Refined, modern Barossa Shiraz can be hard to find. Luckily for you, we did the finding! There's a sumptuousness to the palate that just seems to go on and on - indeed it seems to open up and unfurl over time. The flavours are along the lines of cocoa, pen ink, ripe blackberry, and a multitude of spices....cloves, cinnamon and vanilla. Very good.

Jason Schwarz was doomed to be a winemaker from his childhood. Ensconced in the vineyards of South Australia, in particular Bethany in the Barossa Valley, his parents had provided the suitable environment from the very beginning. After finishing his winemaking degree, he set off to see the world and completed vintages in France, the USA and Argentina, before returning home and starting his own label in 2001. Starting off with only a two barrels of Barossa Shiraz in the first year, he followed this with a similar amount of Grenache the next. The Grenache is still made every year and is a fixture in his offerings. With great fruit sources from the beginning and a heap of guidance from some key Barossa winemaking and grape-growing icons, the wines of Schwarz deliberately try to the show off the quality of the fruit with a minimal intervention.