Petaluma, founded in 1976, crafts ultra-premium wines by carefully selecting the best sites within a particular region suited to a chosen variety. This is our 'distinguished vineyards' philosophy. This pioneering attitude towards responsive and instinctive viticulture and winemaking is as uncompromising and true today as it was more than 35 years ago.

The well known Coonawarra region produces elegant and long lived Cabernet and Merlot wines. To create this Coonawarra blend that is now an iconic Australian red wine and one of the benchmarks for the region, Petaluma employs hand pruning and hand picking coupled with minimal irrigation and low yields.

An 81/15/4% blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and shiraz. The colour is youthful and vibrant, the bouquet is fragrant, the medium to full-bodied palate with first class structure to its beguiling mix of red and black fruits, cedary oak, and fine tannins all carrying through to the finish. Drink to: 2040; Date Tasted: Sept 2013; Alcohol: 14.5%; Rating: 96 Points; James Halliday Wine Companion

As always pairs cabernet sauvignon with merlot. I found a very attractive, fragrant bouquet of red fruits, particularly raspberry, with oak and cedary bottle-age all nicely melded. Peter Bourne agreed, saying "I loved this for its high concentration of fruit and savoury characters. High toned nose with slight mint. Classic blackcurrant, boysenberry and mulberry with a hint of mocha. The palate is opulent and nicely bound by the tannins." The wine is drinking beautifully, yet will develop further over many years, as previous vintages have done." Nick Bulleid MW; Rating: 96 Points; Australian Gourmet Traveller WINE