Chris Ringland Shiraz has been one of Australia's most loved wines over the past few years with its immense concentration of bold, forboding fruit. Chris Ringland, the man behind such famous names as Three Rivers Shiraz, creates a wine that is made from mature Northern Barossa vines and shows dark mass of concentrated black and blue fruits, laced with sweet mocha and wrapped in a smooth, velvety texture. Not for the faint of heart, the CR Shiraz is improving vintage on vintage.

The Bishop has the fingerprints of Ben and his father Colin all over it. Ripe, rich, concentrated and supremely complex, the Bishop is the wine for all those full-bodied red fans out there. Ripe liqueur cherries on the nose compete for attention with vanilla, mocha and coffee aromas while the palate is full of sweet berry fruit flavour and a soft, luscious finish that seems to persist for an age. While exuberant and lively when young, the Bishop is known to handle medium term cellaring extremely well and reward any with the patience.

John Duval, famously known as the craftsman of the mighty Penfolds Grange, continues to further forge his reputation as a maker of great Shiraz. 'Eligo' from the latin: 'To pick out, select or choose or choose the best' is the flagship wine of the John Duval stable with its main aim to produce a Shiraz with structure and an elegant expression of its terrior. Multi layered with lashes of dark berry fruit, the wine is intense yet still quite restrained. An excellent Barossan Shiraz!

Marco Cirillo, the guru of Grenache. A true artisan, Marco is the custodian of some of oldest Grenache vines in the world and remarkably he tends to each of the old, gnarly bush vines by hand, some standing 6-feet tall! The resulting Grenache that makes The Vincent has beautiful, fine grained tannin along with fruit that is remarkably vibrant and appealing to the palate.

The now much sought after Righteous range of wines from Kym Teusner was first established in 2005 with the Grenache and this is the latest incarnation of this foreboding Barossa wine. Sourced from an 80 year old bush-vine vineyard, the Righteous Grenache was gently crushed and fermented in open fermenters with regular pump-overs. Maturation was completed in a mix of French and American oak and has resulted in a modern classic Grenache.

The Glaetzer family have been part of the Barossa winemaking scene since 1888 and now Ben takes over the reigns and produces Shiraz of the utmost intensity and concentration. Named after the ancient Egyptian god Amon-Ra who was the champion of the poor and troubled and was central to personal piety, the temple of Amon-Ra is believed to be the first to plant a vineyard to produce wine for the citizens of the temple. This incarnation is rich, full-bodied and viscous to the palate, yet with sublime oak integration and a balance on the back palate that is quite lifted allowing it to be paired with many meals and a prime candidate for medium to long term cellaring.

Hentley Farm is a boutique, single estate vineyard that focuses on producing premium quality single-estate and single-block wines reflective of their exceptional Barossan terrior. 'The Marl' takes its name from the fruit grown on red clay loam over marl (a friable earthy deposit consisting of clay and limestone) which reduces the water and nutrient availability producing low crops and rich flavours. True to the style, the Shiraz is layered with berry fruits with hints of dark chocolate, earth and subtle spice. While full-bodied the palate is soft with lovely lingering finish.

Balthazar was the last of the Babylonian kings whose empire ended after he drank from a mythical sacred chalice. A fascination with ancient history and an appreciation of the deep sense of irony that befalls those who choose their drinks - and drinking vessels - unwisely, prompted the name. concentrated and generous blackberry, dark cherry, plum & dark chocolate flavours balanced by velvety tannins and savoury oak complexity delivering texture and structure on the long, persisting palate.

For all those who fell head over heels for the astounding Chris Ringland CR Shiraz in the past few years, the news has just gotten even more exciting with the release of Chris Ringland Reservation Shiraz. Concentration doesn't even begin to describe this truly luxurious Barossa Shiraz. When harvested, the fruit displayed intense jammy, plum and prune aromas which were simply crying out for some extra maturation. After which the wine has now begun to show off a wonderful array of warm spicy notes with that trademark mouthfilling soft tannin and gentle acidity. With the capability to cellar for another 5 to 8 years, this is the Barossa Shiraz you have to own!

Old vine Barossa Valley Shiraz doesn't get much better than this. The Kaesler name was reborn by winemaker and visionary Reid Bosward in 1997, breathing new life in the over 100 year old vineyards. A Quirky name matched with unrivaled concentration make The Bogan Shiraz as must have for all big Australian Shiraz lovers.