It's no puzzling coincidence that the three noble grapes of Cotes du Rhône have endured as one of the wine world's most engaging, long lived accords. The plump, juicy sweetness of Grenache provides an amenable foil to the rustic tannins and pastoral earthiness of Mourvedre. Add a dash of peppery plum Shiraz and you have achieved a harmonious construct which drinks beautifully while fresh, beguiling and evocative after a term of bottle age.

From sacred blocks of old, to very old Blewitt Spring vines, mostly Grenache and Shiraz, with a judicious measure Mourverdre. The hand picked parcels are treated to a traditional course of pumpovers and whole bunches, vinified to dry, batches are pressed, rack and returned to a selection of French and American oak hogsheads for an extended eighteen months maturation. Structured, seamless and lingering, an amazingly well rounded palate of ingratiating alcohol warmth, the whole bunch Grenache contributes a sweetly pungent, spicey lift.

Dolcetto is a unique Italian grape which hails from the mountain sides of Piedmont. Grown to high country Victorian vineyards by the Brown Brothers, it's establishing a following beyond all expectations. Blended with Syrah and served slightly chilled, it makes a sensational, slightly spritzy aperitif and all occasion refresher. A versatile partner to a wide range of foods including paella or cajun fish, this lively wine offers a generous palate with ripe summer berry characters, a savvy touch of residual sweetness and delightful frizzante finish.

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.

From parcels of Garnacha Tintorera and Monastrell, harvested off vines planted to the lean, sandy soils of Almansa. It is here that the parched vines must forage for their nourishment, a struggle for survival which concentrates flavour in the grapes, producing intense fruit esters and achieving the most wonderful complexity. The remarkably generous wines of Almansa are renowned for their mouth coating textural richness and opaque fruit characters, introduce Atalaya to a meal of pork loin padella, succulent saffron chicken or prawn and pimientos paella.

Denominación de Origen Alamansa is at the east of the Iberian peninsula, between La Mancha highlands and the Mediterranean coast. It was bitterly fought over by the Christians and Moors but it is nowadays best known for good red wine. Grenacha is the grape of choice, often vinified alongside an inclusion of Monastrell, it produces a thick succulent wine renowned for its glass coating richness, evocative perfume and silken textures. Intenational industry doyen Robert Parker describes La Atalaya as an amazing value in unrestrained hedonism.

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.

An assemblage of parcels off a number of Bethany estate blocks, vinified alongside superior picks from Lyndoch and Vine Vale, all coalescing into the magical alchemy between Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre. Batches are separately whole berry fermented to a variety of skin contact schedules, tannin extractions and daily pumpovers. Ferments are rack and returned before pressing into fine oak barrels for a judicious term of maturation. Olives and bay leaf, red currants, pencil shave and sage, before a gentle, savoury flavoured palate, so eloquently varietal yet beguilingly seamless.

The enduring accord of Grenache Shiraz Mourverdre, showing sound structure, exceptional balance and exquisite depth, crafted by the most dedicated team of winemakers, Beresford are McLaren Vale, through and through. The consistency and enduring appeal of Bereford's award winning, hand crafted vintages is the culmination of an uncompromising dedication to the craft and attention to the smallest detail amongst the vines and in the winemaking.

Glenrowan Durif for those adherents who are in the know, is their any nobler style of Victorian? A slightly gentler construct than the more substantially built Rutherglen Durifs of tradition and lore, treated to an extended term of fifteen months in a selection of seasoned and new French oak barriques. An opaque maroon wine of comely violet floral perfumes, lavender and sweet spice, graphite and earth. The perfect balance between ribald richness and refined restraint, blueberries, blackberry and cinnamon spice, over a length of fine leathery tannins.

Raspberry, florals and plum over a succulent chamois of refined and elegant tannins, mostly Shiraz, a third of Grenache and a tenth of Mourvedre, treated separately to a mix of maturations in oak hogsheads and larger format French puncheons before assemblage. The Kalleske family have been growing and blending the holy trinity of Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre since early settlement, always a wine of freshness and seasoned savouryness, crafted from the pick of Barossa vineyards and fashioned for enjoyment alongside meaty grills, spiced game or juicy pink lamb.

Single site Syrah, picked off a small, single block of the sheltered Kahu Vineyard on the famous gravels of Martinborough Terrace. Fruit is treated to several days of cold soak and three weeks of wild, indigenous yeast ferments, gently hand plunged and filled to a mix of seasoned and new French oak barriques for completion of malolactic and eleven months age. Florals and fine tannins, an exotic mix of blueberry and Turkish delight, gingernut, pink peppercorn, cardamom and clove, densely packed and textural, youthful yet savoury, earthyness to balance the fruit, precision and poise.

A reference to the Argiano label, Non Confunditur was the motto of the Lovatelli Gaetani d'Aragona family. Fashioned from the conspicuous regional cepage of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, Non Confunditur is fashioned to be ripe and forward drinking, generously flavoured and smoothly integrated, an excellent introduction to the super Tuscan icons of Montalcino.

Aramis are endowed with over sixty acres of the most propitious vineyards in all McLaren Vale. There's a single elite block of old Shiraz, at the very top of the steeply planted property, invigorated by the balmy maritime breezes of Gulf St Vincent, it yields a spectacular harvest of fruit, defined by its fragrantly spiced cassis opulence, chamois, mocha tannins and textural mineral richness. The Heir is assembled from the best of the best barrels Aramis Shiraz, matured two years in a luxuriously high proportion of new French oak hogsheads, unfiltered and unfined.

In their pursuit of excellence, to grow the highest quality grapes and create the finest Sparkling Syrah, Aramis decided to ask the best winemaker to handle their fruit. McLaren Vale born and bred, he knows every acre of soil and every coastal breeze. Most importantly, he develops a kinship with each and every vine. Aramis won't say who this reputable man is, but his brilliance as a winemaker is evident from the moment a bottle of Aramis is opened. That was the arrangement made with the evasive artisan, to allow the Syrah to speak for itself.

Look past the rakishly pink colour, swoon through the alluring red berry perfumes and disengage yourself from the luscious mouthful of fruit, you'll find a top medal contender at international wine taste offs. Layers of complexity, bold flavours and a touch of pastoral grace will enthuse the nose and beguil the palate. A perfect drying finish lends Nine Vines to good food, a match with Al fresco or spicey grills, charcouterie and seafood. One of Australia's most critically acclaimed and highly cherished Rosé wines.