The De Iuliis property along Broke Road at Pokolbin is a picture of pastoral idyll, spotted gums and mallee eucalypts surround the tranquil vines, breathtaking vistas of Brokenback range contribute to a mesoclime which encourages harvests of exquisite Chardonnay, defined by rich esters and refined acidity. Small yields and hand picked grapes, extravagant French oak treatments and a priority on preserving the textural integrity of a splendid wine, an astonishingly engaging experience for savvy white wine appellants and the most adroit Chardonnay enthusiasts.

Noble One is a national icon and one of the world's great dessert wines. It caused a sensation when first released and continues to claim prestigious accolades around the globe. Enjoyed by the most discerning enthusiasts and industry savants everywhere, Noble One has gained much prestige for Australian wines. De Bortoli call upon a canon of choice vineyards which consistently yield Semillon grapes of great lusciousness and intense botrytis flavours. Each offers unique characters and charm, a secret to the complex and engaging Noble One style.

Unassailable as Australia's most eminent dessert wine, Noble One created an international sensation when it was released, it has become one of the most renowned marques in new world wine. Bespoke blocks of Semillon, grown to mature De Bortoli estate vineyards, are watched each year, as the vagaries of vintage determine whether conditions are present to Botrytise the grapes. The making of Noble One is never rushed, each vine represents an individual harvest, as the optimal day of picking may vary greatly from block to block and row to row.

De Bortoli hold an extensive collection of barrel aged wines. Stocks of fortified and botrytised Semillon are drawn on from time to time to assemble into a wickedly decadent wine of rare opulence. Black Noble has most notably claimed Gold and Silver at the prestigious London International. Created by Darren De Bortoli, it is an inspiration from a 1930s wine made by Vittorio De Bortoli. Black Noble is extraordinarily unique and has been compared to the great wines of Jerez.

Defined by altitude, Orange is one of Australia's highest and coolest regions. A capricious grape to grow, Merlot demands a regime of perfect conditions to achieve an even berry set. The growers of Orange have dutifully obliged over many years, painstakingly developing this new but salubrious winegrowing precinct for the realization of world class Merlot. Fruit sets very well and bunch thinning is undertaken to limit the yields. Cumulus will handsomely accompany roasted Mediterranean vegetables with lamb and wild mushroom medley.

Cookoothama means fertile land, an approachable accord of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from fruit grown to a special site at Darlington Point on the Riverina. Employing the best of old world viticultural practices and new world technology, Nugan Estate charge their devoted team with the pleasant task of making wine of the highest order. The two hands on the label represent the people who have lived and cultivated soils which lie along the banks of Murrumbidgee River, transforming it into the salubrious property it is today.

By one of the most consequential winemakers in the greater Canberra GUI, crafted from Shiraz grown to mature vines at Kyeema, on an elevated granite saddle near Murrumbateman. Reserve Shiraz has enjoyed a series of compelling national trophy wins, including Best Red Sydney Royal Wine Show. Beautifully ripe on the palate, a wine of impressive length, combines intensity and vibrancy with the spice, perfume and elegant structure that are identifiable hallmarks of an exceptional vineyard.

Alex McKay worked as plongeur at a Canberra restaurant and filled wine on a bottling line before graduating to one of modern viticulture's most distinguished accolades as Dux in Oenology. Collector's amazing efforts at Shiraz are hand made for balance, character and depth of flavour, from fruit grown to some of the most remarkable Australian mesoclimes around Canberra.

Collector produce limited quantities from fruit grown to vines planted in the lean pink granites and reddish shale loams of the Canberra district.

One wild and windy night as a group of explorers were crossing Wollombi brook, misfortune struck Cockfighter, the lead horse. He became bogged in river quicksand and drowned despite all efforts. A fateful night that gave birth to the legend of Cockfighter's Ghost. Hunter Valley Verdelho has made a name for itself as Australia's most distinctive style of unwooded dry white. Cockfighter's Ghost source fuit from vines which thrive in the sandy loam soils of Hunter Valley, to deliver a generous Verdelho wine with vibrant aromatics and vivid fruit flavours.

Cockfighter was a horse who met with an untimely death, his ghost haunts a billabong but the tale would be long forgotten if it wasn't for the award winning team at Pooles Rock. Merlot vines thrive on the New South Wales central ranges, where the cool, slow ripening climes of the up and coming Orange winegrowing district yields some of Australia's finest fruit. In keeping with its provenance, Cockfighter's Ghost is profuse with the rich blueberry plum and varietal spice characters of Merlot, all supported by an exquisite, soft and lingering tannin frame.

It has been a remarkable journey for Clonakilla. When John Kirk first planted vines in 1971 he had no idea that his vineyard would be celebrated as one of the finest in Australia. Along the way there have been trials and tribulations as well as moments of unprecendented success. Over time it has become clear that a combination of the temperate Murrumbateman region and the sultry Viognier are one of those rare synergies which produce extraordinary wines.

Bedecked with gold medals, significant trophies and countless five star commendations. Clonakilla is a wine that's ultimately determined in the vineyard, where hard work is required to open up the vine leaf canopies, limiting yields and encouraging vines to make grapes with riper flavour profiles. The vinification process embraces old world techiques such as the inclusion of whole bunches in the ferments, macerations and extravagant French oak barrel maturation.

A collation of superior vineyard parcels, crafted by a boutique estate which has been recognized as one of Australia's leading wineries. Clonakilla are dedicated to making distinctive, handcrafted wines, only ever released in limited quantities, anything by Clonakilla can be hard to find, but they are worth the search. The house speciality is Shiraz, Clonakilla unashamedly borrow techniques from Burgundy and Vallée du Rhône. Clonakilla's inaugural vintage claimed two gold medals, one silver and two trophies in only three showings.

Sean O'Riada is one of Ireland's great cultural icons, a gifted musician and composer, he's accredited with taking traditional Irish music out of the pubs and bringing it to the world. O'Riada Shiraz is made from fruit grown to four very special vineyards around Murrumbateman, fermented with the inclusion of a dollop Viognier. O'Riada owes its genesis to a disastrous vintage, when unfavourable weather drastically reduced the Clonakilla harvest. The best local vineyards had to be sourced from which to collate the quality of fruit most worthy of the Clonakilla label, O'Riada Shiraz was born.

Clonakilla were established by a Canberra research scientist in 1971, very near the New South Wales township of Murrumbateman. The soils here consist of sandy clay loams over a friable clay subsoil and, with a climate not dissimilar to Bordeaux and the northern Rhone Valley, there were high hopes for its viticultural potential. Loaded with ripe blackberry fruit pushed along by a late surge of blackcurrant and spice, the warmth of the autumn radiates through every part of this wine.

A well balanced Chardonnay wine with ample palate texture, crisp grapefruit acidity and soft varietal stonefruit characters by one of the most distinguished winemakers in Hunter Valley. The vines were planted to soils and aspects where the excellent growing seasons and favourable ripening conditions yield grapes exhibiting splendid concentration. Nature has played a big part in contributing to the flavour profile of this generously proportioned Chardonnay, decidedly fruit driven with richly textured palate and lovely, lingering clean finish.

Charles Sturt University Winery is an integral part of Australia's leading wine and food science syllabus, at the forefront of international best practice viticulture and vinification techniques. The winery focuses on excellence, using state of the art technology without sacrificing tradition. An immensely satisfying Chardonnay from grapes grown to the University vineyard, punching far above it's weight and representing peerless value as it's exempt from statutory wine tax.

Charles Sturt University at Wagga Wagga saw its first plantings of vine in 1893. While today's students are very closely involved in the vitculture and elevage, the ultimate quality of wine is determined by a highly accomplished team of industry identities. Producing less than 10,000 dozen annually, the limited yields make possible, a highly selective sourcing of fruit and the most exacting standards of vinification. The result is a richly flavoured yet impeccably balanced accord of profound Cabernet Sauvignon structure in support of elegant Merlot succulence.

Hunter Valley Shiraz is defined by its poise, a medium bodied style of lighter hues, elegant restraint and supple tannins. Brokenwood also retain vineyards a little further afield, amongst the Blewitt Springs and McLaren Flats of McLaren Vale. The fruit here makes a wine of greater substance and palate weight. A choice parcel from a superlative Beechworth site, contributes to a concord of astonishing balance, the chocolateyness of McLaren Vale coats the crisp red fruits of the Hunter, coalescing into a dulcet cherry ripe of tensile tannins and background coconut oak.

Brokenwood have been calling on harvests from the Latara property since 1983, for the construct of a single vineyard Semillon in the tradition of Australia's most enduring white wine style. The auspicious clay loam soils at Latara yield a quality of fruit which demands early bottling, completely unwooded and unoaked, to capture the understated opulence of Hunter Valley Semillon as it evolves into a stately white wine of remarkable richness and depth. The Semillon of choice to accompany or flounder aux amandes or farced and truffled quail.

What makes a great vintage for Hunter Valley Semillon? Most would say one without flooding rain, ravaging fires or devastating drought. While this is certainly important, balance in the wine reigns supreme. Mid January always brings with it a slight nervousness, having been battered vintage after vintage with drought and pouring rain, is it any wonder that black cats are avoided and ladders given a wide berth? The magic of Hunter Semillon on display, texture and weight from a wine that sees no oak, only ever released in the finest years, ILR Reserve is a beauty.

There's never much Hunter Valley Shiraz around but it always represents an engaging experience in elegance and style, especially if it's made from grapes picked off the unnervingly named Graveyard Vineyard. The oldest vines on the Graveyard property are amongst the first growth of Australian Shiraz, younger blocks are called upon for the construct of a regional Hunter Valley edition, exhibiting superior structure and penetrating fruit, refined elocution and exquisite grace.

Exceptional Langtons Classification. Graveyard is the jewel of the Brokenwood crown, it endures as one of the nation's great first growths. A word to the squeamish, the property may have been zoned as Pokolbin cemetery in 1882 but was never populated. Established to descendants of colonial rootstock in 1968, the vines at Graveyard struggle to yield meagre harvests of the most intense berries. A Shiraz of outstanding line, as Len Evans coined the phrase, to convey fine structure, exquisite balance and generous palate length.

Enter Brokenwood's response to the modern day enthusiasm for finely structured Chardonnay with more balance, lower phenolics and timely oak. Established 1988 on the of brisk altitudes of the Orange uplands, Forest Edge Vineyard gives its fruit to a regimen of whole bunches and wild ferments in a mix of new and seasoned French oak, powered by the splendid complexity achieved through indigenous yeasts and lees sediment battonage, its creamy mealyness makes Brokenwood the ideal accompaniement to west coast marron, truffled spatchcock or bugs mornay.

Nestled amongst the undulating terrains of Orange, planted to rich volcanic soils atop the chilly, elevated aspects of Great Dividing Range, within an exclusive dress circle of elite sites along the slopes of Mount Canobolas, the six hectare Forest Edge Vineyard yields a quality of Shiraz that's most worthy of the Brokenwood moniker. A limited release wine crafted from the pick of vintage, Forest Edge Shiraz is conspicuous for its elegant milled spice perfumes, opaque black bramble fruit flavours and stealthy, velvet tannins.