Chardonnay flourishes in the Adelaide Hills where the fruit can realize it's full potential. Located in Balhannah, Lenswood, Forreston and the Piccadilly Valley, the hand tended Bridgewater Mill Vineyards are all over fifteen years old. The unique combination of a chilly climate, diverse soils and natural elevation, all play a major part in making Bridgewater Mill so special. Dominated by varietal fruit, complex and layered through careful vineyard selection and purposeful winemaking techniques, to best express a focused regional wine.

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.

A delicious accord of equal proportions Cabernet and Shiraz, highly evocative of the delectable French Cabernet d'Anjou styles to be found along the Vallee Loire. Bremerton enjoy a long established reputation for yielding the finest harvests of Langhorne Creek Cabernet and Shiraz. Their fruit has formed the backbone of Australia's finest vintages for decades, the pick of Bremerton's crop is now reserved for the estate's own label. Exquisitely balanced, Racy's handsome pink hue precedes a satiating Rosé in true, adults only styling.

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.

Established to an auspicious north westerly slope overlooking McLaren Vale, planted to a propitious patch of paringa loams, the felicitious vines at Braydun Hill are stimulated by a rare confluence of environmemtals and clime to yield meagre harvests of simply exceptional Shiraz. Livestock are an inseparable part of the ecosystem, sheep are moved into the vineyard after vintage, where they ruminate until budburst, providing the perfect feed for viticulture. Healthy vines and immaculate fruit, the Shiraz of choice to match wagyu beef and juicy pink lamb.

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.

At Braydun Hill, no effort is spared in the pursuit of perfection. Shiraz is the fruit of choice, selectively hand picked off sacred rootstock, which can trace a lineage to the most memorable vintages and superior marques in the land. Those parcels which can best exhibit the level of exuberance essential for a sparkling style, are crafted through true Methode traditionelle into a luxuriously effervescent wine, brimming with glorious mousse, opulent perfumes and multi dimensional palate, framed by an elegant veneer of oak and supported by, velvetine, liquorice tannins.

McWilliam's are one of the largest landholders in Coonawarra, with more than three hundred hectares of the choicest properties under vine, including the exhalted Laira Vineyard, established by Captain Stentiford in 1893 atop the Coonawarra's splendid Terra rossa heartland. Eric Brand, one of the earliest patrons of the Coonawarra, became the custodian of the vineyard more than half a century later. Expressing all the distinctive regional highlights of Coonawarra, Brand's Laira is a Merlot of exceptional quality, softness and approachability.

Laira Vineyard was established by Captain Stentiford in 1893 on a choice parcel of Coonawarra land, one of the salient Terra Rossa plantings. Eric Brand, first Patron of Coonawarra, became custodian of the vineyard more than half a century later. From a selection of the finest grapes, hand picked off the most precious blocks, Stentiford represents the jewel in the crown of Coonawarra Shiraz, a bottle aged wine of peerless quality, matured under the estate cellars until release.

Nestled amongst the undulating, mist shrouded slopes and higher, cool ripening aspects of Adelaide Hills, are choice microclimes for harvests of the most effulgent Sauvignon Blanc, brimming with crisp vegetable and juicy tropical characters. The award winning McWilliams team take great delight in the collation of the finest parcels, to be crafted into a redolent Sauvignon Blanc wine that drinks magnificently while young and fresh, ideally alongside goat cheese recipes or the freshest seafood.

From fruit grown to one of Coonawarra's most eninent small vineyards, the superior Brand's Laira Block 1, planted in 1971. The precious vines yield scant harvests of the most extraordinary quality grapes which translate into the most remarkable wine. McWilliams reserve the elite parcels from this treasured viticultural asset to construct a pure single vineyard wine, one of the nation's great editions of Cabernet Sauvignon.

McWilliams have long expressed an affinity for the unique red earth soils which consistently yield the big boned, statuesque style of Australian red wine. Plant a six inch nail, water it and in a year you will have a crowbar! said John James McWilliam when he surveyed the ferrous red soils of Hanwood in 1913. Today, McWilliams own and operate many of the most salubrious terra rosa sites in Coonawarra, retaining the pick of the crop, for a pure Cabernet wine from the prestigious Laira Vineyard.

A descendant of Coonawarra's oldest vines, Brand's Laira yields exceptional quality harvests of Cabernet Sauvignon which owe their provenence to historic plantings. The property played an important role in establishing Coonawarra's international reputation as Australia's most eminent red winegrowing region. Drawing fruit from superlative vineyards, including a single block which hosts the original 1893 vines, Brand's Laira is intensely varietal and displays the distinctive Cabernet Sauvignon style which has made Coonawarra famous.

McWilliam's acquired the eminent Laira property in the 1990s and are now one of the largest landholders in Coonawarra. The stately Laira Vineyard is widely regarded as one of Coonawarra's very finest plantings of Shiraz. The only locally grown grape variety until 1950, Shiraz has played an important role in establishing Coonawarra's international reputation as Australia's preeminent red winegrowing region. Laira offers the timeless and enduring style of Coonawarra Shiraz, a distinctly regional wine of great length and superb balance.

The distinguished Laira property was established by Captain Stentiford in 1893 on a premium parcel of choice Coonawarra Terra rossa soil. Pioneer and patron of the Coonawarra, Eric Brand became custodian of the vineyard more than half a century later. Today, Brand's Laira are widely regarded as some of the region's best plantings, producing wines of exceptional quality as evidenced by their consistent wine show success. The distinctive small berries of the vineyard lead to below average yields, translating into wines with intense flavours.

Captain Stentiford established his Shiraz vineyard in 1896, naming the property Laira after a merchant trader. Plantings of Cabernet came much later and have since been the source of memorable single vineyard wines. Laira's exceptional character shines when the grapes are fashioned into a pure Cabernet wine, encapsulating the combination of climate and soil, aspect and fruit, that stamps this historical vineyard with individuality. The flavours are distinctly Coonawarra, but the perfume and succulent fruit characters are conspicuously Brands Laira.

A perennial benchmark in Coonawarra Shiraz, by a couple who have been crafting conspicuous regional editions for over thirty years. Opulent with enticing aromas, heady flavours, stylish oak and fine tannins.

One of Coonawarra's most compelling cases for Shiraz, Bowen Estate's meritorious achievements really do begin in the vineyard. Coonwarra is one of the world's most articulate terroirs, Bowen make a point of preserving the native charm of their Shiraz throughout the course of vinification and ageing in a high proportion of quality new oak. The fruit of intensive viticultural management and judicious selection, it is ultimately the grapes themselves, hand picked and sorted off the vine, which dictate the splendour in this cardinal construct of Coonawarra Shiraz.

Distinguished Langtons Classification. Doug and Emma Bowen hold a very strong belief in the hand pruning of vines. Such old fashioned care improves evenness of budburst, bunch exposure and ripeness, for restricted yields of the most intensely flavoured Cabernet grapes. A holistic management of the soils is crucial, all plantings are closely husbanded and individually managed, local fauna is encouraged to be a part of the ecosystem. It is this painstaking nurture of the vine which translates into an enduring quality of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.

Excellent Langtons Classification. Exclusively estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon, one of Coonawarra's finest. The low yielding vineyard, planted to the magical Terra rossa soils, is dry grown and hand arch cane pruned, it traditionally yields limited crops of intensely flavoured fruit. Skilled use of traditional oaking techniques achieves a wine that's integrated and seamless, as delicate fine grain French oak supports the essential Coonawarra characters of violets and bramble berry, scorched earth and blueberry cassis perfumes.

A highly prolific wine industry trophy winner, including best single vineyard and best Shiraz at the hotly contested McLaren Vale Wine Show. A magnificent collation of old vines fruit from several pickings on the illustrious Rayner property, including a judicious measure of grapes as whole bunches, are treated to a wild indigenous yeast ferment and course of age in barrels of well seasoned French oak. A wonderfully perfumed wine defined by its suppleness and silkyness, there's more of Provence than Blewitt Springs, its endless finish resonating on a length of raspberry, apricots, cherries and spice.

Bondar make wine from a privileged ballot of elite little sites. It's a tiny portfolio with the effort on excellence. At the heart of all their splendour is an illustrious block of less than a hectare, fifty year old vines on a patch of salubrious sandy soils within the princely parcels of Rayner Vineyard. This is Grenache as it should be made, the seasoned old plantings are hand picked for an arcane, old world style of ferment, a measure of whole bunches and whole berries intact, meticulously timed for age and assemblage into an excruciatingly limited release wine.

Try and find a rendering of McLaren Vale GSM which includes a sultry soupçon of the X-rated Counoise and Carignan. It's that extra bit of passion for the racy red blends from Vallée Rhône which sets Bondar apart as a deeply transcendental journey into the sublime majesty of abstruse bucolic blends. It's all old vines fruit, picked row on row by hand, gently treated to a press, natural ferments and fill to seasoned French oak. There’s a life to the palate, a tension and nerve, which elevates the medley to a weightier mouthfeel and more intricate place.

Take a lesson from the well versed Rosé rectors on the Cotes du Rhône and you'll be adding a measure of the arcadian Cinsault grape into your Grenache ferments, conceiving an animate and engaging ochre pink wine. There's a real affinity between the balmy maritime climes of McLaren Vale and the swarthy, effusive varietals that hail from the French south. Portentous, pale and dry, it's a topical mix that's raising eyebrows amongst the cognoscenti around the Vale, best Rosé Trophy at the McLaren Vale Wine show, fewer than a couple hundred dozen are made.

There's a place in McLaren Vale's Seaview terraces, where Ben Lacey grafted Fiano on to a parcel of twenty five year old Chardonnay rootstock. A wonderful idea when you consider that the clonal cocktails are yielding a magnificently ripe early harvest of fruit which begets a sensationally complex wine. Whole bunch pressed into a choice of vinification on skins or good old fashioned, wild indigenous ferments in well seasoned oak. Batches remain on sedimentery gross lees until June, followed by assemblage into a precious, multi dimensional small batch wine of a mere 165 dozen bottles.

Bleasdale was established in 1850, classified by the National Trust and listed on the State National Heritage Registers. Fully conversant with the soils, the microclimates and the cycle of flooding which nourishes the unique terroir of the estate's vineyards, fifth generation winemaker Michael Potts cultivates the old Grenache and Verdelho vines destined for inclusion into the Wise Old Tawny. A smooth rich Port wine full of rancio and nutty flavours obtained through a slow maturation over many years under small oak casks. It's all about the history and moreish Tawny rancio richness.

What's any special occasion without Bleasdale? Effusive and generous, Bleasdale's effervescent red gives so much more. A richly flavoured sparkler, the poly vintage Bleasdale is assembled from barrels of maturing Shiraz across several years, topped up with liqueur de tirage and treated to a secondary ferment in own bottle. An evocative palate and nose, fruits steeped in liqueur, mint and ribena, supported by a length of luscious coconut/ carob oak and toothsome, cherry ripe tannins.

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.

Frank Potts planted Verdelho cuttings, sourced off the isle of Madeira, into the rich alluvial flood plains of Langhorne Creek during the 1860s. Today, Bleasdale's Verdelho is fast emerging as one of Langhorne Creek's most stylishly savoury and pleasant drink now whites. Some of the grapes are hand picked from vines over eighty yeas of age. An estery, lifted fruit style of Verdelho wine, unwooded and dry, crisp and refreshing with zippy acidity and ripe fruit salad flavours, seasoned by a touch of lithe perfumed grassyness.

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.