The best

• red wine
• white wine
• champagne
• rosé
• whisky
• spirits
• beer

deals in Australia

The wine reveals deep garnet and ruby hues on the eye. A nose of coffee grounds, cocoa powder, sage bush and brambled blueberry gives way to violets, smoked white spice, roasted coconut and cedar wood. On the palate the wine has fruit sweetness wrapped around lengthy, chalky tannins and touches of moreish olive tapenade to finish.

Very dark colour, complex nose of blackberry/mulberry and plums with a touch of oak spice, palate is rich and full flavoured with blackberry/dark plum fruit softly textured and layered structure with integrated vanillin oak and fine tannins on the finish. An iron fist in a velvet glove style which is well suited to quality grilled beef such as rib eye.

This Shiraz delivers rich notes of dark-bodied fruits along with aromatic red-berry concentrates. With hints of subtle oak and touches of spicy pepper notes to complete the palate allowing for instant enjoyment.

A superb example of classic Barossa Shiraz. Bold, full-flavoured and complex, it offers great depth and silky tannins. Magnificent drinking now but will reward medium-term cellaring.

The Dirtman Shiraz by Gibson Wines is named after Rob Gibson, owner and winemaker. With love of viticulture and the soil, Rob has always been referred to as The Dirtman. This attractive Shiraz has wonderful rich, dark cherry notes with plums and a touch of apricot thrown in. The texture on the palate is vibrant with a length that is simply perfect.

Intriguing aromas of rose petals and a summer pudding of lifted red fruits, berries and a hit of cinnamon and Asian spice. The palate is opulent, with intense red berries balanced by soft velvety tannins and supple oak with great balance from the acid reknown in Barossa Grenache. 'The cold, wet 2011 vintage hit the Barossa Valley particularly hard, wiping out huge tracts of vineyards. Dandelion's blend, then, came as a delightful surprise a tender, juicy, seductive drop that made the bottle seem too small. It's a blend of grenache (85 per cent), shiraz (10 per cent) and mataro (aka mourvedre or monastrell). The back label hints at how winemaker Elena Brooks and the Dandelion crew saved the day, "handpicking selected bunches" (that is, avoiding the rotten ones) of the three varieties for co-fermentation and ultimate success. What a moreish wine this is'. - Canberra Times, 15 May 2013, by Chris Shanahan.