Bleasdale have been working with Malbec for generations, refining the art of extracting optimal expression from the amiable, thin skinned grape, a key component to the estate's flagship Frank Potts red blend. Malbec is rarely seen as a pure varietal wine, but at Langhorne Creek it performs well enough to earn its stripes all on its own. Showing vibrant primary fruit flavours of plum, red berries and spice in its youth, it finishes soft and round on a length of velvety smooth tannins.

$2099each $251DOZEN EACH DOZEN Malbec is a grape with a past, found in some of France's most stately Bordeaux Crus where it contributes lifted perfumes to the nose and softness to the palate. In Langhorne Creek it performs extremely well on its own as a pure varietal wine, Bleasdale have been bottling Malbec since 1961. Fruit is harvested and treated to a term of cold soak, a portion is included as uncrushed whole berries. Parcels are vinified in a collection of old two to twenty two tonnes fermenters over the course of a fortnight. Upon completion, components are racked into a mix of seasoned and new French oak hogsheads and puncheons for malolactic and a year's maturation.

Bright red colour. A lovely bouquet of dark fruits swathed in chocolate, roasted meats with mint, briar and violet, followed by a fine essence of lifted cassis and red berries. It leads to a medium bodied palate exhibiting pure varietal flavours, a quenching acidity, savouryness and light gamey, meat character. Velvety smooth tannins and a soft finish.

What's any special occasion without Bleasdale? Effusive and generous, Bleasdale's effervescent red gives so much more. A richly flavoured sparkler, the poly vintage Bleasdale is assembled from barrels of maturing Shiraz across several years, topped up with liqueur de tirage and treated to a secondary ferment in own bottle. An evocative palate and nose, fruits steeped in liqueur, mint and ribena, supported by a length of luscious coconut/ carob oak and toothsome, cherry ripe tannins.

$2599each $311DOZEN EACH DOZEN The historic Bleasdale cellars, constructed from eucalyptus beams and limestone blocks, house a massive red gum lever press, which fifth generation winemaker Michael Potts still uses once a year to make a very limited release wine. While the Bleasdale wineworks are steeped in tradition and local folklore, the estate has installed the latest technology, still maintaining the founding philosophy of producing honest, consistent and reliable wines. From time to time, the Bleasdale team draw on stocks of maturing wines with the requisite qualities to construct a luscious Sparkling Shiraz. The complete course of methode traditionelle is followed by a term of bottle age beneath the Bleasdale cellars.

Dark purple red, a persistent mousse. Complex cherry liqueur perfume, maraschino and chocolate torte, rancio, cocoa oak and pepper notes. Rich bramble berries on the highly textural palate, red fruits, cherries and vibrantly spiced plum, chocolatety oak and supple tannins lead to a long, memorable finish. A suoerb aperitif wine, easily matched with seasoned kebabs, duckling and pork or chocolate desserts.

$1599each $191DOZEN EACH DOZEN

Bleasdale was established in 1850, classified by the National Trust and listed on the State National Heritage Registers. Fully conversant with the soils, the microclimates and the cycle of flooding which nourishes the unique terroir of the estate's vineyards, fifth generation winemaker Michael Potts cultivates the old Grenache and Verdelho vines destined for inclusion into the Wise Old Tawny. A smooth rich Port wine full of rancio and nutty flavours obtained through a slow maturation over many years under small oak casks. It's all about the history and moreish Tawny rancio richness.

$2499each $299DOZEN EACH DOZEN Assembled from a reserve of barrel aged wines from various vintages, Wise Old Tawny is a mostly Grenache fortified wine with smaller components of Shiraz, Red Frontignac and Verdelho, in roughly equal measure. The historic cellars where the wine is aged were originally constructed with redgum members and limestone blocks. Today the cellar still houses a massive redgum lever press which fifth generation winemaker, Michael Potts uses to make his small batch wines. Though steeped in history, Bleasdale has installed the latest winemaking technology to retain the best qualities of matured reserve wines, whilst delivering to the connoisseur an authentic Fine Old Tawny of consistency and value. Alcohol 18.5%

Red nut brown colour. Appealing bouquets of plum and ginger, sticky figs and ripe date puddings, smokey peat and fine spirit. On the palate lie characters of treacle and walnut, marmalade, beef suet and orange rind, notes of unslated roast nuts and sweet black cherries, strawberry and hints of maple. The wine is deep and rich, the alcohol soothing and suitably attired, flavoursome and beautifully focused, the tannins whisper past with a sigh of relief at being unnoticed.

$3099each $371DOZEN EACH DOZEN

There's a place in McLaren Vale's Seaview terraces, where Ben Lacey grafted Fiano on to a parcel of twenty five year old Chardonnay rootstock. A wonderful idea when you consider that the clonal cocktails are yielding a magnificently ripe early harvest of fruit which begets a sensationally complex wine. Whole bunch pressed into a choice of vinification on skins or good old fashioned, wild indigenous ferments in well seasoned oak. Batches remain on sedimentery gross lees until June, followed by assemblage into a precious, multi dimensional small batch wine of a mere 165 dozen bottles.

$2699each $323DOZEN EACH DOZEN

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.

$2399each $287DOZEN EACH DOZEN

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.

$2699each $323DOZEN EACH DOZEN

$2999each $357DOZEN EACH DOZEN

Bondar make wine from a privileged ballot of elite little sites. It's a tiny portfolio with the effort on excellence. At the heart of all their splendour is an illustrious block of less than a hectare, fifty year old vines on a patch of salubrious sandy soils within the princely parcels of Rayner Vineyard. This is Grenache as it should be made, the seasoned old plantings are hand picked for an arcane, old world style of ferment, a measure of whole bunches and whole berries intact, meticulously timed for age and assemblage into an excruciatingly limited release wine.

$3899each $467DOZEN EACH DOZEN

$4499each $537DOZEN EACH DOZEN

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.

$3199each $383DOZEN EACH DOZEN