This Merlot is crafted in a big, broad-shouldered style, with intense dark fruit, cherry, plum, herb, vanilla, chocolate and spicy oak. An impressive wine that will be equally at home at a casual barbecue with ribs, sausages or burgers or a formal roast beef dinner.

Christmas Gift Guide 2022
All that glitters may not be gold, but that doesn’t mean we don’t still want it on our Santa list. Here are top luxury Christmas ideas for you and yours…
Château Lassègue Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2015
For the main event, you’ll want a consummate all-rounder: a wine with enough structure and richness to match the smorgasbord of flavours on your Christmas dinner table without being so full bodied it takes over.
Welcome to Château Lassègue – an expressive Saint-Emilion Grand Cru that seems custom made for the festive period. You’ll find opulent layers of spiced black fruit preserves and chocolate-box bites. There’s plenty of plush tannins, but they’re balanced with fragrant acidity. It’s everything a claret should be.
Such quality is hardly a surprise as it’s made by celebrated Bordeaux blend master Pierre Seillan – who’s been at the top of his game for five decades.

The perfect introductory to Monterey pinot, the Caramel road label comes mainly from the Panorama Vineyard. Look for a round, silky texture full of red fruit, black cherry, and cola dusted in baking spices. Fruity, charming, and easy to sip, it will be a hit with consumers looking for lighter, juicy, soft red wine. It is certified sustainable and ready to drink.

Winemaker Chris Carpenter turns out one hit after the other for this property, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Not many winemakers can produce a cabernet franc that can stand on its own without massive assistance from other grape varieties. But from the grape grown in mountain vineyards, he gets concentration, complexity and depth. Violet and dried herbal aromas give way to blackberry and black cherry flavors with a touch of kirsch.

The 2020 Yarra Valley chardonnay, a blend of grapes from three of Giant Steps’ single vineyards, is a vibrant wine with persistent lime, green apple and pear flavours, with a touch of vanilla. A very fresh style.

21 Bottles Of Wine We're Buying To Survive This Holiday Season
This bottle has flavors of lemon meringue, wild strawberries, fresh ginger on the palate and a vibrant lingering finish that will be sure to whet appetites.

Luxurious aromas of red cherry sorbet, strawberry, light tar, dark mint and a slightly dank herb are cut by smashed stone on the incredibly complex nose of this bottling, arguably this brand’s best of this vintage. A bright, tonguetingling, long-lingering acidity sails through forest floor and tarragon flavors that give complexity to that core of ripe red cherry on the palate.

Lovely aromas of strawberry compote, soft mint and an array of baking spices lure the nose into this bottling. The polished red fruit flavors of the palate range from cherry compote to strawberry sorbet to darker hints of berry. But it’s that zippy, fresh acidity and tense tannic energy that push this into vibrantly delicious levels.

A glossy, vanilla-and-spiced oak sentinel stands guard over this Cab-Shiraz blend from a top McLaren Vale vineyard. It’s not wholly intrusive, but it makes itself known, as do the characteristics of supple dark berry fruit and chocolate with undertones of mint and spice. The palate is equally rich and broad shouldered, with plump, concentrated fruit and spicy, powerful but well-placed tannins. An infant now, it should age gracefully and slowly. Drink 2024 until well into the 2030s.

This single vineyard beauty, from a restrained and acid-driven Chardonnay vintage in the Yarra Valley, leads with reductive flint and nut characters. They’re woven in with more delicate aromas like stone fruit, waxy lemon, white spice, orchard blossoms and wet stones. Toasty oak is there too, but it’s well tucked. The mouthfeel is beautifully balanced, with prickly, citrusy acidity and supportive oak. Precise yet still characterful, this is an excellent, food friendly example of modern Aussie Chard. Drink now–2032.

This renowned Yarra Valley winery has ventured outside Victoria and into Tasmania. This bottling bears the Giant Steps signature but walks to a distinctly different beat. It’s layered and spicy with brambly red currant, cranberry and blueberry fruit backed by subtle chocolaty oak, white pepper and violets on their stems. There’s heft to the palate, with concentrated fruit, spicy, chiseled tannins and barrel influence. An expressive bottling, well-made with longevity in mind. Drink now–2032.

Ripe and fruit-driven, with a big wave of warmed cassis and plum coulis flavors dotted with violet, anise and tobacco notes. Shows good underlying juicy energy, too. Drink now through 2030. 558 cases made.

Neither oak spices nor tannins dominate this medium-bodied wine, allowing the grape variety’s complex, savory characters of black currants and bay leaves to shine through, backed by a supple texture and light, integrated tannins.

This full-bodied, powerful and tannic wine exerts a big force on the palate, gripping very ripe blackberry and black cherries with a firm, tooth-drying texture. Time will mellow it, but the muscularity will remain. Best from 2028.

On part of the traditional Onkaparinga
lands of the Kaurna people, Yangarra
respectfully tends its Rhône varieties
using biodynamic principles. This wine,
from very old bush-pruned Grenache is
sensational. Deep garnet in hue, the wine
exhibits ripe cherry and plum fruit with
cedarwood and herbes de Provence
accents. The vibrant fruit and oak
flavours on the palate are framed by
silky tannins and fresh acidity leading to
a lingering finish. Complex, layered and
textured, this is a great wine for lamb
chops with garlic, served with a
redcurrant jelly

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This Right Bank Bordeaux estate benefits from limestone soils and over 50-year-old vines giving this Merlot-dominant, Cabernet Franc blend from the great 2018 vintage complexity and power. With its lovely bouquet of violet and cassis, it unfolds with red and black fruits flavors with hints of black truffles and stony minerality.

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A St. Émilion Grand Cru that punches way above its $60 price. Velvety and rich but balanced with great acidity. Also absolutely delicious with roast meat for your holiday dinners!

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Château Lassègue 2018

White grapefruit, pears, flint, slate and toasted almonds on the nose. So flavorful and vibrant, with sharp acidity and a creamy, compact palate. Medium to full body. Long, flinty and intense. Drink now or hold.

Attractive aromas of cherries and strawberries with dried herbs, rose petals and dried blood orange. Medium-bodied with polished texture and ultra fine tannins. It’s so lively and electrified with a pure and ripe fruit character that offers an array of cocoa-dusted strawberries and savory undertones. It’s spicy and long. Delicious. Drink or hold.

This shows a spicy and chocolaty character with an array of ripe red and dark berries, dried herbs and orange jam. Medium-bodied and silky with dusty tannins and vibrant, juicy fruit flavors that lead to a supple, savory finish. Drink now.

Aromas of dark fruit with spices, dried herbs and eucalyptus. Medium-bodied with a round texture. Pure and juicy with vivid acidity and a flavorful finish. A blend of malbec, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot. Drink now.

This sports a pronounced, lively chaparral and savory edge that surrounds a core of pomegranate and blood orange fruit flavors. Light, racy finish. Drink now through 2025.

Discover 7 red wines to enjoy over Christmas
Coming from the cooler climates, from the distant vineries in Kangarilla, the Shiraz is made from fruit fermented in open-top tanks along with wild yeasts. Playing not only with your taste buds, it teases your nose as well thanks to dominating dark fruits, giving you a feeling of winter spiciness.
The journey doesn’t end there. With every sip, the ripe fruit finishing up with the spice invites you to have another sip. Due to its spiciness, the Yangarra Shiraz is enjoyed best with steak or barbecue.