Rating: (97-99) points

The Fonseca 2011 is typically more forthcoming on the nose compared to the bashful Croft: a strident bouquet with lifted scents of freshly picked blackberries, kirsch, crushed stone and a dash of Hoi Sin and oyster sauce. It is very well-defined, very focused and direct. The palate is silky smooth with not a rough edge in sight, though not a typically voluptuous Fonseca because of the keen thread of acidity and the structure that lends this mighty Port wonderful backbone. A slight viscosity on the finish lacquers the tongue and indicates a core of sweet fruit is ticking away underneath that will surely explode several years after bottling. A tincture of salted licorice on the aftertaste is very attractive. This will turn out to become an outstanding Fonseca, the growing season taming its exuberance with spectacular results. So much potential, but just 6,000 cases were produced. Tasted May 2013.

Rating: 97 points

The 2016 Vintage Port is a field blend sourced from the typical three quintas (Panascal in the Tavora Valley and Quinta do Cruzeiro and Quinta de St Antonio in the Pinhão Valley). When last seen, this was in fine form. It was aged for 20 months in wood and comes in with 99 grams of residual sugar. Right now, surprisingly, this seems more tightly wound than the Taylor's, which usually seems to me the burlier as between the two. It has beautiful fruit as well, if not quite the wave of big fruit that Taylor's shows off. In 2017, I would say Taylor's wins. In this vintage, it may be Fonseca. However, there are great performances all around.

Rating: 98 points

The 2017 Vintage Port, not quite bottled when originally seen, has now been in bottle for a couple of years. It is a field blend (with typical grapes like Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca) aged for approximately 20 months in used French oak. It comes in with 98 grams of residual sugar. This is a great Fonseca, distinctive, with a touch of eucalyptus and plums, but also loaded with delicious fruit. Like its Taylor's siblings, there is also a fine backbone. I'd say it is a step behind the Taylor's duo this year, but not by much. It will age well, to say the least.

Rating: 97 points

Now with a couple years in bottle, I am erring to the Taylor’s over the Fonseca (although these can always change!) The Taylor’s show more delineation and refinement with pure black currant, cassis, pencil box, hints of marzipan and a hint of dark chocolate. The palate is full-bodied and sumptuous with super-fine tannins, very pure blackberry and boysenberry notes interlaced with cedar, dried fig and a touch of black pepper on the beautifully refined finish. Excellent.

Rating: 96+ points

The 2022 Adrianna Vineyard Malbec Fortuna Terrae is pure, floral, herbal and elegant on the nose, followed by a svelte, soft and richly textured palate enlivened with an increasingly electric core of acidity. It concludes with a solid, vibrant finish framed by refined, discreet tannins, gradually gaining length and dimension with time in the glass. This is a fantastic cornerstone of the upper echelon of Catena Zapata Malbecs and a lovely midpoint between the more lifted and ethereal River and the more sumptuous Mundus Bacillus Terrae bottlings.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2019 was a hard act to follow, but the 2020 Adrianna Vineyard River kept its poise, though it showed a little riper and with grainier tannins that gave it some faint rusticity and earthiness. This is one of three Malbecs from the Adrianna Vineyard in Gualtallary, from a stony part of the vineyard, hence its name. The wine matured in large oak foudres, and the oak is still perceptible and might need a little more time to get integrated. This tends to be the most austere of the three bottlings, even in the warmer years like 2020, and it shows a little more fruit. It's juicy but beautifully textured with a spicy twist of curry that reminded me of some bottlings from El Enemigo in El Cepillo. It seems to open up slowly in the glass—the violet and berry aromas get complicated by some spice (curry?)—and the palate feels more layered. This is a superb expression of the austere wildness of Gualtallary. 5,700 bottles were filled in December 2021.

Rating: 97 points

The 2023 Adrianna Vineyard Chardonnay White Bones leads with its quintessentially lifted, vibrant bouquet of citrus rinds, dried spices, white flowers and fresh herbs, continuously developing additional complexity from its biological aging under flor. The palate combines live-wire focus with ethereal richness and a gently creamy core that runs through its mouthwatering and mineral-drenched finish. A fantastic iteration of the exotic, precise profile readers have come to expect from this pioneering Gualtallary Chardonnay reference point.

Rating: 96 points

It feels like there was a big change in the 2019 Catena Zapata Malbec Argentino, a year with a vibrant palate and very clean and focused aromas and flavors. They fine-tuned the irrigation and viticulture, and that seems to have increased the precision of the wine. They also did a selection and left the grapes from the borders of the vineyard, which were affected by the paths and other stuff. It's still a little more voluptuous than the wines from Gualtallary, as this mixes grapes from Angélica (Lunlunta) and Nicasia (Altamira). It's nicely textured and tasty, medium-bodied and with a vibrant finish. 25,200 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2020.

Rating: 96 points

The vintage released in 2025 is the 2021 Alión, a year to remember, one of the best in recent times. 2021 was relaxed and textbook in all senses, with snow in the beginning of the year, a mild spring disturbed only by frost in Pesquera that didn't affect other villages and a relatively cool summer that slowed things down, and the grapes ripened to perfection without rain after September. They used grapes from 13 different villages throughout the Ribera del Duero, from a total of 130 hectares. The grapes were cooled down for 24 hours, and once destemmed, they were put in the oak and stainless steel vats, where they underwent a five-day cold soak and then native fermentation through a "pied de cuve." The wine has 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.81 and 4.8 grams of acidity (tartaric). It's very fresh and fruit-driven, with the balance and elegance of the cooler year, and it's a little austere, with very elegant and polished tannins and a different quality, when the grapes ripen slowly. They believe 2024 has the potential to be like 2021, after the 2022 and 2023 vintages were a lot more challenging. This is a large production of 244,244 bottles, 7,075 magnums and some larger formats. It was bottled in June 2023.

Rating: 96 points

I retasted the 2015 Cheval des Andes, a blend of 69% Malbec and 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, not that different from the current 2017. In fact, the alcohol levels and acidity are also pretty similar, and the wines have some parallels. This is clearly the ripest and more tannic of the three vintages tasted together—2015, 2016 and 2017—a comparative tasting that shows the evolution of their work beyond the style of the vintage. Having said that, the wines show the character of the year more and more; they are more transparent and reflect the style of the vintage in a more precise way. 57,000 bottles and 1,900 magnums. It was bottled in December 2016.

Rating: 98 points

The 2020 Cheval des Andes was harvested from the last of February for the first time ever. It was Gabillet's second vintage at Cheval des Andes, and that year, he had to start without waiting for Pierre Olivier Clouet and Pierre Lurton from Cheval Blanc; when they arrived, they had finished picking the Malbec, which surprisingly was fresher in Las Compuertas (because of the higher percentage of clay?) than in Altamira (where the vines suffered more stress), saving the freshness. They now harvest using cold trucks (for the first time), and they also started earlier in the morning (six in the morning, impossible earlier in Mendoza...), which he reckons was very good for the precision of the wine. They used 40% 225-liter barrels, 40% 400-liter oak barrels and 20% 2,500-liter foudres, half of them new and with an élevage of 15 months on average, depending on the lots and varieties from 12 to 18 months. The final blend was 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot, which makes a comeback, as it had not been used since 2016. The key was to finish the fermentation of the Petit Verdot without skins, and that way, they have been able to use it in the blends of 2021, 2022 and 2023 in small but increasing percentages.

This is slightly riper than 2019, with a little more alcohol (14.5%) and with very good structural tannins but saving the freshness, and it has the spicy side from the Petit Verdot (Gabillet talks about white pepper). The wine has the ultra sleek and polished texture and the elegance and the balance that is the signature here; the wine is very clean and precise. I see very good regularity across the three vintages I tasted next to each other—this 2020 and the 2018 and 2019. Overall, this is a triumph over the adverse conditions of the vintage. They produced their usual 100,000 bottles (since 2018), as they are renewing their vineyards and want to keep the volume stable. They produce this volume from the 36 productive hectares they have in Las Compuertas and Altamira.

There are some more changes: in 2020, they went for a lighter bottle, weighing 100 grams less than the one they used in 2018 and 2019 but close to 300 grams less than the bottle from before. It's also a slimmer bottle, always thinking about the environment. They are very focused on agroecology, accelerating the regenerative viticulture and using cover crops; they have planted 1,900 trees in the last three years, creating small clusters of biodiversity for birds. They have transplanted some centenary olive trees and keep their sheep and lamas on the property. Very green-minded.

Rating: 97 points

This time there were two vintages of the top-of-the-range red to taste, as the 2014 is almost finished and the 2015 Clos Mogador will be released soon. In this warmer vintage, there is a little more Cariñena in the blend, with the final breakdown something like 45% Garnacha, 29% Cariñena, 16% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. This had the same vinification and aging as the 2014: fermentation with indigenous yeasts and a 35- to 45-day maceration, followed by an élevage in 300-liter barrels and 2,000-liter foudres that lasted 18 months. 2015 is a rounder and easier year than 2014, and it feels a little riper, supple but with good freshness. It's clean and precise with nicely integrated oak. This was an easy vintage for the winery, and the wines are easy to understand and more approachable early on. 31,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2017.

Rating: 97 points

The 2014s, where the production of Napanook was only 2,200 cases and Dominus slightly more than the 2015 at 4,000 cases, was another early harvest, although somewhat later than 2015. The 2014 Dominus, which is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot really struts its stuff. Moueix’s belief in dry farming seems to be paying off with stronger and stronger vintages, each successive year, and the 2014 is a sexy, opulent, layered, multidimensional wine with notes of red and blackcurrant, cedar wood, tobacco leaf , spice box and licorice. The color is a dense plum/ruby/purple, much like the Napanook. This is a beauty that is already drinking gorgeously – as most 2014s are – and will continue to evolve for 25 or so years.

Rating: 100 points

A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot and 8% Cabernet Franc aged in 40% new oak, the 2016 Proprietary Red Wine is deep purple-black in color and quite reticent at this youthful stage to begin, offering up subtle notions of potpourri, Indian spices, cigar box and iron ore over a core of crushed blackberries and black cherries with intermittent wafts of black and red currants, new leather and smoked meats. The palate is medium to full-bodied with a densely packed mid-palate and oodles of freshness framed by very ripe, finely grained tannins and laced with compelling earthy accents. It offers incredible vibrancy with tons of black and red fruit sparkle in the mid-palate leading to a provocative mineral element on the very long finish. If I could give more than 100 for this one, I would. To be released in May 2019.

Rating: 99+ points

Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Dominus slowly emerges from the glass with profound notes of blackcurrant cordial, ripe black plums, boysenberries and Black Forest cake with hints of violets, star anise, cracked black pepper, raspberry leaves and pencil lead, plus a touch of garrigue. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers impactful black fruit layers, creating a beguiling sense of richness that is beautifully countered by invigorating freshness and great poise, framed by super ripe, plush tannins and beautiful tension, finishing on a lingering fragrant earth note and, finally, lots of mineral sparks. For all that it is at the moment, one cannot help but feel that this 2018 is holding something back. Give it a good five years in bottle, at least, and then get set for what I suspect will be a mind-blowing transformation over the next 30 years+.

Rating: 98+ points

The 2021 Dominus is a 3,700-case blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, with 40% of the wine matured in new French oak. Black cherries and cassis lead the way, accented by scents of crushed stone and pencil shavings. It's full-bodied, rich and concentrated, dark and intense, with ample tannins, but those tannins are ripe and well-rounded without being overly soft or creamy, gliding easily into a long, mocha-tinged finish. As a whole, the wine exhibits wonderful balance, even if it will benefit from 5 or 10 years in the cellar.

Rating: 100 points

Deep purple-black in color, the nose of the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon slowly unfurls to reveal a gorgeous perfume of violets and roses over a core of kirsch, boysenberries and cassis, plus hints of redcurrant jelly and menthol, emerging into wafts of pencil lead and truffles. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is built like a brick house, featuring very firm, wonderfully ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness to support the vivacious, tightly wound black and red fruit layers, finishing long and mineral laced. It's a stunning, evocative, singular wine that so beautifully captures the long, slow-maturing grace of the 2019 vintage.

Rating: 96+ points

All Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon starts off with vaguely floral and pronounced leafy notes backed by ripe black cherries and hints of dusty earth. In the mouth, it's medium to full-bodied, expansive and silky in texture, with a long, softly tannic and mocha-tinged finish. It should evolve well for at least two decades.

Rating: 99 points

Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder was aged in French oak barrels for 22 months, 94% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it soars out of the glass with vivacious scents of black cherries, black raspberries and black currant pastilles, followed by nuances of pencil shavings, tilled earth, lilacs and underbrush plus a waft of crushed rocks. The full-bodied palate is taut, packed with muscular, impactful black fruits, featuring a rock-solid backbone of firm, grainy tannins, finishing with a whole firework display of earthy/minerally sparks. Give it a good 4-5 years in bottle and drink it for the next 25+ years. 1,327 cases were made.

Rating: 96+ points

Spottswoode's 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon offers up hints of barrel char and a slightly roasted character, but the fruit itself—cassis and black cherries—is cool, even minty. This vintage is medium to full-bodied, not overly ripe or textural, with an excellent balance of firmness and freshness on the long, grippy finish. Tight and in need of some cellaring, it should evolve nicely for a couple of decades.

Rating: 96 points

Incorporating fully 10% still red wine, Billecart's 2009 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is showing beautifully, delivering fragrant aromas of plums, stone fruits, petals, sweet spices and marzipan. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and elegant, it's seamless and pillowy, with bright acids and a pure, precise profile, concluding with a bright, saline finish. In 2009, it was vinified entirely in stainless steel.

Rating: 96 points

Billecart-Salmon’s 2012 Nicolas François marks the first release since 2008 and stands as another success. The fundamentals remain unchanged: settling and fermentation at low temperatures, a small proportion vinified in oak barrels and partial malolactic fermentation (20% was blocked in 2012). This vintage was characterized by a prolonged flowering period, significant rainfall and mildew pressure, resulting in a small crop. The harvest of fruit, which contributed to this cuvée, took place between September 17 and 22. "It was crucial to select only the ripest fruit, as maturation varied significantly between plots," explains Billecart’s head winemaker, Florent Nys. But what of the wine itself? Disgorged in May 2023 with a dosage of 3.8 grams per liter, it exudes aromas of candied lemon, honeysuckle and ripe peach, mingling with nuances of beeswax and orange zest. On the palate, it is full-bodied, ample and enveloping, boasting a layered, concentrated core, a chalky structure and mouthwatering acidity, despite the warm vintage. It concludes with a persistent, saline finish, hinting at the savory complexity that has emerged with such notable bottle age. Compared to the 2008, which remains tightly coiled, the 2012 is broader-shouldered and more demonstrative.

Rating: 96 points

Disgorged in February 2024 with a dosage of seven grams per liter, Bollinger's 2015 La Grande Année Rosé is showing very well, delivering notes of blood orange, cowberry and brioche mingled with nectarine stone. Medium- to full-bodied, the palate is muscular yet racy, with a crisp core of fruit animated by a pillowy mousse and framed by structuring extract that leads into a long, saline finish. Whereas many large-house rosés today tend to exhibit a cloying mid-palate sweetness, this cuvée avoids the trap and comes warmly recommended.

Rating: 98 points

The real surprise among Krug’s 1996s is the 1996 Vintage, which is drinking beautifully, even among this rarified air of single-vineyard Champagnes. The 1996 Vintage is explosive and creamy, with just the right balance of power, richness and freshness. The mousse is perhaps just a touch less refined than in the 1996 Clos du Mesnil and Clos d’Ambonnay, but it is also perfectly measured with the wine’s exuberant personality. This multi-dimensional, textured Champagne is at the early part of its drinking window and promises to deliver an incredible drinking experience over the coming decades. The take-away from this flight of 1996s from Krug is simple. Although the 1996 Vintage can’t possibly be described as inexpensive, it shows exceptionally well next to its much more expensive brethren and clearly delivers a similar level of quality. Readers who have the opportunity to pick up this wine should not hesitate. It is a gem. No disgorgement date provided. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2036.

My tasting this year with Olivier Krug was fascinating as I had the rare opportunity to taste all of the house’s 1996’s side by side, a comparison that yielded very interesting results.

Rating: 96+ points

The finest rendition since 2013, the 2016 Cristal has turned out beautifully. A vintage that Lecaillon describes as “difficult in the vineyards but beautiful in the cellar,” it had suffered slightly in reputation due to the gloomy mood during the challenging growing season, but the results are indeed impressive. The fifth edition produced entirely from organically farmed and certified fruit, and heavily based on Pinot Noir, the 2016 represents the contemporary quality of Cristal, combining the concentration of 2002 with the precision and cut of 2013. Disgorged in July 2024 with a dosage of seven grams per liter, it opens in the glass to reveal a bouquet of lemon zest, white flowers and peeled almond, framed by youthful reduction. On the palate, it is bright and electric, with a pure core of fruit, pinpoint mousse and a textural attack, concluding with a long, saline finish. Drink it alongside the 2015, and it will illuminate its clarity and integration.

Rating: 97 points

Roederer's 2014 Cristal Rosé has turned out beautifully, unwinding in the glass with aromas of sweet cherries, almonds, citrus fruit and red berries mingled with notions of white flowers and wet chalk. Full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with a layered core of fruit and a pillowy mousse, it's deep, racy and electric, concluding with a long, mineral finish. Comparatively open out of the gates, it's no slight to the 2014's seriousness to say that it will drink well while its 2013 counterpart sleeps in the cellar. Deriving from just a handful of the over 39 blocks that inform the regular Cristal 2014, I suspect that its origins have even more to do with the extra dimension it possesses above and beyond its white counterpart than the subtle infusion of Pinot Noir phenolics that give it its delicate pink hue.

Rating: 99 points

This bottle of the 1996 Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil Brut was drinking superbly and represents the apotheosis of Blanc de Blancs, unfurling over the course of three hours with a stunningly complex bouquet of citrus oil, confit lemon, dried white flowers and oyster shell, with hints of praline and pastry cream becoming more pronounced as the wine opens up in the glass. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, defined by the incisive spine so typical of the vintage that, here, is cloaked in layers of crisp fleshy and chalky extract. The finish is long, penetrating and saline. Unfortunately, since the 1996 Salon has been traded so zealously over the last decade, finding a bottle that hasn't travelled too far can be a challenge. But from a perfectly stored bottle, this is just the beginning.

Rating: 96+ points

Taittinger’s 2013 Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne, disgorged in December 2023 with a dosage of nine grams per liter, is well worth seeking out. Derived from a long, slow ripening season marked by cool nights and an October harvest, it is slightly less acid-driven and a touch fleshier than the 2008, offering up a deep bouquet of nashi pear, lemon confit, freshly baked bread, almond paste and a gentle smoky reduction edge. On the palate, it is full-bodied and incisive, with a concentrated core of fruit, bright acids and considerable tension, culminating in a persistent, saline finish. While already indicative of its potential, its best days are still ahead, and it should continue to improve over the next two decades or more. Choosing a favorite between the 2013 and 2014 will be difficult, as both are strong editions of Comtes.

Rating: 96 points

Occupying a stylistic middle ground between the incisiveness of the 2013 and the fleshier textures of the 2012, Taittinger’s 2014 Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne—disgorged in July 2024 with a dosage of nine grams per liter—has turned out beautifully. It offers aromas of orange peel, peach, pear and brioche mingled with hazelnut and burnt buttered toast. On the palate, it is full-bodied, ample and textural, with a layered yet crisp core of fruit, considerable tension and a long, chalky finish. Harmonious and racy-fresh though it is, this is a marginally richer rendition than the 2013 tasted alongside it, yet both promise excellent longevity and will make for fascinating comparative tastings in the years to come.

Rating: 96+ points

Here, the start of a very diverse but magnificent trip of vintages begins. 2021 was not only an excellent season in terms of benevolent weather at all the right times, healthy flowering, yields, growing season conditions and harvest, but also a reprieve from the three years preceding it that were defined by warmth, dryness and low yields. 2022 was the slightly cooler, slightly wetter pigeon pair to 2021, and it produced wines of eminent silkiness and approachability, which was followed by 2023. It was cool and wet and perhaps challenging for some, but from a wine-quality perspective on this observational side of the fence, it was superb. So here, the 2021 Grenache is everything we expect from the season: balanced, placid, powerfully structured, supple and long through the finish. It is a baby, and while many bottles of this great vintage will have already been enjoyed, it is undoubtedly one of the pedigree vintages that will continue to improve over the coming decades. This is the lowest labeled alcohol reading of any Bekkers Grenache produced yet, at 14% alcohol. Sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

This 2019 Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz is black and a little reductive on the nose but layered with blackcurrant pastille, cassis, raspberry, blueberry and graphite. The palate is largely black in character as well, with all manner of exotic spice wrought by finely held texture. It has sweet paprika tannins, with sumac, pink peppercorn and wet asphalt. This is a super wine. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

The 2024 Intrigue Pinot Noir is a blend of eight clones from the Isle vineyard, and the wine is picked and handled as individual parcels, then blended for the final wine. In the glass, the wine is reductive and exotic, with licorice, curry leaf, clove, sage and bay leaf as well. The wine is silky and pliable, and the length through the finish is impressive. This is a complex, layered wine, imbued with and shaped by fine tannins that linger through the long finish. While winemaker Jim Chatto describes this wine as a "show off," I would counter that by saying the wine is svelte and polished, although it has flashy attributes. It's an excellent wine. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97+ points

The inky, tannic 2016 Astralis Syrah will no doubt need some time before it reaches its apogee. Right now, it only hints at that potential. Appetizing scents of roasted meat and cinnamon toast meet red raspberries and black cherries on the nose, while the medium to full-bodied palate is densely concentrated and richly textured but closed, locked up by firm, dusty tannins that bar the lengthy finish from expanding and being truly expressive. I'm tempted to say buyers should check in on the wine in five years, but that may not be enough time. If you absolutely must check it out now, taste it repeatedly over the course of a full evening to catch glimpses of espresso, black olives and delicate herbal nuances.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2017 Astralis Syrah is a very fine wine. It is not a big wine. Perhaps its reputation for being a big, extracted wine is a misnomer these days. It has intention and drive and clarity and length—and the length of flavor is so long that it allows reassessment over and over again. It has cassis and blackberry, raspberry pip and salted licorice. It is perfumed and balanced, and it takes time to develop. Unctuous. Satisfying. Supple. Attractive. Beautiful. Eminently balanced. A beauty.

Rating: 98 points

The 2020 Onkaparinga Syrah is exotic and riddled with roast meats, black olive, graphite, iodine, minerality, Sichuan and pink peppercorns. Superb. Christ. How this will make it through the gauntlet of cellar raids and make it into old age, I don’t know. Magical.

Rating: 96 points

This wine comes from a single vineyard, with 25-year-old vines. Very pretty nose! The 2020 Liandra Syrah shows hints of bergamot and black tea, floral and fennel spice. This is a gorgeous wine—supple, excellent. I love the tannins, which are pliable and flexible. This is the Eden Valley Shiraz of McLaren Vale: mineral, dark and thrilling. It is stylistically quite different from the other Clarendon Hills wines, and I love it for that.

Rating: 98 points

The 2020 Romas Grenache is resplendent with fresh oregano, red apple skins and Sichuan peppercorn. This has intensity and line and concentration and is mouthfilling and supple. It's a kaleidoscopic, powerful, restrained wine. It has coiled power and presence, crushed rocks, Chinese five spice and brine. The tannins are omnipresent, silty, flooding the palate. Seductive. It's impossible to overstate the pleasure here. A wine of structure and density with lightness and life, too. We’re discussing the lifetime of these wines, and the 15-year mark is where Alex and Roman agree that the time for primary fruit recedes and it morphs into its older self. So, given that I enjoy primary fruit in all wine, this is where I set the window—of course, they will live beyond this. Magic.

Rating: 96 points

The 2005 Diana Madeline is laden with cocoa and pan drippings, pressed rose petals, bay leaf and tobacco. The wine is tertiary and yet fresh, with layers of cassis and dark chocolate amid the ironstone tannins. Older Margaret River Cabernets tend to show pronounced leafiness, and this is no exception. It holds a freshness that I find to be most attractive. 14% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 98 points

The 2018 Diana Madeline hails from a sensational vintage in Margaret River. Along with 2023, it may be one of the very best—certainly the former has achieved this status already. The season was warm and dry, and crucially, the marri blossoms were abundant this year, meaning the Silvereyes—the local and viticulturally pesky birds—found their appetites sated without the need of grapes, which was a blessing for producers. For the first time, the fruit is quietly beginning to recede into the tannins (tertiary notes of cocoa, leather and dried bay leaf are emerging), and this is impressive, as it has taken nearly eight years from its harvest for this tertiary creep to start. "Finally!" we say. Even the 2020 tasted alongside is showing more fruit recession than this wine, showing the elite nature of the season. Whatever it is, it remains a great wine, one that will stand the test of time. 13.6% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

According to the technical data supplied by Cullen Wines, the 2018 Diana Madeline was harvested over the fruit and flower days of the biodynamic calendar, including one full moon fruit day for the Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The grapes were taken to tank, barrel and some amphorae for fermentation. Here, they were fermented naturally without yeast or malolactic additions and with no adjustment to flavor outside a small sulfur dioxide addition. The wine spent 14 to 27 days on the skins before being gently basket pressed to barrel. The varietal blend is 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec.

Rating: 96 points

The 2019 Diana Madeline hails from a modest, cool, vintage, which produced wines across the board steeped in detail, perfume and nuance. Incidentally, 2019 was the first vintage of the Diana Madeline to include the amphora in the fermentation vessels (purchased in 2015), and one has to wonder whether or not this contributes to the poise of the wine. Aromas of licorice, blueberry, cassis and leather, raw cocoa, asphalt, aniseed and fennel seeds appear on the nose. In the mouth, the wine is shaped by ferruginous tannins, and chalk and grip abound. It's a long wine that presents a gracious view of this lovely vintage. The blend this vintage is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The 2022 Diana Madeline is a succulent, powerful, muscular iteration of this vineyard, in what was a warm and excellent season in Margaret River. Raspberry, cocoa nib, iodine, licorice/aniseed, kelp and a burst of fresh ocean air. This is a spectacular wine; it straddles the divide of warm season/ripe fruit yet retains some characteristics of cooler season/nuanced spice. The blend is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec that matured for 14 months in 55% new French oak. 13.3% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

I remember judging at a major wine show in Western Australia in 2016 and seeing a very large bracket of Western Australian Chardonnays from the 2015 vintage. I was staggered but the power and concentration of them as a group, and it is an impression that has left an indelible mark upon my assessment of the vintage since then. This 2015 Kevin John Chardonnay has penetrating acidity that spears through the heart of the opulent fruit in the mouth, with yellow peach and singed mango in abundance. The spice register carries across from ginger, cardamom, saffron and pepper, making for an altogether savory, nutty style of wine. 2015 had a bit of the magic swirling about it, and while most of the Chardonnays produced in the season in Margaret River are concentrated, some are extra elevated above the pack. This is one of those. For those interested, the wine has a pH of 3.5, total acidity of 8.0 grams and 13.7% alcohol. Sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 98 points

The 2018 vintage in Margaret River was a freak vintage, which produced wines of the same description. Warm without being hot, rain at all the right times and never the wrong, abundant marri blossoms (which kept the hungry birds at bay) and natural acids that were preserved due to the cooler evenings. It is simple to write off the vintage as being warm, which, in comparison to the cooler vintages 2017 and 2019 on either side, it was. However, other aspects came together in 2018 to create something really special, the likes of which Margaret River had not previously seen and hasn't quite seen yet since. The 2018 Kevin John Chardonnay is detailed and nuanced, floral and yet spicy, fruity and powerful yet long and restrained through the finish. The wines were magnificent on release, and they continue, as this continues, to be slow-aging, graceful and with a long future ahead. May we all be so fortunate. 13.6% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The stunning 2015 Red Queen of the Eden Valley Shiraz combines awesome complexity with ample weight, power and concentration. From Shiraz vines planted in 1912, this wine includes a hefty 40% whole bunches, was naturally fermented and aged two and a half years in 50% new French oak. The resulting wine is medium to full-bodied, with ripe but firm tannins that frame intense blueberry and boysenberry fruit. Hints of oaky spice and cracked pepper plus floral and herbal notes all come together on the finish, making for a dizzying array of flavors that seem to almost grow in intensity over time.

Rating: 97 points

The 2014 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is famously dripping in gold medals, after winning the Jimmy Watson Memorial trophy and a swag of other trophies and golds across Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Western Australia wine shows. It's clear why it did so well. Lashings of dark chocolate, cocoa, cassis, dark forest berries, tobacco, tapenade, exotic spice and brine greet the bouquet, and the palate is imbued with wall-to-wall tannin and muscular fruit. This is full bodied, powerfully structured and thrusty, with persistent, consistent fruit for days. Impressive. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96+ points

2016 in Margaret River was hot and lower yielding, with good density of fruit flavors. It is a vintage that can be defined by its firm, abundant tannins and powerful fruit. In this 2016 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, the majority component comes from the Abbey Vale block. The Deep Woods Block 3 was changed from spur pruning to cane pruning after the 2014 vintage, and it wasn't until the 2018 vintage that the effects of this were overtly evident. The temperature regulation of the barrel hall (introduced in 2014) in a warm vintage like this is hugely beneficial. Here, in this 2016 vintage, the Abbey Vale sits proudly on the nose, while the palate is intensely tannic and shapely. The fruit shows dark brooding characters—blood plum, raspberry and licorice. With a gorgeous mid-palate through finish, this is where this fruit is able to distinguish itself from the tannins and the flavors linger beyond. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96+ points

I have tasted the 2019 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon blind, on several occasions, without knowing it was to be included in the lineup. It performed in a most impressive way on each of those occasions, and only once did I pick it as being from Margaret River. Whether that's a good thing or not, or even relevant, is up to you. However, the density of tannin and fruit in the mouth, sculpted as it is by high-class French oak, speaks more of quality Bordeaux or Napa. Yet, once the origins of this wine become clear, the fruit shines with the obvious red/purple fruit spectrum endemic in the Houghton clones (particularly in Wilyabrup, in this part of Margaret River). There are notes of nori, sun-dried kelp, raspberry, pomegranate, tobacco leaf, freshly turned earth, ironstone/iodine, pencil shavings and cigar box. It is both classical and modern in one fell swoop. This is a super wine. I love the tannins through the middle palate and finish. This will live an age. Easily the greatest Cabernet made at Fermoy Estate so far. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The 2023 Smith Cullam Syrah is a bloody, seamless, grainy, effortless feeling Shiraz wine from Frankland River. The tannins are sensational: chewy and yet ultra fine, all crushed rocks, gravel, ironstone and ferrous notes. This has flowers and exotic spice in profusion and is a masterclass is sophistication. Very young right now, this is already irresistibly fine and succulent. It is saturated in flavor yet contained and lean. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 100 points

Having tasted five bottles of this remarkable wine over the past year (most of them mine), I can confirm that it is evolving and changing with time in the bottle, but each time I taste it, I am amazed by its ability to highlight parts of the wine I may not have focused on the last time I tasted it. Twice this week, the 2021 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay has spoken first of its reduction and flint: it is bony and austere and taut, and I mean this in the best of ways. It speaks of its architecture currently, over its fruit. Yet it is propelled by the fruit. Giaconda manages focus and precision alongside its famous reduction, and this is what separates it from other producers in the country. It may be easy to can the reduction if it's not your preferred quality in Chardonnay, but the fruit and phenolic focus of the wine is untouchable. This is inimitable. I'm running out of bottles to taste, but I've loved every single one so far.

Rating: 98 points

The 2022 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay follows hot on the heels of the perfect 2021 release, and in doing so, it has big boots to fill. Aromatically, the wine leads, as all Giaconda Chardonnay's do, with white flowers and notions of campfire and charred gum leaves, cracked white peppercorns and white peach, salt and caper brine. Crushed and salted nuts, enoki mushroom, shaved fennel, torched pink grapefruit ... the cavalcade of flavors march on across the palate. In this season, the wine is altogether more quietly nuanced and placid than the sleek, powerfully focused 2021 vintage. However, in so saying, this wine is balanced and fine, somewhat less overtly reductive (although still imbued with that salivating characteristic), populated by softer-spoken fruit and yet no less sapid or palate staining. It is in the mouth that the pedigree of the wine comes to the fore. The chalky texture and the penetrating intensity of flavor in combination are what make this wine so great, as I see it, and the 2022 vintage provides a gentle framework within which the wine exists. This is a gorgeous, elegant, precise and detailed release of this magnificent wine. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 98+ points

The 2023 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay leads with an abundance of smoky, nutty, savory reduction. Here, the 2023 feels less exotic and softly spoken than the 2022 tasted alongside, with the 2023 showing more tension and focus. Neither has the extraordinary, otherworldly character of the 2021, also tasted alongside, yet the differences between the three is almost as exciting as having three vintages of Giaconda Chardonnay open at the same time. The 2023 only gets better the longer it is opened, revealing white peach, curry leaf, pink grapefruit acidity, blood orange, coffee grounds, graphite and mustard seeds. What a wine. The sheer intensity of flavor here is astonishing—it penetrates the palate and soars long into the memory. Far from pinching the finish, the reduction provokes a physical response, one that requires more drinking to satiate. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

I recently tasted this wine blind in Burgundy (2022 vintage), and while the wine was immediately recognizable to me, it really showed the specific personality of reduction at this estate, as compared to the others tasted that evening. The comparison was fascinating, in that Giaconda was revealed to be very savory, backed by voluminous, exotic fruit, while the other wines showed more verdancy to their fruit profiles, which in turn influenced the reduction. Fascinating and valuable.

I also tasted this wine as its component parts when I visited the estate in January 2024, and seeing each of the barrels as individuals and then now witnessing the holistic conglomeration of them is very cool. The wine makes more sense to me, and it's infinitely more kaleidoscopic.

Rating: 96 points

The 2024 Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir leads with its whole-bunch characters: scraped orange skin, chinotto, bitter clove, dark chocolate and star anise. In the mouth, the whole bunches serve to dry out the wine and compound the tannins, but what it does there, it balances by also contributing spice and capaciousness. In the end, this component pales in comparison to the flow of seamless fruit, which makes a significant impact. This is a powerful, lingering wine of great length and complexity. Time will smooth out the bunching tannins through the finish no doubt. 13.3% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

Deep garnet in color, the 2005 Amon-Ra displays aromas of pure black currant cordial, dark chocolate, violets and toast with a hint of raw meat and touch of Indian spices. Full-bodied with a taut and muscular frame defined by firm grainy tannins, it is still very youthful and offers fresh, crisp acid that retains nice vibrancy through the long finish. Drink it now until 2020+.

Rating: (94-97) points

The 2006 Shiraz (75%) – Cabernet Sauvignon (25%) “Anaperenna” is the wine formerly known as Godolphin, the change resulting from a trademark dispute. It was aged for 15 months in new French and American oak. Opaque purple, it offers a sensational bouquet of pain grille, scorched earth, meat, game, blueberry, and black currants. This is followed by a surprisingly elegant yet powerful, structured wine with gobs of spicy fruit, ripe tannins, and a plush texture. The long, 60-second finish is succulent and sweet. Give this classy wine 4-6 years in the cellar and enjoy it through 2030. Hats off to Ben Glaetzer for producing an extraordinary portfolio!

The renowned winemaker, Ben Glaetzer, sources all of his fruit for this label from the Ebenezer district in the northern Barossa. Many knowledgeable experts cite this sub-region as the finest in the Valley.

Rating: 97 points

The 2008 Hill of Grace Shiraz is just looking so svelte and fine. The wine is elegant and spicy and super fine, and it leads with fresh leather and star anise, bay leaf, tobacco, curry leaf, cocoa and peppercorns that all twist and swirl through the bouquet. In the mouth, the tannins have evolved to a state of pure repose—seamless and fine, they flow and carry the Satsuma plum fruit along with it. This 2008 makes a very strong case for cellaring your wine for some time prior to drinking it. If you have the means, I would recommend buying some of this vintage (maybe solo, maybe with friends) and drinking a bottle. Experience the evolution of tannin and fruit. It's a wonder. It's a lovely wine, re-released into the wild. Lucky us. This has decades to go. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under Vinolok.

2008 experienced a heat wave in the fall (March 3-15), but thankfully most of the fruit for this wine was off by the time the heat became a problem.

Rating: 97+ points

Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, the nose on the 2009 Hill of Grace is a little closed, though it reveals notes of warm black plums, blackberry coulis and cloves with subtle nuances of dried Provence herbs, forest floor and lavender. Medium to full-bodied, it possesses layers of medium to full-bodied black fruit and earth-laced flesh elegantly structured by a medium to firm level of finely grained tannins, nicely balanced acid and a long finish. Drink it now to 2026+.

Rating: 99 points

The 2022 Hill of Grace Shiraz leads with dark fruit and an abundance of exotic spice to match. The tannins are profuse here, quite distinct from the Hill of Roses tasted alongside. Star anise, cloves, cinnamon (cassia), fennel seeds and Sichuan pepper weave in and out of the blackberry, blueberry, crushed quartz/ferrous undertones. There's a sweet rolling-tobacco character that is highly attractive and lingers through the finish. I love the 2022 vintage. It is fresh and detailed. It may forever live in the shadow of the great 2021 vintage, but not for me—I believe firmly this is a sleeper vintage and will reveal its longevity given time. The allure of it now is not in question, either.

According to Henschke: "Hill of Grace is produced from pre-phylloxera material brought from Europe in the mid-1800s. The original vines were planted around 1860 by ancestor Nicolaus Stanitzki, in rich alluvial soil in a shallow fertile valley just northwest of the Henschke family winery. The vineyard comprises red-brown earth grading to deep silty loam and has excellent moisture-holding capacity for these old Shiraz vines. Hill of Grace is a unique, delineated, historic site that lies opposite a beautiful old Lutheran church, which is named after a region in Silesia known as Gnadenberg, translating to 'Hill of Grace.'" This was not produced in 1960, 1974, 2000 and 2011. AUD RRP $1,100.

Rating: 97 points

In 1986, a mass selection from the grandfather vines was taken and planted in the Mount Edelstone vineyard. As a result of this, the Henschke's decided to plant to the post office block—right next door to the Hill of Grace vineyard. This was in 1989, and it has given them the opportunity to assess at what point the vines move from young vine to established vines. The most obvious young-vine characteristic, to my palate, is the register of fruit: this 2021 Hill of Roses Shiraz is eminently red-fruited, while the Hill of Grace is black and blue. Another is the tannins, which don't serve to carry the fruit as far through the finish here as they do in the Hill of Grace. Still silty and ultra-fine, they provide pliable structure and chew through the finish. This has notes of pressed garden rose, ozone and wet asphalt. It's a beautiful wine, fresh and vibrant. The vines were 32 years old at the time of the single-pass harvest in 2021. This is excellent. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 98 points

The 2022 Hill of Roses Shiraz is eminently red-fruited, and this really aligns with my previous perceptions of this wine. While the Hill of Roses comes from "young vines" (planted in 1989) from the Hill of Grace vineyard (the oldest plantings date back to the mid-1800s), each year the vines grow more, and the wine becomes darker, more powerful and more intense. However, it still retains its red-fruited heart throughout all the versions of climate and vintage. This is lighter, fresher and fluffier than the Hill of Grace Shiraz, and the tannins are "easier" somehow. The tannins of the Hill of Grace wine are dense—although fine—and feel more abundant. There will come a time when the vines reach a level of maturity that the expression of this wine begins to merge in character with the Hill of Grace. That will be an interesting day.

According to Henschke: "Hill of Roses is produced from a mass selection from the 'Grandfather Vines' in the Hill of Grace vineyard, planted as a nursery block in 1989 by Prue Henschke. The planting is known as the 'Post Office Block,' after the historic Parrot Hill Post Office ruins overlooking the vineyard. These vines were a mere 12 years old when the wine was first produced in 2001, and while the vines are too young to be considered for inclusion in Hill of Grace, the quality of fruit from this selection has produced a wine that warrants a separate bottling and limited release." This was not produced in 2003, 2011, 2014, 2019 and 2020. AUD RRP $495.

Rating: 97 points

The 2021 Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shiraz was planted in 1912 and was 16 hectares from own-rooted, pre-phylloxera James Busby vine stock. The first Mount Edelstone wine was produced in 1952, from 40-year-old vines. The success of the Mount Edelstone was the inspiration for the Hill of Grace single-vineyard wine to be produced from the 1958 vintage. The Mount Edelstone vineyard is planted at 400 meters in elevation and has an easterly aspect trellised to the Scott Henry system, capturing the morning sun and avoiding the hot afternoon sun. The wine is velvety and layered with raw cocoa tannins, black pepper, Sichuan pepper, raspberry and blood plum. This has all the concentration and intensity that we know and love of Mount Edelstone; it speaks clearly to Eden Valley as a place, with notes of sage, bay, crushed rocks and a cool minerality that drives it through the long finish. This is a superb wine. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 98 points

The 2022 Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shiraz is bright, supple, spicy, savory and sweet. It is complex and shapely, persistent and delicate, with notes of bay leaf, raspberry seed, tapenade, wet moss and brine. This is a beautiful wine, and one of the most lovely Mount Edelstone Vineyard Shirazes I have tasted on release. I love the wines from the 2022 vintage; it may forever live in the shadow of the great 2021 vintage that came before it, but not in my heart. It has a pH of 3.43, 5.8 grams per liter of total acidity and 14.5% alcohol.

According to Henschke: "The winter of 2021 brought good rainfall, refilling soil profiles, and the cool, slow start to the growing season resulted in budburst occurring two weeks later than average. An extreme hail event on October 28 decimated the young-shoot growth across our vineyards in Keyneton, significantly reducing crop potential. Late flowering (late November to early December) avoided the cold and windy conditions, resulting in good fruit set, albeit with smaller yields. A burst of summer heat, without extremes, supported berry development and balanced canopy growth. Welcome rain in late January occurred just before veraison and ripening, leading into a mild and dry finish to summer. The 2022 vintage was late, with harvest dates one to two weeks later than the historical average. The resulting wines have great elegance with excellent aromatic and flavor intensity, bright acidity and wonderful aging potential.

Mount Edelstone has been crafted by the Henschke family for over 70 years and is one of the longest consecutively produced single-vineyard wines in Australia. Planted in 1912 by Ronald Angas, a descendant of George Fife Angas who played a significant role in the foundation of South Australia, the Mount Edelstone Vineyard comprises solely of Shiraz, which was unusual for its time. The unique geological make up of deep red-brown clay-loam to clay results in low yields from the ungrafted centenarian vines. First bottled as a single-vineyard wine in 1952 by fourth-generation winemaker Cyril Henschke."

Rating: 96 points

The 2022 The Wheelwright Single Vineyard Shiraz is highly perfumed with purple flowers and lifted spice. This is loaded with pomegranate, raspberry, red licorice, pink peppercorn (in that attractive citrussy way that pink peppercorns can bring) and green olive tapenade. This is structural and yet juicy, savory (tannins) but sweet (fruit) and incredibly persistent and lingering. This offers immense pleasure now, but it will, like all the Henschke wines, evolve positively in the cellar for decades to come. The 2022 vintage brings such delicacy and freshness to this wine. I love it.

According to Henschke: "The Wheelwright Shiraz expands on Cyril's legacy and his belief in the outstanding quality of Eden Valley Shiraz. On the winery's centenary in 1968, Cyril planted a small Shiraz vineyard in the cooler part of the Mount Lofty Ranges, in the central Eden Valley. It first became a source of Shiraz for his 'Claret' style wines, and decades of patience have allowed these vines to develop their own fascinating character and complexity. As the vines approached 50 years of age in 2018, Stephen and Prue released the first vintage of this wine from the 2015 season to commemorate 150 years of Henschke family winemaking and pay tribute to founder Johann Christian Henschke." AUD RRP $165.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2022 Spring Farm Block 74 Cabernet leads with a bouquet that can only be described as spicy, sophisticated and supple. The wine is from the Spring Farm vineyard, and this block 74 is at 485 meters in elevation, planted to a westerly aspect that catches the afternoon sun. For all the intensity of the aromas, the palate is finer and more detailed than expected—it moves toward "delicate" with unnerving grace, and like a fleet-footed assassin, it sails across the palate with almost weightless impact. This is leafy and fine in the vein of great Clare Valley Cabernet, and it has the added benefit of seamless oak framing. It's a great wine. 13.9% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

The 2021 Spring Farm Block 81 Malbec leads with chocolate box and pomegranate, wilted garden rose, raspberry and pink peppercorns. Dried mint and shaved fennel complete the bouquet. In the mouth, the wine is ferrous, bloody and dry, with a splay of tannin that shapes the fruit through the middle palate and finish. This is a superb rendition of Malbec. It is succulent and chewy. Tasting it alongside the Spring Farm Cabernet, one can't help but wonder at the magic that could have been possible with a blend of the two. Sealed under screw cap.

Very little of this wine was bottled—just 600 liters. This is the Malbec that contributed to the 2021 Clarevale, and what was "left over" was bottled as this single-variety cuvée.

Rating: 97+ points

I once tasted through a vertical of The Armagh Shiraz with Tom and Sam Barry, and it was as illuminating as it was enjoyable. I still think about that day when I taste current-release Armaghs, as I learned something vital about my own approach to the wine during that tasting. In a nutshell, the winemaking has never been better or more precise than it is under Tom Barry's direction. The wines across the board have better clarity and precision than ever before, and the construction takes a back seat to the vineyard in almost all cases, which is the highest form of compliment I can think to give to any winemaker. In the case of The Armagh Shiraz, the early wines were matured in American oak and sealed under cork. Closure willing, great bottles of these old wines are great experiences, and I feel no shortage of nostalgia when I drink them. The wines of the current day are sealed under screw cap and matured in French oak, and the wine has never been better, fresher, nor more sophisticated. As the nostalgic shackles of the past are removed bit by bit each vintage, the incremental improvements to viticulture and winemaking are exposed, and so through the "loss" of one aspect, the gain of another is had.

And so, to the wine. Here, the 2022 The Armagh Shiraz is a product of the cooler, wetter vintage in 2022 than was experienced in the great 2021 before it. The wine is detailed and fresh, with rose petals and earth, hung deli meat and ironstone, star anise, clove and dark chocolate. The wine retains the DNA of those early wines in its expression of brown/purple fruit, warm baking spices and roasted meat, yet the lift and vibrancy of the new-guard thinking is subtly overlaid. This is a tremendous release, perhaps slightly lighter than the deep 2021 and with greater edge and complexity. It is excellent. The lessons learned in the cool and wet 2017 vintage were aptly applied in 2022 via shoot thinning and green harvesting. The fermentation and oak vessels were similarly adapted this year to suit the season. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

A new offering that I have never tasted before is the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon The Benbournie, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 14 months in French oak. This spectacular effort admirably demonstrates what can be achieved in Clare Valley with Cabernet. (See the wines of Kilikanoon as well.) Gorgeous peppery, minty, black currant, and flowery scents jump from the glass of this inky/purple-hued wine. Full-bodied, powerful, intense, and rich, with notes of roasted meats, dried herbs, and spice, good purity, and a sensational finish, it is accessible now, and should drink well for 15-20 years.

Rating: 96 points

From a vineyard planted by Charles Angas in the 1890s, Langmeil's 2018 Pure Eden Shiraz is a knockout. Lifted, slightly herbal notes (mint, sage, bay leaf) lead the way, quickly joined by notes of blueberries and blackberries. There's a bit of vanilla too, as about one-third of the wine went into new French oak (the balance went into used barrels). Full-bodied, concentrated and intense on the palate, framed by softly dusty tannins and with a long, long finish, it's a terrific example of Eden Valley Shiraz that should age well for up to two decades.

Rating: 96 points

The 2012 vintage in Margaret River was classical and fine; many producers made excellent quality wines in this vintage, and for me, the reds are defined by a ripeness of tannin, which is fully resolved in every regard. Here, the 2012 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is layered with cocoa nib, coffee grounds, sage, cassis, blackberry, mulberry, summer raspberry and dried curry leaf. In the mouth, it exudes polish and tannin ... a graceful, almost effortless wine. Sensational.

Rating: 97 points

I am well documented for loving the warm 2014 Cabernet vintage in Margaret River. So much so, that last year I put out a call in the region to taste all of the Cabernet wines from that season. What I learned that day has continued to reverberate in my mind ever since, and I now see that the region has been pulsing—ebbing and flowing, or expanding and contracting—in its stylistic bounds of Cabernet, and 2014 was a pivotal moment in time that showed us the drinkers, and perhaps even the producers themselves, what the limits of Cabernet could possibly be in this region. The 2014 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is red-fruited and effortless-feeling, with an abundance of berries and raspberries, nori and kelp, iodine and crushed shells. It has saline acidity woven throughout, and the fruit possesses a velvety sheen—like the skin of a ripe peach—which plays out across the length of the palate. I like the wine so much, and feel it is one of the best Cabernets produced in the 2014 vintage in Margaret River. The freshness of it is its enduring asset.

Rating: 96 points

The 2016 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is a fierce wine with layers of tannins, yet the fruit manages to be supple and fresh on the mid-palate. It's leafy and brooding and dark, with cassis, resin, tar and star anise, hints of blackberry and tobacco and a mineral skeleton of fine tannins; it feels of the earth and place. There's nice clarity too. It is fresh, in its way, and certainly has a very long road ahead of it. Sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2018 vintage in Margaret River was perhaps the best vintage in the modern commercial history of the region (i.e., since 1967). Most producers made their best wines in this year, and despite a string of extremely high-quality vintages that followed (2019 - cool, aromatic; 2020 - moderate to warm, great power and tannin structure; 2022 - too early to tell but whispers abound that it rivals 2018, certainly a warm year), it remains a standalone vintage in its outlay of powerful fruit and shape. The 2018 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon is the best made at the estate, and I say that ahead of my favored 2014 and 2012 vintages.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2022 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon hails from a warm and dry vintage in Margaret River, one that is showing to be a very high-quality Cabernet vintage. The palate shows a pure core of raspberry and blood orange, nori and raw cocoa, even chinotto-esque in its leanings, with bramble and forest floor, graphite and cracked fennel seed. This is a velvety, tightly controlled, compact and excellent wine. The oak shows ever so slightly on the nose, in the form of malt biscuit and aniseed. This will be quickly subsumed by the fruit in a short time. The wine will be released April/May 2025.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2019 Art Series Chardonnay is filling out beautifully, within the confines of its svelte, mineral form. The vintage was cooler and later than either of the vintages either side, and the wines are aromatic and detailed by virtue of that. I'd still recommend leaving this wine in bottle for another couple of years; they are so slow to evolve that the primary fruit remains vital for at least the first decade. The benefit of waiting gives you extra complexity layered over the fruit, which blooms and plumes with time. The winemaking remains relatively consistent across the years: hand-picked fruit from Block 20 and 22 (planted in 1976 and 1978, respectively). Up to 30% of the cuvée was whole bunch pressed to 100% new Burgundian oak, while the balance was destemmed, crushed and pressed to 100% new Bordelais oak. Sulfured post-ferment in order to discourage malolactic fermentation, both components remain in barrel for 11 months.

Rating: 96 points

The 2020 Art Series Chardonnay favorably reflects the positive aspects of the 2020 growing season, which was warm and dry, and at that time, it was the earliest harvest start time that Margaret River had experienced. That statistic has since been overtaken by ensuing vintages—2024 is a stark example. This wine is tightly coiled and colored white in its characters: nectarine, white peach, white currant, white pepper and pineapple husk. I recall soon after its release in 2022, I tasted this wine blind at one of my wine group nights, and at that tightly bound stage, I couldn't see Margaret River nor the seasonal warmth in the glass. It has since fleshed out somewhat and now is looking more like its place and year. The acidity is juicy and almost puckering in its intensity, and it lingers long after the wine has gone. Sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

A terrific effort, the 2015 Marsican Shiraz is a 220-case barrel selection of the best Shiraz in the cellar. It's an artful blend of fruity (blackberries and blueberries) and savory (black olives and roasted meat) in a full-bodied, creamy-textured package. Rich, supple and long, it's a true beauty, ending with elegance and aplomb.

Rating: 96 points

The 2019 Marsican Shiraz is concentrated and intense. Brilliant fruit depth reveals a wide splay of raspberry freshness on the mid-palate through finish, while the tannins wrap around the mouth and induce chew and smack. This is a really pleasurable, brilliant wine. It is ripe and will appeal hugely to those who are attracted to plush tannins and sweet fruit. It is hefty without being overweight. Cool. 14.8% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.

Rating: 97 points

Concentrated, silky and lingering, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is elegant and fine with salted licorice, ripe raspberry, dark chocolate and exotic spice. It's a beautiful wine that continues the legacy of Moss Wood Cabernets, albeit with a slightly softer, more lilting voice. Age-worthy in the supreme.

Rating: 97 points

The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon is a child of the 2020 season, which was warm, early and low yielding, and the wines from the area have been decidedly structural, lushly fruited and powerful. All in all, they are excellent quality across the board, and this wine here is no exception. Dense tannins, layered with pink peppercorn, nori, blood, brine and bay leaf, were quite firm in this vintage, but with knowledge of how this wine ages, this is not a problem in the least. I've given it a conservative drinking window by decades, if stored well. Sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97+ points

2022 was a warm, dry and early vintage in Margaret River, one that produced particularly great Cabernets in the region. Here, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon is tasted in context with Cabernets going back to the 1970s, and it represents the most recent Cabernet in the history of this estate. It has recently been reviewed, and the score stands true to the wine in the glass today. This is grainy and powerful, ripe and excellent, with fully resolved, pliable tannins and fresh, saline acidity. It's a wine for the future, although it drinks very well now.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon is powerful and layered, with a long finish. The tannins are firm, abundant and tightly knit, and they wrap around a core of dark fruit. As the wine sits in the glass longer, the tannins begin to soften and gain suppleness, allowing the fruit and other elements to harmonize further. As this happens, the beauty of the vintage begins to shine through, revealing freshness, energy, balance and drive in equal measure. This is a superb wine, and given all the elements here, it will age wonderfully too. It isn't dense or brooding like some of the other vintages have been; this has detail, life and energy. It is really excellent. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96+ points

The 2021 Langi Shiraz is blue-fruited and aromatic, with black spice and olive brine, field flowers and crushed rocks. It is kind of ethereal in its way. It has an authentic feeling, of the earth, and it's floral, fine and long, with substance and finesse. This is a superstar wine; it's really great. No whole-bunch grapes were used in this vintage. The block was largely planted in 1969. 14.8% alcohol (although if I had to guess, I would have said it was almost a whole percent less, such is its delicacy), sealed under screw cap. Release date: September 2024.

Rating: 97 points

I really like this wine, more so every year. Stylistically, it sits in a classical, nutty, creamy sort of space; the sophistication of it seems to be refined each vintage, which sends it in the right direction, for my tastes anyway. On the nose, this 2022 Chardonnay presents salted cashews, white spring florals, firm nectarine, Golden Delicious apple and a splay of beeswax/tatami mat nuances and brine. On the palate, the wine builds on the path set forth by the bouquet—it is rich and wide, textural and fulsome yet with acidity and length that drags the width of the wine out to a focused and long close. It fermented in barrel, with malolactic fermentation eschewed, and it matured in a selection of French barriques (30% new), older barrels and large cask (500 liters). Hard pressing constructs the phenolic shape of the wine—a great thing—and the wine was matured for 11 months. The acidity through the finish is salty and juicy, and it leaves an uptick of energy and life in the mouth once the wine is gone. This is really good. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The 2023 Chardonnay is nutty and restrained, with a salty splay of acidity through the middle palate and finish. The wine is creamy, layered and sophisticated, and it is shaped by taut phenolics that support the abundance of fruit flavor in the mouth. After just one sip at the beginning of this note, the flavors and chalky texture can still be felt. An excellent wine each year, this 2023 no exception. There are notes of biscotti, spiced almonds, cashew, white peach, sea salt and stewed apple. What a gorgeous wine this is. It is harmonious. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

The 2023 Pinot Noir is delicate and fine and leads with an array of red berries, exotic spices and bramble. The oak adds a creamy element that frames the aromas, and this pulls through to the palate as well. The wine here is full spectrum and savory; while the fruit core is bright red, there is a distinct wrap of iodine, oyster shell, forest moss, sweet tobacco pouch and the merest hint of tapenade. The wine really grows on you the more it is tasted, the net affect being totally charming, complex and intriguing. 13.5% alcohol sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2019 Quintet was served to us at dinner in Yarraglen this week, and it looked impossibly fresh and red fruited on that night. In the lineup here today, the warm season has given the wine a density and gravitas, but it does it with a surge of buoyancy and density at the same time. The wine is black-fruited as opposed to red here, but with ruby inflections. It has a super pleasurable feel in the mouth. 13% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 98 points

It's no secret that the Quintet is one of my favorite Cabernet blends in Australia. I collect a few bottles for my cellar each year because of three reasons: they speak of site and place eloquently and gracefully, they age in the same manner, and despite every and any season, the dry-grown vines prevail. I love the vintage variation through the lens of house style; these are natural feeling, unforced vineyard wines and a proud statement of what is possible in the world of global Cabernet, and Australian Cabernet more specifically.

So, the 2021 Quintet comprises 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, Cabernet Franc 17%, Petit Verdot 6% and Malbec 2%. On the nose, there is a forest of red berries—mid-weight and balanced in their flow of aromatics. It has notes of pomegranate, cassis, a hint of cocoa, graphite and tobacco, star anise and salted licorice. In the mouth, the calling card of this estate is undoubtedly the tannins, and they flow and weave through the fruit at every turn. This is a silken wine, the tannins like carded silk. If you've ever carded fleece or a raw substrate like that, you know the satisfaction and progress of that process. The tannins here have that open-weave, unfettered feeling—they are what they are and are not created/built/etc. There is nothing forced here. The season has yielded a balanced and fine wine, and the tannins feel like they plume through the fruit, like blood in the water. I cannot separate the fruit from the tannin. It's chewy. Excellent. I'm looking forward to seeing this again in a decade.

Rating: 97 points

The 2022 Quintet comes from the estate vineyard planted in 1971 in Coldstream, Yarra Valley. The vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon (50%), Merlot (25%), Cabernet Franc (15%), Malbec (5%) and Petit Verdot (5%), and this more or less reflects the final cépage each year—though it is also dependent on vintage conditions, fruit set, etc. Aromatically, the wine leads with milk chocolate, cassis, tobacco and blood, with layers of dried herbs, cinnamon cassia, raspberry seed and something minty in the echelon of star anise and fennel—even delicately pushing to aniseed. As per usual, the tannins feel effortless and naturally forged, inducing movement and chew while drinking. This is a silky, seamless wine and is routinely one of my favorite Australian wines each year. Each of the varieties were picked and fermented separately and kept on the skins for about two weeks. The wine matured for 22 months in a variety of French oak: 30% new barriques, 25% in large format (1,500 liters or larger), with the balance in two- to five-year-old barriques. The wine has a firmness through the tail end of the finish, which for me puts it slightly behind the previous vintage in terms of quality but does nothing to dent the space it occupies in my heart. This is a great wine and a great producer. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 97 points

The 2023 Quintet is, like every other Quintet I've tasted in my life, pure joy. The wine is famous for its fine frame and floral aromatics, its ability to age what feels interminably and its unfettered expression of this corner of the Yarra Valley—Coldstream. While the cooler season of 2023 has shaped some of the elements of the wine, it remains true to its site and leaves a gentle cedar note trail through the memory. It has more pomegranate and cherry than cassis or blackberry, along with notes of violets, bay leaf and star anise even. It is a beautiful wine, one of my favorite Cabernets in this country. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under Diam cork.

Rating: 98+ points

A wine that flirts with perfection, and should rival the 1986 as one of the legendary Granges produced, the 1998 has one of the highest alcohol contents (nearly 15%) as well as one of the highest percentages of Shiraz in the blend (97%). Its stunning purple color is accompanied by exceptionally sweet aromas of blackberry liqueur intermixed with barbecue spices, an endearing, smoky earthiness, pepper, roasted meats, and coffee. Huge, massive, unctuously textured, and extraordinarily youthful, this impressive wine is a candidate for perfection. It should continue to evolve over the next three decades.

Grange, Penfolds’ flagship wine, is, by many accounts, the most renowned and world-famous wine produced in Australia, and these six vintages from my cellar all acquitted themselves well. These wines are almost always Shiraz, but many vintages include less than 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and there are cross-appellations blends from vineyards in the Barossa and McLaren Vale.

Rating: 98+ points

Deep garnet with a touch of brick, the 2002 Grange is locked in a time capsule, like many of the 2002s, yielding a very youthful nose of red currants and red cherries, kirsch and violets with some lovely exotic spices in the background. Quite perfumed and pretty in terms of fruit expression in the mouth, the structure is rock solid, with a lively backbone cutting through the muscular fruit and great purity to the finish. If you're looking for that real "Grange" experience, best to keep cellaring it another 5-10+ years.

Rating: 97 points

Containing just a dollop of 4.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2005 Grange is about 85%+ Barossa fruit with the remaining proportions coming from McLaren vale and Coonawarra. It was aged for 18 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads. The nose begins a bit animal with some smoked game, mincemeat and bacon notes emerging over the freshly crushed, sun-warmed blackberries, black currant cordial, earth, black truffles, anise and allspice. Rich and full with very firm very fine tannins and very crisp acid, it gives a long finish layered with coffee, mincemeat and toast. Drink it 2013 to 2025+.

With a lot of changes happening around the Foster’s Group, it is business as usual at Penfolds…which seems to operate within its own world. But this is no small world. The vineyard holdings here are vast and the connections with growers go back generations. Chief winemaker Peter Gago is the very well spoken front-man for the production team backed-up Kym Schroeter in charge of the whites and Steve Lienert crafting some very fine, consistent and sometimes inspired reds. If Champagne is all about the art of blending, then Penfolds is the Champagne of Australian wine. Those that think large companies producing wines that emphasize blending can’t make great wines need to think about the Champagne model or simply try some of Penfolds top wines to become believers. That said – check out their recent single vineyard release: the very special 2004 Block 42 Kalimna Cabernet Sauvignon, the first release of a wine made purely from this 100+ year old single block (perhaps the oldest block of Cabernet in the world?) since 1996.

Rating: 98+ points

Made from fruit coming predominantly from the Barossa Valley this year (97%) and containing 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2006 Grange has been added to my list of favorite recent vintages. Deep garnet-purple colored, it’s still a little youthfully mute, offering notes of warm cherries, black currants, anise, coffee and toast with underlying hints of soy, yeast extract, black olives and Indian spices. Tight-knit and solidly structured on the medium to full-bodied palate, the concentrated fruit is densely coiled around the firm grainy tannins and very crisp acidity at this stage, but promises something very special in the years to come. It finishes very long, complex and layered with the cedar poking through the fruit purity. Patience is required for this vintage; it should begin opening out around 2016 and drink to 2030+.

Rating: 100 points

Very deep garnet-purple in color the 2008 Grange reveals a truly decadent nose with tons of spices, fruit cake and black & blue fruit compote notes along with nuances of chocolate and potpourri. The full and rich, multi-layered palate has a little oak still showing, it is going through a little bit of a structural stand-out stage, but it doesn't detract on the long and complex finish. It still needs a good few years to develop, though this very opulent, expressive Grange shows the very best of this vintage and the vineyards it hails from.

Rating: 99 points

This wine comes with high expectations—as does the vintage. The 2018 vintage across South Australia (and cheekily, we could probably extend the accolade to all of Australia) was excellent. It was warm, but without incident, and responsible for powerfully ripe, serious wines. Many producers made some of their best wines in this vintage. So here, to the 2018 Grange: there is spiced raspberry, lashings of salted licorice, red curry paste, layers of forest berries, rendered lamb fat and crushed pink peppercorns to start. In the mouth, the tannins close around the fruit with the same polish and seamlessness as the 2008, possibly the 2004? Very different vintages, but there is a textural similarity for me. This is polished and glossy and so very pretty. It contains 3% Cabernet Sauvignon this year, and 69% Barossa, 18% McLaren Vale and the balance from Clare Valley. Each of the regions brings with it its own characteristics. Barossa brings the red dirt, blood, deli meat and rust. McLaren Vale brings the plush purple fruits with a side of meat and licorice. Clare brings the polish, the opulence and the velvet texture. With their powers combined, this is an extraordinary Grange. One of the true greats, which will only get better as it ages.

Rating: 100 points

Production: 9,380 cases Blend: 89% Shiraz/11% Cabernet Sauvignon
A legendary vintage, this massive, powerhouse wine is a reference point for what great Grange Hermitage is all about. The color remains a thick, opaque ruby/garnet with no signs of amber or brown. The wine is beginning to reveal some evolution in its huge, fragrant nose of coffee, cedar, chocolate, prunes, and overripe black-cherries and currants. With massive richness and body, flavors that coat the palate in a viscous, pure, mindboggling manner, and a finish that lasts for nearly a minute, this huge Grange Hermitage that may one day resemble in its decadent richness and thick, unctuous texture, such Bordeaux legends as the 1947 Petrus, 1947 Cheval Blanc, and 1947 Lafleur. This wine can be drunk now or cellared for another 10-15 years. A natural born legend!
Note: The production figures shown are for twelve bottle cases unless otherwise noted.

Rating: 97 points

The 1982 is another superb example of that. One of the jammiest, most precocious Granges when it was released, it has never gone through a closed stage and continues to drink beautifully. A full-bodied, opulent Grange, it reveals an inky/purple color to the rim as well as a beautiful nose of crushed blueberries, blackberries, smoke, toast, roasted herbs, and road tar. This dense, plush, expansive, seamless, seductive 1982 has not changed much since I had it nearly a decade ago.

Grange, Penfolds’ flagship wine, is, by many accounts, the most renowned and world-famous wine produced in Australia, and these six vintages from my cellar all acquitted themselves well. These wines are almost always Shiraz, but many vintages include less than 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and there are cross-appellations blends from vineyards in the Barossa and McLaren Vale.

Rating: 97+ points

Very deep purple-black in color and showing an attractive nose of warm blackcurrants, blueberries and licorice with a complex undercurrent of mocha, cedar, menthol and grilled meat, the full-bodied 2010 St Henri Shiraz is relatively rich in the mouth, offering tons of fruit structured by firm, fine tannins and refreshing acid. It finishes with great persistence. Drink it 2015 to 2030+.

Rating: 96+ points

The 2012 Shiraz St Henri is very impressive with its elegant, sophisticated and well-crafted expression of this superb vintage. As always, there is no new oak employed here, simply 50+ year old large oak vats. This vintage has a dollop (3%) Cabernet Sauvignon, contributing a lovely cassis lift to the heady perfume. Deep garnet-purple colored, it displays a gorgeous nose of commendable purity and intensity with notes of red and blackcurrants, freshly crushed blackberries, menthol, cinnamon stick, bacon fat and cloves. Rich and already expressive on the palate, it is nonetheless built for the long haul with firm, ripe and grainy tannins carrying the fruit to a long and layered finish. This should be a long-lived St Henri that should cellar gracefully for at least 2 decades.

Rating: 97 points

The 2018 St Henri Shiraz is a terrific effort, perhaps rivaling the top-flight wines under this label in 1976 and 1986. Remarkably fine and silky in texture yet simultaneously dense and concentrated, it showcases the amazing fruit harvested in 2018. Boysenberry, mulberry and mocha shadings all swirl together effortlessly in a whorl of full-bodied elegance, finishing long and effortless. Mainly Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale, it includes smaller amounts of fruit from Port Lincoln, Robe, Padthaway, Clare Valley and the Adelaide Hills, all aged 12 months in large old wooden vats.

Rating: 96 points

The 2023 Chardonnay hails from a magnificent season in Margaret River. The lead-in through the winter and spring of 2022 brought healthy rainfall and good conditions during flowering, meaning that, in general, yields were good in 2023. The canopies that developed through the summer of 2022 and into the summer and growing season of 2023 were lush and controlled, the weather was mild and the disease pressure was low. In short, the Margaret River region (and by accurate extension, almost everywhere in Western Australia) was able to pick when they felt the fruit was ripe and the tannins resolved. On both the nose and palate are ripe peach, crushed nuts, preserved citrus, beeswax, brine and salted butter/crème caramel. The acidity is juicy and ripe, and the palate is texturally undulating. It's a brilliant wine. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The Sami-Odi 2020 Hoffmann Dallwitz is from the two blocks of old vines (planted 1888 - 1927) on the Hoffman-Dallwitz vineyard. This has sensational gravitas and weight in the mouth, bolstered by density and closeness of tannin: silty, graphite, chewy, pliable, ductile tannin. It is possessed of nothing short of a kaleidoscopic fruit profile, framed within a medium to medium-plus weight body. The Goldilocks zone, for me. This is elegant and fine, very exciting. Big. Balanced. Awesome.

Rating: 97 points

The 2023 Hoffmann Dallwitz represents the 18th vintage of this wine, and the proportion of older vines versus the younger vines was far outweighed by the former in this year. Here, there were three picks of Hoffmann Dallwitz Old Block fruit, two picks of the 1927 vines in the Hoffmann Dallwitz vineyard and a barrel of the 2022 Hoffmann Dallwitz in the blend as well. This is an altogether darker, more concentrated wine than either the Little Wine #14 or the Our Hill (OH) in this same release. That darkness (without cumbersome weight or overlarge size) sits well within the shape of the wine. That dark fruit note and the tannins that encase it are graphite and gravel, clove and star anise, as well. This is super. It is finer than the 2022 release (which I really loved). 14.4% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.

Rating: 96 points

The 2024 Palisander Pinot Noir leads with a very attractive waft of reduction. It speaks to forest floor and growing moss, alongside the plethora of dark fruits on display. In the mouth, the wine speaks of its whole-bunch component (25%) in its spices, tannin shape and length through the finish. You get blood orange, Campari, dark chocolate, raw cocoa, cherry pip and raspberry. A wholly classy and sophisticated wine, it goes beyond simple fruit expression and offers dimensional texture and clever winemaking. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

The 2022 Grenache is red fruited and lusty, with really entrenched fleshy fruit characters on the nose, and this translates fluidly in the mouth, where you find blood and pastrami, raspberry pip, red licorice, layers of pomegranate and ironstone, iodine and rust. This is a superb wine; it feels vast and open, rich and fresh. You can't fake this kind of fruit intensity; it's either in the vineyard, or it's not. And here, it is. 13.8% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

2021 is the first vintage in which Swinney has bottled a varietal Mourvèdre, and personally, I couldn't be happier. Mourvèdre has the potential to be an elegant, seductive variety—in the right hands, of course. So, here we have the 2021 Mourvèdre. The nose leads with a tart cherry character. It was made with 22% whole bunches in the ferment. It's a style call, but this has to be one of the most gorgeous varietal Mourvèdres in the country. Drinkability is high—the wine has minerality, focus, poise, precision and clarity. It has Mourvèdre tannins without being pushy or intrusive. Curiously, there's pink grapefruit on the nose (both fresh and attractive), and there is a broodiness and clarity. This has fine tannin and is so lovely. I've been waiting for them to do a straight Mourvèdre for years. And here it is.

Rating: 96+ points

The 2021 Syrah is a haunting, glowing crimson in the glass. I love the tannins here—they're so good that they compel me to look beyond the fruit and to the structure, which is a rare occurrence. There are notes of pink peppercorns and Sichuan peppercorn, and the fruit has purity, clarity and a supple flow through the mouth. The tension through the finish makes this wine a superb example of Australian Syrah. It is mineral and structured, devoid of heavy oak impact and layered with ductile tannins, supple fruit and spice.

This was made with 100% Syrah, with a small percentage of whole bunch (22%) and 8% new oak. "We buy a new barrel each year, and this is where it goes," says winemaker Rob Mann. The Swinney Syrah includes some of the new clonal material in the vineyard. Planted in the Powderbark vineyard is the WA Selection—originated from Houghton. This gives the texture (and is what goes into the Farvie Syrah). It's monochromatic new material, not complex but very strong in certain aspects. It's very handy to have a selection of clones to work with: 470 (Rhone isolates), 174 (Rhone isolates) the latest ripening, none included in 2021, Waldron (from Craggy Range, New Zealand).

Rating: 96+ points

The 2018 Farvie Grenache has now been in bottle since some time in 2019, and when the wine was released, it caused a stir. Firstly, it was premium and priced accordingly. Secondly, it was intentionally making a statement about the quality of Frankland River as a premium Grenache-producing region, and it landed with good effect. The wine was warmly received, because it not only showed the prowess of sensitive winemaking and detailed viticulture, it also displayed a regional personality that was distinct from the established regions of Barossa and McLaren Vale within the context of Grenache. So here, years after release, is the first Farvie vertical.

On the nose, the wine has evolved, but slowly. It is both floral and ferruginous, as it's inextricably shaped by the red ironstone soils and gravels in which the fruit is grown. Most pleasingly, on the palate, the wine shows that it is evolving very slowly indeed, and far from descending into the meaty, carnal space that Grenache can go to, at pace, it is holding purity of fruit and chalky tannins at the very core of the wine. It's impressive, to say the least. Graphite and black tea through the finish, and the tannins are, one must say satisfyingly, the last thing to fade into the memory they're chalky, a little chewy and very fine. Great. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The 2022 Farvie Grenache hails from a warm and dry year, and this is the first time I've seen this wine—professionally or socially. The bouquet leads with graphite and raspberry leaf tea, iodine and crushed shells, rust and fresh blood, layers of white pepper and tobacco. Stylistically, I feel this 2022 is in line with the 2018, and it looks utterly sensational here today; it's elegant and complete, composed and detailed. It's very long through the finish and lingers and curls with wisps of incense spice, chalky tannins and Asian five spice. Ripper wine. Sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

The 2022 Farvie Mourvèdre has 66% whole bunches in the ferment, and this presents as a subtle blood orange character on the nose, with a very fine ductile splay of pliable tannin in the mouth. Grainy, ferrous, chalky and a little chewy, this is a glossier, more provocative wine than the 2021 tasted beside it, but it's no less or more for it; it's a different interaction, based on the warm and dry season that 2022 presented. "It was a good year for growing grapes," says owner Matt Swinney, "from both a winemaker's point of view and a viticultural point of view." The wine remains fine boned and layered, lingering and intriguing. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96+ points

The 2020 Farvie Syrah is polished and dense, with lashings of fruit and gravel, graphite and Asian five spice. This is remarkably exotic and nuanced, with incense spice, black earth and iron, tea leaves and black olive tapenade. It's a sensational wine in every regard. This is my favorite of the Syrahs so far. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The 2022 Farvie Syrah is typically vibrant in the glass given its youth, and it exudes a preponderance of red berries, exotic spices and ferruginous tannins on the palate. It is exciting and nuanced, detailed and sapid in its way. The palate manages focus and capaciousness in a single sweep. It is succulent, grainy, chalky and fine, with a little subtle undertow of blood orange and dried mint. This promises a long future, one that will unfurl and swirl across textural and flavorsome boundaries. It's a super wine. Show patience, though, it will be better. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The fruit for the 2020 Where Eagles Dare Shiraz is from the Matchoss Vineyard in the Eden Valley. One assumes the title refers to the great elevation at which this vineyard is situated; 550 meters above sea level is a commanding perch. The dirt up there is pink quartz pressed into ironstone, and it's compacted into all the dirt roads you care to drive down. It's a beautiful thing, actually. Aromatically, the wine offers up sumac, biltong and mulberries with a graphite, crushed lead-pencil character. The wine is minerally and layered with black tea, spring flowers, red apple skins and a raft of forest berries. Really smart, and a decant is going to open this up untold.

Rating: 97 points

The 2022 Descendant is a co-fermented blend of Shiraz and Viognier (8%), and the wine exudes masses of floral perfume, which translates accurately in the mouth. It is silky and intense; the tannins are ductile and pervasive, and yet they have a bloody, ferruginous note that makes their dispersion feel more like an infusion than a framework. It is chewy and weighty, without being heavy or swaggering. Awesome wine. Superb. 15% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 98 points

The 2022 RunRig typifies everything I appreciate and value about the 2022 vintage. It is silky and open, seamless and fresh. Like the 2018 vintage, the 2022 is open and available, more so than the 2021. It is so pretty. It's gorgeous. I feel it could be stylistically likened to 2004. It's excellent. 15.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 96 points

The 2022 The Factor is a celebration of old-vine vineyards in Barossa. Aromatically, this philosophy is clear as day in the wine. Barossa is stylistically adaptable and flexible, and at its best, it's able to convey a sense of meatiness, charred bacon fat, alongside kicked red earth and brick dust, an array of exotic spices and purple fruit, all the while conveying balance and focus. These are the best examples of its capability. All of these things are evident in this wine, and it shows concentration and length in spades. It's a big, powerful wine but balanced too. Excellent. 15.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.

Rating: 96 points

Deep garnet colored, the 2005 The Pict has a really flamboyant nose of ripe blackberries and cherries intermingling with dark chocolate, licorice and espresso notes and loam. Big, rich and wonderfully expressive, it gives loads of flavor layers, fresh acid and a medium-firm level of grainy tannins before finishing long. Drink it now to 2020+.

Rating: 96 points

As of this tasting at the end of 2025, the 2019 Vat 1 Semillon is nearly seven years from its harvest. The wine is yet to fully develop the characteristic and desirable toastiness that is endemic to great, older Hunter Valley Semillon, and yet there are whiffs of it. And it is good. There are notes of creamed honey on toast, pressed linen, lemon pith, ocean spray, crushed shells and wheat. In the mouth, the wine is featherlight, intense and long through the finish. This is very good indeed. 10.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97 points

The 2024 Heytesbury Chardonnay leads with toasted cashews and white peach, pink grapefruit and preserved lemon rind, all of it woven together by saline acidity. There's pressed linen, white flowers and wax, too. The palate is textural and shapely (something of a house style at Vasse Felix), and the length through the finish is long. While this may not have the precision and focus of the 2023 Heytesbury, it has personality, texture, line and power, and I love it for all of those attributes. What a superstar wine. It was fermented 100% in French oak, with 85% of the volume in barrique and the balance in puncheon. The total percentage of new oak was 53%, and the wine was matured for 10 months, followed by six months post-blending in tank. It will be released globally on May 1, 2026. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The Heytesbury Chardonnay release is emphatically one of my favorite Chardonnay releases (globally) each year. My criticism of it—I've been open about this to the abundantly talented winemaker, Virginia Willcock—is that this wine is released too early. Despite the release being pushed back six months or so, I still find myself drinking older bottles and being absolutely and totally blown away by them. On release, I merely love them. 2024 in Margaret River was a challenging year. It was record-breakingly hot and dry, although it bears noting that most of the vineyards in Margaret River are planted on their own roots—and of those, most were planted last century, so the vines do have a certain amount of inbuilt resilience to above-ground weather events. This wine, it also bears noting, is brilliant every single vintage. The wines are reflective of the year and the sites, but more than that, they speak of the purity, drive and power inherent in Margaret River Chardonnay. They are an asset to Australian wine.

Rating: 96 points

The 2023 Shiraz is gravelly and intense—it stains the mouth with dark fruit flavor, which evolves into pomegranate, blood plum, mulberry, graphite, asphalt and ozone. This comes from the 1919 Eastern vineyard plantings, and it's a tremendously exciting wine, one that morphs and pivots over its evolution across the palate. Many drinkers will declare a preference for the Shiraz or the Cabernet wines; I have had enough great old bottles of each to know that they both remain sound investments, as they age gracefully over a long period of time in the cellar. The tannins through the finish of this wine are slightly firmer than I recall from last season's effort, but this may stand the wine in great stead in the future. Perhaps even a decant will help to give these the air they need to unwind. As I am tasting these bottles for review, all have been cracked and poured without delay or preparation. 13% alcohol, sealed under Guala screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

The 2018 Platinum Label Medlands Vineyard Shiraz offers just a little more intensity than the Cabernet, with almost painful levels of mixed-berry fruit skillfully framed by fine French oak (23% new). Boasting boysenberries, loganberries and hints of blueberries and cherries, there's a whole basket of fruit wrapped in a soft, elegant cocoon of vanilla, cedar and baking spices. Full-bodied and plush on the palate, it finishes long and velvety. Delicious now, it should still be going strong in a decade and may even go two decades before commencing a gradual decline.

Rating: 97 points

In a wonderful sweet spot right now, the 2017 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is imbued with caper brine, pomegranate, redcurrant, raspberries and licorice. It shows finesse and restraint through the long and lingering finish, and although it will age—we know it will—it is incredibly irresistible now. Fine-boned, supple, pliable and complete, it's a beauty and aromatically is the outlier—uber blue, with a high-tone minty character as well.

Rating: 98 points

When the 2018 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was released, I said it was the best red wine ever produced at the estate. It is the complete picture of Cabernet, and while it speaks to the weightless prowess that Margaret River can achieve, it simultaneously holds a candle to the Cabernets of the world and says "look at me." It has underlying notes of leaf and fresh herbs, Asian spice and bloody, ferrous notes attached to the tannins. It's good to see it again, and evolving so slowly, too. A brilliant wine from a near-perfect season.

Rating: 97 points

The 2019 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is awesome, with layer upon layer of flavor—all of them settling on each other like fine sheets of tissue. It gives up notes of blood, ferrous, iodine, pomegranate, raspberry, tobacco, aniseed, saltbush, bay leaf, matcha (green tea), bramble and undergrowth. Beetroot, fennel and more more more. What a wine. As usual, the style of this is svelte and restrained, and the tannins are the final icing on the cake: fine, shapely and structuring, spooling out through the long finish. It's a little bit chewy but slinky and supple. Delicious. Phwoar.

Rating: 96+ points

The 2020 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is firm and plush, with layers of tannin and dark fruit. The season was warm, dry and low yielding, and the wines are concentrated and structural. This works very well in the favor of some vineyards, less so for others. At Xanadu, the estate Cabernet fruit tends to be delicate and aromatic, pure and concentrated (I am well aware that "concentrated" and "delicate" may not go hand in hand, but the Xanadu wines make it so), so in a warm season such as 2020, and in the context of this wine that sources fruit from further north in the region, the wine has gravitas and density to spare. Raspberry, tobacco, pepper, roast beetroot and nori inflections. It was made with 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec and matured for 14 months in French oak (40% new). 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

The 2022 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from a variety of vineyards in Margaret River, and so it provides the antithesis of the single-vineyard Steven's Road Cabernet tasted alongside. Here, the Reserve leads with eucalypt and pink peppercorns (with that citrus, blood orange tint to it), tobacco, cedar and pencil shavings, and the oak is currently a feature. The wine has 5% each of Malbec and Petit Verdot, and these provide further structure, florals (wet roses and violets) and spice. Routinely a beautiful wine, it's no different in this vintage, and it will reward careful cellaring for decades to come. Matured in French oak for 14 months, 40% new.

Rating: 97+ points

The two premium Chardonnays at Xanadu, the Reserve and the Stevens, are distinct both in expression and makeup. While the single-vineyard Steven's Road Chardonnay is often the finer of the two, the Reserve exhibits more pronounced oak, and it's a more powerful rendition. Philosophically, the latter is a blend of vineyards, although it often comes from just the Lagan Vineyard, next to the winery/cellar door. As to my preferred wine, it depends on the vintage conditions as to which takes my fancy each year. This 2023 Reserve Chardonnay hails from the most magnificent 2023 season, which was mild, long and dry. The fruit power here is undeniable. Every aspect of this wine is ratcheted up to 11: acidity, fruit power, volume, length ... the full kit and caboodle. It's a sleeping giant. The wine will mostly be consumed in its youth, but the act of so doing robs the wine of its future potential, which is a shame. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

I'm going long on the 2023 vintage in Western Australia; it was astoundingly good through the lens of every region and variety that I have tasted so far.

Rating: 97 points

The 2011 Stevens Road Cabernet Sauvignon is textural silky, weightless, elegant and fully resolved. There is a pinosity to the silken flow in the mouth here. The wine is exuberantly fresh and finely structured with, frankly, scintillating balance. Beauty abounds here.

Rating: 96+ points

From one of the most anticipated vintages in Margaret River's history, this 2023 Stevens Road Chardonnay leads with salted preserved lemon, lime flesh, green apple, white peach, cashews and brine. On the palate, the acidity is racy, which is a gentle understatement. It has pace and sting, and yet the voluminous fruit swarms around it and insulates us from its lash. The Xanadu Chardonnay style dictates that malolactic fermentation is assiduously eschewed, which explains the behavior of the acidity in the mouth. The barrels are stirred and the oak is carefully chosen, both of which create texture and contribute to the glacial longevity of this wine. The wine is austere in its youth but toasty and kaleidoscopic given time—around and beyond five years from vintage is a good rule of thumb. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96+ points

The first bottle of 2018 The Octavius was corked. I have opened the second bottle for review. Coffee grounds, dark chocolate, mulberry compote and black olive tapenade lead the charge for this irrepressibly Australian Shiraz. Big bold forest berry flavors are effusive and almost gushing, held in check by the firm hand of tannic structure. Woodsy spices—sandalwood, particularly—punctuate the black cherry and salted licorice characters. This is really good, satisfying, mouthfilling, delicious. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 96 points

The 2015 The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz is now 10 years from its harvest, and the wine has developed beautiful soft leather, dark chocolate, mulberry and peppercorn notes. It features a combination of French, American and Hungarian oak. The wine is perfectly comfortable here, sedate, complex and settled. It's a beautiful wine and one that gets better and inevitably softer as it gets older. It features 20% Eden Valley fruit, although that number varies each year depending on the seasonal conditions. I really appreciate the tannins here; they're pulverized, soft and fresh. 14.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 97 points

I won't re-review this 2023 High Sands Grenache, as I have only just published its score and note at the end of May 2025, but for the purpose of context in this vertical of 2012–2024, the wine exudes all the fragrant perfume of the 2023 vintage. I like the 2023s more and more, and I find them to be fine, firm, fragrant and finessed. What I will say is that perhaps I undercooked the potential drinking window, which via this vertical has now revealed itself to be around the 30-year mark. This, in the trio of cold vintages (2011, 2017, 2023), is my preferred vintage by a margin. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

I was thoroughly impressed by the opulent and layered texture of the 2016 Ironheart Shiraz, a wine that in previous vintages has sometimes seemed more about structure than pleasure. It starts off with scents of cedar, menthol, plums and baking spices, then eases into a full-bodied, plush, velvety palate that delivers waves of ripe black cherries. Deep and long, it's a terrific example of McLaren Vale Shiraz that should drink well for 10-15 years.

Rating: 96 points

The 2021 Ironheart Shiraz aromatically speaks of its élevage in that the oak exudes a toasty, spiced malt-biscuit character that is wholly pleasing and enticing yet present. In the mouth, the fruit proves it is more than a match for its vessel; black pudding and pan drippings, blackberry coulis, dark cherries, squid ink and salted licorice cascade across a tannic foundation that is all about cocoa and drinking chocolate. This is both sybaritic and yet a little edgy: the whole-bunch component—25% this year—emphasizes the rachis of tannin in the mouth. The wine undulates and flows, and it is extraordinarily long through the finish. Not only can you taste the wine, you can feel it too; it is chewy and enveloping. I'd hold off from drinking this for some time; it is fresh and ready now, for sure, but the structure and length of flavor tell us that this will have a long and storied future ahead of it.

Rating: 96 points

The 2022 Dry Red No 1 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (80%), Merlot (11%), Malbec (6%) and Petit Verdot (3%). The Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec components are from the original estate vineyard planted in 1969. Aromatically, the wine leads with sumac spices and paprika, cassis, mulberry and pink peppercorns, dried bay leaf, tobacco and even a hint of tapenade. The palate is a complex place, structured by firm tannins, fresh and cool in feel and with a mineral-inflected, graphite-like, dried mint finish. Neat as a pin. The wine was matured in French oak barrique (35% new) for 15 months. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2021 Le Sol is spicy and detailed. Where the 2020 is open-weave and attractive, the 2021 is tighter, more focused and less "available" for obsessive unpicking (as I am wont to do for you, here). There's raw cocoa, blueberry, finely ground black pepper, orange peel, musk stick, layers of blackberry, mulberry, blood, ferrous notes and a hint of pencil shaving. This is a tightly coiled wine, one that has much unfurling to do, both in the cellar over time and in the glass today. Kaleidoscopic, savory and complex, this is another exciting wine from Craggy Range across the superstar 2020 and 2021 vintages. The exciting thing about the Le Sol is that there is SO MUCH flavor, without weight or density. It is pure concentration, but it leaves an impression of levity and litheness. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: (95-97) points

The 2024 Maté's Vineyard Chardonnay is mouthfilling and full, easily the biggest and most powerful of the single-vineyard Chardonnays in this 2024 release. "In terms of quality, 2024 is up there with the best of them: 2022, 2020, 2014..." This feels perhaps as statuesque and thrilling as the best of the Maté's so far, with intensity that explodes in every direction on the palate—length and width—with spicy top notes and a thunderous base of yellow fruit. The acidity, as usual, coils and weaves its way across the palate, lacing together the fruit and phenolics with seamless intensity. This is very good.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2019 Coleraine offers a kaleidoscopic spectrum of complexity here, with sweet tobacco, graphite, nori, iodine, fresh blood, pomegranate molasses, layers of cassis, dark chocolate, raspberry seed and sweet roasted beetroot. This is the wine at its most complete; there is everything from leaf, earth, fruit and spice. An array of characters that harness an equal array of emotions is ultimately a wine I want to drink and enjoy. Without a doubt, this is New Zealand's greatest Cabernet blend, and it more than holds its own on a global stage. It's super and comes warmly recommended. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 97+ points

The 2022 Coleraine is a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. On the nose, the wine shows its sweet creamy oak, a cavalcade of dark fruit and an array of spices. The wine is powdery and ultra fine, with a gravelly score of tannin woven through the finish. A spectacular wine, it's still looking so primary and young at this early stage. I note the total acidity is akin to the 2013 vintage, and it serves to add an extra layer of freshness to the finish—a little uptick to close, if you will. This is awesome. It gets better every time I taste it. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 98 points

The 2023 Coleraine comprises 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. This cuvée is not made to a recipe, rather as a selection of the best from each vintage. In 2023, due to the weather induced by Cyclone Gabrielle, which landed in early February (the second or third), the strongest performer was the Cabernet Sauvignon due to bunch architecture, small berries, thick skins and, in this case, the low-vigor rootstocks and the chicory in between the rows. Te Mata invests heavily into research and development in the vineyards, which really assists in a vintage like 2023, which imposes challenges. The elevation in all aspects of this wine from the already tremendously impressive Awatea is significant. Here, the tannins have a finer grain, the fruit is more persistent and the package is far more integrated and seamless. With raspberry, iodine, crushed shells, nori, pressed flowers, new lead pencil, tobacco, bramble and cassis, it is magnificent. Raw cocoa and the gentle and subtle creep of game/gristle/blood and sweet marrow indicate its direction later in life. I love this wine. I think I write that every time I taste it. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Rating: 96 points

The 2023 Gibbston Vineyard Pinot Noir is fresh, juicy and texturally detailed, with chalky, supple tannins that fill the mouth and saline acidity that courses through the layers of floral, red-berry fruit. There is real drive and elegance here. It's a superb wine, as all of these Valli Pinots tend to be. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Rating: 96 points

The outstanding 2010 Brunello di Montalcino gives you everything you want to see in a great wine, a great Tuscan wine. This monumental expression of Sangiovese delivers top-notch intensity with seamless integration of aromas. They span from dark fruit and Morello cherry to chocolate, spice, licorice, balsam herb and rosemary sprig. The energy and vitality of the vintage is locked perfectly within. This Brunello exhibits especially soft, silky tannins with long persistence and momentum. There is nothing out of place and the price tag is certainly not exaggerated for this level of excellence.

Rating: 96 points

The Conterno Fantino 2016 Barolo Castelletto Vigna Pressenda (with 6,500 bottles produced) draws its fruit from a 1.2-hectare site in Monforte d'Alba with silty soils mixed with sand and clay. It opens to bright cherry and dried raspberry that set the tone for the abundant primary fruit that defines the bouquet. Those red berry flavors cede to cola, spice, mint and rosemary essence. There is an almost exotic quality here spurred forward by pressed blue flower and church incense. However, the big takeaway here is the sheer energy and resonance of this classic Barolo.

Rating: 98+ points

The 2016 Fontalloro is the best vintage of this landmark wine that I have tasted thus far. This is a very elegant vintage, with more volume in the mouth and precise notes of tar, licorice, camphor ash, resin and Indian spice. In a race between the highly competitive 2015 and 2016 vintages, I give a slight advantage to this wine. The warmer 2015 vintage shows more richness and exuberant fruit. However, this wine from 2016 offers a more focused and chiseled delivery. I am hopeful that this wine will continue to evolve and sharpen as it ages in the bottle. This is a beautiful wine to put aside in your cellar for ten years or more.

Rating: 96 points

The 2006 Cepparello is a super classic wine. It brings together the best elements of the house style in its breathtaking aromatics, delineated fruit and striking overall balance. All of the elements are in the right place for the 2006 to develop into a spectacular wine. The 2006 stands apart for its nuance, depth and overall detail. Juicy red cherries, raspberries, rose petals and licorice build to the huge, dramatic finish. The 2006 is one of the all-time great Cepparellos. It bears more than a passing resemblance to the stunning 1988. The 2006 has blossomed beautifully in bottle over the last few years, and it is now clear I underestimated its potential. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2036.

Proprietor Paolo De Marchi has left an indelible and highly personal stamp on Isole e Olena, and all of Chianti Classico for that matter. Originally of Piedmontese descent, De Marchi stands apart from many of his colleagues for his vocal opinions and intense dedication to the vineyard above all else. Since taking over his family’s estate in the late 1970s, De Marchi has transformed Isole e Olena into a powerhouse. The flagship Cepparello is 100% Sangiovese aged in French oak barrels. This nearly complete vertical charts the history of one of Tuscany’s most compelling wines. The first Cepparellos were vinified in cement. The cellar was heated to induce malolactic fermentation and the wines were subsequently aged roughly equal parts Slavonian oak casks and smaller French oak barriques, with a dollop of chestnut barrels thrown into the mix. It was a time of enormous sacrifice, given that green harvesting was viewed as throwing money out of the window, and every purchase of new French oak barrels was accompanied by a stern reprimand from De Marchi’s father to pay attention to costs. But De Marchi persevered. The fruits of his hard labor and pricing are amply captured in these magnificent wines.Over the years Cepparello has acquired a level of finesse it rarely had at the outset. Some of the refinements include giving the wines more air in vinification and an increase in the period of elevage in oak from 12-14 months to 18-20 months, which is the norm today. De Marchi says he started getting better quality oak around 1993, but it is the increased age of the vineyards themselves that have given Cepparello its finesse.

Isole e Olena Cepparello Key Points:

1. 100% Sangiovese aged in French oak barrels

2. The top selection of the estate’s best fruits from their vineyards in Barberino Val d’Elsa, in the northern part of Chianti Classico

3. A style that emphasizes finesse over power, especially with bottle age

4. Aging potential: 20+ years

Rating: 97 points

Hands down beautiful, The 2013 Cepparello is a creation of stunning elegance and balance. A pure expression of Sangiovese, this wine undergoes a sophisticated oak regime that sees ageing in various barrel sizes and barrique of various ages. It lives 18 months of its life in French and 3% American oak before being released. This vintage (that is cooler compared to 2012 and 2011) delivers an exceptionally soft and mellow bouquet with slightly sweet sensations of ripe cherry and fragrant blue flower. Soft tones of spice and cinnamon bring up the rear. The wine is medium to full in terms of body weight, and the finish is driven by cool tones of balsam and menthol herb. The 2013 Cepparello is one of my favorite wines of the vintage.

Rating: 96 points

Supple and smooth, the 2020 Cepparello brings Sangiovese to soaring heights in a manner only Paolo De Marchi can manage. This is his second to last vintage before he would retire and sell this historic estate. The wine opens to medium to full-bodied concentration with dark plum and redcurrant. Those cede to sweet spice, earth, crushed stone, rusty nail and candied orange peel. Give the wine more time to flesh out with cellar age. It registers a powerful 15% alcohol content.

Rating: 97 points

One of Tuscany's flagship wines, the Isole e Olena 2021 Cepparello immediately delivers ripe fruit flavors that are firm, even crunchy, and that bodes well for the future evolution of this classic vintage. The wine is packed with tart fruit flavors followed by balanced acidity. Compared to past vintages that are more extracted and dense, this edition is delightfully bright and transparent. I appreciation the age-worthy direction Cepparello is taking.

Rating: 96 points

I absolutely love this profound and beautiful Syrah from Tuscany. The 2016 Syrah Collezione Privata offers a unique interpretation of the grape that delivers much of the heft, power, smokiness and textural richness of the French grape, however it also shows purely Italian flares of grilled herb, blue flower, moist earth and Toscano cigar. Bold cherry fruit fills the core of this wine, and there is plenty of padding and extra richness at the edges. The wine is rich, velvety and long in terms of mouthfeel. It ages in oak for 18 months. Some 5,000 bottles were made.

Rating: 96 points

Inky dark in appearance, the 2020 Solaia is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller percentages of Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese. This vintage unfolds to exuberant richness and thick layers of blackberry and plum. The tannins are sweet and expertly crafted, adding both depth and fruit weight. The 2020 vintage is quite bold, and it plays its best cards in terms of texture and mouthfeel. It’s a bigger, more accessible wine compared to the last two vintages on the market. Spice, toasted coffee bean and more dark fruit color this full-bodied Tuscan red.

Rating: 97 points

All said and done, the Marchesi Antinori 2021 Solaia is a monument to perfect winemaking. This coiffed supermodel does not show a single hair follicle out of place. However, it doesn't quite have the same sex appeal of the Tignanello. In my conversations with Estate Manager Renzo Cotarella during this tasting, it was expressed this way: "Tignanello is unexpected. Solaia is expected." Whereas Tignanello is a wine of vertical lift and energy, Solaia is a wine of lasting power. The wine offers generous depth and layering with soft tannins and some of the spicy pink peppercorn you get from the 9% Cabernet Franc (added to 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Sangiovese). The finish is extremely velvety and soft, but I notice that the flavors seem to become sweeter and riper the longer this wine stays in the glass. This newest release will hit the market in September.

Rating: 96 points

This is a classy and very elegant expression. The Marchesi Antinori 2022 Solaia is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller parts Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese. The tannins are beautiful in this wine, very well managed with silky and chalky results. The wine unfolds beautifully over the palate, offering generous richness and seamless fruit flavors that range from blackberry to tart plum. There is never a formula for making this wine, but the best vintages of Solaia show that seamless quality that is a hallmark. You get that here in what is perhaps more accessible packaging. Some 20% of production is sold on the Place de Bordeaux.

Rating: 96 points

The Marchesi Antinori 2022 Bolgheri Superiore Guado al Tasso (a blend of 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Cabernet Franc and 25% Merlot) is an unexpected wine. I was prepared for more overt ripeness but instead was greeted by a delightful mineral note of graphite or lead pencil that gives much needed contouring to this full-bodied Tuscan red. The wine is velvety and richly textured at its core, but it is also seamless with very pleasurable sweetness. All new oak adds hints of vanilla and spice. If you follow this wine, you'll notice that the percentage of Cabernet Franc has been increasing in tiny notches over the years. "Blending is key to achieving balance in a vintage like this," says Marchesi Antinori Managing Director Renzo Cotarella. Production this vintage is 140,000 bottles.

Rating: 96 points

The Pio Cesare 2019 Barolo Mosconi (with 6,685 bottles and larger formats on the market) offers the structure and length of Nebbiolo from Monforte d'Alba. You also get a salty mineral tone or rusty iron that frames a core of wild berry and blackcurrant. The Mosconi always appears very linear and direct to me, and that special sharpness is what I like best about this vintage.

Rating: 97 points

The 2019 Bolgheri Superiore Grattamacco (a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 15% Sangiovese) is a real beauty and shows very nicely today based on advancing vine age alone. Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah vines show great results after seven years, whereas Merlot and Sangiovese vines need a few more years before they start to show that extra degree of complexity, the winemaking team tells me. This is a complete and beautifully balanced wine that shows soft extraction and especially sweet tannins. It fermented in truncated conical oak vats and finished in barrique for 18 months. 60,000 bottles were produced.

Rating: 96+ points

Two standouts from the 2020 vintage are Montefico and Asili. The Produttori del Barbaresco 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico comes from a site that is distant from the warm air that travels through the Tanaro River Valley and is closed within an amphitheater. This is a beautiful vineyard that looks toward the village of Neive and has active limestone soils. The wine is especially compact in texture and has a distinctly herbal note, with dried rosemary and lavender, that gives it a Mediterranean or botanical feel. The palate delivers a brief moment of softness, but otherwise the wine is structured and rich.

Rating: 96 points

The 2007 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico was bottled seven months before I tasted it. Grapes undergo a four-month appassimento for extra concentration and intensity. Despite this heavy-handed winemaking technique (in which the clusters lose up to 30% of their water mass in the air-drying process), this is a surprisingly delicate and nuanced wine. The aging process has definitely broken down and assimilated any of the hard edges that come from dried grapes. In its wake, the wine is polished and tight with a long, silky texture.

Rating: 96 points

The 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva Le Baròncole is a beautiful wine that delivers a very convincing performance as soon as you venture your happy nose into the glass. The wine is inky dark in appearance, yet brilliant hues of dark ruby and garnet shine bright from within. There is a moment of austerity on the bouquet, with dark aromas of slate and blackberry that slowly unwind and relax to producer softer aromas of red cherry and candied plum. This wine's natural range and distance shows more latitude than you may expect. This Riserva is a real beauty, and this vintage is something truly special. The blend is 97% Sangiovese with 3% Canaiolo, and the wine ages in both barrique and tonneaux for 20 months. Some 15,600 bottles and 200 magnums were produced.

Rating: 96 points

The 2020 Biserno is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and a small part Petit Verdot. This is an enriched and profound wine with round tones of black fruit, spice, cured tobacco and tarry smoke. Biserno is shapely and generous with a full-bodied approach that is accented by crushed stone and pencil shaving. You get a lot of intensity and texture with this opulent, cellar-worthy wine.

Rating: 97 points

A blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and a small part Petit Verdot from Bibbona on the Tuscan Coast, the Tenuta di Biserno 2021 Biserno is heavy on the Cabernet side of the spectrum, with rosemary and lavender that give the wine a very Mediterranean personality. Beyond that, there is black fruit, spice and campfire ash. This is a thick and richly concentrated wine with a lovely sense of balance and power. It finishes long and rich. There is a hint of spicy black pepper on the close.

Rating: 98 points

This edition from the legendary Tenuta San Leonardo estate in Trentino is presented with an artist-signed label. The special release of 999 bottles features the surreal artwork of Simone Berti. From a cool vintage, the 2018 San Leonardo is incredibly fine and beautiful with a filigree of aromas that recalls wild blackberry, tobacco, pressed rosemary, cherry tartlet and orange marmalade. The wine's elegance is extraordinary, and the mouthfeel is very fine and precise. This classic vintage will certainly appeal to San Leonardo purists. I recommend giving it a long runway to age.

Rating: 96 points

A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 8% Merlot, the 2020 Giusto di Notri is a ripe, bold and generous wine. The DNA of the wine has changed slightly over the years to favor the Cabernet Franc (with an increased percentage) over the Merlot, which has fallen from a previous high of about 35% to 40% of the blend a decade ago. What I like about this wine is that it manages an elegant, almost understated interpretation of a hot and dry vintage. The tannins are especially well managed in this situation. In 2020, Tua Rita's harvest was finished by October 6th.

Rating: 96 points

Here’s a wine that takes us to a vintage that excels in terms of general fruit clarity and precision. The 2021 Giusto di Notri is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot that ages in new oak (50% of the wine) with the other half going into second- and third-passage barrel. Intensity and depth are highlighted nicely here in a vintage that ended on October 16th (much later than 2020). This benefits complexity and aromas. The vintage also delivers more freshness and balanced tannins (without the sharper edges you get in 2020). This is a beautiful wine, one that's set up for long cellar aging.

Rating: 97 points

This new vintage is just terrific because it marries a sunny growing season with a grape like Syrah, which thrives in these conditions. The Tua Rita 2020 Syrah Per Sempre embraces juicy, full-bodied fruit with lots of blackberry, plum, sweet spice and campfire ash. Stefano Frascolla deliberately seeks to avoid any eucalyptus or camphor-like overtones. He looks for bold primary fruit instead. This is achieved through fruit ripeness, vineyard care and oak management. Syrah has a short harvest window, so timing is important. The vineyards are planted in marl soils with schistic material that is typical of the mineral-rich hills surrounding Suvereto. The wine goes from barrique to botte grande for an additional two or three months to stretch its legs. The 2019 vintage is gorgeous, but this expression from 2020 has more power and heft.

Rating: 97 points

Stefano Frascolla tells me two lessons he has learned about Syrah. The first is that it is a grape highly influenced by the soils it is planted in. Second, it is important to get the harvest window just right because Syrah has less latitude than, say, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon when it comes to scheduling the pick. The Tua Rita 2021 Syrah Per Sempre is a beautiful wine that displays enormous richness and softness, without heaviness. There are soft fruit tones cushioned by cinnamon and sweet spice. The wine is opulent, but it also offers exciting tension at the same time.

Rating: 96 points

The Tua Rita 2022 Syrah Per Sempre draws its precious fruit from a half-hectare parcel planted in 1998 and another parcel planted in 2004. The advanced age of the vines adds to the complexity and depth of the wine with dark plum, sweet spice, toast and campfire ash. Per Sempre ages in oak for 18 months with 80% new wood and 20% second-use barrique. Syrah does a great job of balancing its fruit against the integrated oak. The wine makes a big impact on the senses thanks to its open-knit texture and generous concentration. On the palate, it is firm but also fresh, and both these qualities bode well for its aging potential.

Rating: 96+ points

The Tua Rita 2021 Redigaffi is a wine of thick character and dark extraction. This 100% expression of Merlot offers tension and extreme balance with very generous layers of dark cherry, plum, dried blackberry, spice and tobacco. It displays a spectacularly soft and velvety texture over a full-bodied approach. Redigaffi is often monolithic and monotone in its younger years, and it needs more bottle age to come into focus. This is very true for the 2021 vintage.

Rating: 97 points

One of Italy's greatest Merlots, the Tua Rita 2022 Redigaffi is packed tight with sweet fruit, blackberry preserves, sweet spice and toasted oak. This is a fleshed out and generous expression with lots of proverbial fruit stuffing and volume. The oak aging regime includes 80% new wood and 20% neutral oak from various coopers, mostly sourcing from the tonnelleries Orion and de Mercurey. "There is no single recipe. We want to add as many colors to the palette as possible," says proprietor Stefano Frascolla. The idea is to maintain the identity of Merlot, he says, with muscle power and well-integrated tannins. The 2022 vintage accomplishes these goals in a package that is aromatic and rich yet also a little leaner and fresher in terms of finish. The overall message here is elegance.

Rating: 96 points

One of Italy’s benchmark Merlots, the Tua Rita 2023 Redigaffi is the result of important fruit selection and a strong focus on purity, balance and freshness. Merlot performed well in 2023 with healthy vines, no hydric stress and extensive pre-harvest sorting to remove softer berries in favor of crunchy ones. The wine shows a creamy, almost lactic side with dark fruit, blackberry, cherry compote and notes of milk chocolate across a plush mid-palate. Aged in 80% new oak, Redigaffi delivers structure and power without jamminess, offering a beautifully controlled and tactile expression from a vineyard planted in four stages in 1988, 1996, 1997 and 2001, with production limited to around 10,000 bottles plus magnums.

Rating: 96 points

Pale lemon-gold colored, the 2010 Climens reveals a seriously intense nose of mango pudding, warm pineapples and pink grapefruit with hints of exotic spices, toasted almonds and brioche plus a waft of honeycomb. Powerfully flavored and packed with layers of tropical fruits, spices and earthy notes, it finishes epically long and honeyed.

Rating: 96 points

The 1988 Chateau d'Yquem has long been an insider's favorite over the 1989 and 1990, although at the end of the day, all three form a brilliant triumvirate at the end of the decade. Tasted from a half bottle, it shone with a slightly burnished amber hue. The bouquet is just as I have encountered with previous bottles with scents of marmalade, mandarin, burnt honey and citrus fruit, perhaps a little waxier and resinous than I recall. The palate is medium-bodied with impressive weight, viscous as you would expect, though not as flamboyant as the 1989 or as unctuous as the 1990. It is beautifully balanced with notes of apricot, white chocolate and orange peel towards the harmonious and tensile finish. You can see this cruising along for two or three decades and maybe it will turn more Barsac-like in style? Time will tell - a glorious Yquem however you look at it. Tasted May 2016.