• La Corte, Puglia, Italy
• Groom, Barossa Valley, South Australia
• Magpie Estate, Barossa Valley, South Australia
• Veritas Winery, Barossa Valley, South Australia
• JJ Hahn, Barossa Valley, South Australiaa
• Koltz, McLaren Vale, South Australia

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La Corte, Puglia, Italy

Traditional Pugliese varieties of Primitivo (Zinfandel) and Negroamaro are given a decadent new interpretation when made by the supreme winemaking talent of internationally recognised winemaker, Chris Ringland of Rockford, Three Rivers and RBJ fame. La Corte wines come at two price levels, the entry level Anfora (100% Primitivo) and Solyss (80% Negroamaro, 20% Primitivo) whilst the single varietal La Corte Zinfandel and La Corte Negroamaro take the enjoyment of Italian wines to the next level.

Tim White of the Australian Financial Review in his top 12 must haves of 2002 suggested that the 2000 La Corte Negroamaro is, "A sublime marriage of fruit lushness and structural power."

Max Allen in The Australian's Good Living Magazine describes the same wine as having, "seductive flavours of fried liver, blackened onions and sweet charcoal."
Phillip White from Adelaide's Advertiser writes of the 2001 Solyss, "This arcane blend of negroamaro and primitivo (zinfandel) is one king-hell mouthful of vegetal decay, damp leather, menthol, blueberries, prune, and Lord knows what. Go buy!"

England's esteemed Decanter Magazine, February 2003 issue rated the 2001 Solyss amongst the best buys of the month and awarded it "Wine of the Month."

Groom, Barossa Valley, South Australia

Without doubt one of Australia's most famous winemaking exports has been Daryl Groom. In 1989 Daryl was recruited by the famous Geyser Peak Winery in California as their chief Winemaker, from Penfolds where he held the senior red winemaking position. Under his leadership Geyser Peak has grown both in quantity produced and quality where they are now regarded as one of the top medium-large wineries in the USA. Daryl was also responsible for setting up the winemaking operations for the very successful Tatachilla Winery in McLaren Vale. Fortunately Daryl has not been completely lost to Australian winemaking. He makes a return visit each vintage to his old stomping ground where his family has maintained an interest in a vineyard in the Kalimna region of the Barossa Valley, which includes a plot of 50 year old Shiraz from where Groom Shiraz originates. The small 1000 case production is largely destined for the US market where Daryl is a regarded as a winemaking superstar. East End Cellars is indeed fortunate to have secured an Australian allocation of this stunning wine. Groom also produces an excellent Sauvignon Blanc from Adelaide Hills fruit, the 2002 selling out quickly. We eagerly await the release of the 2003!

Magpie Estate, Barossa Valley, South Australia

Magpie Estate was founded in 1993. It was the result of a fusion of ideas between Rolf Binder of Veritas, and Noel Young a wine merchant in Cambridge, England. Both had a passion for Rhone wines and the Rhone varieties. The Barossa is well suited to these varieties, and indeed Syrah (Shiraz), Grenache and Mourvedre (Mataro) make up some of the original plantings in the Barossa Valley. Rolf had long been a champion of these varieties in Australia, and continued to make wines from these fairly unfashionable grapes. Magpie was a chance to create something a little different and unique. The Magpie philosophy is one of fun, and to exceed expectation. We want to make wines that are really good DRINKS. Not just show wines! The house style is great complexity of flavour, with soft tannins and integrated oak. The styles are defined by Noel, with the obvious input of the winemaker Rolf Binder. Magpie have created two ranges. All our wines are from the Barossa Valley. Their premium wines ‘The Sack’ Shiraz, ‘The Fakir’ Grenache, ‘The Schnell’ Grenache Shiraz, Grenache Mourvedre and ‘The Thief’ a deep Rose from Mourvedre and Grenache. Our 2 super premiums are 'The Gomersal' Grenache and’ The Election’ Shiraz.

Veritas Winery, Barossa Valley, South Australia

Veritas has now been making truly great Barossa wines for two generations. Rated by Robert Parker, writer for the Wine Advocate in his 135th Issue as: "One of my favourite Australian wineries. Veritas' offerings are never excessively oaked, posses extraordinary ripe, concentrated fruit, great individuality, and the potential, in the top examples to improve for two decades.” Brother and sister team, Rolf Binder and Christa Deans (Binder) are responsible for winemaking at Veritas, Rolf making the highly praised reds and Christa, a renowned authority on Semillon, making the whites. Christa and Rolf grew up with wine all around them and not surprisingly decided to carry on in the family business and became the second generation of winemakers in the Binder family. Christa further learnt her craft at Wolf Blass wines and overseas where she specialised in white wine production. Rolf after several years winemaking in Europe came home to help his father at Veritas. He began taking more and more of the responsibility from his father both in the business and winemaking, all the time growing the reputation of Veritas Wines. Now Rolf has achieved great heights with his wines, receiving accolades from some of the worlds best known wine critics. Veritas Winery continues to go from strength to strength, the original “galvo shed” winery in Tanunda being recently replaced by a larger, more modern facility just out of town. Rest assured though, the traditional, hands on approach remains.

JJ Hahn, Barossa Valley, South Australia

JJ Hahn is premium wine made from what is now a heritage vineyard planted by the Hahn family over several generations. This family has lived and worked on their original land since 1846. They are, in fact, the oldest homesteading family in the Barossa Valley, having continuously occupied the original homestead since it was completed in 1848. The house is currently occupied by sixth generation descendant, James Hahn, with his wife, Jackie, and their children (seventh generation.) JJ Hahn is a unique partnership, starting in 1997, between this pioneer Barossa Valley family and Rolf Binder from Veritas Winery. Two barrels each of shiraz and cabernet were made in this inaugural vintage, and the project has gradually expanded since then. The oldest surviving vines are 3.5 acres of the 1914 planting of shiraz. Planted in 'Big Red Gum' country, the soil is red clay over limestone and the roots descend more than 2 metres into the restrictive ground. This enables the old vines to "grunt" their way to final ripeness. In 1928 another section of land was planted to shiraz vines and of this planting 4 acres remain. The wines of JJ Hahn are truly reflective of the unique terroir of this ancient landscape, offering the plush, richness that only low-yielding old vines can provide.

Koltz, McLaren Vale, South Australia

Koltz epitomises all that is great about the small wine maker. A passionate hands on operation where the winemaker has a great affinity with the vineyard, producing unique wines that are truly representative of the region and individual vineyard sites.

Koltz began operation in 1995 when winemaker Mark Day and Anna Koltunow made their first wine using grapes from the Bottin Vineyard in McLaren Vale. Koltz specialises in shiraz and shiraz blends from McLaren Vale, a region renowned for its shiraz wines worldwide. Mark Day has worked as a wine maker for Maxwell Wines and Wirra Wirra in McLaren Vale, and as a consultant in Italy and France over the last 6 European vintages.

Koltz is a very small producer making wines that are hand crafted using traditional methods, including fermentation in open vats and when dry, basket pressed and put to oak. They make wines that are individual and reflect their philosophy that wines should be complex and a pleasure to drink at any stage of their evolution.
The range of Koltz wines is ever evolving, with the original releases of shiraz and shiraz cabernet blend now being complimented with a mourvedre shiraz grenache (MSG), the Dog Day shiraz viognier and the Pagan, a larger than life shiraz made in the Amarone style. All these wines are very much influenced by Marks European experience yet still show the rich fruit forward style of the best McLaren Vale reds.