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.

Cape Mentelle's Cabernet Sauvignon under the guidance of Rob Mann has become one of Australia's most prestigious Cabernet's. Sourced from what many believe to be the true home to Cabernet in Australia, the Margaret River, Cape Mentelle produce a wine that has a plush full-flavoured palate of concentrated blackcurrants and mulberries with a minerally spine. Richly textured and vibrant the palate finishes long with fine yet firm gravelly tannins. A superb candidate for some medium to long term cellaring.

Founded more than 150 years ago, Yeringberg is both a pioneer and enduring icon of the Yarra Valley. Fourth-generation winemaker Sandra de Pury views her art as the perfect combination of intellectual, physical and sensory engagement, and shes continuing to scale new heights with the wines. This effortlessly restrained Cabernet blend is the estates flagship red, and has won the trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon at the Yarra Valley Wine Show for the past three out of four vintages. Its complex yet pure, from blood plums, violets and cassis to cigars, tapenade and Christmas cake. Its serious yet seamlessly structured. This beauty will be sitting pretty for 20 years.

Moss Wood is one of the oldest Margaret River wineries and has an enviable reputation for high quality, stylish wines that are true to place. Arguably one of the country's top ten Chardonnays, this is a wine that demonstrates finesse and elegance in equal proportions to intensity and power. Fantastically bold yet classicly proportioned, this is a wine to be savoured with fine fare and great friends.

Château Gloria is the lifes work of Henri Martin, who's Cabernet based wines are very individualistic. The Château has never joined the Syndicat des Crus Bourgeois. This allows Henri to be a little more creative and produce wines of great concentration for prices that are easily approachable. The 2008 is a great example of the Château Gloria style and has been rated 90 points by Robert Parker Jnr.

With one of the longest and most pedigreed histories in the Medoc region, Chateau Leoville-Las-Cases has passed through the hands of some of Frances most notable and wealthiest noble families, culminating in the Las Cases family - the final royal family to hold title to the Chateau. Up until the French Revolution, after which large portions of it were sold off, it was one of the largest vineyards in Bordeaux. Today, the estate remains family owned by the Delons, of which brother Jean Hubert and sister Genevieve manage proceedings. Their second wine, Le Petit Lion du Marquis de Las Cases, is a relative newcomer, only having been released for the first time in 2009. The 2016 vintage has been praised for its traditional style and light, nimble palate.

Still very youthful, the quality French oak riding high in the saddle. This is a wine of excellent quality, ticking every box. Its texture and balance are admirable, the varietal character likewise.

Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc & petit verdot. An unambiguously classy wine, its quality established by the first whiff, and confirmed by the super elegant, medium bodied palate. All the cabernet cassis/blackcurrant you could wish for floats along the mouth with the other members of the Bordeaux family in respectful support. Lovely wine.

Grosset Gaia Cabernet is one distinguished CabernetBring it on! By Gaia standards, its plump and plush with sweet fruit, rich dark chocolate and tannin presence. Gaia is always a wonderful long-term cellaring option, as is the case with the '08, but this vintage the added bonus of up front fruit enables immediate enjoyment.