Adelaide Hills, SA Dandelion Best Wine Deals

At an average north of $90 retail per bottle, these might not scream 'Friday night Pizza' but at a tick under $30 a bottle in this bundle, maybe we can make a case for it... and at a bottle a week, we've got the next 13 weeks of Friyay evenings gourmet exhalations elevated to someplace very fine indeed.

So, what will you have next Friday?

Pasha's 97 point McLaren Shiraz which had Kim Brebach in raptures, saying 'The integration of fruit and oak is as seamless as I’ve seen in an Aussie red'? Dandelion's Firehawk Shiraz- off their best McLaren Vale vineyard? Sidewood's savoury Adelaide Shiraz which iced a lazy dozen gold medals with 96 points from Halliday? Showblock's incredible Reserve Shiraz? Kilikanoon's Flagship Cabernet? Perhaps, Longview's Trophy winning Cab ... decant this one!

OR, maybe you just want to start with the Lone Palm, the big gun. Imagine Marvin Gaye reinterpreting death metal (when he was alive, obvs), or Chuck Norris taking up Tai Chi. Molten lava given the Gaviscon treatment, Chewbacca reciting 'Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day', you get the idea. It's one of those 'Iron fist in a velvet glove' jobbies - incredibly powerful and densely fruited yet so perfectly put together that it is a joy to drink already.

Just need to choose that pizza now.

The Noble Grape is a bit on the nose at the moment.

Perceived by some as being bony, hard of tannins and shy of revealing fruit, Cabernets are long way from their heyday of 20 years ago, when they outsold Shiraz. These days, the willingness to cellar, always Cabernet friend isn't really there, and 'good to go right now' wines are in ascendancy.

BUUUUUT ... we love it dearly and know that with the right fruit and the right gifted winemaker, assertively angular tannins and bony acidity make way for ethereal perfumes, generously jubey fruit and a massive smile on the head of whoever is drinking them. So here's a 'no bones' and 100% beautiful baker's doz of Cabernet for your consideration.

2 stunners from Kilikanoon lead the way and Briar Ridge's complex, Halliday 95 pointer slides in effortlessly behind. Ditto, Dandelion's 96 point Coonawarra beauty, Longview's Trophy winning stunner and Dowie Doole's tiny production, 96 point work of genius. These really are all magical- just double decant an hour or so before drinking!

Oh, the 13th bottle!?

Cab is well known for ageing beautifully, so we've scrounged around and found a small quantity of Zonte's Blackberry Patch Cab from 2017. It's drinking beautifully and we doff our Cab to it!