The 2019 Pinot Noir Land's Edge Vineyards, a blend from Far Coast and Seascape, is bright, effusive and wonderfully inviting. The aromatics and the vibrancy of the fruit are so appealing. Sweet red cherry fruit, kirsch, rose petal, blood orange and mulling spice all meld together in the glass. Shorter time in barrel (10 months) relative to the other Pinots seems to really accentuate the vibrancy of the fruit.

The 2019 Syrah Brosseau is a powerful, dense wine. Black cherry, scorched earth, leather, game, licorice and tobacco infuse the Brosseau with tons of brooding intensity. This is an especially savory, mineral-driven style, with the fruit pushed to the background.

The 2019 Syrah Hawkes Butte offers terrific brightness and energy. Sweet red berry fruit, white pepper, mint, blood orange, cinnamon and chalk lend notable aromatic intensity to the high-toned flavors. Medium in body and attractively nervy, the 2019 has a ton to offer.

The 2019 Chardonnay Skycrest is bright, airy and finely cut. Lemon confit, white flowers, mint and white pepper all grace this high-toned ethereal Chardonnay from
Copain. This opens beautifully with some air.

The 2019 Chardonnay Tidal Break is absolutely delicious. Apricot, tangerine oil and light tropical inflections all grace this classy, beautifully layered Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. Silky and plush, with terrific persistence the 2019 is another winner in this range. The 2019 is impeccably done.

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Vales Edge is packed with sumptuous dark fruit, chocolate, spice and sweet spice. It is one of the riper wines in the lineup, and yet it has plenty if the vibrancy that is such a signature here.

This is a fine, glossy, full flavoured chardonnay from the Russian River Valley. There is a real sense of elegance here. The nose is generous with hazelnut, dried flowers, custard and peachy fruit. It is very smooth, somewhat sweet and intense. So rich! Excellent to outstanding length.

Deep red/purple colour, youthful and bright. Intense bouquet of plum and dark cherry laced with toasty char oak. Herbs and Chinotto, too. The flavour is concentrated and bold, bright and very much alive, with high but invigorating acidity, delicious flavour and firm but balanced tannins. Oak has been used fairly liberally for a straight grenache. It's a strongly built wine which needs time and promises much if cellared. An idiosyncratic style of grenache, a far cry from your cuddy, fruit-sweet, soft Aussie styles. It needs time: I wouldn't touch it for at least two years.

Deep-ish red with a tinge of purple and a very smoky, seemingly oaky bouquet, plus lots of crushed-rock mineral notes. The acid is high, the tannins abundant and firm, and the wine should be long-lived. It's very tight and firm. A total contrast to the rich, opulent fruit-sweet styles of lower altitude McLaren Vale sites. (14.5% alc.)

Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2009 Small Pot Shiraz offers a wild/yeasty nose with nuances of soy, smoked game, loam, orange rind and spices over a core of crushed blueberries and black cherries. Medium to full-bodied, rich and generously fleshed in the mid-palate, it has medium to firm rounded tannins, refreshing acidity and a long finish with layers of savoury and black fruit flabors plus a Provence herb lift. Approachable now, it should cellar to 2019+.

Good colour, although less deep thanthe conventional release, a novel approach in McLaren Vale, more frequently encountered in cooler regions; a robust wine is the result; at this early stage overwhelmed by new oak, but will settle down with time.

A rich, classic mix of blackberry and dark chocolate seamlessly fused with oak; nice, ripe tannins. Screwcap

Deep red purple. Slightly herbal stemmy nose, a hint of grassiness. Palate is tannin-driven, drying and savoury, with lots of oak tannin that puckers the mouth. Concentrated, dense, chewy and extracted but not bitter or harsh. Lots of cherry and plum fruit, coconut/vanilla/toasty oak and rustic. A little old-fashioned, and worth cellaring.

Classic regional style; sumptuous, rich, black fruits in an envelope of dark chocolate; alcohol (for better or worse), part of the style.

Sourced from six blocks across the Yangarra Estate. Roughly 50% on sand, the other half on ironstone. Its temper is even, its flavour is substantial. This wine is as balanced as they come. Tar and blackberry, a touch of sweet plum, plenty of peppercorn and dashes of cedar. Tannin drains back through the wine in an even flow. It’s in overall excellent shape and is, as so often, very good buying.

Deep red-purple. Clean, deep aromas but shy and slightly closed. Palate is dry and savoury, full and slightly chewy in its tannins. The grip closes out the finish. Dense, slightly chewy flavour; lots of guts here but not a lot of subtlety. Big wine with oodles of flavour and character.

They make some really good booze at Yangarra. This one’s a beauty. Ripe, luscious, leathery, earthen, minerally and laden with oodles of chocolatey, plummy, tarry fruit. There’s a sure slip of creamy, toasty oak here too but the fruit has it well and truly covered. Exquisite tannin. Adorable drinking.

Excellent combination of polish and grunt. Smooth-skinned wine with blackberry, plum and leather flavours laid on, well complemented by more savoury-accented notes of clove and dried spice. Creamy oak makes for a silken ride through the finish. No lack of tannin. Very good release.

Impenetrable colour; dark berries and oak in profusion; depth and structure; appropriate oak.

Very deep, dense, bold purple red colour with a bold, slightly raw young bouquet of shrill spicy fruit and smoky, charry, burnt-wood overtones (not necessarily from oak). The sooty character of the region is part of it. It's full-bodied, intense and powerful with a very lively palate thanks to fresh acidity, and very good concentration. This is a bit young to drink but has great potential. I'd give it a year or two longer. (68% grenache, 26% shiraz, 6% mourvedre; biodynamic certified; hand-picked; mechanically sorted; 50% destemmed & 50% whole berries, wild fermented; 10 months in older French oak)

Pure fruit. Peter Fraser. Preservative Free. All fit. Absolutely no additions, only filtration before bottling. Clean as a whistle, fabulous colour, brimming with dark fruit, choc-wheaten biscuits, spice and crunchy acidity.

They stuck the trade label over the barcode, which makes Mattinson positively stream through his ears, so I could not scan it into Wineosphere, but luckily, time passes, and if you’ve done it once, you need not do it again: it’s a fine line between pleasure and pain. The scan happened last year I suspect, no doubt via CM’s fair and steady hand, he who likes nothing more than to spend his leisure time in regional IGAs helping people to scan things. Anyway, I digress. There’s 3,264 cases of this produced from bush vines planted in 1946. Hand picked. 50% whole bunches. Cold soak. etc. Pretty good credentials for a $32 wine. Grenache. Is. Still. Not. Fashionable.
This is a bit more serious than your average South Australian Grenache. Leaf litter, spice, cherries, raspberry, potpourri, new leather etc. etc. Medium to full bodied, driven and controlled by firm dry earthy tannin that lends the wine seriousness, and structure. Raspberry, mineral feel, clutch of dried herbs, balanced freshening acidity, slight warmth of alcohol, then a crunch of dry tannin meets essence of raspberry on the finish. Significant wine I think.

McLaren Vale grenache grown on bush vines, planted 1946. Meticulously berry-sorted prior to crushing. Cold soaked, wild fermented, left alone, pressings excluded, bottled unfined. Certified biodynamic. Robust grenache, sizeable, slathered with toasty/creamy oak and plush throughout. Grenache with the works, sure, but complex. Deli meats, spices, redcurrant and plums. Lots of oak, too much arguably, but seductive with it. Intricately tannic yet overall it remains supple. Fabulous booze, so long as oak doesn’t annoy you. It drinks beautifully now but it has a future. Drink : 2018 - 2024+

If you’re after a very consistent, very good-value grenache, then this is a wine you should be buying by the case. It has such impressively energetic aromas and flavors of red and darker berries and a beautifully articulated frame of fine, sturdy tannin. Mouth-filling fruit pervades the finish. Screw cap.