Ernest Allan Rivers was a highly gifted agriculturalist who possessed an uncanny understanding of the soil, seasons and harvest. The Gemtree viticutural team have assembled parcels of Shiraz from a number of elite blocks, picked to a schedule holistically determined by the vagaries of vintage for optimal flavour and tannin ripeness, naturally fermented on skins for a fortnight, pressed and drained into French oak barriques for aging on gross lees over the course of twenty months. Assembled to a style that's characterised by seamlessness, generosity and warmth.

Short Row is crafted from harvests of intensely flavoured Shiraz grapes, sourced off the best McLaren Vale blocks and from Fox Creek 's own short rows of vine, adjacent to the estate cellars. Short Row boasts an illustrious history of wine show triumphs ever since inaugural release. Endowed with rich and powerful aromas, an amazing palate of blackberry fruit, toast and sweet red berries, all wrapped in velvety soft tannins, culminating with a long and dry, flavoursome finish. The classic McLaren Vale style, it responds well to a course of decanting.

Excellent Langtons Classification. An eminent performer on the international wine show circuit, one of the nation's most celebrated Shiraz, the best of McLaren Vale. Fox Creek Reserve is assembled from a ruthless barrel cull of the best parcels to come out of each vintage. Offering great weight of fruit on the palate, an extraordinary range of flavours, the finish is long and legendary. Highly cellarable yet fully approachable when young, a Shiraz of great purity and unequivocally fine acidity, decanting and breathing are a must.

The Baron is back, gladly exchanging his bright red triplane for a bottle or two of good red wine. This suave Shiraz is crafted from some of the best Fox Creek estate grown fruit, much in the same way as the eponymous flying ace took out his pick of prey in the skies over France. A smooth, satisfying effort by one of Mclaren Vale's baronial winemaking estates, rich in character, distinctive in style and silky in texture, guaranteed to charm and to captivate. Introduce the Baron to barbequed scotch fillets or a potato crusted meatball pie.

Excellent Langtons Classification. The Hardys flagship, a compilation of the very best barrels of Tintara Shiraz, originally bottled as an annual birthday gift for founder Bill Hardy's grandmother. Eileen Hardy was awarded an O.B.E. for her outstanding contribution to the wine industry. She is fondly remembered as the matriarch of Australia's most prominent winemaking and yachting family. Eileen Hardy Shiraz represents the pinnacle of achievement, a feast of a red wine embracing the tradition of great Australian icon Shiraz, opulent, powerful and seductive.

The most highly coke addled marketing executive couldn't have come up with a brand like Dowie Doole, but fast forward and the label now enjoys a growing reputation for profound Shiraz wines in Australia and overseas. Small crops of extraordinary quality fruit are grown to some enduring Mclaren Vale vines, to be fermented and matured at the Boar's Rock wineworks.

Unmistakably McLaren Vale, a Shiraz of exceptional colour and profound structure, freshness and barrel ferment richness, intensity of flavour and beautifully bright currant acidity. Dowie Doole are viticulturalists with a deep love of the land, partisans of good fruit from healthy vines which are part of a balanced, bio diverse environment. Harvests of physiologically ripe grapes are essential, the luxury of extended maturation in a high proportion of new oak augments the fruit and beatifies the tannins.

De Bortoli has tapped into some of the McLaren Vale's best vineyards, accessing parcels of the most exquisite Shiraz. The lush maritime breezes off the Gulf St Vincent serve to refresh the vines as the grapes ripen in the idyllic Mediterranean climes. Here the Shiraz develops distinctive regional expressions, characterised by rich flavours and velvety tannins. A smooth and seamless palate of ripe dark cherry and bramble, preceded by aromas of lifted spice and toasty oak, to gladden the heart and accompany the finest faire.

The fun and engaging Stump Jump is the perfect everyday drink, as well as a good introduction to the d'Arenberg range. While all the winemaking at d'Arenberg is artisanal and traditional, Stump Jump can further be described as an assemblage of parcels sourced off some very old bush vines. Ideally fashioned to compliment a myriad of foods, the label characterizes the humour of d'Arenberg. Like an optometrist's eye chart, test your vision by holding the bottle at arm's length. Can you read the bottom line? If so, reward yourself with another glass!

Previously known as the Old Vines Shiraz, a portion of the fruit comes off vines purchased by Joseph Rowe Osborn almost a century ago. Joseph was one of the most successful racehorse owners in South Australia until 1912, when he sold his stable to buy the d'Arenberg property. Footbolt was one of Joseph's champion horses. A very approachable wine in its youth, the soft rich middle palate, terrific texture and long rolling finish, can last for decades, as a half century of exquisite vintages have shown. Always decant The Footbolt before service.

Joseph Rowe Osborn was born in 1852, he was a lay preacher, mining speculator, public servant, teetotaler and local politician. Osborn joined Thomas Hardy & Sons in 1881, eventually becoming a partner and director. He invested in a chestnut colt which won a fortune at the races and changed his life forever. Footbolt was the first wine in McLaren Vale to be labelled as Old Vine. When the moniker became common practice it was altered to commemorate the racehorse which played a pivotal role in the establishment of d'Arenberg.

Excellent Langtons Classification & Gold Medal 2008 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. Dead Arm is a vine disease caused by the fungus Eutypa Lata that randomly affects vineyards all over the world. Often vines affected are severely pruned or replanted. One half, or an arm of the vine slowly becomes reduced to dead wood. That side may be lifeless and brittle, but the grapes on the other side, while low yielding, display amazing intensity.

One of Australia's most celebrated reds, renowned globally as much for the struggle of the diseased vines to produce the vigorous berries, as for it's spellbinding palate, and peculiar name. An excellent vintage that ripened without interruptions.

The Dead Arm Shiraz is the very best Shiraz from one of the oldest producers, in arguably the best Shiraz producing region in the world. After time in bottle the d'Arenberg Dead Arm gains a biscuity, cinnamon, caramel and eucalyptus based bouquet on top of rich blackberry pie smells. The accent is on powerful full-bodied berry fruit flavour, with a little sweet English toffee- like oak evident on the juicy, rolling finish.

Outstanding Langtons Classification, one of Australia's most revered red wines, highly sought by enthusiasts around the globe. Named after a notorious vine blight which strikes fear into the heart of viticulturalists around the world, Darenberg's construct of Dead Arm Shiraz is an aberration of ancient, truncated, gap toothed vines which date back to 1912. A powerful red wine, vinified from the most intensely flavoured hand picked fruit, renowned by enthusiasts throughout the world, it remains one of Australia's most accessible, great icon wines.

Coriole release several different bottlings of Shiraz each year, Redstone takes its name from the prominently red coloured ironstones, common to the vineyards and buildings of McLaren Vale. Concentrated and highly aromatic, a savoury rather than sweet palate, the maturity of fruit character reflects the quality of older vineyards. Redstone is fashioned to the popular drink now McLaren Vale style, match to roast meats or a length of flame grilled, gourmandise snags.

Excellent Langtons Classification. Hugh Lloyd founded Coriole in 1967, his eponymously labelled flagship Shiraz is harvested off a single estate vineyard which yields tiny berries of the greatest intensity. Established 1919 by by the dauntless and seminal Geoffrey Kay, it is one of Australia's grand old vineyards, the wizzened old vines were originally planted in curiously winding arcs around the slopes and undulations of the property, presenting a spectacular panorama of a marvelous old vineyard.

Coriole is one of McLaren Vale's most eminent, artisanal estates. Consecutive vintages of Coriole Shiraz have claimed a remarkable back to back San Francisco Double Gold. Exclusively estate grown, the majority of vines are some forty years of age. Coriole know from Shiraz, having grown the varietal since 1919 and rating Langtons Classification for the estate flagship Lloyd Reserve. Coriole is sylistically strong, showing exceptional concentration of flavour, elegantly lined by gentle tannins and supported by judicious oak.

The stuff of legends, who is there in Australia who has never heard of Cockfighter's Ghost? Originally crafted from Shiraz grown to a small block of ancient Hunter Valley vines, the Cockfighter's range are still made at the historic Glen Elgin wineworks, established 1895. Harvests of the finest Shiraz grapes, exhibiting vibrant spiced plum flavours and lined by juicy tannins, grown to good vineyards in McLaren Vale, have been set aside for vinification into the deeply captivating Cockfighter's Ghost.

Chateau Reynella is the birthplace of McLaren Vale Shiraz, today it is headquarters of Australia's most eminent winemaker. The original site, established by John Reynell in 1838, was the first commercial vineyard in South Australia. It remains productive to this day, yielding fruit which is processed at the original wineworks. The most exceptional parcels available to the Hardy winemaking team, those which can best represent the Chateau Reynella style, are vinified and assembled into a rich bold Shiraz of profound intensity, exquisite balance and refined silky tannins.

Chapel Hill is built around an historic stone church, so it's entirely appropriate that the estate's flagship wine be named The Vicar. More wine Vicar? A McLaren Vale icon which has previously claimed the prestigious Australia Trophy and twice collected Silver at the London International. The Vicar embodies true excellence, is only released in the best years and has only ever attended seven times in the history of Chapel Hill. Some vintages can be a smart assemblage of noble varietals, others might be fashioned from outstanding parcels of Shiraz.

Originally a Christian Bible church and parish school, Chapel Hill is set within a historic nineteenth century stone church. Situated on a picturesque hill in the McLaren Vale's magestic hills, views from the cellar door are breathtaking. The emphasis has long been on environmentally sustainable viticulture and vintages of the finest quality. Chapel Hill's estate grown Shiraz is endowed with an intense, opulent mouth coating palate, exhibiting a unique combination of power, elegance and grace.

Parson's Nose is intended to offer some respite from the more serious and stern religious connotations that are at times associated with Chapel Hill. McLaren Vale is deservedly recognized as one of the worlds leading Shiraz appellations. This can be attributed to the vitality and generosity of the region and its wines. Stylistically the aim with Parson's Nose is to showcase primary McLaren Vale Shiraz character as supported by a velvety tannin structure. Oak plays a supporting role and is utilised delicately, providing complexity without overriding the expression of fruit.

The Harvey family established their first vineyard in 1897, it remains productive to this day and yields the most precious harvests of McLaren Vale fruit. Six generations later, the Harveys own and operate a total of six closely managed sites, scattered throughout the premier viticultural precincts, from Kangarilla Road to Willunga and Maslin Beach. Each site was selected over the years for its uniqueness, a confluence of soil and mesoclime to assemble complex yet seamless wines, endowed with the articulate charm and seductive appeal of McLaren Vale.

From fruit grown exclusively to the prestigious Blewitt Springs Vineyard, previously the source of Shiraz grapes for several icon wines. Located at an altitude of 300 feet, Blewitt Springs is a small site enjoying cooler climes and longer ripening period than the nearby mesoclimes of Willunga and McLaren Vale. These exceptional, low yielding vines at The Springs are eighty to a hundred twenty years of age and at best yield a precious two tonnes per acre. The unique terroir of the site translates into an elegant single vineyard Shiraz with a profound depth of flavour.

Native Goose is sourced from choice McLaren Vale and Willunga vines, between 45 and 120 years of age, planted to a mixture of rich clay soils and red/ brown loams. A portion is sourced from the estate property at Blewitt Springs, the same block used for the iconic Old Vine Reserve. Moderate rainfalls contribute to a harvest of small berries with a yield of about three tonne per acre. The combination of dry grown viticulture, fertile soils and warm weather concentrates the fruit and makes a deeply flavoured Shiraz wine.

Growing happily to deep sandy soils in the premiere precincts of McLaren Flat, the remarkable vines on Wade Block 2 were sourced as cuttings from a distinguished, old site very nearby and replanted to their own roots. The extraordinary quality of Shiraz from Wade Block 2 merits a single vineyard wine, distinctive, articulate and complex. Its gracefully perfumed nose, penetrating palate and showroom tannins, define Wade Block 2 as a profound and evocative expression of McLaren Vale, albeit, uncannily eloquent of the stately Brokenwood style.

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.

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.

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.

It was the superlative richness of McLaren Vale fruit that give sire to the uniquely Australian style of Sparkling Shiraz. Beresford set aside those parcels which show the greatest character and charm, for creation of a ripe, redolent effervescent style of Shiraz. Batches are slowly vinified at cooler temperatures and filled to a mix of seasoned French and American oak barrels for completion of ferments and eighteen months maturation. A velvety purple mousse invites the nose and palate into a cornucopia of ribald red fruit perfumes and succulent satsuma plum flavours.

The Shaws of McLaren Vale established five acres of vine in 1975, with a view to supplying fruit for some of Australia's best known brands. The operation grew until their substantial acquisition of vineyards, some of the oldest plantings in South Australia, attracted the attention of Maglieri maestro John Loxton. Parcels of intensely flavoured grapes, harvested off deep rooted old vines grown to the eminent estate Arthur's Block, are vinified into a powerful rendering of McLaren Vale Shiraz, replete with generous alcohol, ripe tannins and exquisite length.