Moondah Brook Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

A collegiate cabernet if ever there was one. Esoteric fruit everywhere, blackcurrants and boysenberry, silken robes and illustrious tannins, refined, distinguished oak.

Fernando The First Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

An accent of green peppers, mint and blueberry on the receptive nose, before a highly congenial palate with a host of dark berry flavours, light chocolate oak and sleek tannins, all resolving on a finish of dusty herb, bramble and pine. The Cabernet of choice to serve alongside saddle of hare in a green peppercorn sauce without too much contemplation.

Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 2007 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Long on elegance, with intense pepper and spice flavours, underlying notes of mulberry and blueberry fruits and hints of chocolate. A brilliant combination of pristine, dark fruited and deeply spiced Shiraz with firm, fine grained tannins, hospitable and refined.

Chapel Hill Parsons Nose Shiraz 2009 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

A tantalizing display of dark plum and pepper, licorice and prune characters leave you sucking this wine in complete splendour. Refined vinous acids and gritty tannins keep things equitable as the generous palate alights on a trim and balanced finish.

Brands Laira Cabernet Merlot 2009 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Consistently over delivers. Offers plenty of ripe, fleshy red and black fruit characters over a carriage of firm but juicy tannins. It's all mince and cherry pie, plum and soy with hints of wafer and vanilla oak. The generous finish lingers on a note of black cherry and plum flavours.

Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz 2008 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Sweet and savoury puddings, blueberry, spice and liquorice for complexity. A rich, ripe and generous wine with voluptuously full flavoured fruit, fine textures and chewy red berries on the finish. Balanced, integrated, persistent.

Wirra Wirra Angelus Cabernet 2007 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Exhibit A in the case for Wirra Wirra, a vigorous cabernet sauvignon with velvet textures and congenial tannins, profuse with red and black fruits, a halo of polished, judicious oak and generously lingering finish. A wine of exceptional balance and exemplary regional/ varietal definition.

Wolf Blass Red Label Cabernet Merlot 2009 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

A mouthful of bramble and briar, supported by graceful, fine grained, nutella tannins, Red Label carries ample fruit and a rich mouthfeel that develops into a long elegant finish.

Capel Vale Margaret River Cabernet 2008 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Cassis, blackberry and tar on the nose and palate. A sweetly scented, glorious expression of Margaret River Cabernet, defined, chiselled and assertive.

Knappstein Cabernet Merlot 2008 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

A gorgeous red wine with luscious mulberry/ loganberry highlights and light, toasty oak over perfectly poised, gummy tannins. A completely engrossing drink just on its own.

Leconfield Coonawarra Cabernet 2007 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Leconfield have always made the grade from day one. Masters at cabernet sauvignon and beacons of the Coonawarra. This charmer serves to spellbind and to ingratiate, from first sight it grabs the attention with it's vibrant colour, irradiating cassis and nutmeg scents, followed by firm, elegant blackberry flavours. Long, limpid and very together, it's finely grained oaks delivering depth and elegance.

Tassell Park Cabernet Merlot 2008 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Mulberries, currant and regional leaf over a sufficiently drying palate of brittle tannins, gorgeous french vanilla oak and dusty, old world, bouquet-garni finish.

Annies Lane Coppertrail Cabernet 2004 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

An initially brooding wine that swells in the glass to permeate the air with a syrup of reduced berries, cherry and charcoal, menthol, mahogany and cassis.

Jim Barry Clare Red Shiraz Cabernet 2006 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Complexity and integration, pepper and plum characters over softly integrated oak and supportive tannins before a splendid finish.

Bress Heathcote Gold Label Shiraz 2008 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Blackcurrants and black berries, cedar/ spice cupboard and ground pepper. The tang of morello, a substantial, ferric Shiraz wine robed in a light veneer of charred vanillan, smartly dressed French oak, coddled by supportive stalky/ cherry tannins.

Paul Osicka Shiraz 2008 / ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Heathcote 101 starts with Paul Osicka, just give this wine time to breathe as the layers of fruit unfold. A solid Shiraz with brittle tannins and excellent leaf aromatics, plum and strawberry reductions make this so worthy of its place in the pantheon of Heathcote's most praiseworthy efforts.