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.

Vasse Felix were briefed in the 1970s by Dr Tom Cullity, Margaret River's founding vigneron, to make the best possible wine. Tom Cullity is the Margaret River flagship Cabernet Sauvignon, the articulation of several decades viticulture at Vasse Felix. Balance, elegance, complexity and restrained power are the hallmarks, the direct result of an uncompromising approach to quality. Among the first estate plantings were Cabernet and Malbec,Tom Cullity is crafted from the fruit of these eminent old vines, the ultimate elocution of Margaret River Cabernet.

Excellent Langtons Classification. Vasse Felix are known for their profound and compelling vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon, performing well whatever the vagaries of growing season, by virtue of auspicious soils and propitious clime. Intense, yet elegantly structured, the first red wine ever released from within the nascent Margaret River, it remains to this day, the elder statesman of the region. Fruit is sourced from the best vineyards in Wilyabrup. Cabernet is a robust variety, ideally suited to Margaret River's balmy maritime climate and superb, well drained soils.

Italy offers two entirely different wines under the moniker of Montepulciano, the other type comes from a town of the same name in Tuscany, this is the one that's actually made of Montepulciano grapes, picked off vineyards under the castle walls of Crecchio in Abruzzo. Respect for traditional winemaking practices is essential, Tenuta Ulisse ferment their grapes in open vats, through the action of wild yeasts, just as the wines of Crecchio have always been made. Beautifully perfumed of cherries and plum, seamless and stylish on a length of juicy, liquorice tannins.

A collation of hand picked parcels Montepulciano, grown to mature vineyards around the commune of Lanciano in the ancient viticultural precinct of Chieti, midway up the Italian boot, within view of the Adriatic. A magical place for gastronomy and breathtaking vistas, where the Mediterranean sun reduces the ripening grapes and intensifies the flavours within. Montepulciano is the great red wine of Abruzzo, Amaranta take their choice of local harvests, for an opulent wine of structure, complexity and seamless elegance, ideally alongside game or wild boar.

Earnscleugh Valley was the site of a gold rush in the 1860s, the industrious miners dug a watercourse through the valley which today serves to nourish the world's southernmost appellation of Pinot Noir. The Last Chance is a small scenic terrace, planted to a special Burgundy clone of Pinot Noir which yields a magnificently structured, generously proportioned wine. Carefully sorted bunches of hand picked fruit, treated to a traditional old world ferment in open vats and term of age in fine French oak. A lifted spice and dried herb nose before a palate of amazing density, length and persistence, elegance and poise.

Sam Neill's father was a major in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, he returned to the family wine and liquor business after retirement and inspired his famous son to take up viticulture. There are six hectares of Fusilier under vine, planted to deep alluvial silty gravels, on a steppe of rolling northerly facing terraces at the western end of Felton Road. A mix of stemmed grapes and whole bunches are filled to 3½ tonne wooden cuvee for several days cold soak and wild yeast ferment, followed by transfer to medium and light toast French oak barriques for eleven months maturation.

Sam Neill's perennial favourite, from the original planting of his homestead vines at the heart of Gibbston Valley. Established 1993 to a unique Burgundian clone of Pinot Noir, meticulously husbanded, First Paddock is one of the eldest blocks of vine in all Central Otago. Vibrant ruby hues, lifted perfumed bouquet of dark cherries and plum, concentrated herbal complexities, depth and persistence before a distinctive lengthy savoury finish. The articulation of Central Otago Pinot Noir complex yet elegant, generously proportioned, brimming with fruit, superbly structured, florals, violets and wild spice.

An assemblage of fruit grown to several elite Central Otago sites, the estate flagship barrel selection, from the Sam Neill family vineyards, normally a selection picked off Gibbston First Paddock, Bannockburn's Fusilier and Earnscleugh's Red Bank. A charming effort in Burgundian styling, unequivocally world class, artisanally crafted Central Otago Pinot Noir. Each block and clone are picked and fermented separately, the final wine is assembled just before bottling. Small batch? You bet, a mere few hundred dozen are made each year.

After a remarkable five years on the prestigious Wine Spectator Top 1OO, the Two Hands story has gone from strength to strength. The team are focused on injecting their wines with real identity, personality and charm. Lily's Garden is crafted without compromise from fruit grown to superior vineyards within the Two Hands estate portfolio. The palate is filled with rich flavours of raspberries and black pepper spice, liquorice allsorts and plum. The finished wine is an unctuous Shiraz with striking dark colour and cryptic aromas.

Qality without compromise, industry savant Robert Parker has identified Two Hands as the finest negociant operation south of the equator. The Two Hands are within easy reach of the finest harvests from the Barossa's most wonderful old vineyards. Bella's Garden is assembled after a rigorous determination of the best barrels of maturing Two Hands Barossa Shiraz. Densely coloured, almost black in colour, it exudes powerful bouquets, ripe plum and succulent blackberry flavours, laced by wisps of cedar and spice.

Only a few hundred cases of this profound red wine are made each vintage, crafted without compromise from the very best parcels of Shiraz grown to the most distinguished sites in the Barossa and McLaren Vale. True to style with great concentration and density balanced by elegance and restraint, in perfect pitch and fine harmony. The tannins are silky and refined, the mid palate dense and rich. A statuesque, deeply flavoured Shiraz, the estate flagship, matured in exclusively new French oak barriques, a memorable experience that's approachable on release.

A pure, flagship Cabernet Sauvignon from a mature single vineyard on Radford Road in the Seppeltsfield sub-district of the Barossa Valley. The Two Hands wineworks at Marananga was designed specifically for small batch production of the very best parcels of fruit. Very occasionally, the Two Hands isolate a block of vines that are earmarked to be handled separately, and vinified into a tremendous Barossa Cabernet. Length of palate and great persistence balanced by excellent depth is the hallmark to the subtle but complex Aphrodite.

Aerope is the Two Hands estate flagship, significantly a pure Grenache wine, representing the very finest old vines Barossa Grenache. Aerope is assembled annually from a chosen few of the most exceptional barrels, vinified from grapes that are hand picked off an eighty year old, dry grown vineyard on Radford Road, near the ancient Barossa winegrowing hamlet of Greenock.

Excellent Langtons Classification. It was at Turkey Flat, on the banks of Tanunda Creek whence bush turkeys once roamed, that pioneer Silesian settler Johann Friedrich August Fiedler planted the first Shiraz during the 1840s. The maturing vines on Section One, in the Hundred of Moorooroo, were bought in 1865 by Gottlieb Ernst Schulz, a successful butcher who established a thriving business among the vines. The Schulz family are still there and up to a fifth of the grapes in today's Turkey Flat Shiraz are picked off the gnarled old vines of 1847.

Established 1847 by Johann August Frederick Fiedler, much of the credit for the finest Shiraz in the world is due to old vines such as Turkey Flat. Dry grown and gnarled, their roots extend metres into the soil in search of moisture. That they still exist is largely due to a far sighted quarantine scheme, as South Australia was spared the phylloxera outbreak which devastated vineyards around the world in the late 1800s. After five generations of stewardship by the Schulz family, a small parcel of fruit from the original 1847 vines is bottled as a superior vintage release.

Distinction is the jewel in the Tscharke crown, only ever made in the most exceptional vintage years, crafted from priceless parcels of Shiraz, hand picked off the elite Gnadenfrei property in the ancient Barossa hamlet of Marananga. The mesoclime here is fortuitous for Shiraz, an auspicious terroir of conglomerate pink quartzite and shallow red brown clays, the ideal environment for low yields of the most intensely flavoured fruit.