Elefante 2010 Tempranillo Shiraz

The economic reality is that many other countries can produce good wines more cheaply than we can in Australia. This is a case in point: a terrific savoury quaffing Spanish red blend that won't break the bank. Bright and lively, but also well put together, this is a soft, ripe red with plenty of flavour and excellent balance. It doesn't merit detailed tasting notes - it is a "midweek" wine best enjoyed with family and friends but none the less enjoyable for that. Imported by Fourth Wave Wines. $13.

Tim Adams 2008 Reserve Cabernet Malbec

My wine writing colleague Lester Jesberg has commented that this wine is throwback to the days of the great Leasingham Bin wines of four decades ago. I've never had the pleasure of tasting those wines, but this is certainly a red of remarkable quality and intensity. It's a rich, full-blooded wine, for sure, with co-fermented Clare Valley cabernet sauvignon and malbec dancing a tantalising tongue tango with some new French oak. Expect dark cassis and violet aromas and powerful dark fruit on the palate with impeccable tannin structure. A beautifully constructed wine, like a bodybuilder, tight-knit but flexible, and an absolute bargain for $35. www.timadamswines.com.au. 

Thomas Wines 2010 Sweetwater Shiraz

Andrew Thomas, the "maverick" Hunter Valley winemaker (as he was recently described in Decanter magazine), has just released four absolutely outstanding individual site shirazes from the 2010 vintage, and as his his wines traditionally sell out quickly it would pay to move smartly to secure supply. The DJV ($35) is a lighter, more elegant drink-now style, with the superb Motel Block and long-term Kiss Shiraz both excellent at $50. This, however, was the wine I though offered the best value - a bright and intense very modern Hunter shiraz, silky smooth, long and savoury, approachable but cellar worthy with plenty of weight and structure. Formidably good gear, this: a light-heavyweight that packs a considerable punch. $35. www.thomaswines.com.au  

Mount Horrocks 2011 Riesling

Fragrant, elegant, taut and precise, this is a Clare Valley riesling that is perky and racy in its youth but will comfortably cellar for a decade or more. A backbone of searingly crisp acidity is the key to this wine's appeal, with a floral, sweet talcum pwder aromas leading on to searingly freah lime citrus and mineral/flinty notes notes in a wine of formidable structure. If you like your rieslings fragrant, pristine, bone dry and disciplined you won't go wrong here. $33. www.mounthorrocks.com.

Cullen 2010 Kevin John Chardonnay

For the past four years now, this stunning chardonnay has featured among my wine of the year selections. It's not cheap, but you get what you pay for and this offers quality with a capital Q. Vanya Cullen has the Midas touch with her biodynamically grown fruit, using basket pressing in the winery for a more gentle approach. This comes from a slightly warmer year in Margaret River than the 09 but remains a wine of elegance and complexity. There are the citrus and mineral characters you'd expect to find on the palate, but also oyster shell notes, gentle spices, hints of rich cashew nuts, integrated French oak and structural complexity aided by partial malolactic fermentation. This is a masterpiece of wine architecture - everything is in balance. $105. www.cullenwines.com.au.  

Glaetzer-Dixon 2010 Mon Père Shiraz

This is the Tasmanian wine, made in tiny quantities unfortunately, that shocked the wine world by  winning the Jimmy Watson Trophy at the 2011 Royal Melbourne Wine Show. It’s a  beauty, as you’d expect, classic cool-climate shiraz with bright and spicy red berry/cherry fruit; hints of cloves,  bay leaves and white pepper. It’s an intense wine in the Rhone style, beautifully composed, with herbal earthiness and supple tannins. A triumph from Nick Glaetzer, whose family knows a thing or two about shiraz, but almost impossible to find as demand hugely exceeded supply. $46.

Vasse Felix 2010 Heytesbury Chardonnay

There are some pretty fabulous Australian chardonnays out there at the moment but it is hard to top this one; the flagship white wine of the Holmes a Court family's Margaret River winery. Winemaker Virginia Willcock has been in brilliant form over the past couple of vintages and this is absolutely stunning. Matured in largely new French oak barriques for nine months and given regular lees stirring to add complexity, this is far better than many village Burgundies; stylish with great purity, texture and length. It is a wine that is, quite simply, a thing of beauty, reminiscent of Lionel Messi's Barcelona in full flow. $60. www.vasefelix.com.au.