The Australian winemaking industry is grateful to Leontine O'Shea, instrumental in the establishment of Mount Pleasant wines, she sent her son Maurice to France for an education in viticulture right at the outbreak of World War I, gifting him his first Hunter Valley vineyard in 1921. Mount Pleasant are now custodians of some grand old sites, a canon of small, elite blocks of vine that yield a precious range of icon wines, which represent peerless value and readily disappear before release of the following vintage... The legacy of grand old hunter valley vineyards»

Hurtle Walker first picked grapes as a ten year old on the celebrious Magill property in 1900. Apprenticed to the legenderies Monsieur Duray and Leon Mazure, Walker was placed in charge of sparkling wine production for the historic Auldana Cellars at the ripe old age of 21. He saw service as a soldier in World War I and made great wine until 1975. Hurtle Walker's grandson continues the family tradition, partnering with Jimmy Watson winner David O'Leary to acquire the most auspicious Clare Valley vineyards and establish one of the nation's leading marques. Between the two, O'Leary and Waker have claimed every prestigious accolade in the land, a breathtaking.. The illustrious pair of valley clare»

Returned servicemen from the Great War could look forward to government grants of pastoral freehold. West Australia's Willyabrup Valley was such a place, just a short walk from the balmy beaches of Indian Ocean, it offered the veterans excellent potential for agriculture. The fertile lands of Sussex Vale were originally established to animal husbandry by the discharged troopers, generations of livestock enriched the soils and it was astutely sown to vines in 1973. Fortuitously placed at the very heart of the Australian west's most illustrious estates, it continued to occupy the thoughts of neighbouring Howard Park's chief winemaker, until he acquired the.. A better block on hay shed hill»

Originally formulated by John Charles Brown OBE in 1954 and crafted to this very day in the exact same manner, Brown Brothers flagship icon endures as one of the nation's most distinguished single vineyard wines. Mondeuse plantings were brought to Australia in the early 1900s by the legendary Francois de Castella of St Hubert fame, they have remained the most precious parcel of Brown Brothers heirloom vines since the 1920s. At Milawa, Mondeuse translates into an inky, deeply tannic wine, it forms synergies with the sweet fruit plumpness of Shiraz and statuesque elegance of Cabernet Sauvignon to coalesce into a rich, opulent style of eloquence and structure... The brown brothers most closely guarded secret»

Geoff Hardy's family have been making Australian wine since 1857. Geoff grew up amongst the most distinguished vineyards in our land and he knows from good red wine. He retains access to the finest fruit in McLaren Vale and is the man behind many of our nation's most memorable vintages. Undercover is a moniker that Geoff has assigned to a collation of exceptional parcels, albeit bottled behind an abstruse label to secrete the provenance of a spectacular Shiraz. Gold Medal Winner & Best Value at the hotly contested 2016 China Wine & Spirit Awards, the pick of crop this week, seriously.. Sound shiraz for the savvy & shrewd»

Somewhere near the Seaview end of McLaren Vale's Chapel Hill Road, a perfunctory passerine perched her pincers astride a pair of power poles and saw herself alit. Down she went amongst the dry grown branches of an old Grenache vineyard, setting the valuable veterans ablaze. The scorched site eventually came to the attention of a winemaking trio, the Messrs Leske, Tynan & Cooke, Masters of Wine and a venerable vintner, all driven by a consuming passion to make greater Grenache. Thistledown vintage very small amounts of the most extraordinary Grenache. Beautifully detailed and conspicuously elegant, their floral bouquets and graceful finish emulate the aromatic lift and peacock's tail of a prettily perfumed.. Polly & the pyre to paradise»

Long Standing Members of the elite Grange Growers Club, Kalleske's are one of Barossa's leading Shiraz growers, providing fruit from the most memorable vintages to Penfolds for decades. After five generations, Kalleske have begun to reserve the pick of crop for their own label, a highly limited luxury range destined for the most discerning connoisseurs and Shiraz enthusiasts in the know. Kalleske have collated parcels from distinguished vineyards in the ancient hamlets of Moppa and Greenock, Belvedere and Stonewell, Seppeltsfield, Koonunga and Ebenezer, superior old sites which have been husbanded by the same families for generations. Open top ferments, basket pressed and barrel aged, an unreal quality of.. Superior value in old village barossa shiraz»

Returning to his home along the Nagambie Lakes after the completion of service during World War II, Eric Purbrick discovered a cache of wine, hidden circa 1876 under the family estate cellars. Though pale in colour, it was sound and drinkable after seven decades. The promise of long lived red wine inspired Purbrick to establish new plantings at Chateau Tahbilk in 1949, today they are some of Victoria's oldest productive Cabernet Sauvignon vines. Having barely scraped through the ravages of phyloxera and a period of disrepute, the fortunes of Tahbilk were turned around by Purbrick who was the first to market Australian wine under its varietal name. Tahbilk proudly hosts the largest, single holding of Marsanne.. Phyloxera, ancient cellars & seriously old vines»