Chapel Hill is built around an historic stone church, so it's entirely appropriate that the estate's flagship wine be named The Vicar. More wine Vicar? A McLaren Vale icon which has previously claimed the prestigious Australia Trophy and twice collected Silver at the London International. The Vicar embodies true excellence, is only released in the best years and has only ever attended seven times in the history of Chapel Hill. Some vintages can be a smart assemblage of noble varietals, others might be fashioned from outstanding parcels of Shiraz.

Originally a Christian Bible church and parish school, Chapel Hill is set within a historic nineteenth century stone church. Situated on a picturesque hill in the McLaren Vale's magestic hills, views from the cellar door are breathtaking. The emphasis has long been on environmentally sustainable viticulture and vintages of the finest quality. Chapel Hill's estate grown Shiraz is endowed with an intense, opulent mouth coating palate, exhibiting a unique combination of power, elegance and grace.

Parson's Nose is intended to offer some respite from the more serious and stern religious connotations that are at times associated with Chapel Hill. McLaren Vale is deservedly recognized as one of the worlds leading Shiraz appellations. This can be attributed to the vitality and generosity of the region and its wines. Stylistically the aim with Parson's Nose is to showcase primary McLaren Vale Shiraz character as supported by a velvety tannin structure. Oak plays a supporting role and is utilised delicately, providing complexity without overriding the expression of fruit.

The unique qualities of Tempranillo can be attributed to it's engrossing varietal charms and effusive personality. Elevated slopes and ancient soils at a spectacular site in the Mt Torrens area of Adelaide Hills provide the ideal harsh conditions to infuse character. A backbone of fruit grown to good vineyards in McLaren Vale offers varietal potency and assertive character. Chapel Hill exudes savoury olive and bay complexities of Mediterranean influence, vibrant dark berry characters are supported by a deeply flavoured palate and chewy, mouth filing tannins.

Il Vescovo is the Bishop, a medium bodied Sangiovese wine, vinified from grapes grown to the cooler climes of Kangarilla in McLaren Vale. Sangiovese is endowed with a distinctive and unique personality that exudes savouriness and rustic earthiness. The quintessential Italian red, it possesses vivacious natural acid levels which work closely with silky tannins to make it an exemplary accompaniement to food. Styled to the new wave of super Tuscans, Il Vescovo exhibits lifted berry fruit flavours, solid structure and a multi dimensional palate.

Chapel Hill is in very real terms a broad church, a great community of contemporary and indigenous artists, gourmandes and bon vivant, who celebrate daily in the benediction of good wine and endowments of McLaren Vale. The estate's wines are piously crafted to showcase the attractive and distinctive attributes of superfine Cabernet Sauvignon. Sourcing fruit from well managed vineyards ensures consistency, as it articulates the richness and diverse flavour spectrum of all good things McLaren Vale.

Chanson Pere et Fils was founded in 1750 during the reign of Louis XV. The cellars are still located in the Bastion de L'Oratoire, a lookout and defensive tower built at the end of the 15th century. The Chanson family already owned a large Domaine located across Beaune, Savigny les Beaune and Pernand Vergelesses. Chanson survived the tribulations of the phylloxera epidemic and remain one of the most distinguished Maison in Le Bourgogne. An elegant wine, very pure and soft with good lively fruit of raspberry, cherry and a touch of licorice.

The Harvey family established their first vineyard in 1897, it remains productive to this day and yields the most precious harvests of McLaren Vale fruit. Six generations later, the Harveys own and operate a total of six closely managed sites, scattered throughout the premier viticultural precincts, from Kangarilla Road to Willunga and Maslin Beach. Each site was selected over the years for its uniqueness, a confluence of soil and mesoclime to assemble complex yet seamless wines, endowed with the articulate charm and seductive appeal of McLaren Vale.

Amadeus Francis Symonds was a local preacher, Justice of the Peace and chairman of Para Wirra district, he took up land at Chain of Ponds in 1848. The first bible christian Methodist services in the district were held at his old farm house, continuing until he laid foundations for the local church. One of the earliest vineyard wineries ever mentioned in the local Adelaide Hills papers, much of the fruit grown to Chain of Ponds has been a component of Penfolds most memorable vintages, the finest parcels are set aside and vinified under the estate's own label.

An outstanding assemblage of the most exceptional fruit from the elite Ehrat Vineyard, picked off unirrigated rows of parallel grown Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon along Krondorf Road. The inclusion of choice picks Shiraz from a panoply of terroirs in the Valley Eden, Stockwell and Light Pass, add palate weight and complexity. A traditional ferment and old world standards of élevage, just a few hundred dozen are made, are followed by eighteen months in a luxuriously high proportion of new Leroi French oak hogsheads, purposefully bottled unfiltered and unfined.

Old vine Grenache, a few inestimable rows, planted during the 1930s to a picturesque place in the northern Barossa called Light Pass. Impassioned vigneron Kevin Schild is custodian of these wizened old veterans, yielding barely enough of a crop to make a few hundred cases. The Chaffeys see themselves as oenological parfumiers, identifying the supple complexities of wayward fruit, revelling in the lost art of small batch vintages. They have elected to treat Schild's fruit to a Nouveau style of ferment, a third included as whole bunches, to be judiciously bottled unfiltered and unfined.

Single vineyard Syrah, from a sparse harvest of the most amazing grapes, hand picked off the dry grown, Drögemüller family orchard at Springton in the very southeast of Barossa Valley. Bunches are treated to a six tonnes, open top fermenter, for a week of skin contact and daily pumpovers, followed by a year in a selection of well seasoned French oak barrels. An intensely perfumed, Rhône valley style, redolent of peppercorn and spiced black bramble fruit, its ripe, juicy, loganberry, cherry and morello freshness, lingering on a long, licorice wick of, elegant, tensile tannins.

The ancient winegrowing hamlet of Moculta is at the very northern end of Eden Valley, where altitudes are warmest and soils are propitiously mineral rich. It's an elite little precinct with a history which dates back to Lutheran settlement. Every row of plantings here is sacred, local folklore recounts the establishment of illustrious old vineyards and stewardship by the nation's most esteemed vignerons. Chaffey source a superior harvest from the distinguished Fechner Brothers block, a transcendent parcel of Shiraz, ultimately to be treated to in an invaluable selection of new French oak from France’s oldest cooperage.

A small number of mature Shiraz blocks toward the southern parts of Barossa Valley are identified each year as potential candidates for Centenary Hill. Jacobs Creek were at the very establishment of South Australia and retain access to the nation's most distinguished, long lived vineyards. A highly prestigious Barossa effort, cellared at the Orlando wineworks, treated to the most refined oak maturation before an extravagant term of eighteen months bottle age to develop ornate, seamless complexity.

Celestial Bay is the achievement of Michael and Kim O'Brien's long standing passion for wine, an adventure which led them to the Margaret River region in search of property most suitable for viticulture. The perfect location was identified on Metricup Road in Wilyabrup. A former dairy farm, the site provides all the necessary requirements, good soil, a moderate maritime climate and reliable rainfall. Fine fruit characters, freshness and definition, the aim is to emulate the French approach which values structure and balance over obtuse power and depth.

Cecchi own the most bountiful and picturesque vineyards within the prestigious precincts of Montalcino. The denominazione di origine of Rosso permits the growers of Montalcino to craft and release a more youthful style while they await for the exalted Brunello to come of age. An exclusively Sangiovese wine treated to six months in a selection of new and seasoned oak, Rosso di Montalcino is defined by its expression of the flattering climes and superior terroirs of its provenance, while offering impressive integrity and immediate drinkability.

Every year around harvest time, the townsfolk of Montefalco host the festival of Settimana Enologica, the new vintage of Montefalco Rosso flows freely, tourists and local bon vivant celebrate the mirth of dolca vita and the joy of good wine. Two thirds Sangiovese, the balance in Merlot and Sagrantino, vinified at warmer temperatures and treated to extended macerations, before a long repose of fourteen months in seasoned oak barriques. Olive, cherries and plum, a sensational accord of fruit, smooth tannins and succulent, savoury tang.

A pure Sagrantino wine from the communes of Montefalco at Perugia in central Italy's Umbria. Picked off vines grown to ubiquitous clay soils at altitudes of 350 metres, fruit is treated to extended macerations and a fortnight of ferment on skins followed by sixteen months in oak barriques. A powerful wine of brooding black hues and impressive tannin strength, vibrant, complex and intense, a generously proportioned style of magnificence and impeccable balance, seasoned cinnamon and soily spice, a lingerig seemingly endless palate of olive, bay leaf and plum.

Directly across the top of Corsica on the Tuscan coast, the tourist town of Maremma hosts some of the most picturesque, sun drenched vineyards along the Tyrrhenian Sea. The region's sandy granite soils produce a lovely mineral style of wine, the dominant fruit characters Cabernet and Merlot are enriched by the influence of terroir. Treated to a short term of age in well seasoned oak, its supple savouryness and toothsome market garden flavours make an exquisitely structured wine of affable tannins and conspicuously universal appeal.

An assemblage of Cabernet and Sangiovese from Castellina in Chianti, Merlot and Petit Verdot from the communes at Maremma. Individual grapes are treated to the added scrutiny of a double hand sorting, individual parcels endure a warm vinification and separate course of age in a combination of 225L barrique and larger format tonneaux for eighteen months before the final assemblage. The freshness of Sangiovese is enriched by the body and palate volume of Cabernet, its dark fruits and liquorice opulence are rounded out by Merlot and pretty spice of Verdot.

Just a half hour south of Florence in the Siena region of Tuscany, the people of Castellina have been growing grapes and making one of the world's great wines for millenia. This is the heart of Chianti Classico, mostly Sangiovese, harvested off graceful old vineyards planted to weathered sandstone and chalky marlstone soils, around the first week of October. It endures as one of the most recognizable international marques, structured, seamless and defined, its immense affinity to food makes it essential alongside all robust recipes, antipasto or good ripe cheese.

Exclusively Sangiovese off vines planted to abundant clay soils at 350 to 450 metres above see level at Montalcino, an hour's drive south of Florence. Eighteen days of ferment are followed by two years in a selection of seasoned and new oak barriques. Established 1893, the noble House of Cecchi respect the integrity of terroir and practice traditionally sustainable viticulture to preserve the sanctity and enduring excellence of their renowned vintages. An evocative, animated bouquet presages a voluminous, expansive palate, seamless, illuminating and profound.

Bodega Catena is located in the foothills of the majestic Andes. A fourth generation family operated winery, the founder Nicola Catena first planted his vineyard at Mendoza in 1902. Since then the Catenas have been crafting the most superb examples of Malbec, the signature varietal of Argentina. Specializing in superior single vineyard wines, a unique range which highlights the differences between the various terroirs and clime of Mendoza's high country, Bodega Catena is defined by the excellence of those parcels which can best achieve a delicious, more complex Malbec wine.

Catching Thieves make wines with so much style, you'll do just about anything to get your hands on them! The highly skilled McWilliams team have matched the nobility of Cabernet Sauvignon with the affability of Merlot, to achieve a succulent Margaret River wine of substantial style and flair. Catching Thieves is built to exude alluring dark berry plum characters, to be in fine balance and ultimately deliver a soft and flavourful, aromatic juicyness to the palate.

From deciding which rows to pick on what day, right through to the ferments, pressing and aging in oak, Catalina Sounds are meticulous in their pursuit of an exuberantly wild fermented, complex and structured wine. All the while keeping in mind that minimal intervention is the best approach to handling the noble but capricious Pinot Noir. Sounds of White demands Leading with its ripe red nose of forest berries, raspberry and cola notes, her palate is silken and elegant, such powerful fruit notes, all framed by ripe tannins and flattering oak, resolving on a long, technicolor, peacock tail finish.

Catalina Sounds prefer to allow Pinot Noir to express itself, for a wine that's structured and elegant, approachable and food friendly. Working to principles of sustainable land management and good governance of the environment, Pinot Noir grapes are de-stemmed into a mix of open fermenters and French oak to create an interesting, more savoury style. Strawberries, nutmeg and white pepper florals, lovely Pinot flavours of sour cherry and spice over a length of velvet tannins. Fresh and vibrant, the perfect food lovers Pinot, ideally alongside rillettes of duck or game bird cassoulet.

For well over a decade, Rosedale have been nurturing their splendid vineyards across the western ridge of Barossa Valley. Nine Lives exhibits power with finesse, spice fruit character and weight in unison.

A rich cepage of Merlot, Monastrelli and Syrah by Perez Pardo, a devoted family of winemakers from eastern Spain's Caroig Massif, a rugged, mountainous area with deep ravines and broad valleys. Bodegas Enguera was established with a view to crafting exclusively estate grown wines. The vineyards were planted in the right way and viticulture remains world's best practice. Enguera Reserva exhibits perfect integration of ripe fruit with a warm glow of acid and spice, sweet grape tannins combine with mild French oak to achieve a wine of elegance and length.

The propitious vines are enthused by the scents of lofty karri tree blossoms, to yield harvests of the ripest, most flavourful grapes, intense with ripe brambleberry characters and redolent with the piquant cologne of local gums. Castelli make a Cabernet Merlot accord which expresses the magnificence of the Great Southern mesoclime, its lifted bush fruit aromaticness, velvet tannins and divine French oak, make a match to the finest gourmandise, game bird recipes, pate, pork and veal terrines or emmentaler gratin.

The enduring Aussie association of Cabernet and Shiraz, with a fair measure of the amenable Malbec for softness and style, the ultimate realization of the Castelli brothers no expense spared approach to making great wine. Australia's west grows powerful yet elegant red wines, the Cabernet Shiraz accord in particular can be breathtaking in its structure and scope. Castelli reserve the pick of vintage for Il Liris, only the most exceptional bunches are considered for inclusion, only the finest barrels are assembled into the finished wine.

The Castelli brothers are highly accomplished international engineers with a no expense spared approach to making great wine. Choice harvests from superlative vineyards at Frankland River and Mount Barker are assembled for an outstanding construct of Shiraz. Frankland River contributes rich mulberry flavours, Mt Barker adds complexity and spiced black pepper characters. An attractive earthy richness is at the core of the fine boned, textural palate, the oak is seamlessly integrated with the layers of fruit, all supported by fine, savoury tannins.