This wine is deep crimson in colour with hints of youthful purple at the rim. On the nose, intense lifted aromas of mulberry and blackberry play with notes of pepper and oak spice. The palate is full bodied with complex forest fruits, spice and velvety tannins leading to a elegant and long finish. Served perfectly pan-roasted venison with creamy baked potato and celeriac. Medium-term careful cellaring of two to five years.

Devil's Corner Resolution Pinot Noir is a full bodied style of Pinot Noir showing blackberry, sour cherry and hints of cedar from the quality French oak. The wine displays a juicy fruit driven middle palate with a crisp savoury texture and fine grained tannins. Given the wines depth and structure it is well worth putting some away in the cellar and looking at it again in 5 to 8 years.

Argentine Malbec doesn't get much finer than this. From a Bordeaux wine family, Hervé came to South America to look for a vineyard and fell in love with old vine Malbec. He not only bought vineyards but also made his home there. Having started in Mendoza, he now has an estate in Patagonia too. He runs his properties like a top Bordeaux château, with impressive barrel cellar and meticulous attention to detail. This hugely impressive cuvée comes from 30 year old Malbec vines grown in Patagonia's Río Negro. Made like a fine claret, the juice was pumped over to extract colour from grape skins during fermentation then aged for 12 months in French oak barriques. Silky with violet and liquorice aromas and dense black fruit, it's perfect with beef.

HOUGHTON C.W. Ferguson Cabernet Malbec, Great Southern

Malbec is renowned for its value in blends but not often found as a varietal. This fine example from Bleasdale is considered a benchmark for the style. Soft, smooth, toasty oak with great depth of complexity.

Sam Trimboli LOVES Durif. He calls it a “stunning little powerhouse grape that develops astounding complexity”. The numberplate on his car even sports the word ‘Durif’, that’s how highly he rates it. The grapes for this wine come from a small vineyard that Sam helped establish in the 1980s and is now at peak maturity.

If you thought that Argentina was the only place to find fine Malbec, think again! Zonte's Footstep have triumphed with this luscious Langhorne Creek example boastinga berryfest of flavour, FIVE Gold medals and 93 points from Halliday: "Violets, boysenberries, redcurrant and leather. Bright and characterful at once. Sweet and vibrant through the mouth, dry and firm through the finish. Mid-weight. In lovely form...93pts" (Halliday).

Sevenhill was originally set up in 1851 when the Jesuits who settled in the area planted the Clare Valley’s first vines to produce sacramental wine. The estate’s wines, along with its old stone winery, stately St Aloysius’ Church, College building and spacious gardens has made the Sevenhill name famous. So much so that they have recently won the Gourmet Traveller Award for best Large Cellar Door in the Clare Valley! Ray Jordan gives their 2021 Malbec a solid 92pts, "Malbec is a variety that does rather well in Clare, especially as a major blending component with cabernet. Still this one does it solo, and it does it well. Lots of the distinctive red floral fruits on the nose have that stamp of malbec. Bright and alive on a high energy palate with plenty of ripe red fruit characters with chalky tannins and understated oak in support."

Complex, rounded and very smooth, everything you could want from a Pinot Noir. Dark cherries, cured meat and a dash of oak, this wine has a lot going on and will appeal to even the most serious Pinot drinker.