Greg and Natala Flynn established their operation on the narrow strip of ancient red cambrian Heathcote soils which produce world class Shiraz wines. MC stands for multiple clones, when planting their vineyard, the Flynns sowed a number of different clones with the aim of increasing complexity in the wines. Endowed with a vigorously perfumed bouquet and graceful palate, MC Shiraz is an elegant and controlled Heathcote Shiraz with clear regional personality, treated to an extended ageing in a selection of oak barriques from the world's finest cooperages.

A vigorous Cabernet wine with dark fruit, lineal tannins and immaculate oak. The Flinders Bay label was born out of a joint venture between the Gillespie and Ireland families, bringing together a wealth of viticultural, winemaking and retail experience. The express objective was to maintain a total commitment to quality in site selection, fruit growing and viniculture. Each vintage, the Flinders Bay winemaking team take aim at producing a Bordelais styled Cabernet Sauvignon, to rank amongst the finest Margaret Rivers.

The length of Margaret River's coastline hosts a tapestry of terroirs, each expressing a subtle variation on the profoundly aromatic and intense regional style. Flametree have assembled a collation of fruit from five choice vineyards in the premier viticultural precincts of Wallcliffe, Wilyabrup and Yallingup. A well proportioned wine with seamless integration that's greater than the sum of parts, Wallcliffe grapes contribute a measure of pepper and spice complexity, fruit from vineyards further to the north add rich dark berry characters and a concentration of flavour.

A national wine show champion, recipient of the 2008 Jimmy Watson. Flametree is a young and most remarkable little estate which is enjoying a meteoric rise to fame, transpiring solely on the basis of quality and unprecedented trade show successes. A mostly Cabernet Sauvignon wine with a third of Merlot from fruit grown to the Karridale and Carbunup appellations of the Margaret River region. The very special sites produce the most intense wines with ripe dark berry fruit characters, the greatest depth of flavour and soundest structure.

The essential Margaret River style of Cabernet, crafted from the pick of the crop grown to the Karridale, Wallcliffe and Wilyabrup districts. Margaret River delivers much of Australia's most distinctive varietal wines, there are unique sub regions and Wilyabrup makes the best Cabernet. After fifteen vintages, the Flametree team have established a pretty good understanding of what works and what doesn't. Assembling the finest parcels means that they can construct a penetrating Cabernet wine with alluring bramble aromas, firm tannins and soft fleshy palate.

The historic Fire Block vineyard was named for its dangerous proximity to the passing, flame powered railway engines of yesteryear, imperilled by the sparks of the locomotives that often ignited bushfires. Biodynamically grown Shiraz is vinified in the traditional old world way, fermented in four tonne batches, lovingly basket pressed, aged in a combination of French oak barriques and American oak hogsheads. Vibrant bouquet with plum, spice and currant characters, generously flavoured and richly proportioned, showing very well in its youth, a long, illustrious future is assured.

From a small precious block, atop the wonderful Fire Block parcel of dry grown vines, planted way back in 1926, a salient example of old Clare Valley Shiraz. An unirrigated and hand pruned site, the vineyard practices, trellising methods and control of yields, are determined by only one criterion‚ to preserve the integrity of fruit each and every vintage. Concentration of elegant flavours, powerfully intense, yet exhibiting real elegance and charm. Pepper and plum, a touch of leather and spice, a lively palate expressing toasty berries, vinosity, spices and stalk supported by long gritty tannins.

Fire Block was excised from a large grazing property in 1923, out of concern that sparks from passing locomotives on the new Clare Valley railway could start bushfires. Situated on the western slope of the Valley, established to vines in 1926, the gnarled old veterans of Fire Block are grown to traditional dryland viticulture, with no systemic sprays or chemical fertilizers. From one of the most parched sites in Valley Clare, the vines sprout bunches of tiny shrivelled berries, yielding small volumes of intensely flavoured juices, to be vinified by the eminent O'Leary Walker winemaking team.

Only those parcels of Shiraz meeting the highest standards of old vine Barossa, can be considered for inclusion into Fernando. Assembled from the pick of eighty year old plantings, Fernando represents the flagship from the noble house of Taylor Ferguson, established 1898. Immediately intense with impenetrable black hues, Fernando's rich bouquet of blood plums, violet and tradewind spice, are followed by a multi layered palate which continues to unravel veils of complexity, seamlessly integrated, between fawning tannins, winegum fruit and fragrant flattering oak.

With each harvest, the Taylor Ferguson team seek to isolate parcels of the finest fruit from which to craft their flagship Shiraz. The selection process is diligent and very strict. Parcels of fruit which are candidates for inclusion must display the requisite qualities of vibrant flavour profile, profound varietal expression and praiseworthy tannins. Fernando The First is vinified from a collation grown to choice vineyards, eighty years of age, a remarkable expression of Barossa Shiraz, its rich chocolatey palate and sound structure are tightly wound around a carriage of polished oak.

One of Australia's longest continuously operating purveyors of fine wine, Taylor Ferguson can trace their origins back to establishment circa 1898. Today, the Taylor Ferguson team can draw harvests from a substantial catalogue of the choicest vineyards to create the most outstanding vintages. Parcels picked off vines thirty to fifty years of age, planted to prestigious sites in Barossa Valley, have been assembled into a sensational Cabernet Sauvignon, endowed with layers of regional chocolate fruit characters, perfumed currant flavours and ripe, supporting tannins.

From the Chelmsford and Seward family vineyards at the northern end of Margaret River. Fermoy Estate is situated on Metricup Road at the very heart of Willyabrup, one of the new world's great viticultural precincts. Despite a history of little more than a decade, Fermoy's wines have won an acclaim which belies the estate's modernity. An intensely aromatic and profoundly structured Shiraz wine with captivating berry fruit essences and pliant, peppery tannins, to accompany the finest faire and most succulent meats.

A characterful Pinot Noir born of triumph over adversity. Considerable research by Stewart Elms in 1991 identified the north facing slopes at the end of Felton Road near Bannockburn as being one of the warmest and most ideal sites in Central Otago. Heat summation data and soil maps from the construction of the Clyde Hydro Dam made a crucial contribution to the establishment of vines on Felton Road. Mouthcoating, subtle and caressing of fruit, a Pinot Noir of harmony, restraint and sophistication that intrigues rather than shouts its breeding, finishing with just enough tannin to frame the wine beautifully.

A number of sites along Felton Road were meticulously surveyed before any vines went in the ground, favourable soils were identified as free draining and low fertility, influenced by the Central Otago growing season to yield an extraordinary quality of Pinot Noir. The non interventionalist approach means a traditional fermentation and moderately long maceration on skins to extract rich colours and tannin with considerable depth of flavour. Aged for a year in a selection of the finest French barriques, its dusty floral nose, violets and rose, integrate seamlessly with the oak perfumes of cinnamon and clove.

Taking the road due north from Tuscany we find the region of Emilia Romagna. Affectionately known as Il grasso, the fat, Emilia Romagna is home to the magnificent culinary delights of Parma prosciutto and mortadella, Parmigiano reggiano and the best balsamic vinegar. The wines of Fattoria Zerbina are considered by many to be the finest in the region, exhibiting good varietal definition as well as tipicita. The Torre di Ceparano is a very special wine, crafted from fruit grown to a unique vineyard, based around the choicest clones of native Tuscan Sangiovese.

The Fattoria Zerbina wineworks are located at Faenza in south eastern Emilia Romagna, near the base of the Apennine Mountains which separate Emilia Romagna from Tuscany. Their vineyards are the most splendid in all Romagna, and their wines are widely acknowledged as the region's finest.

The Abruzzo region is rather adjacent to Rome itself, on the other side of Italy's boot along the Adriatic coast. In the world of wine, it is best known for Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, a dry but rejuvenating style of table red with good fruit character and lovely soft tannins. Ottavio and Margherita Farnese built a palazzo here and established vineyards in the 16th century. The wines of Farnesse have been enjoyed by enthusiasts around the world ever since, they remain vitally fruit forward and velvety textured, just so remarkably easy to enjoy.

The essential Cotes du Rhone cepage, crafted almost exclusively from the Grenache of Grand Prebois and Syrah of Vinsobres. The inclusion of Mourverdre completes the holy trinty while contributing savouryness and pastoral charm. Filled with the fragrant fruit of Vallee Rhone and Mistral spice of Provence, Perrin Reserve makes a match with continental style grills and crumbed veal, slow braised joints and ham.

Dominated by Grenache, with slightly lesser components of Syrah and Mouvedre, off vines planted to alluvial alpine deposits and rolled pebbles over a former sea bed of the miocene epoch. An assemblage of estate grown fruit, with parcels from a seven hectare property to the west of Chateau Beaucastel and salubrious sites near the center of the village at Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Batches are vinfied according to the exacting Beaucastel technique of destemming and warming the fruit before treating the musts to a traditional south Rhone style of ferment.

A conspicuous over achiever, Halls Gap Vineyard has been source to some of the most memorable vintages Seppelt, Penfold and Mount Langi Ghiran. Established 1969 to a propitious eastern facing slope at 260 metres above the sea, Halls Gap is all about the monumental nature of Grampians Shiraz. Treated to a traditional course of open vat ferments, hand plungings and extended term of eighteen months maturation, Fallen Giants articulates the imposing structure and fruit saturation which defines Grampians Shiraz, opaque, succulent and piquantly spiced.

Fallen Giants is a reference to local folklore, a canon of indigenous myths about how the Grampians were formed by colossal birds as they struggled for primacy. The auspicious vineyard at Halls Gap contains a superior block of old Cabernet vines which yield less than a tonne and a half per acre. Wrought through the full tradition of old world winemaking techniques, a magnificent construct of Cabernet Sauvignon with imposing ebony fruit characters and dauntless, epic tannins, treat your Fallen Giants to a brew of ox cheek and kipflers, trotters and truffled red wine Jus.