Coming from Carneros, the 2018 Pinot Noir Sevens Bench Vineyard has a spicy, black cherry, gamey style that offers medium to full-bodied richness, a round, beautifully textured mouthfeel, supple tannins, and outstanding length. It's already complex and hard to resist, yet it firms up nicely with time in the glass, and I suspect it has a solid 8-10 years of longevity ahead of it.

More tropical fruits and exotic, honeyed flower notes emerge from the 2018 Chardonnay Jennifer's, a medium to full-bodied, textured, rich, and fleshy Chardonnay that has a touch of botrytis character, yet is clean, dry, and lengthy on the finish.

Ripe and dense, but sleek and polished, with red and black licorice notes framing the core of lush plum sauce, blackberry compote and boysenberry reduction flavors. A licorice edge struts on the finish too. A showy style that should have lots of fans. Drink now through 2036.

Their first grenache to be fermented in ceramic egg. This has such attractive, fresh dark-plum and berry aromas. So pure with very pristine fruit. The tannin texture is very different, quite fine and granular. The long, succulent finish carries dark-plum and blueberry flavors. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

This is a tiny make (only two barrels) with quite a delicate, floral edge and lightly spicy elements sitting in redder-fruit aromas. The palate has a very plush, sleek and assertive feel. Taut with fresh crunchy red fruit. So fresh. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

A notably deeper colour than the Giant Steps Yarra pinots, looking more Central Otago than Yarra! The bouquet shows dark fruits rather than red, rich and ripe, with more stemmy whole-bunch overtones than the 2020 Yarra pinots, although they all have about 50% whole-bunch ferments. The wine is medium-bodied and has more weight and tannin than the Yarra wines, finishing with a conclusive grip which is in balance and simply calls for heartier food. It has less perfume and detail but more brawn. (From a vineyard near Tee Tree in the Coal Valley, 80-90m altitude and hungry soil, sand over limestone)

Buttery Burgundian complexity sets this apart from the other 2020 Giant Steps chardonnays. It's rich and remarkably complex for an unoaked wine. Ageing in clay 'egg' vessels provided some similar effects to a wood-matured effect. A more up-front, generous style and a quite remarkable wine. (50% malolactic, unfiltered. A blend of one egg from each of the four individual vineyards, Sexton, Tarraford, Applejack and Wombat Creek, plus Gruyere Farm)

Showing off its inky color, the 2017 Mt. Brave Cabernet Franc exudes class with its silky mouthfeel and great mid-palate depth and concentration. Full-throttle tar, anise, creme de cassis and loganberry cordial flavors all come together with minerals and loamy soils on the palate. High-toned dark florals add to the enjoyment as this outstanding new bottling has another fifteen years to go. Drink 2021-2038

This is made from one of the coldest sites in the appellation, planted in 1975 to a single clone. Cranberry, cherry and strawberry fruit adorn a plush and velvety palate of textured intensity and tannin, with jolts of black tea, dried herb and forest complementing and contrasting.

Lushly tropical with a richness of crème brûlée, this wine is made from several sites in the Laguna Ridge neighborhood of the appellation. Generous oak supports the layering opulence and spiciness, offering a voluptuous expression of the grape.

An exuberantly fruity, fleshy and pleasing wine, this shows concentrated flavors of green apple, pear and mandarin. The acidity is moderate and the oak spicy, with hints of nutmeg, lemongrass and Nilla Wafer that remain fresh and focused in the glass.

With small amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, this is a rounded and rich red with balanced acidity. Dark plum, berry and mocha highlight a soft, lush opulence of integrated oak with hints of baking spice and tobacco.

Processed without fear of contact on the fine lees, this young Chianti Classico shows sensory power and character. Primary hints of black cherries, orange blossom, wild strawberries and juniper berries blend with shades of cedar and pink grapefruit. Full-bodied, juicy and delicious on the palate, it gives a more than pleasant sip, important but not demanding. Delicious right away but better from 2022.

Refined and rich, this is filled with firm, concentrated cherry tart, fig paste and dark plum flavors that are filled with savory accents. Shows nuances of loam and cooking spices on the lightly toasty finish. Drink now through 2026.

This midnight purple colored Cabernet Sauvignon from Anakota opens with a black plum and sour dough toast bouquet. On the palate, this wine is medium plus bodied, balanced and smooth. The flavor profile is mineral influenced black currant with notes black cherry and oak. We also detected some hints of black tea mixed in. The finish is dry and its dusty tannins stick around for quite some time. The Panel would pair this Excellent Cab with a ribeye steak.

Quite light in the glass with a beautiful nose of peach, cherry, and white flower. The palate? Whoa. Great tartness and balance here. This is another contender for top wine. Outstanding.

A floral touch from the first nose, smoky but delicate, with a powerful and surprisingly supple touch to the tannins. This must be one of the best 2017s in St-Emilion. So much smoke and grilled chocolate add layers of interest to the berry fruits. This was the year of the frost, where production dropped from 7,000 to 4,500 cases and left this unusual blend.

A brilliant wine, with poise and a sense of stillness and deep raspberry fruits that are centred. Even on the nose you can feel the texture - this is built, muscular and powerful - it is profound, with evident time ahead of it. Pierre's son Nicolas began taking a bigger hand in the winemaking as of this vintage.

Explosion of rich turmeric, crushed stone and subtle smoked saffron with touches of grilled almond, and a rich, powerful bramble berry fruit. Lovely chewy tannins also, shot through with pulses of electricity and minerality. You can enjoy this now because the aromatics are already giving so much, but it is sure to age brilliantly for another few decades.

Deep inky colour with ruby reflections. This is extremely successful, with a feeling of everything being in its place - softly textured black cherry and blackberry fruits, riven through with cloves, cracked pepper spices, smoked earth and saffron. Savoury and juicy on the finish as the slate texture kicks in.

Weekend WinesFive O’Clock SomewhereA nicely maturing biodynamic Syrah from a top producer at just over £20? Yes please! Lots of whole-bunch gives intense, vibrant plum and blackberry fruit. The exotically spiced, silky palate balances its alcohol amid dusty tannins and mineral acidity.

Ironheart. An excellent name for such an iodine-laced and ferrous wine.Dried mint, sage, iodine, blackberry, spice. The region is stamped firmly on this wine. It picks up on the palate, with deep ferrous tannin, plenty more of that inky and sizzled sage leaf character, deep black fruit, menthol, bacon bone and black olive flavour, furry feel and a powerful finish of fennel and sage sausage. It offers a distinctive flavour profile, and it’s a curious wine in a way, high quality, but kind of overt.

Honey drizzled corn flakes, aniseed and fresh mint, orange and peach juice, a dusting of spice. Lovely chew and grip, a dried flower mouth-perfume, distinct umami almost teriyaki chicken flavour, fresh feel to acidity, even though it’s a wine of bold shape and scale, dry and briney to close. So much interest and things to explore here, as it rolls around the mouth. Excellent.

Fragrant, with scents of candle wax, faint honeycomb, ginger, preserved lemon, jasmine. Lovely stuff. Waxy texture, slippery finish, long and persistent and complex. A feast of stone fruit flavours, ginger-lemon tea, green herbs and salted cashew nuts. Excellent. Complex, medium weight white.

Pale garnet colour. Sappy, sultry, slate-like tannin hewn red of just shy of medium weight. Very fragrant, rose water, maraschino cherry, pot pourri. Beautiful perfume. Flavours are in the cherry-cranberry zone, those tannins though… and general sense of vitality and freshness. Excellent wine here. Structure, complexity, excellence.