Clonakilla are one of our nation's most eminent vineyard wineries, a tiny production operation, established by a CSIRO scientist at Murrumbateman, very near Canberra. It turned out to be a fortuitous planting, with a climate not dissimilar to Bordeaux and northern Rhone, the Clonakilla property now occupies a rank next to the mighty Grange on the prestigious Exceptional Langtons Classification, it yields vintages of Australia's most invaluable Shiraz. At $26.99, the estate's entry level belies its stature and excellence within the pantheon of great Australian wine, an essential experience this week for all enthusiasts, a canny choice for shrewd and judicious aspirants of elite new world Shiraz...
Here's what our most picky pundits prefer»
Somewhere near the Seaview end of McLaren Vale's Chapel Hill Road, a perfunctory passerine perched her pincers astride a pair of power poles and saw herself alit. Down she went amongst the dry grown branches of an old Grenache vineyard, setting the valuable veterans ablaze. The scorched site eventually came to the attention of a winemaking trio, the Messrs Leske, Tynan & Cooke, Masters of Wine and a venerable vintner, all driven by a consuming passion to make greater Grenache. Thistledown vintage very small amounts of the most extraordinary Grenache. Beautifully detailed and conspicuously elegant, their floral bouquets and graceful finish emulate the aromatic lift and peacock's tail of a prettily perfumed Pinot Noir. Magnificent to savour as a captivating aperitif, a bliss alongside..
Polly & the pyre to paradise»
Big, rich and dense with lovely fine grained tannins. Following decades of devoted viticulture, Plunkett Fowles have accumulated extensive local knowledge of soils and microclimes peculiar to the Strathbogie... More»
Lovely primary forest fruits and red currants with traces of spice and silky milk chocolate tannins at the finish. Planted in 1991 and added to the Penny's Hill estate vineyard group in 1993, Malpas Road is named after the... More»
Rich tropical fruit flavours of lychee and paw paw with hints of citrus and red apple create a fruit salad styled palate. Some of the Chenin Blanc vines at Voyager Estate date back to the property's first planting in 1978... More»
Vibrant with rich fruit flavours of citrus, fleshy stonefruits and tropical notes. Voyager are meticulous in everything they do, from varietal and clonal selection to vineyard management and the winemaking process... More»
A complex, aromatically opulent cornucopia of flavour, bushels of fruit and classic autolysis within a glorious effervescence of the finest bubble. A mostly Shiraz Cuvee sourced from six of the Melton's best dry grown, old vine blocks... More»
Established just eleven years after the founding of South Australia, the ancient vines in the Hundred Of Moorooroo were planted circa 1836 by the Jacob brothers, after accompanying Colonel William Light on the Seven Special Surveys expedition to populate Adelaide's north. Moorooroo endures as the nation's cardinal parcel of vine, the mother rootstock for many of the Barossa's most distinguished sites. For over a century, these sacred vines contributed fruit to the Orlando company, where they formed the backbone of countless spectacular historical vintages. Decimated by the government sponsored vine pull schemes of the 1980s, only four rows of these priceless vines were saved by master Ed Schild from complete annihilation. One of the smallest yielding blocks in the land, Moorooroo endures as one of the world's most illustrious..
The fruit of vines established 1836»
Just outside the Gippsland town of Leongatha, a few minutes down the road from the hallowed grounds at Bass Phillip estate, ten precious acres of exceptional terroir were planted in 1990, to artisanal clones of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. The propitious easterly aspects make the most of morning sun, an auspicious bequeath of fertile Ferrosols oblige the rootstock and infuse the fruit, while reducing the vigor and rationing the harvest. Lucinda Estate was never established as a producer of scale, its scant yields were always destined to be in pursuit of stunning Syrah and the perfect Pinot. Victoria's Gippsland is a place of paradise for vintages in the Burgundy style, a oenological wonderland of restrained releases from vivid little vineyards. Enthusiasts en route to a discovery of max value within an archive of limited editions,..
A glimpse of the gippsland grail»