A wonderful wine - authentic McLaren Vale, but will a layer of elegance and a few layers of complexity. Rich, dark fruit like blackberry, dark plum and blueberry leads the way. Then comes the fun part - liquorice, oyster shell, furniture polish, cedar and some sage. Plenty going on here, and the flavours just last and last. Exceptional.

Sometimes, you come across a wine in which you can truly taste the passion, drive and love that went into making it. More often than not, such wines come out of Australian regions such as McLaren Vale. Our favourite example at the moment? It’s got to be the wines of SC Pannell, a genuine passion project founded by husband and wife team Steve and Fiona back in 2004, and which has grown from strength to strength to become an award winning business with a global fanbase. This is a winery which has an almost unhealthy obsession with Shiraz and Grenache grapes, and genuinely goes the extra mile when it comes to ensuring sustainable methods, capable of bringing out levels of flavour and aroma that set a new benchmark for McLaren Vale as a whole. Steve Pannell’s love of wine is one which has taken him around the world multiple times. But no matter which prestigious appellation he found himself working in as a younger man, he knew his destiny lay in the ever-impressing Australian wine scene. One of the first vineyards that captured his heart was the Koomilya vineyard in the Upper Tintara subregion (an unofficial designation) that was brought to fame by the Hardys wine company, where Steve worked in his youth. A unique site that delivers power, presence and elegance - the heart of McLaren Vale with a saline edge.