Tim Burvill worked at Wynns and Penfolds, where he refined his style alongside some of the best winemakers in the country. Establishing his own label, he embarked upon a secret project to acquire parcels of wayward Barossa Shiraz. With a backbone of fruit grown to some of the oldest sites in Australia, much of Barossa Babe comes off vines up to 140 years of age. The intense power and complexity of the primary fruit flavours are complimented by sweet oak and gripping solid tannins, culminating in a wine of extraordinary complexity and length.

$3899each $467DOZEN EACH DOZEN Old vine Barossa Shiraz, the older the better. While Shiraz was the mainstay of the Australian wine industry for most of its first century, in the Barossa the variety has always held a special mystique. One of the only premium international viticulutural areas not ravaged by phylloxera in the 1800s, the Barossa remains as a living museum of the worlds oldest Shiraz vineyards. Tim Burvill has made the most of his years working with local growers, to isolate and to retain choice parcels of old vines Shiraz. Barossa Babe is treated to a warm vinification in small open top fermenters followed by up to two years maturation in a combination of new and prior use oak barriques.

Cherry black with vivid purple hue. Warming nose of brooding syrupy dark fruit, earth and leather, mocha and licorice. A big, rich, lush wine offering a degree of elegance, exquisite black berry fruits and subtle spiciness along a dreamy palate, through to a delightful finish of fine lingering tannins and warming touch of pepper.

RockBare was born out of a passion to make great wines out of the nation's most invaluable parcels of vine. The people of Rockbare work to a belief that wine should tell a story about the terroir whence it originates, that the vines deserve lots of love and care, that the winemaking process should be the subject of minimal handling to allow the vineyard to do what it does best. Perfumed of melty rich dark chocolate, the ripest blackberries and blue plum flavours will have you reaching for another glass before the first is even half gone, made for food, suitably attired alongside a smartly dressed lamb.

$2599each $311DOZEN EACH DOZEN

RockBare are raiders of precious but wayward vineyards, planted to outdated standards of viticulture, sadly unviable for large scale winemaking. These are however, precisely the nature of site that Rockbare retain. An assemblage of old and very old vines Shiraz, the ferments display exceptional properties as soon as they are crushed, exhibiting amazing tannin structure and remarkable eloquence. By any measure, a splendid McLaren Vale Shiraz, it is not often that parcels of such high quality are collated and vinified into such an opulent yet accessible wine.

$2299each $275DOZEN EACH DOZEN McLaren Vale is one of the world's premier regions for deeply flavoured, full bodied Shiraz, but the Australian wine industry has been going through a very rough period. Within McLaren Vale, this made some incredibly old and amazing Shiraz vineyards suddenly available, which were gleefully accepted into the RockBare fold. Parcels of old vine Shiraz, some of the oldest in Australia, up to 140 years of age, are inoculated and treated to a warm vinification in static fermenters on skins for up to a fortnight at 22C. The wines are gently pressed on skins with the aid of an airbag before sending to a selection of seasoned and new French and American oak barrels for completion of malolactic and eighteen months maturation.

Vivid purple, violet hue. An elegant, lifted nose of bramble and fleshy raspberry, hints of violet, cedar and cloves. Succulent mulberry and red currant fruit harmonise with velvety chocolate, mocha and sweet vanillin flavours, the oak only just manages to poke its head above the tidal wave of Shiraz flavours. Trademark RockBare liquorice tannins will continue to mellow and evolve.

Some of the gnarled and twisted old vines which yield the grapes for Rockbare date back to the first days of Barossa settlement in the 1840s, when pioneers replanted their precious cuttings from Europe. Grenache is hand harvested, hand sorted and vinified to dryness over the course of a fortnight, basket pressed into seasoned French oak barriques for malolactic on lees. Vibrant, punchy and driven by red berry notes, fashioned to display fresh lively fruit character, textural complexity and a savoury finish on a fine length of malleable walnut tannins.

$2699each $323DOZEN EACH DOZEN

$2699each $323DOZEN EACH DOZEN

An enduring cult wine, originally vintaged in the 1960s, still hand crafted in small batches, from priceless pressings of century old Mourvedre bush vines. Veritas was a quaint but salubrious wineworks at Tanunda along Langmeil Road, The Rolf Binder headquartes for a half century, Veritas sired many of the Barossa's most memorable vintages. A judicious inclusion of estate Shiraz to the ancient bush vine Mourvedre contributes essential peppery spice, the affable earthyness of Barossa melty chocolate, plush tannin ripeness and sweet fleshy plum.

$5399each $647DOZEN EACH DOZEN

A rare and exclusive regional flagship, by one of the most peer respected winemakers in all Barossa Valley. Hanisch is nothing short of spectacular, harvested off the same rows of superior vine each year, its precious ferment of ten or so barrels, yielding just 250 dozen bottles of vintage. The superlative site was acquired from Punch Hanisch and added to Veritas Vineyard in 1968. The parcel was planted to vines by Binder father and son in 1972. By the mid 1980s, it was recognized that a small block of several long rows made an incredible Shiraz wine.

$10699each $1283DOZEN EACH DOZEN

Deep cherry black in colour. Dulcetly fragrant, delicately perfumed, enchanting aromas of tradewind, textiles and old spice, meaty savouryness, the tang of dark cherries and ripeness of plum. Complex flavours unravel, a deeply layered, seductive, solidly structured, full bodied Shiraz, seamlessly framed by stealthy tannins and a cosset of suave new oak. A mouthcoating finish as Hanisch lingers on a length of concentration, opulence and finesse.

$5599each $671DOZEN EACH DOZEN

Rolf Binder's story begins in 1950 when his parents arrived from Austria and Hungary, part of the large influx of post war immigration. They worked the Victorian railways for three years and picked grapes in the Barossa, before acquiring an old winery on Langmeil Road in 1955. RHB is made in the way that Rolf's father enjoyed his wine, full bodied, opulent, the old world style of Aussie claret with solid tannins in support of powerful fruit. An extravagant two year term in French and American oak hogsheads, integrates RHB into a whole that's so much greater than the sum of parts.

$3599each $431DOZEN EACH DOZEN

A backbone of Christa Rolf and Heinrich vineyards Shiraz, assembled alongside five choice Barossa parcels, embellished by the inclusion of estate grown Mourvedre and Grenache. All batches are crushed as one, pumped over and traditionally worked throughout the course of open ferments, followed by a year in American and French oak hogsheads. Blood red, bramble berries and dark bitter chocolate, pepper and anise, seamless and sound, its generously proportioned palate, exquisitely balanced over a languid length of creamy, velvet tannins.

$2899each $347DOZEN EACH DOZEN

$2399each $287DOZEN EACH DOZEN

John Riddoch founded Coonawarra as an agricultural district in 1890. His daughter married neighbour Robert Rymill, they had a son who became a distinguished equestrian and lead the 1934-37 British Graham Land Expedition to the Antarctic. It was his son who founded the Rymill wineworks in 1974. Rymill make a powerful Coonawarra wine from harvests of Shiraz grown to distinguished old vines up to forty years of age, enhanced by an extended ageing in predominantly French oak, to achieve harmony, contribute volume and enhance depth.

$3099each $371DOZEN EACH DOZEN A distinctive, cool climate effort from Australia's most precious Terra rosa soils, Shiraz has long thrived in Coonawarra and comprises the oldest vines on the Rymill property. Following the crush, fruit is inoculated and vinified in twenty tonnes capacity rotary fermenters, which periodically mix the fruit and keep the skins moist, maintaining ferments between 20C and 25C. A select culture of natural yeast is employed, which retains attractive berry aromas while dominating any wild yeasts which might impart disagreeable flavours. The finished wine is matured up to two years in a selection of new and seasoned French and American oak barrels.

Dark cherry red with purple hues. Rich, intense nose with lashings of black fruit, dark chocolates and white pepper. Red fruit flavours of plum and strawberry come through on the lifted palate, balanced and smooth. Integrated oak with lovely savoury notes, sweet berry fruit, appealing cinnamon spice and dusty cocoa characters, lingering on a beautiful long lasting finish.