Top reds over $40

2020 Stargazer Palisander Vineyard Coal River Valley Pinot Noir
25% whole bunches, 75% whole berries; 8 months in French oak. Perfect clarity and colour; a vibrant pinot that caresses the mouth with its red cherry, wild strawberry, pomegranate flavours and gossamer tannins. Utterly delicious, yet there's more to come with exotic spices.
97 points | $55 | Screwcap | 13.5% alc. | Drink to 2030 | Stargazer Wine

2019 Port Phillip Estate Morillon Single Block Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 
Soured from a 0.4ha patch of the oldest estate plantings. The bright, clear, youthful crimson hue announces a gloriously fragrant and flowery bouquet with its spray of red fruits, the palate a perfect replay of red berries and a squeezed pomegranate.
97 points | $60 | Screwcap | 13.5% alc. | Drink to 2029 | Port Phillip Estate 

2020 Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Yarra Valley Pinot Noir  
The clarity, the purity, the elegance and the perfume that the Upper Yarra Valley Applejack Vineyard brings to the party is immediately recognisable. Equally insistent is the sheer power of the red fruits and spices hidden by the light colour of the cloak. 66 barrels/barriques.
98 points | $65 | Screwcap | 13.5% alc. | Drink to 2035 | Giant Steps 

2020 Pooley Jack Denis Pooley Pinot Noir  
Matured in 33% new French barriques. This 33% whole bunch pinot has depth beyond that of its siblings. It's full-on forest floor, full-on savoury spices, and tannins made to measure, but all bow down to the primacy of the dark berry fruit of the impossibly long finish. World class.
99 points | $140 | Screwcap | 13.1% alc. | Drink to 2037 | Pooley Wines

2019 Scotchmans Hill Bellarine Peninsula Shiraz  
Typical estate vinification: whole bunch, whole berry, cold soak, wild ferment, new and used French oak. The wonder of cool grown shiraz with attention to detail from start to finish, partly the mouth-watering spice and black pepper, licorice and blackberry flavours, part the structure.
98 points | $42 | Screwcap | 14.5% alc. | Drink to 2049 | Scotchmans Hill 

2019 Purple Hands After Five Wine Co. Single Vineyard Barossa Valley Shiraz 
Ex Stansborough Vineyard. Utterly weird labelling, abstract front, After Five Wine Co on the back, Craig Stansborough winemaker. It's full-bodied, but supple and long, with plump tannins neatly balanced by blackberry and plum fruit, and an overall seductive generosity.
96 points | $45 | Screwcap | 14.5% alc | Drink to 2044 | Purple Hands  

2019 Sons of Eden Zephyrus Barossa Shiraz 
Eden (61%) and Barossa (39%) Valleys; 10% to 40% whole bunch; 15 months in French hogsheads (40% new). A finely structured wine of great class as befits the vintage, the whole bunch lifting the red fruit aromatics on the predominantly blackberry/black cherry foundations.
97 points | $45 | Screwcap | 14.5% alc | Drink to 2039 | Sons of Eden

2019 Eden Road Canberra Syrah  
Matured in French oak (20% new) for 16 months. Deep crimson-purple hue; classic cool grown high altitude continental site with fragrant black cherry, blackberry, and distinct fruit spices. Medium-bodied but intense and perfectly balanced, the finish and aftertaste as fresh as a daisy.
97 points | $50 | Screwcap | 14.5% alc. | Drink to 2039 | Eden Road Wines 

2018 Tyrrell’s Single Vineyard Stevens Hunter Valley Shiraz  
Matured for 15 months in used 2500l French casks. The regional magic allows the power of this great shiraz to come from 13.5% alc and neutral oak. It's Hunter Valley to its bootlaces, with decades to come, a steal in these days of $300 plus wines coming from everywhere.
97 points | $50 | Screwcap | 13.5% alc. | Drink to 2058 | Tyrrell’s Wines  

2019 Heathcote Estate Single Block Release Block F Shiraz  
The critical decision by winemaker Tom Carson was to pick early from the low-yielding, warm north-west facing block. The result is a long, medium-bodied wine that has hallmark Heathcote richness of supple dark fruits married with the vibrant freshness ex the 13% alcohol.
97 points | $60 | Screwcap | 13% alc. | Drink to 2039 | Yabby Lake

2019 Spinifex Single Vineyard Moppa Barossa Valley Shiraz
From the deep colour and vivid crimson edge through to the finish, this wine sings a song of purity and intensity. The black fruits, the background of earth, oak and lifted spice simply serve to throw you back to shiraz of great quality, thanks to the skill of winemaker Peter Schell.
97 points | $60 | Screwcap | 14.5% alc. | Drink to 2050 | Spinifex

2018 O’Leary Walker The Sleeper Reserve Barossa Valley Shiraz 
Destemmed and wild fermented; 14 days on skins, plus a further 10 days maceration. A flying start ex high quality fruit, and extended time on skins has worked exactly as intended; in the old wine show terminology, full-bodied, soft finish. A delicious shiraz now or 30 years hence.
98 points | $70 | Diam | 14.5% alc. | Drink to 2050 | O’Leary Walker Wines 

2017 Penfolds Grange Bin 95
100% shiraz, only the 7th such (’51, ’52, ’63, ’99 ,’00, ’11); 18 months in new American hogsheads. Fascinating Grange marrying typical Grange richness and depth with the tempering influence of this cool vintage, harvest one month later than ’16 (elegance and length key descriptors).
97 points | $950 | Cork | 14.5% alc | Drink to 2047 | Penfolds

2020 Chalk Hill Alpha Crucis Old Vine McLaren Vale Grenache 
From 90yo Blewitt Springs bushvines. The bouquet is expressive and enticing, as is the gorgeous juicy and mouthwatering medium-bodied palate. Moving the wine back and forth in the mouth unlocks rivulets of earthy spices running through the pomegranate and red forest fruits. 
98 points | $55 | Screwcap | 14% alc. | Drink to 2030 | Chalk Hill

2019 Angove Family Winemakers Warboys Vineyard McLaren Vale Grenache 
The 50-plus yo vines were hand-picked, open fermented as part whole bunch, part whole berries. The perfumed, flowery bouquet of red berries and spices heralds a vibrant, glistening palate, the texture and structure are tannin-free zones (yet neither fined nor filtered).
98 points | $75 | Screwcap | 14.5% alc. Drink to 2029 | Angove Family Winemakers

2019 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 
Coonawarra enjoyed a perfect 10 out of 10 growing season. The triumph is the alcohol which gives the wine a freshness, a clarity and perfect length and balance. The best Black Label Cabernet made to date from Wynns' vast viticultural resources across Coonawarra.
98 points | $45 | Screwcap | 13.8% alc. | Drink to 2049 | Wynns Coonawarra Estate

2018 Amelia Park Reserve Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon  
Open fermented, held on skins for 2 months, with a further 18 months barrel maturation This long plunging maceration requires constant attention to detail, but Jeremy Gordon has avoided any problem in this cassis/blackcurrant medium-bodied cabernet, complexed by forest floor notes.
97 points | $65 | Screwcap | 14.5% alc. | Drink to 2038 | Amelia Park Wines

2019 Yeringberg Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 
Amazing crimson-magenta hue; matured for 2 years in French oak. Purity, elegance, line, length and balance; a mesmerising bouquet of cassis and cedar, the vibrant medium-bodied palate providing mouth-watering feather-light tannins and oak on the long finish. 
98 points | $98 | Screwcap | 13.5% alc. | Drink to 2049 | Yeringberg 

2019 Cullen Diana Madeline 
Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec and petit verdot; matured for 15 months in French oak (45% new). Superb colour, the bouquet a wondrously complex mix of cassis, earth, tapenade and black olive, all fused into a magically woven palate with tightly furled tannins.
98 points | $140 | Screwcap | 13.5% alc. | Drink to 2059 | Cullen Wines

2018 Hewitson Old Garden Vineyard Barossa Valley Mourvedre 
Every vine is part of Friedrich Koch's bush-pruned 1853 planting, the oldest mourvedre in the world. A positively juicy wine, with exotic spices woven through the collage of red fruits, large and small, and its superfine tannins. Oak also makes a contribution.
96 points | $88 | Diam | 14% alc. | Drink to 2038 | Hewitson