50% whole berries, 50% destemmed, wild yeast open-fermented, matured for 10 months in used French oak. Just another $30 McLaren Vale shiraz? Absolutely not. This is profoundly exciting, another masterpiece from Peter Fraser, Wine Companion Winemaker of the Year '16. It's not often I'm tempted to sneakily swallow half a mouthful of a wine, it's almost as if an unseen force refuses to let me actually drink a little. The wine is spicy, textured, with a rainbow of dark fruit flavours - bloody gorgeous.

Hand-picked, wild yeast open-fermented with 25% whole bunches, matured for 15 months in French oak (40% new). A distilled essence of shiraz from two blocks within a single estate vineyard. It's in no way overdone, but it does have some of the authoritarian stance of top flight cabernet. The black fruits speak in one voice of the ironstone soil in which the vines are planted. Great vintage, great wine.

Napa Valley: 2007 Retrospective - Napa's Turning-Point Vintage Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain sings of blueberry preserves, Black Forest cake and chocolate box with touches of bay leaves, iron ore, wood smoke and fragrant earth plus a hint of lavender. The full-bodied palate is beautifully structured with ripe, taut, grainy tannins and bags of freshness supporting the muscular fruit, finishing long and earthy.

A Spotlight on Santa Barbara The 2013 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills is a riper, richer expression than the 2012, displaying more honeysuckle, toasted spice, sautéed peach and baked apple aromatics. It offers a Meursault-like richness, toastiness, and length, but it will be interesting to see how it evolves. My money is on it evolving beautifully on its concentration, but it’s certainly a terrific drink today as well. It was easily my favorite in the lineup.

70yo vines, hand-picked, 100% destemmed, 50% crushed, fermented in two 675l ceramic eggs, remaining on skins post fermentation for 140 days, no oak maturation. Peter Fraser says he can't explain why eggs perform as they do, and (of course) nor can I. But I am sure you could not bypass oak in favour of stainless steel tanks. The eggs give the wine texture akin to tight-grain oak, and no reduced characters whatsoever.

Rich, savory and yet still beautifully floral, this is all that a Syrah can be. Dark and thick in the glass, it begins with aromas of stewed black plums, burned beef, tar and teriyaki, yet with the lift of violets. The palate shows similar cohesive qualities, from dark fruit to roasted game, and is leveled by dramatic black-pepper spice and a bright acidity.

Napa Valley: 2007 Retrospective - Napa's Turning-Point Vintage Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain opens with provocative dark chocolate and black cherries notes with underlying notions of tilled soil, plum preserves, spice cake, cracked pepper and yeast extract plus a waft of truffles. Big, concentrated, full-bodied and muscular in the mouth, the palate offers a very firm backbone and wonderful freshness supporting the generous fruit, finishing on a persistent mineral note.

Why Australian Wine is Some of the Most Exciting in the World The sum is greater than the parts here. Stunning interaction of the two grapes. The shiraz fills and lightens the cabernet just perfectly. Abundant red and dark berries, plums and chocolate. Super fine tannins, too. This is blended to perfection. A brilliant wine.

As always, it’s about choosing the best parcels of fruit and barrels for this high end wine. It’s seamless. The pristine fruit absorbing the oak, the filigreed tannins, the chalky acidity, everything doing its bit to create a complete picture. While incredibly fresh, its best days are ahead of it.

A shiraz that’s full-bodied and complex yet charming and swoon-worthy all at once. Excellent colour; the generosity of flavor comes through with red and black fruits, some licorice, cinnamon and a dusting of mocha. Freshness, bright acidity, length and beautiful, fine tannins seal the deal.

Wine of the Week The Hickinbotham wines being carefully crafted by Charlie Seppelt and American Chris Carpenter in McLaren Vale are hugely impressive. Across the board they are wines of class, style and substance. This quite splendid single-vineyard cabernet sauvignon is all about balance. It was hand-picked, whole berry sorted and open fermented, spending 18 days on skins. Basket-pressed and then matured in new and one-year-old French barriques, it is powerful but sleek. Think blackcurrant, herbal and leafy nuances, soft tannins and seductive length. A classsic "claret" style. One for the long haul but deliciously drinkable now.

Hand-picked, destemmed but whole berries, open-fermented on skins 18 days, basket-pressed, only free-run juice, new and 1yo Bordeaux barrels, aged 15 months. It’s tempting to pour a glass immediately and savour it, for everything from the fruit, cedary oak and tannins to its acidity are in total balance.

Light purple color. Wow, the aromas are fantastic: black cherries, currants, blackberries, loaded with fruit but elegant, too, and backed up with black pepper, bell pepper, iron, chewing tobacco, graphite and dark chocolate. So rich, structured well with serious tannic grip, but the wine maintains an effortless and velvety feel. Rich, plush, bold but not too dense, with roasted plums, currant paste, blackberries, the fruit is yummy but nuanced. Cocoa, graphite, loam, charcoal, grilled herbs and coffee, lots of complex elements here. Beautiful young but burying this wine for a decade and forgetting about it would be a solid move. This blend of 56% Cabernet and 44% Shiraz is sourced from the estate’s oldest vines, planted in 1971.

Napa Valley: 2007 Retrospective - Napa's Turning-Point Vintage Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Merlot, the 2007 Proprietary Red Wine still possesses a youthful deep garnet-purple color and gives up a truly gorgeous nose of crème de cassis, blackberry pie and blueberry compote with notions of Chinese five spice, licorice, mocha and dusty soil plus wafts of cardamom and smoked meats. Full-bodied, rich and totally seductive in mouth, it has a firm frame of super ripe, grainy tannins with oodles of freshness and epic persistence.

A Spotlight on Santa Barbara The 2013 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills is flat-out gorgeous, and certainly on par with the more expensive single vineyard releases from this estate. Terrific notes of black cherry, kirsch, leafy herbs, game, and spice all emerge from this gorgeously layered, rich, concentrated Pinot Noir that hits all the sweet spots. It’s a beautiful wine.

Why Australian Wine is Some of the Most Exciting in the World Aside from being released earlier, this sets itself apart from the High Sands Grenache with its shape, texture and freshness. Lighter and brighter red fruits in the raspberry and red-plum zone. There is an innate strength to the tannins here, as well as a very vibrant, deep core of fruit that really shines. Superb!

Yangarra Goes Even Higher: Four Outstanding Super Premium Releases From bush vines planted in 1946 and a yield of just 15hl/ha! Includes 50% whole bunches. Wild ferment and matured in old oak. Numbers: TA 7.4, pH 3.22. Bright and energetic molten raspberry fruit is the key point again here. Again, such lively wines – it just makes for an immediately drinkable style. Interestingly this is only medium weight, the extraction leaning towards freshness rather than grip, the tannins fine and elegant with minimal stem influence. Perfectly balanced, I can still taste the beautiful raspberry fruit here. A picture of the beauty of McLaren Vale Grenache. It’s just shaded by the intensity of the Shiraz, but yum. Best drinking: Now to 15 years. 18.6/20, 95/100. 14.5%. $140. Would I buy it? I’d marginally take the Shiraz, but again a worthy purchase.

Why Australian Wine is Some of the Most Exciting in the World Dark plums and some lighter redder fruits, as well as spicy, earthy and tarry elements. The palate has a seamless, deep-set and layered mouthfeel with a strong and fresh spine of dark plums.

Yangarra Goes Even Higher: Four Outstanding Super Premium Releases My favourite wine of the range and just a perfectly formed McLaren Vale Shiraz. From Block 15, this was handpicked, with 25% whole bunches and matured in 48% new oak, the finished wine then an individual barrel selection. Numbers: TA 6.3, pH 3.43. It’s such a bright and exuberant red, loaded with purple fruit in a lavish mode. Energetically fruity, but with this sense of savouriness too, the oak an afterthought, the tannins fine and perfectly balanced. It’s not a heavyweight, it’s not oaky, it’s just a really vital Shiraz. The sort of wine that you just drink and marvel at the balance at every sip. Best drinking: Now to twenty years. 18.7/20, 95/100. 14.5%, $105. Would I buy it? A lot of dollars but also a lot of wine. Worth the money.

Magical, deep crimson; as devotees of Chateau Rayas, and others from the Rhone Valley will attest, Grenache has many faces, the most admired in that part of France, it’s serious, long-lived, complex and structured single-varietal pose. But it’s usually in a blend, and in Australia usually with shiraz and Mourvedre, and this a compelling example of all the individual flavours of its components.

Napa Valley: 2007 Retrospective - Napa's Turning-Point Vintage Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain is intensely scented of tapenade, chargrill, Indian spices and mossy bark with a core of crème de cassis, preserved plums and blueberry compote plus a touch of crushed rocks. Rich, full-bodied and decadently fruited, with bags of earth, black berry preserves and smoky layers, the palate is framed by rugged, ripe, rounded tannins, and it finishes with fantastic freshness and energy.

Huon Hooke of therealreview.com describes ‘Deep red/purple colour. Rich, ripe sweet cherry aromas, foresty too, but superbly rich and ripe to sniff. A suggestion of whole-bunch, which adds to its interest level. Intense, deep, long palate: very good wine. A lovely array of perfumes and flavours.’ Medium-bodied & Fruity.

From a single block of bushvines planted in ’62, aged in seasoned barrels for 7 months. Heady aromas of raspberries, star anise and a dash of Mediterranean herbs. Lovely balance and a succulence on the medium-bodied palate, where ripe, sandy tannins kick in. Pitch-perfect now.

Such an elegant expression of Merlot. From vines planted in 1989 and 1976 sitting 220-245m above. The wine spent fifteen months in fine grain Bordeaux barrels, 25% which were new. Deft touches of fruit and oak swim in unison. Superfine through the mouth, whispers of clove and cigar box dance through effortlessly atop a pillow of dark plummy goodness. Soft and gorgeously long, a clever wine indeed. Will age for a decade+

It’s an impressive merlot from heady fragrance – a hint of cassis, florals, dried herbs and cedary oak – to its exceptionally silky, fuller-bodied palate. It builds flavour, the tannins sitting pretty and the finish as long as tomorrow. Makes you fall in love with merlot big time.