Previous vintage claimed Best Red of Show and Best Rhône Red Shiraz/ Grenache at the London International Wine Challenge. 10,000 wines were judged by over 500 judges before conferring this terrific accolade. The 2000 vintage remains a remarkable follow up. The Old Shiraz vines on the Rayner Vineyard are unirrigated, deeply rooted and extensively systemized into clay below the sand. Generally they withstand the toughest of years yielding small amounts of concentrated wines, offering heady aromas and deep complexities.

Attention to detail has always been at the centre of the Brokenwood ethos, in this case, an assemblage of three clones Pinot Noir, harvested off several individual blocks on the eminent Indigo Vineyard at Beechworth. Blessed by a confluence of oblique terrains, mineral soils and chilly climes, Beechworth represents the ideal home for the pastoral Pinot Noir. Structured, balanced and offering excellent weight of fruit, everything in the right place and in good order, splendid with the traditional accompaniement of duckling, steak tartare or salmon escalopes to suit.

A seamless red wine, brimming with the requisite panache of all things Brokenwood, centred around a backbone of intensely flavoured McLaren Vale Shiraz. The winemaking team are always keen to find dedicated growers with superior vineyards who are on the ball about the quality of fruit that's central to the Brokenwood label. A heightened level of complexity is at the core, fashioned to express the character and charm of each vineyard, generously proportioned and layered with ripe, juicy flavours, followed by a satisfyingly savoury, mouthfilling finish.

Brokenwood release two editions of Pinot Noir each vintage from the eminent Indigo Vineyard at Beechworth. There are a number blocks and clones on the property, the pick of crop is reserved for a single site bottling behind the Indigo moniker. Established in the 1990s after an exhaustive, nation wide search for the next great vineyard, Indigo is a source of fruit for the most demanding winemakers and prestigious labels. An effusively perfumed Pinot of generous proportions and juicy black fruit flavours, perfect for pink duck or maghrebi spiced tartare.

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.

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.

The first block of Brokenwood vines ever planted were on a cricket pitch. Acquisition of this ten acre property along McDonalds Rd in October of 1970 almost fell into competitor's hands during a bidding war against Hungerford Hill. By the time the site became productive in 1973, Brokenwood had established themselves at the apex of a resurgence in Hunter Valley viticulture. Cricket Pitch is a varietally rich mix of Cabernet and Shiraz, Merlot and Petit Verdot, from vineyards in the central ranges of New South Wales, Beechworth and McLaren Vale.

Make a date with Brokenwood, an evening round the table with a comfort roast of your finest fare, savoured slowly alongside your favourite company and a bottle of the very best. Stylistically true to its McLaren Vale provenance, a seductive, textural accord of Merlot and Cabernet, its chocolatey, cherry ripe fruit character is cossetted by a cradle of supportive oak and length of ripe, sweet tannins. A lovely mellow wine, to accompany home baked, potato topped, steak and kidnie or red wine shepherd's pie.

The Commune of Barolo, in the Piedmont region of Italy's northeast, makes one of the world's great wines, it carries its own Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita. Barolo have a long established reputation for heavy, overtly tannic, Nebbiolo varietal wines which required many years to soften before drinking. Enter Brezza, one of the principal estates in Barolo and chief protagonist of the Barolo wars, who have taken the lead in fashioning a vigorously fruit driven style with congenial tannins and judicious, supportive oak.

Barbera are made from low yield fruit, treated to long macerations and ageing in large oak barrels. In Australia the name Brezza has become synonymous with the Barbera from Piedmont. The Barbera d'Alba Cannubi is a taste of the hospitality shown by the Brezza family in their Hotel Barolo, and the robust, authentic wines Enzo Brezza produces in his winery below the hotel. Cannubi is one of the most famous Barolo vineyards, and Brezza have resisted the temptation to replant this precious plot of Barbera with more lucrative varietals.

The cult and abstruse Cabernet Franc finds a new home away from home, among the verdant orchards of Yarra Valley. Completely destemmed grapes are treated to a long, slow indigenous yeasts ferment. An exhilarating Cabernet style, its bright cherry nose precedes a refined bramble palate, laden with fresh and vibrant berry flavours, perfect for succulent lamb recipes, a traditional rillettes of duck or artfully assembled, croute et aspic terrine.

Parcels of Shiraz for this stunning wine are selected from a unique site at the heart of Heathcote appellation. Premium parcels are collated from Marong and from the estate vineyard at Harcourt. Winemaker Adam P. Marks firm belief is that good fruit should be treated gently and with minimal intervention. All blocks are trellised to vertical shoot positioning system, the growers employ a regimen of traditional viticultural techniques, organics and crop thinning to produce small but precious yields of less than 2½ tonnes per acre.

It is the Bress way, that superior quality grapes should be treated gently and with minimal intervention, to be vinified in nothing but the finest new French oak. Low cropped viticulture is in large part, the raison d'être for such reverence, the wines of Bress are religiously handled in such a manner. The bucolic affability of Yarra Valley fruit, seamlessly coalesces with the more elegant and fragrant Macedon Pinot Noir, achieving a measured yet engaging and complex wine. A match to charcoal pork roast and marinated chicken grill.

Following a visit to France where he studied the ancient pastoral practices of breeding the world's best chickens, Adam Marks gained the inspiration to create great Australian wines in the very same manner, adopting an artisanal approach to production, employing traditional, age old methods. Coq Noir is the flagship Shiraz by one of Victoria's most adroit, small batch producers. An opulent effort vinified from parcels of the most intense fruit, bottled without fining or filtration, which may deposit a harmless sediment, decanting is a must.

Following a visit to France where he studied the ancient pastoral practices of breeding the world's best chickens, Adam Marks gained the inspiration to create great Australian wines in the very same manner, adopting an artisanal approach to production, employing traditional, age old methods. Gold Label is the flagship Shiraz by one of Victoria's most adroit, small batch producers. An opulent effort vinified from parcels of the most intense fruit, bottled without fining or filtration, which may deposit a harmless sediment, so decanting is a must.

An assemblage of clones MV6 Pinot Noir from the Mount Gisborne vineyard at Macedon, alongside Pinot clone D5V12 from Chanter’s Ridge at Woodend. A mix of whole bunches and gently destemmed fruit are treated to a traditional, wild indegenous yeast open top ferment, hand plunged thrice daily, befor pressing to French oak hogsheads for completion of malolactic and fourteen months maturation. An expansive Pinot style which continues to unravel as it evolves, caraway and sensen, spiced cherries and char, a floor of forest buds, enoke and fragrant sasafras oak.

The very limited release Walter Reserve is a wine of stature and opulence, an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon grown to the rich, predisposed soils of Langhorne Creek. Assembled from a fastidious selection of the best barrels Cabernet, all originating from the estate's superlative vineyards, nourished by the flooding of Bremer River. Bremerton are in a unique position to keep all the individual parcels of Cabernet separate until completion, for the purpose of isolating the most exceptional lots, from the time of picking through to vinification and maturation.

It's a bit of an enduring truism along the banks of Bremer River, that you need double letters in your name to qualify as a Langhorne Creek winemaker. Viz the Willson sisters, the Messrs Potts and Blass. Outstanding quality fruit and excellence in the art of vinification are essential too. The Willson family had been selling their grapes to the nation's most conspicuous brands, before they took the plunge to retain the best of harvest for their own label. Graciano is oft blended with suave and stylish Tempranillo, to fashion the most engaging and topical wines in Rioja.

The four noble claret varietals, Merlot and Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, exclusively Langhorne Creek parcels are assembled into a generous and well balanced, eminently ready to drink red wine. Cabernet provides fine tannin structure, Shiraz adds berry fruit weight, Malbec brings perfume, Merlot rounds out the palate. Brimming with lifted fruit and spice flavours, a mouthfilling wine lined with the softest tannins and delicate oak, culminating on a long and flavoursome, decidedly savoury Langhorne Creek finish.

Selkirk is a small Scottish border town, ancestral home of Bremerton's Willson family. A source of fruit to some of Australia's most esteemed labels and memorable vintages, Rebecca Willson and her team have taken the quality of their wines to new standards. She keeps the pick of the crop for the Bremerton label. Langhorne Creek Shiraz has long been the secret ingredient to many triumphs on the national wine show circuit. Meticulous vineyard management and controlled yields achieve the quality of fruit that's so central to the creation of Selkirk.

Old Adam is the zenith of Langhorne Creek viticulture, it holds a place within the pantheon of great Australian Shiraz. The Willson family established a reputation for excellence, after providing fruit for many of the nation's most memorable vintages and illustrious wines. Old Adam is the pick of the Willson crop, isolated from the finest parcels off the very best blocks, treated to the most fastidious barrel selection. An extremely limited release wine to be cherished and savoured, a most remarkable rendering of new world Shiraz.

Cabernet Sauvignon boasts a long history in Langhorne Creek. It was the secret ingredient in many of the nation's most memorable vintages, maestro Wolf Blass called on Langhorne Creek Cabernet for his most salubrious editions of red wine. The Willson family had enjoyed a distinguished reputation as growers of the finest Cabernet for many years before establishing their own label. Coulthard is the pick of the Bremerton harvest, exactingly crafted to showcase the aromatic black fruit flavours and succulent tannins which Langhorne Creek does best.

There's a natural affinity between Malbec and the Langhorne Creek, often called upon as the secret synergy for many of the nation's most memorable vintages. Bremerton assemble parcels with the pick of estate grown Shiraz into a seamlessly refined accord. Shiraz builds the structure, adds the fleshyness of plum and piquancy of trade spice, Malbec infuses winsome blackberry perfumes and softens the tannins. Brimming with lifted fruit, a mouthfilling wine framed by feathering of oak, a long and flavoursome, decidedly savoury Langhorne Creek finish.

The salubrious Cabernet wines of Margaret River are famous around the world for their bold, vivid fruit, statuesque structure and penetrating dark berry characters. A confluence of climate and soils, prevailing westerlies and fine soils seem to emulate the propitious terroirs of Bordeaux. It is here that the grapes fulfill their promise to the Australian continent. Breathing Space take their pick of the crop, minimally handled to capture and preserve the conspicuous Margaret River regionality, ensuring that fruit is the defining feature.

A prolific award winner on the national wine show circuit, by virtue of a profound palate in the style of the old world's great Pinot Noir. A representation of great finesse, extremely limited in supply, very few barrels are ever bottled in line with the estate's policy of only releasing those parcels worthy of the Reserve label. Bream Creek is a powerful Pinot Noir with firm structure and enormous complexity. More savoury than fruit in style, the nose shows pepper, dried herbs and earth characters. The palate is powerful with great length and lovely fine grained tannins.

Bream Creek is one of Australia's southernmost vineyards, one of the first commercialy operated sites in Tasmania. Crop yields are kept very modest, the focus being on harvests of small berries clustered into small bunches of fruit. Painstaking efforts achieve the essential cool climate Pinot Noir, grown to older vines in the lower latitudes of Tasmania's southeast. Such idyllic growing conditions deliver outstanding quality grapes which are vinified by an artisanal team into an elegant, velvety Pinot Noir with alluring aromatics and a profound, slowly ripened palate.

For many generations, Braydun Hill was a grazing site. Cattle, sheep and angora enriched the soils, preparing the land for viticulture. Tony Bradley-Dunn brought his experience at hand making wines from fruit picked off hedgerows on the English countryside to McLaren Vale, where he planted the Braydun Hill property to vines in 1998. From the inaugural vintage of 2001, Braydun Hill have received overwhelming acclaim for the oustanding quality of Shiraz.

Carol and Tony Dunn established their McLaren Vale homestead to herds of angora goat in the 1990s. Conspicuous trophy victories and industry accolades however, proved unnegotiable at a time when the market for mohair and fine fleece was on the decline. Viticulture was the next port of call, rootstock was sourced from Don Oliver's property, a source of Shiraz for the mighty Penfolds Grange, several hectares were planted and the inaugural harvest arrived in 2001. An elegant fruit forward style to match melted cheese recipes or crumbed cotoletta of lamb.

Tony Dunn learned to make small batch wine from fruit picked off hedgerows on the English countryside. After converting his McLaren Vale grazing property to viticulture in the 1990s, Dunn called upon his bucolic experiences amongst the English country laneways, to craft vintages of superlative limited release Shiraz which have claimed conspicuous national and international wine show accolades. The pick of Braydun Hill crop is reserved for bottling behind the Premium Single Vineyard moniker, a generously proportioned wine of elegance, structure and striking poise.

No estate winery can make the case for synergy between grazing and viticulture as well as Braydun Hill, decorated with significant industry accolades for superlative Shiraz as well as the excellence of their angora wool. The vineyard itself is the quintessence of clean and green, pesticide free and a self sustaining biosphere. Everything is done on a small yield basis, vines are micro managed and the hand picked grapes are all sorted before inclusion. A seamless McLaren Vale Shiraz, treated to an extended term of oak, fashioned to a stately accord old and new world styling.

The Braydun Hill flagship, a single vineyard Shiraz of sound structure, controlled power and grace, which consistenty claims conspicuous national wine show awards, vintage after vintage. The auspicious southern ocean breezes and maritime climes stimulate the vines into yielding meagre harvests of intensely flavoured fruit. Defined by an exquisite balance between malleable tannins, elegant acidity and creamy nutmeg oak, Braydun Hill showcases the luscious, nutella berry characters of all good things McLaren Vale, small yield, boutique vineyard Shiraz at it's finest.