Airline pilots make surprisingly good wine. Their appreciation of the sciences, a respect for the weather and a bird's eye view of the land, all invaluable to the winemaker's art. John Ellis would take every opportune weekend away from his regular New York Paris route, to pursue a passion for viticulture. He planted the first commercial Cabernet Merlot vines in the Hamptons and found time between trans atlantic flights to work vintages amongst the Grand Cru vineyards of La Bourgogne. Ellis ultimately made the great lifelong sea change in favour of our land downunder. He settled on a farmstead outside Leongatha, amongst the slow ripening pastures of Gippsland and established a vineyard called Bellvale. It is now a place of fully mature vines and old world.. Placing pinot amongst the pastures»

Kooyong Estate only make limited editions from tiny blocks of vine, a hectare or less, which yield deeply personal wines, highly eloquent of their terroir, aspect and clime. There are the pebbled ironstone soils of Farrago, which create an uncannily Burgundesque style of Chardonnay, redolent of grapefruits, mealy bran and wet flint. The precious half hectare at Faultline articulates the savouryness of seaweed and struck match. The sheltered lee of Haven Block encourages the grapes to bloom with chewy red jube characters. The windswept parcel at Meres infuses wonderfully perfumed rhubarb and ribena notes into a velvetine tannin structure. All are equally remarkable for their individuality, they speak of little places, husbanded to artisanal winemaking.. Venerable vintages from the most precious parcels»

The family Hentschke have been Barossa farming since 1842, they know from good soils and settle on nothing but the finest land. Keith Hentschke chose a special site along Greenock Creek, at the intersection of Gerald Roberts and Jenke Roads, near the ancient winegrowing hamlet of Seppeltsfield to plant vines in the early 1990s. They now yield vintages of the most amazing intensity, saturated with the essence of grand Barossa Shiraz, an international wine industry favourite and a sagacious selection this.. Savour a sip of seppeltsfield»

There are four tiny patches of vine at Scotchman's Hill, which have been mollycoddled by Robin Brockett, since the start of his tenure as chief winemaker in the 1980s. Excruciatingly limited after a strict pruning and rigorous sorting of fruit, they each yield a mere hundred cases of wine. Brockett has set aside the precious harvests of these superior blocks for his own label, a personal project to hand craft the finest of vintage, an exclusive range of the Bellarine's most elite single vineyard efforts. So besotted is Brockett by the spectacular quality of fruit from these four regal parcels, he has imported two 800 Litre Tuscan vinification Amphora from the Brunello commune of Montalcino. Whole bunches and wild ferments in the like of ancient clay urns, hand plunged in the old world way, appreciatively.. Brockett begets the best of bellarine»

Graeme Melton and a mate were travelling across South Australia in 1973, their EH Holden was in dire need of maintenance and Graeme took up casual work at a passing winery. The site supervisor was Peter Lehmann and young Graeme had his epiphany on the road to Barossa Valley. Lehmann suggested that Graeme change his name to Charlie and take the pilgrimmage to Vallee Rhone. Charlie became prepossessed with the culture of old vines Grenache, Shiraz and Mourverdre. He returned to the Barossa, at a time when old vineyard fruit was made into flagon Port and growers were destroying their historic sites in return for government grants. Charlie emabarked on a crusade to conserve and restore the ancient vines, establishing his cellars at Tanunda along Krondorf Road. He has since retained the most precious parcels, once.. Melton makes a mean mourvedre»

Kooyong Estate only make limited editions from tiny blocks of vine, a hectare or less, which yield deeply personal wines, highly eloquent of their terroir, aspect and clime. There are the pebbled ironstone soils of Farrago, which create an uncannily Burgundesque style of Chardonnay, redolent of grapefruits, mealy bran and wet flint. The precious half hectare at Faultline articulates the savouryness of seaweed and struck match. The sheltered lee of Haven Block encourages the grapes to bloom with chewy red jube characters. The windswept parcel at Meres infuses wonderfully perfumed rhubarb and ribena notes into a velvetine tannin structure. All are equally remarkable for their individuality, they speak of little places, husbanded to artisanal winemaking practices, the most wonderful expressions of Mornington... Venerable vintages from the most precious parcels»