Without any formal qualifications in viticulture, Yelland Papps began making wine for family and friends, they soon realised that their destiny lay amongst the wonderful old vines of Barossa Valley. They also realized they held a passion for the future stars of the Barossa, varieties such as the pastoral Carignan, the proof is in a glass of Yelland & Papps Vin de Soif. Old vines Mouverdre and Grenache with the exciting addition of Carignan, very much new Barossa in an old world way. Redolent of soil, coffee and kirsch, jasmines and violet, supported by refined tannins and judicious oak.

Yarra Yering are profound, intelligently made wines. Dry Red No.3 is crafted to the timeless and enduring recipe of flamboyant Portuguese varietals, traditionally foot stomped and aged in a perpetual endownment of well seasoned oak. Hand picked parcels of Touriga Naçional, Tinta Cao, Tinta Amarela and Roriz, Alvarelhao and Sousao, are destemmed into a field blend, retaining as many whole berries as possible. Defined by its integration, elegance and depth, articulating the excellence of terroir and artisanal winemaking at the Yarra Valley hamlet of Gruyere.

Inspired by the complex and eclectic styles, famously originating from the Shiraz grape's spiritual home within the diverse appellations of Vallee Rhone. In true stylistic authenticity, Mourvedre, Viognier and Marsanne add a further element of intrigue. Complex and traditional winemaking methods are employed to craft this most extraordinary, some would say most eccentric of Yarra Valley reds. The internationally renowned Dry Red No.2 is perpetually fine tuned as the team adjust the proportions of fruit to the performance of vintage.

Yarra Yering's Dry Reds are national flagships, based around complex varietal blends. Assigning the mercurial cepage of grapes a unique bin number, has liberated the winemaker to modify the mix as styles evolve. No.2 Dry Red is a perfumed, mostly Shiraz wine, rich and generous, co fermented with inclusions of Mourvedre, Viognier and Marsanne for vibrancy, suppleness and an extra dimension to the range of expression. Feminine and seductive, beguiling yet elegant, with long, lingering impressions of violets and eucalypt, cherries and spiced plum.

The classic Claret style, five decades of the most memorable editions, new world classics offering the greatest finesse, profound richness of fruit and impeccable structure. After a few years of trials and tribulations to achieve the ultimate construct, Dr. Carrodus settled on a mostly Shiraz Cuvee with judicious inclusions of Mataro, Viognier and Marsanne.

Wrattonbully Vineyards is a noteworthy winemaking estate established by the Hill Smith family in 1994. Inspired by the torrid, savoury red wines of Spain, Wrattonbully makes an excellent introduction to Tempranillo. After several visits to Spain by Robert Hill Smith and Yalumba winemaker Louisa Rosa, it was decided to plant an imported clone D8V12 to the six and a half hectare Davis Block site in slightly cooler climes than it's Spanish origins. The result is a pure and articulate single vineyard wine that demands to be engaged and experienced.

West Cape Howe began their journey with a respect for the land and a dedication to the welfare of the vine. No expense was spared in establishing a standard of viticulture worthy of the world's great terroirs. Today, their invaluable endowment of superior vineyards yields a quality of fruit which makes its own wine. Crafted with minimal human intervention, harvests from splendid sites along Frankland River and the Perth Hills, are assembled into an enchanting Tempranillo wine of exciting tension between savoury and sweet, stylishness and aplomb.

Many of Spain's most prestigious wines originate from a northern plateau, along the course of Ribera del Duero, within the premiere viticultural precincts of Castile and Leon. The ancient Romans, visting Goths and Benedictine monks all made wine here. Maite Geijo is a restaurateur with a passion for gastronomy, she acquired the established Cepas y Bodegas to produce a house wine. A Vino de la Tierra in satisfying local country style, brimming with the iridescent fruit of Tempranillo and generous palate weight of Cabernet.

Bodegas Vega Sicilia came into prominence after significant prize wins at the 1929 Barcelona World Fair. Today, the wines of Vega Sicilia are feted by the international industry press for their complexity, intensity and longevity, amongst the finest in the world.

Vega Sicila Valbuena was inaugurally vintaged in 1915, crafted in the style of the Rioja wines of the day, treated to an extended ageing in oaken vats and bottled to order. The first editions were distributed amongst the upper classes and bourgeoisie, but not for commercial purposes. Originally planned as a gift to friends of Vega Sicilia, Valbuena has since become an icon wine and national treasure.

The history of Bodegas Vega Sicilia began in 1848, when Toribio Lecanda bought a 2,000 hectare property from the Marquis of Valbuena. In 1864, Eloy Lecanda established the wineworks which epitomise the romance of Tempranillo. Vega Sicilia continue to deliver concentrated and elegant wines.

The inhospitable uplands of Ribera del Duero are ideal for viticulture, parched rocky soils and frigid climes compel the rugged vines to extract maximum nourishment and yield harvests of reduced berries, endowed with extraordinary intensity and lined with muscular tannins. Vega Sicilia was established 1864 with a view to emulating the great growths of Bordeaux. Merlot and Malbec performed well but it was the native Tempranillo which offered the masculinity and dominance of character to formulate the backbone of a wine, offering powerful fruit and profound, statuesque structure.

Vega Sicila Valbuena was inaugurally vintaged in 1915, crafted in the style of the Rioja wines of the day, treated to an extended ageing in oaken vats and bottled to order. The first editions were distributed amongst the upper classes and bourgeoisie, but not for commercial purposes. Originally planned as a gift to friends of Vega Sicilia, Valbuena has since become an icon wine and national treasure.

The history of Bodegas Vega Sicilia began in 1848, when Toribio Lecanda bought a 2,000 hectare property from the Marquis of Valbuena. In 1864, Eloy Lecanda established the wineworks which epitomise the romance of Tempranillo. Vega Sicilia continue to deliver concentrated and elegant wines.

Spain's most prestigious winemaking estate was founded in 1864 by Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves. He planted the Bordeaux varietals Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec, as well as the local Tinto Fino or Tempranillo, to the arid Ribera soils just east of Valladolid. The Bodega is now source to Spain's most distinguished wines, renowned for their complexity, intensity and longevity.

Established 1864 with a view to crafting fine distillates, Bodegas Vega Sicilia sourced eighteen thousand plantings of Cabernet, Merlot and Malbec from Bordeaux, to be used in the making of brandy and Ratafia. In 1876 Vega Sicilia won an appointment to the Spanish royal family, further awarded in 1880 with Grand Cross of Isabel for services to Spain, decades before the birth of the Tempranillo wine which was to make Vega Sicilia so famous.

Traditionally in Spain, the few wineries that bottled their own fruit, most sold straight from cask, denoted Reserva Especial they represented an assemblage of the finest harvests, the most representative work of the winery. A cepage of varying proportions, Tempranillo and Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, treated to an extended maturation in a selection of new and seasoned, French and American oak casks and larger format vats for many years. The oak vessels themselves are a critical part of the vinification, coopered within the very grounds of the Vega Sicilia wineworks.

A blend of different Unicos from three superb vintages, aged at least fifteen years. Reserva Especial can include grapes from harvests more than thirty years apart and usually only available to private enthusiasts under strict allocation. One of the world's great first growths, Reserva Especial adheres to the ancient Spanish practice of bringing together wines of different years to retain a profound estate style.

Reserva Especial is unquestionably a unique wine, one of the great Spanish classics. Its personality is derived from the quality of fruit, extravagant ageing and uncompromising care for detail. From a universal perspective, the peculiarity of character defines Reserva Especial as a very Spanish wine, it receives respect at the very mention of its name. All the efforts of Vega Sicilia command reverence, wines of the greatest elegance, long lived wonders which are renowned for maintaining their youthful fruit character as they evolve complexity for decades.

Unico Cosecha is a very long lived wine. Components of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec or Merlot, vary from vintage to vintage, retaining a remarkable youthfulness of fruit and seamless integration with oak after ten years ageing under the Vega Sicilia cellars.

In 1864, Eloy Lecanda established the vineyard and founded the winery that is the golden standard in Spanish red wine. Throughout its long and distinguished history, Vega Sicilia has belonged to different owners, although it has always maintained an unquestionable personality, making concentrated, evolved and fully mature, majestic Tempranillo wines.

The estate flagship, Unico Cosecha shares provenance with the world's great wines. Vinified from old vines Tempranilo and Cabernet Sauvignon, Unico Cosecha retains remarkable fresh fruit characters well into decades of ageing due to it's refined acidity and solid alcohol content. A national treaure that commands and receives respect at it's very mention, Unico Cosecha is treated to an extended ageing in a selection of estate coopered casks and barriques. Renowned for longevity, complexity, intensity and length, one of the world's great first growths.

Vega Sicilia is unquestionably a unique wine, one of the great Spanish classics. It's personality is derived from the quality of fruit, rigour at elevage and uncompromising attention to detail throughout vinification. From a universal perspective, the peculiar characteristics of Unico Cosecha define it as a very Spanish wine, a living national treaure that commands and receives respect at it's very mention. Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot, a complex but profound cepage of great elegance and finesse, with the capacity to evolve for a very long time.

Spain's most prestigious winemaking estate was founded in 1864 by Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves. He planted the Bordeaux varietals Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec, as well as the local Tinto Fino or Tempranillo, to the arid Ribera soils just east of Valladolid. The Bodega is now source to Spain's most distinguished wines. Unico is treated to an extended ageing in a selection of estate coopered casks and barriques. The wines of Vega Sicilia are renowned for their complexity, intensity and longevity, amongst the finest in the world.

The wines of Vega Sicilia are renowned for their complexity, intensity and longevity, amongst the finest in the world. The definitive, long lived Spanish Tempranillo wine and the estate flagship, the unique personality of Unico Cosecha is derived from the quality of fruit and uncompromising attention to detail.

Tscharke are a highly traditional, family hands on operation who have tilled their soils and husbanded vines for generations. A resurgence of interest for the arcane styles of the old world, inspired plantings of the more abstruse varietal grapes in the 1980s and 1990s. Crafted from parcels of Tempranillo clones D8V12 and Requiena, picked off two choice sites at Stonewell and Gnadenfrei in the western precincts of Barossa Valley, the Only Son offers a deliciously complex fruit filled wine with a measure of suave, food friendly savouryness.

A pure Touriga wine from the superlative Tscharke estate property at Gnadenfrei in Barossa Valley. The Nacional clone of Touriga vines were established 1985 to propitious weathered, quartzite rich, brown clay soils, they are now fully mature and yielding the most exemplary harvests. Damien Tscharke fashions his Touriga to a medium bodied style that drinks beautifully immediately upon release, ideally slightly, chilled alongside Mediterranean marinades and grills.

The devout vignerons of Bodegas Tridente take a spiritual approach to viticulture, working closely with local growers to restore and preserve the health of precious, small yielding vineyards. Parcels of Tempranillo are sourced off unirrigated sites, much of it parched old bush vines, generally grown to frugal, gravelled sandy soils. Grapes are all hand picked and treated to a minimalist vinification, followed by a measure of age in barrels of French and American oak, softening the tannins while retaining the engaging eloquence and elemental charm of old world Tempranillo.

The Salvador Poveda wineworks are situated at Alicante in the southeast of Spain, a winegrowing region between the central plains and Mediterranean Sea. Alicante has a warm, sunny climate and is well endowed with the most idyllic growing conditions for the production of vivacious, stylish young wines. Monastrelli is Alicante's rendering of Mataro, also known as Mourvedre outside of Spain, where the wines of Alicante are winning favour by virtue of their stylish regional expression, sound palate structure, ripe tannins and complex aromas.

Cariñena is a Mediterranean heritage varietal which the Torres team resuscitated from the last known enclaves on old vineyards in Chile. The Garnacha Tinta component is grown in a region famous since the time of Roman Emperor Augustus, for producing the finest wines in the Mediterranean. This is a provocative wine for Australian tastes, with gritty tannins, tangy acids and a drying palate in authentic old world styling that's sure to stir lively conversation. A torrid, warming red that goes well with fried sardines, stuffed peppers or Iberian styled pizza.

The torrid Tempranillo is the basis of Coronas, blended with a small proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon. Tempranillo is a traditional Spanish grape, known locally around Catalonia as UII de Llebre, the hare's eye. Tempranillo produces a wine rich in alcohol, with moderate acids, and attractive aromatics of black plum, cherries and raspberry. It ages well and gracefully. A complex and flavoursome red with alluring scents and a complex, fruit driven palate, well suited to grilled meats and spicey meatballs, paella, biting cheese and designer pizza.

The Tim Adams label was born out of a venture to make small oak casks and limited amounts of wine. After three decades of consistently superb vintage releases, Adams is counted as one of the leading winemakers in Valley Clare. Fergus was a neighbour who was kind enough to sell his Grenache to Tim in 1993 during a desperate shortage. Tim quickly realized that what had been achieved through a serendipity of logistics was to have real potential as a full bodied, soft style with immediate approachability and splendid compatibility to good food.

Jacob's Creek takes aim at fusing the fruity flavours of Australian reds with the savoury characters of Southern Europe. Shiraz and Cabernet have a proven track record as two varietals with wonderful synergy. Tempranillo adds the X-factor, providing additional layers of flavour complexity, and a rich texture, silky and savoury. The challenge was to maintain a fruit-driven style, hence a canny maturation in seasoned barrels to infuse into the final wine a smacking of oak complexity without any overtly woody characters.

In the wonderful wide world of wine, you will find over sixty aliases for Mataro. Mourvedre from the Cotes du Rhône and the Spanish Monastrell are amongst the most familiar, as well as lesser known pseudonyms such as Balzac and Esparte. Custodians of the finest parcels of Barossa Mataro, the house of Teusner are Australia's most accomplished purveyors of this complex and engaging, esoteric varietal. Teusner's favourite by far is the French construct known as estrangle chien, the dog strangler, due to its bestial tannins.

Clare Valley is renowned for its world class varietal wines, consistently yielding harvests of extraordinary quality. Taylors know that great vintages can only come from great vineyards, their dedication to the land over the course of several decades has established an endowment of the finest sites in Valley Clare. Suitably placed to collate the most splendid harvests of the torrid Tempranillo, the Taylor's team employ a combination of old and new world vinification techniques to achieve a savoury, cherry flavoured wine with silky textures and lingering, fruit filled finish.

A pure Tempranillo wine by one of Australia's most passionate protagonists of the style. A native of arid Italianate climes, Tempranillo achieves complete ripeness in the ferrous soils of Heathcote. Challenging Terra rosas and moderate seasons reduce vine vigor to yield limited parcels of intensely flavoured fruit. The talented team at Roses & Tar share a passion for the torrid Spanish varietals, closely managing their Heathcote sites to yield the finest possible Tempranillo. Match with spicy pork and fennel sausages.

A very complex blend, skillfully handled through a combination of old and new world winemaking techniques to ensure that the distinct aromas and flavours of the individual varietals were preserved. Following a meticulous selection of fruit from unique sites, the winemakers at Starvedog Lane were inspired to release a wine that defines the hallmarks of emerging varieties in Australia. With access to premium Tempranillo, Nebbiolo, Barbera and Sangiovese fruit from good vineyards in McLaren Vale, the 2005 Starvedog Lane Ibrido was created.

An inspiring varietal mix of Shiraz and Grenache with Touriga Nacional, the traditional vintage port grape. A suite of yeast strains, each suited to a different parcel of fruit, serves to highlight the fresh berry, floral, spicy, earthy aromas contributed by Touriga and Grenache, while the richness and pepper spice of Shiraz builds palate weight and structure. Completely unoaked, Gamekeeper embraces the spectrum of ripe and savoury Barossa fruit, delivering a wine which is so much greater than the sum of parts.

What Spinifex choose to do best is discover isolate parcels of old vine, sometimes overlooked or underloved, at the Cotes du Rhône end of the varietal spectrum. This is no flight of fancy, as the background of the husband and wife team includes many growing seasons in France. Papillon is bottled towards the end of vintage year. Crafted from very old material Grenache, Cinsualt and Mataro, Spinifex hand select the vines and pick grapes, vinifying the parcels with an aim of creating a wine that's all about freshness, fruit and spice, a wine that's bright and alive.

A complex Rhone-style expressing the profound characteristics delivered from great old vine vineyards. Low yielding and hand tended, they deliver a quality of fruit that's worthy of the old world's most prestigious growths. A rich and effusive cépage of Mataro and Grenache, Shiraz, Carignan and Cinsault are matured in selection of large format 500 to to 3000 litres French oak barrels to develop a complex vinous flavour base while preserving fruit freshness, enhance the exciting varietal complexity and preserve the vital tannin edge.

A unique but decidedly Aussie cépage of Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, fortified by the inclusion of Barossa Tempranillo. Len Pumpa was a grower of Prussian descent, he persevered throughout the lean years of Australian viticulture, at a time when table wines were unfashionable and grape growing was an unviable labour of love. The wonderful endowment of grand old vineyards now managed by Sons of Eden, are due in large part to the selfless toil of Pumpa and his devotion to the vine.