This hand made wine is both complex and rewarding having no filtration prior to bottling to preserve the rich plum and spicy fruit flavours. All fruit was estate grown and sourced from low yielding, hand pruned and picked vines.

Taylors St Andrews Shiraz from the Clare Valley is a classic and is consistently a show-stopper. The bouquet shows rich plum and cherry fruit with earthy spice and the palate is perfectly balanced with soft silky tannins.

Mixed dark berry fruits on the palate, vibrant acidity and fine grain tannin lead into a long, persistent finish. Great drive and depth of flavour, a touch of earthy complexity, and a seamless structure.

With plenty of blackberry, plum, mulberry and menthol-like fruit and fine, rusty, almost unyielding tannins, this is a strong, firm wine by Wendouree with plenty of lasting power. The Shiraz component derives from vineyard plots that include bush vine material. Parcels of very old vine Malbec bring further distinctiveness. The wine is vinified in open fermenters and matured for 12 months in new and used French oak.

The Jim Barry McCrae Wood is a fine example of the bold Clare Valley Shiraz style. Intense and concentrated, it is well worth putting away for five years at least!

VINEYARD: Fruit is sourced from 120-year-old dry grown Shiraz vines from Martin & Joan Smiths vineyard in the Polish Hill River. Grey loam acid soils over sandstone and slate make up the profile with much of the top soil littered with rock, hinting at just how tough the vines need to be to sustain growth and produce quality fruit - not to mention the work of the vigneron to ensure overall balance. Despite growing these vines organically since their planting in the 1970s, 2012 marked the first year of NASAA Organic Certification for these vineyards. VINIFICATION: Handmade in 2 and 4-tonne fermenters, the fruit is de-stemmed and fermented using natural yeast. Hand plunged up to 4 times daily to control temperature and maximise flavour and tannin extraction. Left on skins post fermentation for 15 days, then lightly pressed and transferred to French Oak barriques for 30 months.Only 630 x 6 packs produced. COLOUR: Deep dark red brick with a slight purple tinge. BOUQUET: Concentrated with blackberry spice with hints of chocolate and cedar. PALATE: Powerful Clare Valley Shiraz with rich mid-palate fruit with long grainy tannins, oak complexity and balance of acidity. FOOD MATCH: A delightful complement to strong cheeses and gamey meats.

The St Andrews Cabernet from Taylors has fine tannins and opulent cassis and fresh blackberry fruit are combined with cedar oak notes that make for a lovely drinking wine for now or something for the medium term section of your cellar.

Planted in 1946, the old Walton Grenache block is a monument to the history of the Clare Valley. Dry-grown bush vines were planted in terra rossa soils, allowing excellent drainage at elevation and with an aspect which captures the late summer sun. This wine is a pure expression of Clare Valley Grenache. Aromas of strawberry, dark cherries (almost Cherry Ripe), cedar-spice with hints of sandalwood. The palate is silky smooth and vibrant, redolent with red cherries, red plums, blood orange and chocolate. The finish is long, expressive and youthful. Plenty behind it to cellar into the medium term and possibly more. "Youthful, vibrant red in the glass. Exotic aromas of five spice, cola, blueberry, dried herbs and red cherry. Flavours are mid-weighted, rich and fleshy. There’s plenty of red and blue fruit drive, supple and caressing tannins and bouncy, zingy acidity keeping all in check. Lovely, expressive grenache here, layers of flavour and a decent whack of complexity... 95pts" (Aaron Brasher, The Real Review).