Michael aside, this is one of the finest shiraz releases to emerge from the modern era of Wynns. Not far from the revered vineyards of Majella, Wynns lays claim to the lion’s share of vines along V&A Lane, the axis of Coonawarra and source of some of its more finely-structured wines, including a significant contribution […]
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I’ve always noted an edginess to the early-ripening Glengyle vineyard, packed with distinctive notes that venture into the greener spectrum of cabernet: capsicum, tobacco leaf, cedar, even fennel. There’s no question of its ripeness here, with the palate revving up to quite some fruit power of ripe blackcurrants. My reservation is based on oak, which […]
readThere is an element of elusive mystery in the infant years of the most revered and ageworthy of all cabernets. Distinction is denoted more by high-tensile, tightly-wound energy than by overt expressiveness. I cannot recall a Coonawarra cabernet of the past twenty-five years that embodied this as exactingly as John Riddoch 2009. This is, unreservedly, […]
readThis is a dashingly refined and pristine Michael, a wine of resolute definition and substantial longevity, exemplifying Coonawarra shiraz of the highest order. Layers of complexity ripple with expressive blackberry and deep-set plum fruits, pristine black pepper, sizzling pan juices, roast game and a backdrop of milk chocolate oak. It uncoils to reveal a breathtaking […]
readLoaded with crunchy lemon and lime, a pretty lift of lemon blossom and a long finish of grapefruit and nashi pear, this is a sauvignon ready to pour for the masses. A touch of lees contact accents its finely textured and refreshing style. $10 direct.
readThe first 2012 to make the cut for Wine Taste Weekly has been early all its life – picked in early January, three weeks earlier than usual and bottled in March, the earliest current vintage wine the bottling line has ever handled. It’s all the better for it, too, taking Teusner Sauvignon far from tropical […]
readThe reason this benchmark value-for-money Margaret River cabernet has such unusual levels of regional and varietal integrity for its miniscule price is that the philosophy is very much the same as that of its big brothers. 55% estate grown Wallcliffe fruit spends fourteen months in French oak, one-third of which is new. The selection here […]
readUnrelenting diligence in The Menzies estate vineyard has enabled the Yalumba wizards to pull a wine of astonishingly delicate refinement from a warm, early and ripe vintage. This is a beautifully fragrant cabernet of lifted violet perfume and accurate red- and blackcurrants, with nuances of cedar and tobacco, underlined by subtle dark chocolate oak. It […]
readKen Bray’s Hunter vineyard is one of the finest sites for single vineyard semillon in the world today. Period. While it has supplied many of the great winemakers of the Hunter, it’s taken the genius of Andrew Thomas to unveil its true pedigree. His Cellar Release Semillon has long been revered, but when the 2007 […]
readIf fruit, alcohol, oak and tannin could fade to reveal nothing but the pure essence of Margaret River cabernet at its most distinctive, what remains would be characterised in both texture and flavour by gravel, wet slate, graphite and high cocoa dark chocolate. In this ideal, Xanadu’s new single vineyard cabernet is more articulate than […]
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