Penfolds Bin 389 is the classic South Australian red! Often referred to as 'Baby Grange' or 'Poor Man's Grange', Bin 389 was the wine that helped to build Penfolds' solid reputation with wine drinkers around the world. A magnificent blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz from the very best regions and vineyards available to Peter Gago and his team, the robust nature of the Cabernet grape give structure and body to the wine while the opulent Shiraz fruit provides suppleness and intensity. A true icon of Australian wine first created by the legend himself, Max Schubert, Peter Gago is quoted as saying 'Through thick and thin, across all vintages, Bin 389 always delivers - benefitting from over half a century of practice!

Fresh blackberry and boysenberry, spice, liquorice, tar and dried herbs. Medium bodied, juicy bramble fruits, crisp boysenberry acidity, salted beef, firm but fine grained drying tannin, and a long fresh meaty herb infused finish.

Elvio Cogno Bricco Pernice Barolo According to winemaker Valter Fissorehusband of Elvio Cognos daughter Nadia, this plot is the heart and soul of the mighty Ravera cru. Exposed due south to the full brunt of afternoon light, Bricco Pernice is also protected from the wind. This dynamic conspires to create a mesoclimate considerably warmer than the rest of the cru. White soils heavy in solid limestone service strapping wines that are ferrous, pungently mineral, brooding and evocative of truffles, macerated cherry, liquorice, leather and iodine. As with Vigna Elena, these are candidates for long ageing, seeing three-years in botti for tone and poise. 'the estate of Elvio Cogno has unequivocally thrust itself into the pantheon of top Barolo makers.'Ned Goodwin MW Shop Elvio Cogno

TENUTA CISA ASINARI DEI MARCHESI DI GRESY Gaiun Martinenga, Barbaresco

This tiny vineyard is one of Australia’s most southerly located in the Huon valley in southern Tasmania. So to the name, where does that come from? There was a handwritten sign on the wall at the Red Velvet Lounge in Cygnet, our local coffee and cake respite from the Tasmanian weather. It said, “Sailor Seeks Horse” and went on to explain that the author had sailed solo around the world and ridden across the US from coast to coast and back again…on a mule. He’d then decided he wanted to travel around Tasmania by horse but didn’t have one. So, was there anyone who would lend him one? If they didn’t have a horse then a pony would do. It was an idea that resonated with us. Here we were, trying to do something a little bit crazy, without much money and requiring a little bit of help to get to where we wanted to be. Paul and Gilli Lipscombe own the vineyard and make the wines and both have considerable vineyard and winemaking experience behind them including winning the Jimmy Watson trophy for Home Hill where they have been the winemakers in recent years. From working together in the Languedoc to New Zealand, Oregon and Margaret River they spent a lot of time researching and considering the best possible vineyard site with the aim to produce Australia’s best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay finally settling on this ideal north facing vineyard which is sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly winds. Best described as a warm site within a cool climate, the soil is free-draining quartz inflected mudstone soil over clay. The vineyard is planted to a large variety of Dijon clones as well as numerous other clones planted by the previous owners and all vineyard work is done as organically as possible. In 2019 a new planting including some Trousseau has been made on the steep north-west facing slope beside the main vineyard block. Even though the 2022 season fell into another La Nina event, there was good rainfall early on and then, as seems normal these days, the tap was turned off in the new year. A fairly pleasant, dry, if not particularly sunny summer with a return to more typical yields compared to 20/21/23. After the previous two years the were able to use more fermenters in the winery with the fruit tasting great and the end of the season finishing off ripening nicely. As the wines developed in barrel some blends were tasted and discovered a combination of the three low-yielding Dijon clones (115, 114 and 777) resulted in a higher-toned, more spice-driven wine with a slightly denser palate weight than the normal Pinot. So they decided to bottle it separately.

The Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz is a relatively new addition to the Penfolds stable, sourced from the Barossan sub-district, Marananga. Simply a revelation, this wine is an inky, black beast in the glass with lashings of dark chocolate and coffee accented fruit, yet this years offering shows a lingering, soft structured finish that will see the wine cellar very nicely.