Blackcurrants, cherries, dried cranberries and Satsuma plums feature on the nose at the forefront. Bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamon, cedar and clove combine with heightened lavender notes and hints of fresh tobacco. The palate is fine with a mineral thread. It is elegant and delicately layered. Blackcurrant and cherries feature again with a subtle cassis edge. The mid palate has supple flesh with cocoa, coffee bean and cassia leading to a graphite line and powdery tannins.

Houghton Gladstones Cabernet Sauvignon is a wonderful example of well established wineries in the Western Australian wine scene with access to some amazing vineyards sites within the Margaret River. On show here are marvelous aromas and flavours of bay leaf, black tea and some spicy mocha notes. Excitingly dense on palate with harmonious oak balance and impressive acidity. A brilliant wine.

This wonderfully elegant Shiraz shows intense, pristine, blackberry fruit and ripe, silky tannins. It almost has a Pinot Noir elegance to it and, luckily, the quality of future vintages will only be getting better too as Voyager's new clones come on line.

This wine shows the style of the vintage and quite likely the impact of the small crop. In such years, Cabernet Sauvignon in particular, has a complex but somewhat subdued nose, where the wine hints of the underlying power and complexity but takes years to reveal its true colours. So here we see smouldering red currant, black currant and mulberry, with a floral, violet lift, sitting over cedar and tar. On the palate there is concentration and length - dark fruits combining with firm tannin and leather and tarry notes.

Colour and Condition: Deep brick red hue; bright condition. Nose: A really youthful appeal, with an immediate impression of dark fruit aromas black berries, mulberries and black currants. A second viewing shows the beginnings Merlots darker side, with tar, leather and earth just starting to add complexity into the background. Palate: The classic Merlot palate, with rich, dark berry flavours like black jubes filling the front and mid palate. Firm tannin then takes over and gives the wine a linear, astringent but not too aggressive finish, which is juicy and concentrated.