Wine Buyers' Picks - McLaren Vale Edition

Small production. Single vineyard. Old vines on sandy Blewitt Springs soils. And a winemaking team who treats every parcel of fruit like it's the most important thing in the world. Because when you drink this wine - you really feel like it's just that; the only thing that matters in the world. Ray Jordan called it "distinctive and classy... excellent wine." James Halliday described it as "suave and sophisticated." Two of Australia's most respected voices arriving at exactly the same conclusion - this is something special. Blackberry, dark plum and cedar on the nose, with spice and a lifted floral complexity that draws you in immediately. The palate is rich and velvety, with dark chocolate, mocha and a refined tannin structure that carries the finish long and clean. Concentrated without being blocky. Elegant without being shy. Single vineyard McLaren Vale shiraz from one of the region's most dedicated small producers. Drinks beautifully now and has years of development ahead. This one's a real treat.

Drink : Now - 2032

This is one of the finest aged grenaches in the country right now. Full stop. Before grenache became the hottest thing in Australian wine, this winemaker was already doing it better than anyone. While the rest of the country was catching on, he was quietly perfecting it - and 95 points from Halliday is the proof that patience and conviction pay off. Single block. Bush vines planted in 1962. Perched 225 metres above sea level in Clarendon, one of the coolest and most elevated corners of McLaren Vale. This isn't warm-climate, fruit-forward grenache. This is something altogether more serious and more interesting. And the decade of careful maturing has this beauty absolutely singing. The nose is an absolute joy - cherry, blueberry and dried flower aromatics lifted by olive brine, fennel seed, white pepper and a flinty minerality that gives it a complexity and autumnal depth that makes it genuinely hard to stop sniffing. The palate is where it gets serious - ultrafine sandy tannins, plump fruit, earthy minerality and a savoury, meaty generosity that runs through every sip. Dried fig, star anise and Mediterranean herbs weave through a long, drying finish that just keeps revealing itself.

This is single-vineyard shiraz, (personally) barrel selected from the reserve range. Not to be confused with Geoff Merrill’s ‘Pimpala Road’ range, this Pimpala Vineyard shiraz is genuinely on a whole new level. Don't miss out on this, wonderful stuff. This has spent no less than 20 months in French and American oak barrels, plus over three years in the cellar to let all its powerful fruit and decadent oak flavour all meld together. It’s like liquid black chocolate cake, with the Vale’s dark chocolate and heady spice flavours oozing head-on into dark cherry, blackcurrant leaf and roasted coconut. We’re always happy to see Geoff’s wines in the warehouse, and even happier to see them in our glass.