Hey there gastronauts and bon vivants, here's a secret Joe Grilli's family have known for generations, that fresh young reds are quite often, best enjoyed lightly chilled. Perfect for sharing with friends on a warm summer evening, Merlesco is a deliciously uncomplicated, juicy Merlot wine for unwinding after a hot and bothered day. The team at Primo are not going to tell you how to drink it but this one keeps popping up whenever mates and good food are around.

Pirramimma are one of the nation's most enduring estates, owned and operated by the same family since establishment in the 1890s. Choice harvests from the War Horse, Johnston Prolific and Katunga vineyards, are assembled into the traditional style of McLaren Vale Shiraz. A smooth and seamless palate, brimming with blackberries and plum, dark chocolate and sweet vanilla oak, all supported by opulent, velvet tannins.

Pirramimma can boast the first vineyard in Australia dedicated to Petit Verdot, it remains the largest and most productive. Pirramimma's efforts at Petit Verdot have amassed much international acclaim, prompting notable Swiss connoisseur Rene Gabriel to ponder, is there any better example of Petit Verdot in the world? Double decant for early drinking, its tender tannins make the perfect match to crumbed yearling cutlet or delicately seasoned spring lamb.

The most exquisite bunches of McLaren Vale Grenache are selectively hand picked off dry grown vines planted to Pirramimma's oldest productive site, the famous Prisoner of War block planted in 1944. A further component, picked off Pirramimma's Katunga block, established 1968, contributes complexity, structure and depth. The assembled wine displays an elegantly perfumed nose of cherry, rose petal and chocolate spice, while the palate is laden with sweet spicy raspberry, fruit cake and black plum flavours, enhanced by savoury subtle oak.

White Label is a McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon of the highest eminence, having been nominated for the George Mackey Memorial Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding Australian export. Crafted from fruit grown to some of the oldest vines at Pirramimma and McLaren Vale, it has twice claimed Gold in San Francisco and competed well against a formidable host of distinguished growths at the prestigious London International. A powerful yet, elegant wine framed by robust tannins, Pirramimma recommends a double decant if opened for early drinking.

Pirramimma has long held an enviable reputation for the quality and consistency of its estate grown Shiraz. A full bodied, concentrated effort displaying great richness in epic McLaren Vale styling, the grapes for this splendid wine are from Stock's Hill, the most elevated vineyard at Pirramimma Estate. A combination of quality fruit and maturation in toasty American oak produce a wine of outstanding complexity and great integrity. Fashioned to be a most enjoyable drink immediately upon release, Stocks Hill will continue to evolve splendidly.

Geoff Johnston has a penchant for making his Pirramimma reds in the grand, old world style of Le Medoc. From mature vines that have consistently produced the highest quality fruit, comes a McLaren Cabernet that's elegant and stylish with a seamless balance of oak, splendid tannins and superb varietal definition, the lifted Cabernet fruit combines with oak to build a wine of great complexity and length. Stocks Hill carries the prestige of an exclusively Pirramimma estate wine, always a good finisher on the national wine show circuit.

Winemaking at Pirramimma has been a family affair for well over a century, it now lies in the hands of the founder's grandchildren. This stylish assembly of Merlot and Cabernet is crafted from fruit grown to fully mature, estate grown vines over twenty years of age. Like all Pirramimma, Stocks Hill is completely vinified and matured on premises under patriarch Geoff Johnston's personal supervision. The highly approachable Stocks Hill is one of McLaren Vale's most agreeable Cabernet Merlot wines and has won numerous medals throughout the vintages.

Egerton E S Dennis settled on ninety acres of vineyard at McLaren Flat after serving in the RAAF. Ege pioneered the production of Mead and sold his crop of wine grapes to some of Australia's most eminent brands before founding his own label in 1971, with the object of converting the high quality fruit into pure, estate made wines. Since establishment, Dennis Wines have collected hundreds of medals and accolades at national and international taste offs, twice claiming the revered Bushing King awards for best wine at the McLaren Vale Winemakers Exhibition.

Egerton Dennis made a major contribution to the establishment of McLaren Vale as an internationally renowned wine region. His son remains a hands on viticulturallist who knows every vine by name. An immensely satisfying Aussie style of Grenache from the Peter Dennis estate vineyard adjacent the preeminent terroirs of Tatachilla and Kangarilla Roads. Fermented on skins for optimal extractions before feeding through a gentle basket press, a year's maturation in Fench and American oak barriques achieves a brightly lit style of lifted cherry fruit and lithe, supple tannins.

The brilliant maritime climes of McLaren Vale yield a richly styled Cabernet wine of penetrating fruit characters and firm but assuaging tannins. The people behind Pertaringa are amongst the most eminent Australian wine industry identities, viticulture on the Pertaringa vineyards however, remains a very hands on affair. Vines are closely managed for trim harvests of small but intensely flavoured Cabernet grapes, a concentration of berry characters in the juices and a measure of solid yet refined tannins within the skins.

Pertaringa are fortuitously positioned at the foothills of Mount Lofty Ranges, the perfect location for grapes, by virtue of a temperate environment and deep clay loam soils. Undercover is a reference to the McLaren Vale tradition in supplying other regions with bespoke parcels of fruit, ultimately to be vinified into some of Australia's most favourite wines. Undercover is an old vine Shiraz, selected from Pertaringa's five decade old vineyard, hand crafted by winemaking supremos Geoff Hardy and Ben Riggs. Undercover is the essence of McLaren Vale Shiraz.

Even the finest Merlot is rarely seen front and centre as a pure varietal wine. Pertaringa manage an endowment of the finest McLaren Vale vineyards and can call on harvests of superior fruit for the construct of an exclusively Merlot wine. Layers of fleshy plum flavour, velvet textures and pliable tannins define the structure and style of Stage Left, essentially a splendid food friendly mode of Merlot, the first choice to accompany quails wrapped and grilled in pancetta or delicately braised game over red wine Jus and pureed parsnip grits.

Pertaringa was established during the early 1980s at the intersection of Rifle Range and Hunt Roads. It was a rough time for the Australian wine industry and growers were ripping up their vineyards, some of them old and invaluable, to qualify for government grants. Pertaringa founder Geoff Hardy came from a long line of McLaren Vale winemakers and welcomed the challenge. Hunt & Rifle is a stately Cabernet wine of beautifully fragrant fruit characters and refined, graceful tannins, a suitable match to braised beef cheek sous glaze or succulent sticky pork.

The signs came very early that Pertaringa was growing an exceptional quality of Shiraz, trading much of their early vintages to Hardy Wines. Over The Top is a reference to the Pertaringa pursuit of excellence, delivering a taste of McLaren Vale to the enthusiast in demand of superior Shiraz. Pertaringa outperforms many national flagship wines at international competitions, a favourite of Qantas Business Class, the Shiraz of choice to serve alongside trois couleurs pepper steak or seared Wagyu.

Pepperjack, by the illustrious House of Saltram, has grown to be a cult favourite for enthusiasts of profound yet approachable Shiraz. The Pepperjack team are conscious of modern tastes and are creating wines for aspirants of great gastronomy and better beef. Fruit is sourced from superb vineyards yielding grapes with generous fruit character, definitive varietal flavour, fine tannin structure and an innate affinity to steak. The pick of McLaren Vale's harvests have been assembled into an intense style of Shiraz to balance the richness of juicy Scotch Fillet.

Penny Hill's proprietary red blend, the enduring Australian cépage of Cabernet and Shiraz, softened by the genteel plummyness of Merlot, for a wine which defines all the vinous endowments of McLaren Vale. A fully engrossing palate is supported by showroom oak and the silkiest tannins, brimming with layers of lush fruit flavours in abundance. Merlot delineates the concord, moderating the power of Cabernet and piquancy of Shiraz.

Penny's Hill was declared Australia's Best Boutique Wine in 2006 and Australia's Best Boutique Shiraz in 2007. Following the footsteps of an unbroken cadence in superlative vintage editions, displaying the quality and depth expected from Penny's Hill, Skeleton Key is packed with flavour, deep in colour, beautifully balanced and a wonderful accompaniment to fine dining. Intensity and fine integration set this bellwether label apart from the rest, it displays the consistency and excellent quality for which Penny's Hill Shiraz has become famous.

The Malpas family planted four scant acres of clone D3V14 Merlot vines to an auspicious block of dark, dry Bay of Biscay soils in 1991. The fissures which occur as the soils crack, sever the roots and diminish vigor in the vines, culminating in vintages of the extraordinary intensity and concentration of fruit. Bunches are destemmed, crushed and vinified on skins for a week, followed by a press into seasoned French oak for malolactic and eighteen months maturation. Bright cherry and blueberry fruit, red licorice and savoury spice, supple tannins and soft, lengthy finish.

Penny's Hill was established by a lodge of eminent industry identities, leaders in their field, renowned for their accomplishments in all things McLaren Vale. A superior vineyard wine from the twelve finest rows of Shiraz, planted 1991 to clone 654, at the highest elevations of the original Penny's Hill block. Remarkably pure in its eloquence and expression of terroir, voluptuously proportioned, full bodied and exquisitely balanced, a McLaren Vale icon, the articulation of a sensational vineyard, as crafted by the master winemaking team at Penny's Hill.

From a single block of ancient, pre clonal Grenache vines, painstakingly trained to reduce vigor and increase concentration of flavour in the berries. Grapes are all hand picked and open fermented, gently hand plunged throughout the course of a fortnight, pressed off skins and filled to a selection of well seasoned French oak hogsheads for a year's maturation on sediments. Vibrant cherry and raspberry, anise, savouryness and spice, seductive in its balance and complexity, elegance, supple tannins, old vine Grenache of exceptional generosity and length.

The Edwards are a well established family of agriculturalists with a long history of farming McLaren Vale for generations. Their eponymous road runs along the valley foothills, the land on the north side of the road is now established to fully mature vines which are the source of Cabernet Sauvignon for Penny's Hill. A generously proportioned, single vineyard wine with a real sense of place, articulating the uniqueness of site, enhanced by extended maturation in a good measure of new oak, McLaren Vale Cabernet at its finest.

Planted in 1991 and added to the Penny's Hill estate vineyard group in 1993, Malpas Road is named after the pioneering family who held lands in what was originally referred to as Bay of Biscay. A reference to the relatively infertile cracking, grey black soil upon which the hand tended Shiraz patch does its work. The fissures which occur as the black soils crack apart, sever surplus root structure, a process which lessens vine vigor and enhances the virtue of the grape. Unmistakably McLaren Vale, even more so Penny's Hill.

From the closely coddled, fully bio dynamic Thomas Block at Landcross Farm, McLaren Vale Grenache can trace its legacy back to some of the most historically significant rootstock in the world. Grapes are all hand picked and destemmed, a measure are included as whole bunches and treated to a fortnight of ferments, pumpovers and plunge, before pressing into a selection of pre loved French oak barriques for a spell of age. Grenache's distinctive nose of pepper, brambles and lifted strawberry spice, before a wonderful palate of soft, silky textures, winegums, jelly jube and fine fleshy plum.

An assemblage of Shiraz from four of the six Paxton Certified Biodynamic vineyards, Quandong Farm and Maslin, the Jones and 19th Block, crafted with a view to expressing the brightness of flavour and sublime charm, of fruit grown to the most exacting environmentally sustainable principles. The Paxton team are focused on making wines of intensity, but also with layers of texture, good flavour and genuine interest. A superior quality of McLaren Vale through and through, Shiraz of excellent fruit character, precision and exquisite balance.

From a single row of the Iberian Graciano, grafted on to mature Chardonnay rootstock on the auspicious Paxton Thomas Block at McLaren Vale. Fruit is treated to a fortnight of cool ferments, plunging and pumpovers, followed by a gentle press into French oak barriques for nine months maturation. A deliciously food friendly wine of lithe spice and herb aromatics, raspberries and lavender, gently seasoned with a touch of white pepper. Adorably elegant tannins lie in support of juicy raspberry fruits, its supple savouryness making the perfect accompaniement to cutlets and all Mediterranean fare.

For decades the Paxton family have nurtured their prized McLaren Vale vineyards, some are over a hundred years old. David Paxton believes that the science of viticulture is just as critical as the fine art of vinification. It's this level of care and passion for the soil that has produced extraordinary fruit and stellar wines. Harvested at the optimum ripeness for this wine style, Shiraz from five premium parcels, the Grenache from three, all fermented separately and assembled into a deep red wine of vigorous flavours and sleek, velvetine tannins.

The Partisan team are people of the soil, taking up McLaren Vale viticulture at a time in history when others were pulling out their vines to pursue more lucrative agriculture. They now take aim with each vintage, at identifying the most superior parcels of McLaren Vale fruit, to craft a range of wines which can best articulate their unique provenance and sense of place. A generously proportioned Grenache Shiraz Mouverdre, offering an exquisite length of intense blackberry fruit flavours, supported by fine grainy tannins and a measure of flattering, judicious oak.

Partisan wines are created to be fundamentally endowed with maximum varietal character and discernible McLaren Vale charm. Partisan are people who care about the soil and environment, nurturing and caring for the land. Good wine is the objective but sustainable viticulture and respect for nature are the priority. Brimming with violets and morello, rich blood plum fruits jump out of the glass, the seductive appeal of Tempranillo from the Vale, juicy ripe fruits throughout, bubbling with succulent bright red berry characters, supported by the finest, pliant tannins.

Established 1841, the McLaren Vale Taranga vineyards are still owned by the founding Oliver family. Even more remarkably, Taranga wines are today crafted by a sixth generation of the original winemaker. For most of the twentieth century, Oliver Taranga sold their precious yields to other wineries, much of it was destined for the nation's most esteemed labels and memorable flagship vintages. Since 1994, the Olivers have been reserving the pick of their low yielding, old vine grapes for bottling under the Oliver Taranga label.

William and Elizabeth Oliver emigrated from Scotland, eventually settling McLaren Vale in 1841. Their homestead flourished, the sixth generation Olivers are one of the region's great winegrowing dynasties. For many years, they sold fruit to Penfolds, where it became one of the primary components to the mighty Grange. HJ is the ultra premium flagship Shiraz, purposefully crafted at the Boar's Rock wineworks. A vigorous wine offering immeasurable girth of fruit, great poise, elegance and the strength of character to evolve majestically.

The Parish property is a ten hectare vineyard dedicated to producing the finest Shiraz possible. The extra efforts spent in managing the property and training the vines pay a good dividend, achieving harvests of the most spectacular Shiraz every year. A bounty of small but intensely flavoured berries, displaying juicy flavours, piquant spice and the elegant tannins, are crafted into a rich and full bodied McLaren Vale, offering profound structure in support of a powerful concentration of fruit.