Winemaker Notes

Blend: 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot

Critical Acclaim

WE93

Wine Enthusiast

Produced by the team of Calon Ségur, this wine is stylish and elegant while also full of the Saint-Estèphe tannic structure. Fresh and fruity, it is also firm and tannic. Drink this spicy, juicy wine from 2025.

JS92

James Suckling

This is structured and very linear with superfine and polished tannins. It’s full-bodied yet reserved and held back with such tension and focus. Full-bodied, fine and chewy on the finish. Better in 2020.

D90

Decanter

Great freshness of bountiful, ripe fruit and fine ripeness from 68% Cabernet. A lovely wine from perfectly managed vineyards.

JD90

Jeb Dunnuck

A rocking wine from the northern Médoc is the 2015 Château Capbern and it’s 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot brought up in 60% new barrels. This medium to full-bodied, ripe, impressively concentrated beauty boasts outstanding notes of ripe black cherry and currant fruits intermixed with lots of crushed flower and damp earth/clay-like nuances. It has terrific purity and ripe, yet present, tannin and will benefit from a couple years in the cellar. It’s a little gem that will be loved by old-school Bordeaux lovers. Tasted twice.

Serpico is the flagship Mitolo Cabernet and is made using the Amarone technique of drying grapes before fermentation. This process concentrates flavour, contributing mid palate plushness, complexity and mouth coating silky tannins. 

Winemaker Ben Glaetzer describes it incredibly aptly, we think, as a brooding, dark and deliciously seductive red. Its smoothness is thanks to the dried grape  winemaking method, which provides intensely rich and concentrated dark fruit flavours to an already powerful grape variety – Cabernet Sauvignon. The dried grape method also seems to soften and smooth Cabernet’s sometimes edgy tannin structure by providing a suppleness and richness to the palate.

This wine was named after one of Frank Mitolo’s heroes, namely Frank Serpico, who fought crime in the United States police force. 

Like it namesake, this is powerful, structured and focussed. 

This is a wine for now or the long haul in a good cellar. 

From the winery

This wine is much like the man it is named after, Frank Serpico, who went against all odds to expose an immense depth of corruption in the New York police force

The Shotfire Quartage is sourced from the older Thorn-Clarke owned plantings in the Barossa, with 'Kabininge' and 'St Kitts' vineyards being the main contributors.

 This wine is primarily a blend of traditional Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec) with Cabernet Sauvignon always being dominant. Whilst the Barossa is famous for Shiraz, Thorn-Clarke is renowned for its Quartage which has collected Trophies for best wine of show and / or class at most major wine shows in Australia over the last 10 years.

Vineyard Sites - Cornerstone Vineyard lies at the heart of the renowned Gimblett Gravels viticultural region, strategically positioned at the junction of Gimblett Road and State Highway 50 in Hawke’s Bay. This area is celebrated as New Zealand’s premier Bordeaux red grape-growing region, and it’s easy to see why. The vineyard’s unique terroir, composed of riverbed stones and gravels, challenges the vines, leading them to produce a limited yield of small, intensely coloured, and flavourful berries. The resulting grapes give rise to wines with rich, mouth-filling tannins and a depth of character that speaks to the harsh yet rewarding growing conditions. 

Vinification - The grapes were carefully handpicked, then crushed and fermented in small 3-tonne open fermenters. Each batch was hand-plunged and allowed varying periods of post-ferment skin contact to enhance complexity and structure. After pressing off, the wine underwent malolactic fermentation and was aged in a mix of French (90%) and American (10%) oak barriques, adding subtle layers of flavour and depth. 

Tasting Notes - Enticing aromas of freshly sanded wood, new leather, anise, and spice draw you in. On the palate, sweet dark red fruits, plums, and berry pie flavours shine through. Grippy, robust, dry tannins balance a smooth, sweet, slightly charry oak profile. This wine is drinking well now but will develop even more complexity with ageing.

“Bin 389 was often referred to as ‘Baby Grange’, in part because components of the wine are matured in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. First made in 1960 by the legendary Max Schubert, this was the wine that helped forge Penfolds reputation with red wine drinkers by combining the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon with the richness of Shiraz. Exemplifying the judicious balance of fruit and oak, Bin 389 highlights the generous mid-palate Penfolds in known for.” – Winemaker’s notes.

The Blanc is pale yellow in colour, with green highlights. The bouquet is strong and characterful, with aromas of broom flower, citrus fruit, peaches, and apricots. The wine is elegant, delicate and quite vivacious on the palate.

Grape 80% Semillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc

Food match oysters, mussels, fish

Pirramimma is a family run winery with a history dating back to1892 and today comprises over 100 hectares of prime McLaren Vale fruit.

The 2019 Cabernet Merlot displays a bouquet of red cherry, blackberry and violets with hints of spicy oak. On the palate there are ripe blackcurrant, plum, quince and chocolate notes which are complemented by hints of pomegranate and subtle toasty oak. 

Drink now and over the next three years with rich meaty fare, stews and hard cheeses.

The long awaited vintage 2022 Coleraine harnesses the energy and complexity of Te Mata Cabernet Sauvignon, on show at its highest level since the first Coleraine in 1982.

Beautiful floral aromas of lavender, violet, plum and blackcurrant, are all in orbit around the wine’s dark savoury core of tightly wound graphite, nori, coffee grounds, vanilla and tobacco.  The palate is intensely concentrated, with a superbright tension building freshness and precision as layer upon layer of fine polished tannins give pinpoint detail alongside signature, exacting, levels of finesse.

Coleraine '22 is a modern reprise of what makes Coleraine iconic, a wine balancing past and future, heritage and innovation. This is a statement wine, one that lingers both on the palate and in the mind.

 

From the winery...

Our 2021 Miss Bronte Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is created to be an easily approachable yet variety-defining style, for lovers of cabernet.

Upon release, thanks to favourable seasonal conditions, our Cabernet shows off all the beautiful leafy aromas that we found in the vineyard during ripening, along with gentle mint and sage notes.

Unmistakable ripe blackberry, rich black currant and cassis flavours dance across the palate, with herbal lacework woven in.

Spectacular open-grained tannin, as expected, is defined by chocolate and soft cocoa to balance the flawless finish.

Vintage: 2021

Region: Eden Valley

Winemaker: Jo Irvine

Alcohol/Vol: 14.5%

Ideal serving: at around 17 – 19ºc

Winemaker's note:

"2015 was an exceptional vintage and the weather was consistent which allowed us to grow and ripen grapes to optimum quality. This blend is made of 72% Merlot, 20% Malbec and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon from grapes hand-picked off our Gimblett Vineyard (58%) and Triangle Vineyard (42%). 

After fermentation the wine was aged for 24 months in French oak (42% new), then blended and had a further 3 months on lees in tank. There was no racking which allow the wine to have great volume and weight.

This is a concentrated, medium to full bodied blend. With ripe blackberry and plum characters, fine grained tannins and a fresh acidity all giving the wine a wonderful balance. It will age well and improve for 10 years from vintage."

Hieronymus is a blend of grapes and of vineyards and is composed of 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, 12% Malbec and 8% Tempranillo with 58% from the Gimblett Gimblett and 42% from the Bridge Pa Triangle.

Grapes were harvested in three separate hand picked lots and fermented separately in oak cuves, then drained to barrel without pressing. The wine was aged for 26 months in 50% new French oak.

The wine's name pays homage to an ancestor of the winery's owners, the Weiss family.

In exceptional vintages we occasionally find special pockets of grapes destined for the Basket Press. The resultant wine is the pinnacle of our wine making. Intense purple, red rimmed with a palate of multi -layered fruit, a heady mix of leather, tar, mint cassis and plum held together with fine grained tannins and spicy oak.

Comes in wooden gift box.

Chateau Belgrave is a large estate in the Medoc, on the left bank of Bordeaux, a region well known as Cabernet Sauvignon's stronghold. It makes up 46% of this bold, full bodied red, with the balance being 50% Merlot which adds flesh and roundness to the impressive structure of this wine. The inclusion of 4% Petit Verdot adds further complexity, intense colour and supports the tannin structure of this impressive wine. 

Chateau Belgrave is produced by Dourthe Estate, a family owned winery founded in 1840. The family now owns nine estates and 500 hectares of vineyards in Bordeaux.