The leading Australian brand since the renaissance of Australian wine in the early 1950s, Penfolds remains high in consumers’ estimation despite recent upheavals. Grange, Australia’s most consistently great wine over 5 decades, is the pinnacle of production. Like all established investment wines,…

This historic estate and trademark has been re-established with wines made under the former Rubicon Estate banner now being made under the Inglenook banner by Francis Ford Coppola. This began as a small operation when film director Coppola first became involved in winegrowing, but there is now a…

Steve Pannell’s background is as eclectic as his flagship range, which encompasses McLaren Vale stalwarts Grenache, Shiraz and Shiraz/Grenache but also an Adelaide Hills Nebbiolo. Pannell, a Western Australian, is the son of Dr Bill Pannell, founder of Margaret River’s MOSS WOOD and PICARDY WINES in…

This singular Coonawarra estate established by John Parker in 1985 produced some great wines during the 1990s, but only very recently added its own winemaking facility. The wines are made by Peter Lehmann . The focus of production is a single premium wine only made in top vintages – a Bordeaux-like…

Kay Brothers Amery Vineyard is a true Australian original. Founded by Herbert and Frederick Kay in the late 19th century the winery has assumed a legendary status on account of an adherence to tradition and wines of remarkable complexity, structure and impressive longevity. The winery has the feel…

In the mid-to-late 1980s many of these fabulous reds could be bought for a song but eventually the rest of the world got to taste them and this, added to the explosion in wine prices in the 90s, now usually means making do with something cheaper. Since 1979, Stephen Henschke has been fine-tuning…

Kilikanoon owns or controls over 500 ha of prime vineyards throughout South Australia but if you want to know what wines from the Clare can taste like try Kevin Mitchell’s now outstanding range. Although he lacked his own winemaking facility until 2004, the grapes had always come from 20 ha of…

Mitolo Wines was formed in 2000 after Frank Mitolo decided to expand on early efforts and commercialise his production. Through the winemaking services of Ben Glaetzer a (also a partner in the business) remarkably high standard has been achieved from the outset. Fermentation is completed in…

Grant Burge has an impressive resource of 200 ha from which to make top Barossa wines. Nearly all are now prefixed with a vineyard name and are made in the recently reacquired old Krondorf winery. Shiraz is naturally the strongest hand, starting with a sweet-fruited Miamba, progressing to a fuller,…

After 29 years at PENFOLDS, during which time he was Chief Wine Maker for 16 years, John Duval struck out on his own in 2003. Unsurprisingly for the man who made Grange for many years, old vine Barossa Valley Shiraz is at the heart of what he does. However, Duval is not seeking to recreate the…

The Buttery family have more than 130 ha of vines and have been grape growers since 1980 if only producing their own range of wines since 1998. A 10 ha wetlands project was also initiated in the same year. Since 2008, the entire estate has been farmed biodynamically by viticulturalist Melissa…

If you’ve drunk Astralis then either you or your friends are not short of money. Bratasiuk’s unfiltered and unfined, ripe, extracted reds, aged in French oak, are subjected to a long cuvaison and exhibit a depth and dimension that most Australian reds don’t even approach. Some early vintages had…

Shiraz is the thrust of this operation for wines made by Wayne Dutschke from vines belonging to his uncle, Ken Semmler. St Jakobi, with an almost coconutty American-oak influence (60%), displays a deep fruit succulence and plenty of extract. Although oaky it has depth and character and deserves to…

Colin Glaetzer and his son (and winemaking whizz) Ben (also see MITOLO) have really lifted the quality of their own wines in recent vintages. Grapes come from unirrigated vineyards in the Ebenezer district of the Barossa Valley. The top wines are now very good indeed, not the blockbusters of old but…

Jeffrey Grosset is an Australian superstar and deserves to be as well-known as the country’s many sporting greats (in some circles he is). Outstanding Riesling, Chardonnay and Gaia Bordeaux blend all show pristine fruit, wonderful symmetry and excellent concentration and have proven ageability.…

Stephen George is a winemaker of considerable talent, especially given the diverse range of wines he produces to a such high standard. To be equally at home producing fine sparkling wines as cool Adelaide Hills Riesling, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay or rich powerfuls reds from the Clare Valley, as he…

The winning combination of Doug Balnaves fruit and Peter Bissell’s winemaking has propelled this 52-ha estate near the southern end of Coonawarra into the top echelon of Coonawarra producers. The flagship is The Tally, a big, powerful, oaky Cabernet Sauvignon that needs at least 5–8 years’ ageing.…

From a large number of some of Clare’s best sites Peter and Mark Barry continue to build on what their father made famous over four decades, but whether the wines will now show more individuality or refinement remains to be seen. Reds are the mainstay: deep, impressively rich and concentrated if…