Powerfully structured Shiraz wines share a long history with the parched and challenging, craggy aspects of Victoria's western districts. Viticulture was established at Avoca in 1846, Shiraz has been the varietal of choice ever since. Pyrenees Shiraz is a solid, big boned wine with swarthy tannins, bold fruit characters and enthusisatic complexity. The accomplished team at Blue Pyrenees have trained their vines to yield small bunches of Shiraz with exceptional flavour intensity, for a wine of disarming richness, astonishing balance and elegant, stately charm.

Blue Pyrenees is a moniker in reference to western Victoria's kinship to the dividing range of southern France. Established by the most enduring marques in luxury wine, built upon a quality of fruit that's evocative of the regal reds grown to the great vineyards in Medoc. Merlot is an essential inclusion to many of the world's prestigious growths, it requires a structure and depth of character which challenges the Blue Pyrenees team to achieve vintages which are redolent with perfumed cherry plum fruit, a velvetine palate and the most affable tannins.

Blue Pyrenees were established through a no expense spared approach, by two of the wine world's most revered, accomplished and resourced estates. A superior standard of viticulture and exacting vinification techniques were the priority, they remain at the very core of the Blue Pyrenees raison d'etre. An assemblage of exclusively estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, Malbec and Shiraz, artfully crafted into a seamless style of vigorously perfumed fruit, finely polished tannins and fragrant, flattering oak.

Blue Pyrenees was established as Chateau Remy in 1963 by Remy Martin of France and has since become well known for their Bordeaux styled Cabernet Sauvignon. The estate was developed under advisement of the great Colin Preece and Maurice O'Shea's Hunter Valley management team. Victoria's Pyrenees have since become renowned for statuesque Cabernet wines, displaying great complexity, superior concentration and definitive regionality. Very few viticultural precincts in Australia can lay claim to doing Cabernet so very well and so consistently.

Bleasdale have been working with Malbec for generations, refining the art of extracting optimal expression from the amiable, thin skinned grape, a key component to the estate's flagship Frank Potts red blend. Malbec is rarely seen as a pure varietal wine, but at Langhorne Creek it performs well enough to earn its stripes all on its own. Showing vibrant primary fruit flavours of plum, red berries and spice in its youth, it finishes soft and round on a length of velvety smooth tannins.

Powder monkeys were rookies during the great age of sail, their job in times of ship to ship combat was to fill the ancient open muzzle cannons with gun powder and shot. A perilous internship aboard the decks on a man of war, in reference to Frank Potts term of seamanship in the Royal Navy. Potts established vines along the banks of Bremer River in the 1850s, he named his first block Powder Monkey, it remains the source of Langhorne Creek's most eminent Shiraz, a stately wine of splendid concentration and remarkable seamlessness.

Mulberry Tree is the quintessential Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, named after an ancient mulberry tree growing right in the middle of an old vineyard, established in the 1920s. Fruit is treated to the traditional regimen of open vat and barrel ferments, followed by an old fashioned press into a selection of seasoned and new, French and American oak hogsheads for malolactic and a year's maturation. A deliciously dark berry wine, the palate is plump and fleshy, rich and round, redolent with hints of eucalypt and mint, its exceptional length is supported by chewy, toothsome tannins.

Bleasdale are Australia's second oldest family owned winery, established 1850 by English migrant Frank Potts. Potts built much of Adelaide's early colonial works before settling down to his homestead at Langhorne Creek. A prolific accumulator of trophys and gold medals, Bleasdale has claimed Best Australian Red Trophy at the prestigious London International Wine Challenge. An excruciatingly limited release Cabernet Sauvignon, assembled around a core of elite parcels picked off the Bleasdale estate Mullianna and Reed Patch Blocks.

Exclusively Langhorne Creek Shiraz and nothing but the finest of the pick. Bleasdale are one of the new world's great dynasties of wine, still in family hands after six generations of viticulture. Founder Frank Potts was a legendary figure who built much of the new colony's townworks. Fruit is destemmed into traditional open fermenters and pumped over several times daily, drained and pressed after a fortnight and racked to a selection of new and seasoned French and American oak hogsheads and puncheons for a year's maturation.

The first colonists to arrive in South Australia were brought to Kangaroo Island aboard HMS Buffalo in 1836. Sharing the journey was a veteran of the Royal Navy who had served aboard Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Victory. Frank Potts was an accomplished sailor and carpenter, he built many of the young colony's structures and trading vessels. The heritage listed wineworks at Bleasdale are only part of his legacy, six generations later, the Potts family call upon the original hand made basket press to process the fruit of vines established by Mr Potts in 1858.

Frank Potts established the Bleasdale vineyards in 1850, his eponymously labelled wine commemorates a legacy of innovation and resourcefulness. Frank Potts is a Bordeaux styled Cabernet which may contain varying portions of Malbec or Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc or Merlot depending on the performance of vintage. A litany of trophies and gold for the Bleasdale flagship, highly rated in many Jimmy Watson taste offs, Frank Potts has also claimed gold and trophy for best Australian red at the prestigious London International Wine Challenge.

A rigorous tasting selection of the best barrels Malbec from a superior Langhorne Creek site, only ever made to small batch techniques in the most exceptional vintage years. Fruit is destemmed and open fermented, pumped over four times daily and pressed into a selection of well seasoned French oak puncheons for malolactic and a year's maturation. The ultimate expression of Malbec from Bleasdale, rich and full bodied, intense violet, boysenberry and black olive characters throughout, powerful fruit flavour and firm grape tannin structure.

The traditional Australian claret style of Shiraz and Cabernet with a touch of Malbec. Bleasdale have been at it for generations, the masters at producing honest, reliable red wine. There's an urban myth among Bleasdale's community of local growers, that you have to have double letters in your name before you can be a winemaker at Langhorne Creek. Estate patriarch Lloyd Stanley Sticky Potts may have established the tradition. Potts was a motorcycling enthusiast all his life, the label depicts him practicing a broadside turn.

Bleasdale founder Frank Potts was one of the earliest and most industrious builders in the colony of South Australia, he constructed a robust and enduring system of locks and weirs in the 1850s, employed to this day for controlling the seasonal floods which breach the banks of Bremer River. The eponymously named Bremerview Shiraz is vinified from fruit grown to unique soils, a drier, full flavoured wine which shows the distinctive local characteristics of rich blackberry flavours, eucalypt aromaticness and earthy, warming tannins.

A stylish high country Shiraz, from fruit grown to the envigorating cool climes of Strathbogie Ranges. Plunkett Fowles retain many of Victoria's most splendid high altitude vineyards, the long cool ripening seasons yield harvests of the most intensely flavoured grapes with exciting milled spice characters and refined, velvet tannins. A choice component is treated to a term of age in a curious collection of large, highly precious 500 litre English oak casks which are over a hundred years of age.

Black Jack was a yankee sailor who jumped ship and joined the Castlemaine goldrush of the1850s. He remains a part of local follore. The McKenzie and Pollock families named their property after the adjacent road which commemorates the legend of Mr. Jack, planting vines on the site of an old apple orchard in the 1980s. Redolent of spice and savoury fruits, sweet and juicy on the palate, filled of plums and ripe dark berries over a backbone of fine, sweet and toasty American oak, opulent and lingering, the defining articulation of Bendigo Shiraz.

Major Thomas Mitchell surveyed the area around Bendigo in 1836, excited about his discovery of bountiful pastorals, initiating a migration of squatters and settlers into the august terroirs of Harcourt Valley. Renowned for its arcadian splendour and largess of orchard fruit, Harcourt is wine country, home to some of the most outstanding Victorian vineyards. Major's Line brings the fruit of Harcourt together with choice Blackjack parcels from Heathcote and Bendigo, plum, allspice and juicy black fruits over a trundle of succulent, toothy tannins.

Orchards flourish and thrive on the unfertile granites of Harcourt Valley. This is wine central for Bendigo's most superior and memorable vintages. The auspicious Blackjack vines are all hand pruned and hand picked, balmy indian summers, cool nights and clear days, permit the grapes to ripen slowly and fully, vintage typically occurs in late April to early May. A sensational and stylish accord of Merlot and Cabernet, somewhat more eloquent, a complex dry red of profound varietal definition and seamless fusion between fruit, tannins and oak.

One of Bendigo's salient marques, a wine of extraordinary personality, built around the prominent tannins of Cabernet Sauvignon, cushioned by the plummy softness from a smaller component of resplendent Merlot. The philosophy at Blackjack is to not interfere with the vinification, in a sense, to let the grapes and vintage do the talking. The overall character is determined by a unique combination of season and environment. A medium weighted, complex dry red with essential varietal definition and seamless fusion between fruit, tannins and oak.

Blackjack has claimed the eminent M.Chapoutier Trophy for Best Shiraz at the prestigious Le Concours des Vinson on no fewer than three occasions. Block 6 is a superior parcel of distinguished vines, renowned within the Bendigo district for producing a very high quality, intensely fruit driven Shiraz. Whilst directly adjacent to the original Blackjack plantings, Block 6 features a unique soil profile and a different clone. Block 6 always displays savoury Rhone structure and style, as opposed to the identifiably Aussie genre of Shiraz produced by Blackjack Vineyard.

There are few winemakers as predisposed as Ben Riggs, to appropriate the best parcels of McLaren Vale Shiraz, which are vinified alongside a component of superlative Langhorne Creek fruit, to achieve a juicy and textural, mouth filling wine. Riggs long and intimate association with McLaren Vale gives him a comprehensive knowledge of the most splendid sites and dedicated growers. A stylish construct of Shiraz with an alluring bouquet, layered complex palate and malleable tannins, Black Chook has gained fans across Australia and around the world.

The beauty of Black Chook Free Range GSV is just how the Viognier and Grenache can work so well together. Adelaide Hills is known the world over for the magnificence of it's Viognier. The unequivocally cool climate and grey to grey brown loamy sands of low to moderate fertility have also proven idyllic for Grenache. The winemaking team know McLaren Vale very well and retain access to the finest parcels of Shiraz, full flavoured and ripe with juicy acid and balanced tannins.

The pick of crop Adelaide Hills Shiraz, albeit in a very Cote du Rhone kind of way. Hand picked and gently destemmed into small open top vats, a fifth of the harvest remains as whole bunches, tipped over top of the ferments and treated to a minimalist, long, cool temperature vinification, minimal pump overs and gentle pigeage, followed by eighteen months in a mix of seasoned and new French oak barriques. Vivid purple, lifted aromatics, blackberry, violets and herb, juicy fruit weight, silky, slightly chalky tannins underpinning the bright acidity, Syrah of structure and superior length.

The dedicated team at Bird in Hand are driven by a determination to grow into one of the world's great wineries. Proprietor Andrew Nugent lives and works among the vines and the winery. He has assembled the best team, he's painstakingly selected the perfect terroir and is well on his way to realizing the ultimate dream. Bird in Hand is an extremely limited release which has claimed a breathtaking list of wine show accolades, including International Wine Challenge trophies for best Adelaide Hills red, best Australian red and best Australian Shiraz.

The great grape of Sicily, a big flavoursome style, characterised by its generosity and upfront bramble fruit richness. Nero d'Avola loves the sunshine, Bird In Hand have planted their stocks to the warmest slopes on Adelaide Hills. Treated to a week and a half of ferment on skins for optimal extractions, a proportion of the berries are left whole for complexity. Sixteen months in French oak has built a wine of intensity, seamlessness and palate weight, its spicy black olive savouryness, plummy flesh and lithe, sweet gummy tannins resolve on a lingering, peppery finish.

There's a single block of Montepulciano along Bird In Hand Road at Woodside in the northern Adelaide Hills, a warmer site with rocky, well drained soils, perfectly suited for Italians. The seaside influence of Gulf of St. Vincent, the cloud trapping rise of Mount Lofty Ranges and generous Australian sun, all conspire to form a unique diurnal temperature shift that wine grapes love. A completely hand made wine, crafted from fruit grown to the mineral rich soils above an historic, eponymously named gold mine.

Adelaide Hills make mighty Merlot, the cooler temperatures, elevated aspects and sheltered mesoclimes are Shangri La for the exceptional ripening and outstanding tannin development worthy of the finest Medoc. Hand picked throughout the fogswept hours of early morning, the worthiest hand picked bunches are treated to a week of ferment before a course of fourteen months in a selection of artisanaly coopered French oak barriques. Redolent of mulberries, plum and festive spice, its fine silky tannins in support of the graceful, elegant high altitude fruit.

A compilation of bespoke parcels Cabernet, hand chosen off a tally of superior, limited yield sites across the premier viticultural precincts of Adelaide Hills, Macclesfield, Birdwood and Kersbrook. Bunches are crushed into fermenters for a week on skins, followed by transfer to a luxuriously high proportion of new French oak barriques for eighteen months maturation before assemblage. Full bodied, fleshy, long silky tannins in support of the defined Cabernet muscularity, its cassis, cedar and black bramble opulence to match with entrecote, Jus and shallot.

Pyrette is sourced from an impeccably positioned and managed vineyard near Colbinabbin on the Mount Camel Range. This special and unique individual parcel of vines which provides fruit is planted to the highest block over deep red, rocky Cambrian soils on a cooler easterly facing slope. The picking date is carefully assessed to capture a singular vibrancy and freshness in the fruit while retaining the mouthfilling richness and palate length so distinctive of Heathcote Shiraz. Production is limited to a precious 350 or 450 dozen each vintage.

Vinified from choice Pinot Noir grown to the Original 1988 Vineyard alongside a component from Bindi's newer Block K. Barely 500 to 700 dozen are made each year, a deliciously perfumed, spicy, harmonious and textured forward drinking wine that's true to the style of the estate flagships without being overly complex or intense. Highly pleasurable upon release, a well balanced, firm and long wine offering delicious combinations of flavour, silky textures and fine structure.

Lawrence and Edna Schrapel toiled away in the vineyards along Bethany Road in Tanunda, establishing one of the great marques in Barossa foothills Shiraz. The work remains very hands on, the choicest parcels are set aside for a course of traditional open ferments, malolactic and pressing to a slection of exclusively new French oak barrels for a year's maturation. Its big, vibrant bouquet of fragrant wild berries, oake clove and spice, precede an opulent palate of blueberries, bramble and plum, supported fine grain tannins and juicy fruit acidity.

Every year, there was a single parcel which kept attracting the attention of Bethany winemakers. The fruit of a small property, less than five acres at the foothills of Barossa ranges, planted to vine sixty years of age, grown to classic Barossa red brown earths overlaying limestone. The small yields here deliver small berries with the most extraordinary flavour, whilst the breezes around the foothills ensure a gradual ripening of the finest tannins. Parcels that are worthy of inclusion are treated to a separate vinification and matured in the finest oak hogsheads.

Bethany's Reserves are wines of evolution rather than creation. GR has achieved the prestigious Trust Mark as one of the Barossa's most eminent Shiraz, but it's not every year that one is made. Parcels of the most exquisite grapes are picked from splendid sites and treated to an exacting vinification. With each vintage, harvests are assessed and a decision is made to determine if there is a parcel of GR quality. A formidable, full bodied classic with an enormous palate and undeniable ageing potential, only a few hundred cases are ever bottled.

From vines up to forty years of age grown to the Schrapel Vineyards, with the inclusion of parcels from neighbour's blocks in the Barossa foothills. The cornerstone wine of the Schrapel family reds, in a style which has made Barossa famous for Shiraz the world over. Parcels of perfectly ripened grapes are treated to traditional old world techniques which date back to early settlement, followed by extended maturation in fine oak. Decant for three hours then savour the spiced fruit aromas and plush plum palate alongside roast or steak.