TERRY Connnolly is an old friend of this column. A privateer vintner from deepest Warwickshire, he sells personally selected wines to his faithful flock at tastings held in church halls.

Each season he has a special top of the range wine to titillate their palates. This spring it is a Rhne style block-buster from South Australia's Barossa Valley - Grant Burge's The Holy Trinity 2000 - made from hand-picked grapes from really old dry bush vines; the youngest is certainly more than 50 while the oldest is well over 110 years old! Dry simply means that the vines were not irrigated, a practice that is forbidden in most of Europe, but common in the New World.

True, at £18.74 a bottle he won't be selling that many cases, but as the wine is on allocation he couldn't even if he wanted to!

Crimson red with dark hues, the rich aromas of raspberry and mulberry supported by savoury oak are followed faithfully on the taste buds that run riot with sheer excitement. Here is a wine that cries out with all its heart to accompany a big, well-marbled wing rib of prime Hereford beef, cooked pink and carved not too thinly. Although the wine was launched in this country a couple of years ago at York Minster by the then Archbishop of York, it takes its name from the three grapes from which it is made.

These are the Rhne's Holy Trinity of Grenache (39 per cent), Shiraz (35 per cent) and Mourvdre (26 per cent).

I won't say the finish is eternal, but it's not far short!

As one of Australia's top 10 privately owned wine companies Grant Burge doesn't go in for those up-front "wham, bang, thank you mam" wines that have given the island continent such a bad name. Their wines invariably shine with character.

Terry Connnolly was also showing another of their Barossa Valley wines, Hillcot Merlot 2002 (£10.52), made with 10 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon that gives a gentle rasp of tannin on the decidedly long finish.

Supremely soft, yet packed with ripe plummy fruit, it is a truly serious wine from a family dedicated to the quality end of the spectrum.

Terry works from his farmhouse home near Henley-in-Arden but you can telephone him on 01 926 842439, or e-mail him at tastevin@tiscali.co.uk