Financial powerhouses Robert Kirby and Louis Bialkower collaborate with winemaking superstars Larry McKenna and Tod Dexter, to work on a selection of Heathcote's most spectacular parcels of Shiraz. The Messrs Kirby and Bialkower are fascinated by fine wine, especially the soft and medium bodied styles of French. What distinguishes Heathcote Estate Shiraz stylistically, are the techniques of vinification borrowed from the old world methods of Burgundy, open top ferments, whole bunch inclusion and hand plunging.

A Shiraz of power and elegance, Heathcote Estate claimed a significant gold medal at the prestigious London International. Inspired by the amazing depth and character of Terra Rosa Shiraz, the Bialkower and Kirby families determined the most idyllic location to propogate vines for an ultra premium Shiraz to rival Australia's finest. The shared vision of excellence is reflected by a single minded focus towards quality across all parts of the process. A superlative effort by one of Australia's great winemaking collaborations, the Messrs Dexter and McKenna.

The ultimate excellence of wine is the only priority at Heathcote Estate and no expenses are spared, only the most outstanding quality fruit is ever considered. A sublime bottling of the swarthiest juices, pressed from the fermented musts of the most exquisite parcels Shiraz, grown to the most exceptional terroirs, a single, superior planting of vine along Drummonds Lane at Heathcote. A year's maturation in the pick of luxury French oak puncheons, achieves a alluringly perfumed wine of jet black fruit flavours over an elegant carriage of polished, rosewood tannins.

The artisanal approach employed by Heathcote Estate induced winemaking maestros Todd Dexter and Larry McKenna to join founders Robert and Mem Kirby. Together, they realize an uncompromising pursuit of assembling the finest growths of Australian wine. Block F is an exceptionally detailed, single site Shiraz, from an elite parcel of vine, planted to a north facing slope of ancient, green Cambrian shards along Drummonds Lane. Its tightly packed, gunflint and graphite rich, savoury tannins in support of a broad spectrum of vibrant fruit flavours.

What defines Heathcote Estate Shiraz stylistically, is the sterling excellence of fruit, as treated to the old world vinification techniques which emulate the great growths of Burgundy and the Medoc. The intensely concentrated grapes of Block C are all hand picked and gently destemmed into traditional open top fermenters, a measure of whole bunches added for tannin richness. Hand plunged and pressed into 500 litre French oak puncheons for completion of malolactic and a term of age, its opulent, expansive palate, brimming with black fruits, milled spice and ripe, fleshy plum.

From a legendery Yarra Valley vineyard at Hoddles Creek, planted to a sorely challenging 32 degrees slope, a full hundred metres drop from top to bottom. Bastard Hill is a single block of exceptional vines, yielding a vigorous grapefruit nectarine style of Chardonnay, treated to the richness of wild indigenous yeast oak barrel ferments. An opulent, lees textural, big butternut palate, redolent of orchard fruits, honeycomb and brioche, mouthfilling and complex, layered with character and soundly structured, the Chardonnay of choice to accompany truffled squab or glazed crackling pork.

The inaugural release of Hanging Rock Shiraz was vintage 1987 and what an event it was, immediately claiming gold and inspiring comparisons to Grange by the industry press. From from fruit grown to the estate Athols Paddock, a complex Heathcote style, more Syrah than Shiraz, boasting several trophies and over fifty gold to its distinguished history, big, powerful and rich, yet exhibiting an elegance and finesse that's rare in Australian wine. Have it today alongside braised hare with a tarragon red wine jus, venison or osso bucco.

An exceptional edition of Bendigo Shiraz, sealed under good old fashioned cork, crafted by a five Halliday star winery, from fruit picked off an elite parcel of vine, destined for a superior vintage of $25 Shiraz. We love this outstanding value and are seeing it fly off the shelves at our retail outlets, as true Shiraz enthusiasts come back for more and more. An astonishingly rare quality of Cleanskin that merits stocking up, it's guaranteed to please and arrives, delivered without any freight fee by the dozen to every destination in Australia.

Alberto Antonini and David Gleave make their living from Italian vino. Alberto is the winemaker and David is a UK agent importing some of Italy's top producers. When Mark Walpole showed Alberto Antonini the Greenstone site, Alberto wasted no time, immediately ringing David in London. A collaboration between Antonini and Morningtom maestro Sandro Mosele, Greenstone combines elegance with the depth and weight that characterises Heathcote Shiraz. A wine of impeccable balance, fine grained tannins and lifted, fruit filled acidity on the finish.

A voluminous and multi dimensional wine, decorated by a plummage of impressive accolades from prestigious competitions, including Australian Small Winemakers Show, Le Concours des Vins and Winestate of Year. The decadant fusion of effervescence and Shiraz, redolent with spiced plums and turkish delight perfumes, the palate is brimming with a generosity of flavour, bright berries and bramble fruits characters, an elegant and fulfilling wine that engages the senses while offering great richness and immeasurable length.

A decorous Shiraz wine in the robust, fully ripened, effusive plum and pepper style which can only be achieved from fruit grown to the higher, coolly ripened aspects of Valley King. The most intensely flavoured grapes are harvested off diligently husbanded vines, painstakingly pruned to limit yields and concentrate flavour. Treated to a traditional vinification, minimal handling and a spell of ageing in the highest quality French oak, The Stables fills the palate with dark plum fruit, well polished integrated oak, seasoned by complex high country spice.

The higher altitudes and slower ripening climes of King Valley are a blessing to wine growers. Some of the more fortuitous sites boast soils and aspects which are nothing short of idyllic, yielding harvests of vibrant Cabernet Sauvignon. Gracebrook's Terra rossa Stables Vineyard has been producing high quality, classic cool climate Cabernet wines since inaugural release. Fully fragrant with engaging bouquets and a mouth filling palate, the inaugural vintage burst out of the stable to claim gold medal at the hotly contested Cowra Wine Show.

The original block of Gracebrook Chardonnay was established in 1989, on a fertile river flat paddock that's sited very near the homestead. The first vintage of Chardonnay grapes were sold to Baileys of Glenrowan, subsequent vintages found their way into some of Victoria's most esteemed labels. In 1994 a small batch of estate made Chardonnay was entered in the King Valley Shed Wine Show where it won Best in Class. A superior effort in Chardonnay, from the salubrious cool ripening climes of Victoria's high country.

Victoria's King Valley makes the most of it's exquisite ripening conditions to develop fully the engaging characters which lie dormant within some of the more esoteric varietals. The Albarino grape has emerged from a blended hbrid to become quite popular as a pure varietal wine in Spain and Portugal from whence it hails. New world renditions of Albarino tend to be more fruit driven and complex than their Iberian siblings. Gracebrook is intriguingly fragrant, entirely suited to the enthusiast who is on the lookout for exciting new flavours in a white wine.

The noble varietal grape of Tuscany and essence of the rich Chianti blends, sassy Sangiovese requires special care in the making. Selection of soils and of clone, aspects and microclimate, all play a significant role in unlocking the inimitable mix of fruit characters within this evocative grape. Gracebrook is a product of passion and skill in the vinification. The aim is to preserve the innate qualities of chewy tannins and titillating spice, to retain the masculine nose and muscular palate in a fruit driven style that has made King Valley famous for wine.

Gracebrook understand the importance of matching the right terroir and microclime to each unique grape, maximizing potential of the finished wine. Fresh, aromatic Pinot Gris requires cool climates, a long growing season and low yields to keep it's acidity in check and to showcase the brightness of it's fruit, conditions that the King Valley offer aplenty and that Gracebrook Vineyard enjoy in particular. A juicy Pinot Grigio brimming with fine flavours, tantalizingly crisp and clean, judiciously fruit driven and of course, highly food friendly.

Richly proportioned with mouthfilling savouryness and tannins in full bloom, Beechworth makes mighty Shiraz. Golden Ball pick theirs in three stages, based on perfect timing of each parcel, day by day as the fruit achieves optimal ripeness. The wild vineyard yeasts of early morning harvest, secondary malolactic ferments and extended maturation in the finest Bordeaux coopered oak, complete a wine of extensive breadth, beguiling roundness and ingratiating complexity. A dark tempest of fruit around a core of taffeta coffee oak, tactile flint and brooding tannin briar.

The first parcels of Golden Ball were planted to two choice clones of Burgundian Chardonnay in 1996, husbanded from inception with a view to yielding measured harvests of the most outstanding fruit. Grapes are all hand picked and sorted for excellence, filled to an opulent proportion of new French coopered oak and treated to a wild vineyard yeasts ferment, full malolactic, lees stirring battonage and the luxury of seventeen months maturation. Grapefruits and durian, brûlée and flan, awesome weight of fruit and palate roundness, pursing apple tang and barrel ferment richness.

A half of Cabernet Sauvignon, the balance in Merlot with a judicious measure Malbec, all picked off the original block of Golden Ball vines, separately treated to wild indigenous yeast ferments for retention of varietal eloquence. Components are for rack and returned for malolactic, assembled and filled to an extravagantly high mix of new, Bordeaux coopered French oak for an extended term of eighteen months age. A deeply cryptic Cuvée, defined by savourynes and intensity of opaque fruit, its dark brooding layers unravel as the tannins soften and glow in the glass.

There's a curious clone of grape that's closely related to Traminer and which seems to appear without explanation in disparate vineyards around the world. Golden Ball introduces the suave Savignin in flamboyant French styling, barrel fermented in seasoned oak, treated to the opulence of six months lees stirring battonage and a judicious term of age. Its long textural palate of lemon curd creamyness, animated by the crunch of crisp mineral, pursing the cheeks with the juicyness of crabapple and citrus green, Savignin that resonates and sings.

There's a confident assuredness about Australian Shiraz but there's also the chiselled elegance of Yarra Valley Syrah, grown, harvested and crafted in the old world, Cotes du Rhone way. An assemblage of hand picked parcels from separate blocks throughout the Sexton and Tarraford vineyards. A combination of hand picked grapes and whole bunches, treated to cold soak and seeded for ferments, pressed at completion to dryness and gravity fed into a selection of French oak puncheons and barriques, assembled in January, racked and bottled without fining or filtration.

Great Merlot is made in the vineyard. At its best, it is like a fingerprint, inextricably linking the personality and mood of the land. Yarra Valley produces distinctive, elegant and complex Merlot wines. A single parcel of fruit, hand picked off Blocks 3 & 4 of Sexton Vineyard, are treated to an old world style of vinification, into a mostly Merlot wine, which can be topped up from year to year by portions of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon or Franc, to enhance the tannins and build enticing complexity.

Assembled from a tally of the most illustrious Yarra Valley sites, Sexton Vineyard, Tarraford and Gruyere Farm, Applejack and Wombat Creek. Gingerly hand picked for whole bunch pressing and wild yeast ferments in 500 litres French oak puncheons, achieving a fully animate Chardonnay style, redolent of citrus and melon, creamy yet crystalline, offering a palate and breadth of exceptional balance and poise. Giant Steps are meticulous in all things Chardonnay, retaining the vitality of fruit from within the vineyard and encouraging the eloquence of each site as it speaks from the glass.

From the highest plantings in all Yarra Valley, Wombat Creek was established in the 1990s, with a view to assembling choice blocks Chardonnay and Pinot Noir into a premier Victorian sparkler. The quality of fruit however, now merits bottling as a superior growth in the Burgundian style. A rich, gorgeously proportioned Chardonnay, fully fleshed and exquisitely balanced, opulent with the boldness of grapefruit and butternut, complexed by the oyster shell and flint characters of a magnificently loqacious terroir, made to match alongside a sizzling sauté of frogs leg, chanterelles and snail.

Established 1988 to a bounty of rich, grey loam clays at Tarrawarra, the eminent Tarraford site enjoys a fortuitously slower ripening season than its neighbouring climes. Planted to a diversity of aspect and clones, managed to a regimen of old world biodynamic farming practices, Tarraford delivers a magnificent harvest of Rhone styled Shiraz each year. Redolent with licorice, pepper and meats, pursing dark, cherry oak tannins and the astringency of wild bramble, its herb infused palate supported by characuterie notes, sasafras and game.

There's a confident assuredness about Yarra Valley Shiraz but there's also the chiselled elegance of Rhone Valley varieties, Carignan and Grenache, grown, harvested and crafted in the old world way. An assemblage of choice blocks from the Sexton and Tarraford vineyards. A combination of hand picked grapes and whole bunches, treated to cold soak in separate vats and seeded for ferments, pressed at completion to dryness and gravity fed into a selection of Flarge and small oak barrels for a year an a half, assembled in the spring, racked and bottled without fining or filtration.

Sexton Vineyard is wonderfully intricate, exuding notes of wild blackberry, dried mushroom, mulberry bush and braised plum, cinnamon stick and sour cherry. The coolest slopes of Sexton are planted to five Pinot Noir clones, managed according to biodynamic principles, providing several threads of expression to weave into the final wine. Sexton's fruit focus and fine tannins are enhanced by a judicious treatment of Burgundy styled oak.

The Giant Steps team pointedly sourced several conspicuous clones of Chardonnay from California, Burgundy and Champagne, to be established on the coolest, lowest slopes of the superlative Sexton property. Vine vigor and yields are naturally low, encouraging a low intervention approach to hand managed viticulture. The crisp, cool ripening conditions and flinty, almost mean soils of Yarra Valley's temperate slopes yield a vibrant style of Chardonnay in the nectarine, citrus, melon and white peach range of flavours.