). Sam Kim Wine Orbit adds that it's a "...lovely expression of the variety" with "fragrant bouquet... good weight and fine flow...92pts."
RedHeads March of Progress Organic Shiraz
RedHeads was always something of a rebel! The ‘movement’ started in 2002 in the McLaren Vale – in a cellar where young winemakers could come in their spare time and make just the sort of small-scale wine they dreamed of (not like they did in their day job). Since then, the winery has moved home a few times, and today make their wines in the Barossa, at one of Australia's leading eco-friendly cellars. There, surrounded by many of Australia's biggest wine names, they handcraft revolutionary wines from top batches of grapes, rescued from under the noses of the big players. March of Progress celebrates a path in the green direction, using the best rows of organic Shiraz from top McLaren Vale grower Jock Bosworth. Rich and weighty – velvet texture, rich black fruits, long and weighty, rounded tannins.
Peter Drayton Ironbark Hill Hunter Valley Semillon Verdelho
Stone Pine Cabernet Sauvignon Navarra
Rich, full-bodied Gold, 95pt Cabernet rule-breaker from Navarra. We worked with the late Tony Barrero for decades. He became a lifelong friend and was a talented winemaker who always managed to get hold of terrific grapes to make delicious Spanish wines. He's handed those attributes to his daughter, Maitena, also a winemaker that we know well and where we discovered this irresistible rich red. The grapes all come from old, arid vineyards, overshadowed by statuesque stone pines. Both vines and trees benefit from the cool, down draught from the Moncayo mountains, producing Cabernet grapes with delicious depth of ripeness and velvety tannins. 16 months in French oak barrels provides more layers of richness and power. Decant early if you can and serve with weighty dishes – roast meats or casserole.
Red Rattler Cabernet Sauvignon
Tenuta Fenice Riserva
This fine, silky Sicilian barrel-matured blend blends a little juicy Cabernet with Nero d’Avola from high old vineyards. Nero d’Avola is one of the hero grapes of Sicily. Much of it was grown around the island’s high village of Poggioreale. One prime vineyard belonged to Dino Taschetta’s grandfather. Here he grew fruit with deep, rich flavours that greatly impressed the young Dino. Disaster struck, however, in 1968 when an earthquake hit the area. The vines were abandoned, but today Dino is restoring the vineyard to its former glory. He uses these Nero d’Avola grapes to make his much loved Tenuta Fenice wines, adding to this fine Riserva a portion of juicy Cabernet and ageing it all in barrel. Now with three years’ maturity, this Riserva has gathered complex, savoury, smoky tobacco and spice notes to flatter the dark cherry flavours. Perfect with roast lamb.