From the original vines planted in 1969, this cabernet-led blend carries the year's cool, patient growing season through to the glass: black cherry, blackcurrant, cedar and a note of liquorice, with a structured, concentrated palate finishing on a mineral, ironstone edge. It's approachable enough to open tonight with something rich, though it will happily hold for a decade or more. This is the wine for the night you want to make a bit of an occasion of it.

This is Margaret River cabernet doing what it does best: mulberry and cassis up front, a dusting of baking spice and dark chocolate, and a thread of cedary oak with a touch of cabernet franc in the blend for extra lift. Full-bodied but supple rather than heavy-handed, with tannins fine enough to make it worth opening now. A reliable one to keep on hand as the nights draw in.

A cabernet merlot blend with a touch of malbec and cabernet franc for lift, this is plush with plum and sweet cherry and a soft vanilla edge from time in oak. It's the sort of bottle our own team reaches for as a proper midweek red.

Named with a wink at the idea that a "bogan" and a serious Barossa red can't be the same thing, this comes off vines planted in 1899 and the 1960s and doesn't hide from its own richness. Dark plum, blueberry and a whisper of charcuterie sit over full-bodied fruit and soft, well-worn tannins, built for lamb shanks or a slow braise rather than polite sipping.

Fruit comes off a single Eden Valley vineyard planted in 1965, high on the Barossa Ranges at 480 metres, which shows in a wine with more lift and restraint than the valley floor's big, jammy reputation. Expect dark plum and briary spice, a firm, structured frame, and a savoury finish that rewards a decant. Pour it somewhere the room's a little dim and the conversation's slow.

A small splash of viognier co-fermented with the shiraz lifts this into something genuinely perfumed, all violets and red florals over dark cherry and white pepper. The palate is fine-boned rather than heavy, savoury and spiced with a silky finish that doesn't ask you to wait for a special occasion. This is the kind of red that makes sense by a fire with not much else required.