"Its too easy to use the term 'Reserve', but occasionally a blend or parcel within the portfolio of Shiraz wines I make demands special bottling. Increasingly, these parcels are coming from Eden Valley as I find more nice little parcels of very Old Vine Shiraz." Tim Smith, 2014.

This wine is from an area generally associated with sherry production, but in fact Cadiz has a long forgotten tradition of making red wines, with records dating back to the 14th century. Owned by the renowned Gonzalez Byass family, Finca Moncloa is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Tintilla de Rota and Petit Verdot aged for 12 months in French and American oak barrels. A cherry red wine with intense aromas of red and black fruits and a balanced palate with notes of fruit, spice and oak.

"Cassis-pine and perfumed violet surge out of the glass; lovely purity. Palate is bright and saline which drives the finish. Takes a bold approach, best with grilled meats." Decanter Magazine 89pts

James Halliday Top 100 96 Points A full-bodied shiraz that reflects cunning winemaking. Whole berry fermentation has put a rich gloss on the palate without overloading the tannin structure. The predominantly black berry fruit is shot through with licorice, spice and an airbrush of dark chocolate. JH, 96 Points, Nov 2020

Syrah is the predominant grape (73%) along with Grenache (11%), Cinsault (8%) Cabernet Sauvignon (7%) and Viognier (1%) - grapes that have been delicately picked to create this rich, full-bodied wine. The 2020 is a vintage which shows exceptional balance and texture with a youthful elegance.

Glaetzer Wallace takes on the traditional Barossa Valley blend of Shiraz and Grenache in a modern way. The Shiraz brings backbone, flesh and body to the wine with the Grenache adding a soft, vibrant juiciness. Wallace is an ancestral name of Colin's wife, Judith, whose family hail from the old market town of Cupar in Fife, Scotland. Judith's Celtic ancestry is reflected in the three elements of the Wallace symbol - the Celtic cross, thistle and the Celtic knot pattern.

Beautifully resolved and brilliant Faugeres in a handy lunch time 50cl format. A dreamy bin-end offer. Snap it up!

Vinsobres is the most northern appellation of the Southern Rhône. The Perrin family owns around 80 hectares here. The vineyards grow at altitudes of 200 – 450 metres, in terraces, with the Prealps on one side and Mont Ventoux on the other. The soils are stony and sandy marl on the slopes, and stony quaternary alluviums on the terraces. A very particular microclimate protects the village and the vines planted which are planted in amphitheatre formation. Summers are hot and dry, with the local Mistral and Pontias winds bringing cooler air at night. Dense purple colour. Richly aromatic: black fruits, stewed plums, even some prune. Complex floral aromas too. A little reduced and herbal - high Syrah content? Full bodied and spicy with a tight, savoury palate and a robust tannin structure. Some juicy red plum on the finish, and a little richness from oak. Long. The patient buyer will be rewarded in another 7-10 years.

Violets, dried herbs, pencil lead, plums, berries OTP smooth med tannins and acidity, black licorice stewed plums

Blackberry, liquorice, pepper, blueberry, leather and oak. very impressed by this wine, dark berries, full body and nice integrated oak.

This Syrah blend with soft black fruits and spice has been shaped by the sunbaked rocky soils of the unmistakable and very definate Faugeres terroir. A herbal, spicy bouquet is followed by youthful red cherries and supple mineral character derived from the schist rich soils. One of our greatest value wines.

100+ year old vines, multi-award winner, total bargain. Tom Cannavan "Rich with black fruit, mint... tannins ultra silky, acidity juicy... well balanced as some creamy older French oak fills out the finish... delicious example of the style."

One of our entry-point wines that offers exceptional value and quality. Light ruby with an inviting nose of raspberry and plum, the silky texture is really admirable. Easy to enjoy on its own but enough body to be versatile with all manner of dishes.

The combination of the Shiraz grape blended with the Cabernet Sauvignon varietal gives this wine blackcurrant and plum fruit flavours together with a tantalising hint of spice and soft yet integrated tannins.

A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre with a light touch of oak from ageing in older barriques. The Mourvedre is noticeable in the aroma of leather.Full mouth, velvety soft, aromatic purity of fruit, flowers and wood. Full bottle 1,166 g. Old vines, hand-picked. "Strikingly unusual nose – I can smell guava jam (something I haven’t smelt in 27 years) and tamarillo, rose hips and wood polish, and a tiny, intense floral note that makes me think of walking in the garden on a hot summer night. Wonderful freshness. It has the cool rustle of walking through russet leaves in autumn woodland. A touch of tamarind paste, white pepper, za’atar, baharat. I love the sense of metal sculpture I get in this wine – it’s not that I am literally tasting iron or rust or copper or pewter, but when I taste this wine, it’s like the wine version of a Rochelle Ford metal sculpture. It carries in its molecules the twist and sinews of the old vine trunks, the battering and weathering of nature and time, the glow of a thousand sunsets, edges and angles, sheen and rust, rain and dust". VGV (TC) jancisrobinson.com

Xavier Gerard is one of the most exciting young winemakers working in the Northern Rhône. He is a young grower who took over his family's small domaine in earnest in 2012 and in no time has turned out incredibly elegant and traditionally made Syrahs and Viogniers.

Very solid GSM from Torbreck! Intense plum, cherry and black earth with smoke and vegetal overtones. Great fruit intensity!

Superb Cornas from the brothers becoming known as masters of the region. The Durands' top cuvée, the 2017 Cornas Confidence comes from mature vines on the family's most granitic sites. Aged in 30% new oak, it combines notes of crushed stone, resiny herbs, almond paste, raspberries, blueberries and cassis into a harmonious whirl of intense flavor. Full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's also richly tannic, picking up hints of mocha on the lengthy finish.

Ben Glaetzer sources the fruit for this exceptional wine from the Ebenezer subdistrict of the Barossa. The vines are between 50 and 130 years old, and as a result play a significant role in hot dry years like this one. It’s intensely concentrated yet beautifully smooth and textural. The oak and fruit balance is spot on with the tannins sitting comfortably within. It’s a 100% new oak contribution of largely French, and the fruit has absorbed it perfectly. Bottled unfiltered.

At this price point Ben Glaetzer starts to get his mitts on some really mature vine fruit. This is 100% Barossa shiraz sourced from vines that are between 35 and 120 years old. It’s remarkable that such old vine fruit could be included in a wine at this price, but hey, who’s complaining. In this hot year those old vines kicked in and provided some excellent fruit that doesn’t have a hint of being cooked or out of whack in that important flavour sugar trade-off. It gets a reasonable amount of oak with about 40 % new and largely French for about 16 months. Loaded with that mix of black fruits and dark plum with a typical Barossa coffee grinds character. Generous grainy mouth feel with a sustained finish. Another cracking good wine at a mighty good price.

Lovely, broad, natural style, with such impressive range from bold bass notes of Barossa to citrus and tropical juiciness. Individual, impressive.

On the nose, notes of dark berries and plum supported by hints of licorice and a floral lift. Dark and brooding on the palate, with tightly wound layers of rich, black and blue fruits with hints of dark chocolate and spice, finishing long with savoury tannins

Low yielding, old vines are picked in small parcels and remain separate until final blending. Small batches of grapes are gently crushed and then transferred to five tonne headed down open fermenters. Foot treading is undertaken two thirds of the way through fermentation. The wine is then basket pressed and transferred to a mixture of new and used oak barriques to complete fermentation. The barrel ferments are on aged lees, there is no racking until final blending and no fining or filtration. Dead Arm is a vine disease caused by the fungus Eutypa Lata that randomly effects vineyards all over the world. One half, or an 'arm' of the vine slowly becomes reduced to dead wood. That side may be lifeless and brittle, but the grapes on the other side display amazing intensity.

Duncan Savage matriculated at Rondebosch Boys High School in 1995. In 2016. Savage Wines was set up in the heart of Cape Town in Salt River. Vineyards for his wines are leased and grapes sourced from around the Western Cape, maritime in nature where possible. Granitic soil is the focus. "In 2017 the Savage Proprietary Red became a pure 100% Syrah wine and from 2018, the fruit was exclusively sourced in Stellenbosch from vineyards grown on decomposed granite soils in the Polkadraai Hills from organically farmed grapes. Always released a year behind the rest of the Savage range, this 2019 is a dense, dark, potent red from a powerful, concentrated, minerally focused vintage. On the nose the aromatics are marked by intense notes of earthy red and black berry fruits, inky saline notes of black cherries, pink musk, savoury cured meat nuances, black olives and a sappy cedary wood spice complexity. With 70% of whole clusters used in the fermentation, the palate shows pronounced chalky mineral tannins but also vibrantly fresh crunchy acids from the granitic soils. Raspberries and blueberries surge to the fore on this dense, powerfully structured wine, gaining in richness and intensity as the wine slowly unfurls in the glass. Like some of the greatest expression of Syrah in Cote Rotie, this wine shows a focused prowess and concentration together with an opulent richness framed by an underlying stony minerality. A wine with undeniable focus and structure but also a surfeit of seductive charm. Drink from 2022 to 2035+". (Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Excellent producers Eric and Joel come from an old mixed farming family who went into making their own wine commercially in the late 1980s. They still grow apricots. The brothers have plenty of drive, and are making fruit-filled wines that can be enjoyed from an early stage.

Syrah Har’el is 100% Syrah, aged for 16 months in 30% new French oak. This is an intense and complex Har'el Syrah, elegant in the mid-palate, but tasty and fragrant with caressing texture. This is nicely balanced and rather sensual, sweet on the finish as well as aromatic at the start. Beautifully structured as well, it starts to sing after being aired out for a couple of hours.

Wine of the Year, London Wine Competition, 2020. 92+, Parker Points. 94, Sarah Ahmed, Decanter. Legend. Parker "...formidably dense and concentrated on the palate. Notes of charred wood join plums, raspberries and black olives in this full-bodied effort. With its current surly disposition, it appears to require decanting or several years' sleep in a cool cellar. Giving it air helped bring out purple raspberries and softened the considerable tannins, so I'm optimistic about its future evolution."

"This is the embodiment of elegance, sweeping you through its colour (bright, not dense), bouquet (raspberry, plum and wild blackberry) and palate (a bowl of sombre fruit) held in the arms of tannins with no chance of fading in the next 30 years." 97 Points. James Halliday. "There's a certain amount of hype surrounding the release of Henschke’s revered Hill of Grace. For collectors and wine aficionados, anyway. The fuss is merited. This is the 59th vintage (55th release) and buzzes with energy. The nose is fresh, fragrant, and beckons... "drink me". Make like Alice and oblige, tumbling through an Eden Valley Wonderland of plush dark fruit and playful red berries. Such elegance. It is a deep and meaningful in a glass." Katie Spain, The Advertiser, May 9th 2021 Comes in a presentation box.

A nice blend with good balance. Fruity but with plenty of wood and leather notes and the pepper and spice of the Shiraz shows through.

Shiraz is a variety chosen for its property of expressing a sense of place, and in this instance, vineyards surrounding Waterford in Stellenbosch. No new wood is used in the making of this wine, using 225L Old French oak barrels, 4th fill and older. Whole berry fermentation and soft extraction methods (pumpovers only) have brought out the purity in the wine. Concentrated red and dark fruit with warm earthy aromatics can be found in this Stellenbosch Shiraz, accompanied by plum fruit and leather spice undertones. The 2016 vintage produced a lovely soft and velvety textured Shiraz, with the slight addition of Mourvèdre (12%) to build in a little tension in the finish of the wine.

A benchmark of cool-climate Oz Syraz, grip, lift, cool green herb and a bitter chocolate edge. Sexy and exciting.

An aromatic bouquet of ripe fruits, cherries and blackcurrants, with notes of freshly ground coffee, dark chocolate, peppermint, liquorice and subtle pepper. Thick and smooth with good balanced fruit weight.

An aged parcel from Xavier's cellar. 2013 was a curious vintage. Grapes with little development mid-August, all saved by a fabulous Indian summer. Xavier's first solo vintage and a challenging one, but a very special one. There is no Viognier in 2013 and there are more stems than is normal. What Xavier produced may not be as lifted and elegant as mormal, but it is a fabuloulsly classic Northern Rhone Sytah that really is aging beautifully. Interesting now, but with at least 10 years. "85% destemmed and aged 24 months in 10% new barrels and demi-muid, it offers classic, northern-styled minerality, iron, spring flowers and darker styled fruits. Tight, focused and beautifully pure, with a classic feel in its tannin and acid structure, give this beauty another 2-3 years and enjoy bottles through 2025." Drink 2016-2025, 90-92/100 Jeb Dunnock from erobertparker.com #216, Dec 2014

Franck Faugiers 12 hectares of old vine Syrah are planted on the stony, red-clay and sandy soils of Les Châssis, one of the most prized plots of land in all of Crozes-Hermitage. He works his vines as naturally as possible, utilizing Biodynamic farming methods to ensure the health of his soil and plants. From these stony soils, Franck is able to craft expressive, juicy Syrah that drinks with fabulous freshness, complexity and fruit intensity.

Syrah (33% 1940, 1945, 33% 1997-1999, 33% 2005-2013) from 0.72 hectare on gore, decomposed red granite, N-E facing, late ripening slope on Coteau de Blanchard, rented vineyard (from the late Gérard Villano & family) taken over Jun 2012, 50-90% destemmed, 2-3 day cool maceration at 10-12°C, 2-3 week vinification, cap punchings, a little pumping over, aged 1-6 year 228-litre casks 12 months, unfined, unfiltered. There’s very elegant fruit as the palate opens, real good cut and notably aromatic precision. This has a pure quality, a rather sultry note in the fruit. It’s good now, but will keep doing well until 2027-28.

Jonathan Livingstone Learmonth "this is solid Value: has a shiny, bright dark red, jolie robe. The nose is sweet-noted, a good pile of cherries in the frame, with salt clarity, licorice, good life overall. This is direct, off we go: solo drinking right on the agenda here, thanks to a burst of live black fruits, some good, fresh lift. It is quite flashy, suited to a crowded bar and noise. The fruit is exuberant"

Outstanding. Bold, rich body, long legs, deep red colour. Nose of plum and raspberry with some black pepper. Black cherry with tobacco and cocoa powder aftertaste. Highly recommended. Kaesler owns just over 37 hectares of vineyards in the Barossa Valley, the majority of which is old vine material planted in 1893, 1899, 1930 and in the 1960’s. Vegan.

Deep purple, almost opaque in colour with an expressive nose of black fruits, pepper, cinnamon, spice and violets. A seductive palate of dark hedgerow fruits, very open and welcoming with an explosion of fruit and spice. Mineral undertones. Full bottle 1,389 g. Certified Ecocert organic. 64% Syrah, 29% Grenache, 7% Cinsault. "The 2019 reminds me much more of the 2017 than the 2018. This is full-throated cherry song, shining-glossy-gleaming with the pure joy of the fruit tumbling, laisser-aller, out the glass. Tannins that feel like the iridescence of pheasant feathers. Pomegranate soprano, sumac spice on the alto with a lick of milk chocolate, rose petals dipped in mica dust on the tenor and petrichor on the bass. A subtle, shimmering gradation of flavour and a finish that ripples out in ever-widening circles like a pebble thrown into a still lake". Tamlyn Currin on jancisrobinson.com 17.5/20 jancisrobinson.com

Guigal's 2018 Crozes Hermitage reveals another level of ripeness and plushness. It's full-bodied, maybe even a little jammy (not a problem at this youthful stage of its evolution), without being heavy or overdone.