Zilzie are one of the few Mildura estates that can call on an agenda of excellent vineyards in the splendid red wine precincts of Wrattonbully. Zilzie know from good Merlot, having supplied and worked with many of the nation's most esteemed labels. Wrattonbully's long growing season and cool ripening conditions are best known for producing soft, rich and fruit driven Merlot wines. Zilzie have access to the best, the challenge is to craft a Merlot of such a quality and style while keeping it appealing and immediately approachable to modern palates.

From low yielding vines planted to the rich Terra rosa soils of Wrattonbully. Big on flavour and deep in colour with an intense aroma that displays classic spice and ripe berry notes supported by well integrated oak, Shiraz has long been a wine that Yellow Tail does best. Vintage 2003 claimed Australia's prestigious Stodart Trophy, 2005 picked up three significant trophies and six gold in competitions around the world, winner Best Red Wine Trophy at the Vienna International Wine Challenge.

The butterfly on the label represents Yalumba's appreciation for the natural lifecycles of flora and fauna. Yalumba's sustainable viticultural practices and wholistic vinification techniques leave nothing to chance when it comes to protecting the environment. Making really good Rosé requires a certain style and quality of fruit, Sangiovese is sourced from the superlative Yalumba property at Wrattonbully and two dedicated grower vineyards in Barossa Valley.

An exquisitely balanced, fruit driven Cabernet Sauvignon, demonstrably Wrattonbully in its excellence and affable nature, brimming with varietal black bramble fruit and supported by a flourish of fine tannins which are brought forward for early drinking. The label here depicts a scarecrow, Yalumba's guardians of choice, who keep a watchful eye over the ripening grapes and community of winged revellers during the down time of vintage festival.

One of Australia's great historical figures, Sir Douglas Mawson inspired the world with his courage and heroic feats. Yalumba is proud to have been a sponsor of Mawson's expeditions in the year 1911 to 1914. In honour of the estate's association with this eminent Australian hero, Yalumba releases Mawson as a Cabernet Sauvignon each year, a rich and complex wine displaying generous ripe berry flavours complemented by spicy French oak. Diligent vineyard management produces the quality of Cabernet fruit essential for the Mawson style.

Wrattonbully Vineyards is a noteworthy winemaking estate established by the Hill Smith family in 1994. Inspired by the torrid, savoury red wines of Spain, Wrattonbully makes an excellent introduction to Tempranillo. After several visits to Spain by Robert Hill Smith and Yalumba winemaker Louisa Rosa, it was decided to plant an imported clone D8V12 to the six and a half hectare Davis Block site in slightly cooler climes than it's Spanish origins. The result is a pure and articulate single vineyard wine that demands to be engaged and experienced.

Crayeres is a site of great peerage, adjacant to the highly distinguished Tapanappa Vineyard at Wrattonbully, uncannily akin geologically to the chalk escarpments which are the dominant terroir under the great slopes of Champagne. Parcels of hand picked Shiraz and a measure of contiguous Cabernet Franc, are filled to one tonnes Potter vessels for maceration and co vinification, a course of ten months in a luxuriously high proportion of new French oak, followed by eighteen months in well seasoned oak foudres. Blackberry and liquorice throughout, peppery and piquantly spiced, big boned Shiraz of immeasurable length.

There's more to the spectacular Terra rosa top soils of Crayeres Vineyard than meets the eye, the propitious limestone strata beneath are being researched by the University of Adelaide for a priceless legacy of ancient fossils. Bunches of Cabernet Franc are picked at optimal ripeness and treated to open top fermenters, hand plunged and pressed off after three weeks into a mix of new and seasoned French oak, for an extravagant twenty eight months of age. Defined by varietal black currants and licorice berry jube, soft velvety tannins in support of the fragrant violet bouquet.

Sauvignon Blanc in the way of the full bodied, ageworthy efforts from Bordeaux and Sancerre. Oak treatments and a judicious term of age build palate texture, while encouraging mouthfilling savouryness and sublime sauvage. Grapes are all hand picked and whole bunch pressed into four 600 litres, Rhône styled oak fermenting vats for ten days vinification and ten months on sediments, treated to the occasional lees stirring battonage before bottling in January. The big boned, well fleshed genre of Sauvignon Blanc which unlocks the fruity exterior and reveals the cornucopia of complexity within.

Clare Valley is renowned for its world class varietal wines, consistently yielding harvests of extraordinary quality. Taylors know that great vintages can only come from great vineyards, their dedication to the land over the course of several decades has established an endowment of the finest sites in Valley Clare. Suitably placed to collate the most splendid harvests of the torrid Tempranillo, the Taylor's team employ a combination of old and new world vinification techniques to achieve a savoury, cherry flavoured wine with silky textures and lingering, fruit filled finish.

Tapanappa acquired and renovated the precious Whalebone Vineyard at Wrattonbully in 2002. The thirty year old Shiraz and Cabernet vines have responded magnificently. The paradox is that despite being cooler than Coonawarra, the fruit ripens earlier and more completely. The still air, cool night and warm days particularly suit the rejuvenated vines. The quality of fruit is ideal for a masculine Medoc style, not surprising given the similarity of soil, geology and climate to that of St. Emilion in Bordeaux. By maestro Brian Croser, only a few hundred cases are made.

Stepping Stone is a reference to the gradual acquisition of land by the original settlers of the Limestone Coast as they discovered pockets suitable for farming. Similarly when making Stepping Stone, Stonehaven's winemaking team traverse from vineyard to vineyard, selecting fruit from parcels within the region which best express the varietal characteristics. Padthaway produces intensely aromatic and flavoursome Shiraz grapes that translate into a dark crimson wine with aromas of chocolate and cherry oak over which precede a soft and complex palate.

The Stepping Stone Padthaway Chardonnay shows distinct regional characters and represents fantastic value. The complex wines emerging from the Padthaway vineyards are acknowledged as some of Australia's finest. Positioned at the gateway to the Limestone Coast, the region is characterised by vast views of vines and majestic eucalypts. Deep straw with green hues, aromas of lemon, lime and tropical fruit precede a fresh and lively palate. A creamy, nutty finish makes this wine an ideal choice with pasta in cream sauces and chicken stuffed with camembert and prosciutto.

A compliation of the most outstanding parcels Wrattonbully Merlot, sourced off the best blocks established by the Smith and Hooper families, trained from the ground up to be exceptional sites, whence careful management yields a superior harvest of Merlot. The Smith & Hooper philosophy demands the terroir be allowed to speak for itself and it does. The auspicious climes provide ideal ripening conditions, while rich Terra rossa soils over limestone forces the vines to struggle for survival, ultimately producing a wine of intensity and finesse.

The term Terra rossa means red earth, a rich, free draining soil that is considered by many as the viticultural equivalent of discovering gold. Beneath the strata of red earth at Wrattonbully sits a layer of ancient limestone, a winegrower's dream as it allows free drainage of water, yet ensures vine roots stay close to the surface, putting natural stress on the vine and limiting its vigor and yield. An attractive wine upon release and destined to develop complexity, just perfect alongside crispy skinned pork belly. In sticky sauce of course.

Wrattonbully is blessed by some of the most desirable winegrowing terrains in Australia. Smith & Hooper are sourced entirely from two Wrattonbully estate vineyards, adjacent properties which have long been owned and operated by the Smith and Hooper families. These are premium red wines from exceptional sites where the philosophy is to let the terroir speak for itself, and it does. The elements of soil and climate are so exceptional, that they elevate the noble cepage of Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon into a profound wine of distinction and finesse.

Yalumba and Hill Smith have found a natural home for the torrid Tempranillo grape amongst their splendid vineyards at Wrattonbully. Tempranillo is highly influenced by viticultural factors such as climate, soil and clone, as well as ripeness at time of harvest and characteristic style of the winemaker. The iron rich soils of Wrattonbully encourage development of the distinctive Tempranillo varietal characters, raspberry, pomegranate and red currant. An exciting wine, bright in colour, rich in fruit flavour and gently oaked, lined by a contour of pliant, juicy tannins.

Strandlines are ancient dunes which mark the retreating oceanfront from what is now Naracoorte Range in Wrattonbully. This unique topography harbours the famed Terra Rossa topsoils over Gambier limestone. The significant value of these soils for viticulture lies in the near perfect drainage they provide, leading to small crops of wonderfully intense fruit. When vintage conditions are considered to be at their optimum, Pepper Tree assemble a wine from their finest barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz to be bottled into the flagship Strandlines.

Pepper Tree have strayed from their wineworks at Pokolbin to secure harvests of Terra Rossa Shiraz which are second to none. The team know from good fruit and have a good eye for terroir, their splendid vines planted to Wrattonbully's Gravels Block grow a superior quality of Shiraz, characterized by controlled power and stealthy tannins. Flavour maps which have been generated for the vineyard demonstrate considerable variance, assisting the team to isolate individual sections for the production of a wine exhibiting generosity and charm.

Wrattonbully makes Merlot of exceptional character and flavour, arguably the finest and most consistent annual yields in Australia. The wines are distinctive for their blueberry, plum and mint character, sound structure and velvet tannins. Pepper Tree's Merlot vines are fortuitously planted to heavier clay soils at the toe of the main Wrattonbully dune, as heavy clays have proved to be the best soils for Merlot in its traditional home of Bordeaux. A soft and rich, profoundly fruit driven Merlot wine with more power and weight of varietal flavour than most.

Pepper Tree are traditionally crafted from choice parcels of fruit which can best display heightened varietal character and a sense of place. Wrattonbully adjoins the famous Coonawarra and shares many of her sister's viticultural endowments. Fashioned to be a true expression of the terroir whence it originates, Pepper Tree is a generously flavoured Cabernet Sauvignon with all the warmth and charm that defines the natural endowments of Wrattonbully's rich Terra rossa soils.

The hallmark of this release is powerful fruit intensity, superb length and typical Grange complexity, showing integrated fruit and oak flavours which are very persistent, reflecting the exceptional quality of the 1988 vintage. An ideal growing season followed by a warm dry vintage, produced an elegant Grange. 94% Shiraz, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon from Kalimna and other vineyards in the Barossa, Padthaway and McLaren Vale. A classic Grange, from an outstanding vintage year, the 1988 will develop superbly until 2008 and beyond.

Though retired, Grange creator Max Schubert was proclaimed Man of the Year by UK Decanter Magazine in 1988. The hallmark of Grange 1988 is it's powerful fruit intensity, dominant length and profound complexity, persistent fruit and oak, reflecting the exceptional quality of the 1988 vintage.

Grange is both Penfolds and Australia's most famous wine and is officially listed as a heritage icon of South Australia. An exceptional vintage, 1998 remains a superbly balanced and sumptuous wine, with all the hallmarks of a great, long-living Grange.

Despite a difficult vintage, rigorous selection of intensely flavoured grapes from mature vines in some of the finest vineyards produced a wine that exceeded vintage expectations.

Grange boasts an unbroken line of vintages from the experimental 1951 and clearly demonstrates the synergy between Shiraz and the soils and climate of South Australia. Penfolds Grange displays fully-ripe, intensely-flavoured and textured Shiraz grapes in combination with new American oak. The result is a unique Australian style that is now recognised as the most consistent of the world's great wines. The Grange style is the original and most powerful expression of Penfolds' multi-vineyard, multi-district blending philosophy.

Sourced from Kalimna in the Barossa, McLaren Vale, the Magill Estate and Padthaway. An exceptional vintage in both quality and quantity.

The 1995 Grange is the 45th consecutive vintage of the wine that carries the flag for the Australian wine industry. Fruit from the Barossa and the McLaren Vale, the Magill Estate and Padthaway.

Exclusively Cabernet Sauvignon, the major part from McLaren Vale. Penfolds owe much of their enduring success to the preoccupations of Max Schubert in all things Cabernet. He drew inspiration from the great growths of Bordeaux, endeavouring long and hard on the development of superior vineyards to deliver a consistency of harvests from year to year. Nascent Cabernet vines sowed by Penfolds viticulturalists a half century ago are now yielding world class vintages, vinified and aged in a selection of seasoned and new American oaks for a year.

Bin 707 is the Cabernet Sauvignon equivalent to Grange, crafted from ripe intensely-flavoured fruit, fermented and matured in new American oak, and expressing the Penfolds policy of multi-vineyard, multi-region fruit sourcing. Branded by a Qantas marketer, Bin 707 was first vintaged in 1964. The fruit selected for Bin 707 is subject to stringent quality regimens, sometimes a vintage goes unreleased if Cabernet grapes of the required style and quality are unavailable. Big and long-lived, Bin 707 has a secure place among the ranks of Australia's great Cabernets.

The 1996 Bin 707 may well turn out to be one of the best of the last two decades - complex and firm with superb balance and character.

When Max Schubert returned from Bordeaux and began his quest to make a great Australian wine, his mind was on Cabernet Sauvignon. Schubert experimented with Cabernet as the possible contender for his Grange project. He recognised however, that the finest Australian Cabernet vineyards could not always deliver the consistency of quality he needed, nor could it supply the volume required for a commercially viable fine wine. ln the end, pragmatism won the day, and plans to craft a pure Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon were delayed until the inaugural 1964 vintage.

Exceptional Langtons Classification. Awe inspiring and long lived, another breathtaking chapter along a journey begun by Max Schubert's quest for the ultimate first growth in Australian wine. Bin 707 has established international renown as the new world's final word in Cabernet Sauvignon, it has endured for decades as an articulation of the vintage and of its provenance. A graceful yet statuesque construct, the essence of Cabernet Sauvignon, imposing in it's breadth and scope, it continues to unravel layers of complexity as it evolves for hours in the glass.

Exceptional Langtons Classification. Impactful and multi dimensional, Bin 707 first announced it's muscular structure in the inaugural vintage of Penfolds Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. Bin 707 is the Cabernet equivalent to Grange, a wine of ripe and intensely flavoured fruit, treated to new American oak, the achievement of many decades commitment. Named by a Qantas marketing guru, Bin 707 was first vintaged in 1964 but is never made if fruit of the requisite quality and style is unavailable. Bin 707 is Australia's finest construct of multi regional Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cabernet Sauvignon was at the heart of Penfolds patriarch Max Schubert's quest for the singular first growth grand Australian red, after his return from Bordeux. The original plan for Grange was that it should be an exclusively Cabernet wine, however Schubert found Australian Cabernet to be unreliable for the purposes of an elite flagship wine. Today, everything about Bin 707 is large scale, Penfolds seek physiologically ripe fruit with equally strong flavours derived from partial barrel fermentation and maturation under new American oak.

Originally received by a grateful follwing as a return to basics, the 2002 was considered to quite possibly be in the league of the great 1990 and 1996 releases. Unique for it's total exclusion of the usual backbone of Coonawarra Cabernet fruit.

Full bodied , long cellaring potential under Magnum, the 2001 offers intense styling and varietal definition. A wine of richness, power, harmony and concentration that holds a secure place among the ranks of Australia's finest Cabernets.

Medium to full red-purple; ripe blackberry/earthy varietal character on the bouquet, then a palate with great depth and power, supported by controlled, savoury tannins and lingering blackberry fruit. The oak handling throughout cannot be faulted.