The Host Like a Pro Six

Opulent and sense-flooding. Aromas of gunsmoke, cedar, dark chocolate, coffee, meat stock and spice weave through rich waves of blueberry, black pepper and liquorice. It’s brooding, heady and powerful—Barossa at full throttle.

5g refers here to grams per litre, aka the dosage is 5 grams per litre of sugar, which is both quite low and reflective of the quality of fruit required to allow this, while also producing a Champagne which does not taste sour or hard. 50% of this comes from reserve wine and is aged on lees in bottles for up to 4 years prior to disgorgement. The blend is 85% Meunier and 15% Pinot Noir. We found yellow stone fruits, dried white flowers, and even a suggestion of matcha tea here. This is fresh, rich and complex in a way that makes you feel deeply curious as to how they made such a superbly engaging Champagne that both evokes the region so strongly, and yet stands apart from other Champagnes of the region so clearly.

A first release Reserve Cabernets from Leconfield. This blend sees Leconfield's finest Cab Sauv co-fermented with Merlot and Cab Franc, resulting in the perfectly harmonious integration of flavours. Deep in colour; the nose is fresh, and bright, offering dark fruit aromas, cedar, cigar box and dark chocolate. It balances richness with elegance beautifully and finishes with perfectly modulated fine tannins. Exceptional already, and has a long future ahead of it.

Kilikanoon grow or buy a vast quantity of Clare Grenache - no surprise then that they produce some of the finest Grenache in the Valley. They also arguably produce the region's best Shiraz, 'hello Kilikanoon Revelation and Attunga'. Their GSMs also fare well - the current $40 a bottle Baudinet having picked up multiple trophies. So, we're very excited to introduce the first ever Kilikanoon Meymans GSM, a mid-weight, complex and textural beast which offers comforting blue and black fruit, spice and whisper fine tannins. We love it.

An excellent combo of Langhorne Creek Cab and McLaren Vale Grenache here. Just a brief time on skins to give it that 'Provence Rosé' colouring and the rest is all vibrant aromatics and fruit forwardness. Raspberry and watermelon dominate here complexed with a hint of jalapeño from the Cabernet. Bloody good.

Katnook pioneered Chardonnay in the Coonawarra, initially planting vines in 1971 and with the 1980 vintage marking the first commercial release.

The mild to cool 2022 growing season was exceptional for Coonawarra Chardonnay. Small quantities of fruit were pressed straight to oak, 20% of which was new. From there, wild fermentation and lees stirring to build texture and creaminess was employed every couple of weeks. Flavours and aromas here are of stonefruit, hazelnut, cream and spice.