A beautiful, harmonious nose, with notes of violets and lavender honey. It’s highly fragrant, full on the palate but also weightless, clearly very light extraction. Despite this, there’s great presence and depth, it’s still young and is mostly about the texture for now. A stylish, special Grenache, that’s stylistically quite peerless, with a real tuning fork resonance on the finish. Taken from the highest section of their 1946 Grenache, planted on deep sandy soils. 50% whole berries were destemmed and placed in open fermenters, with a long, gentle maceration. Wild yeast fermented. Free run juice only, matured on lees in older, large French oak barrels and ceramic eggs for 11 months.

Dense, concentrated colour and a bouquet that suggests briars and tar/bitumen, with multiple herbs, blackberry and black cherry beneath, the palate loaded with mouth-coating tannins that complement the rich flavours. Traces of underbrush and a smidgin of tomato-bush. A big, solid, concentrated wine of long-term potential. Drink: 2026–2046

From 17ha of 1946 bush vines on a deep sandy dune. So scented/perfumed, and I’m
gone for all money without even tasting it. Its red-fruit sundae glistens with dew
drops on a spider’s web, yet also has a savoury echo on the finish

Brightness and energy with hibiscus water, lemon and dried strawberry. Full and linear with a solid column of fruit that runs the length of the wine and spirals endlessly. Integrated and melted tannins. Purity. Drink or hold.

Very floral and bright with strawberries and flowers on the nose. Intense. Medium-bodied, very transparent, and brilliant with a ruby stone sort of beauty. Very citrusy. Interesting ripe watermelon undertone to it. Drink or hold.

The purity of fruit here is impressive with a density and layered texture, with lots of integrated phenolics, citrus rind, lemon oil and white peach. White nougat and pistachio. Sesame seed, too. It’s full and very long with an intensity and beauty. Flinty and reductive at the end. Mostly Wente clone and it shows. Drink or hold.

Many years ago, I walked the early Vérité vineyard blocks with winegrower Pierre Seillan, whose take on complexity was simple, “Every hillside, every elevation and every aspect offers us a different micro-cru. From the beginning, the pure expression of these unique sites has defined our winemaking philosophy.” It makes it easy to understand the birth of the Vérité trilogy: La Joie, La Muse, and La Desire, each exploring a different grape while reflecting its Sonoma origins. In 2019 the vintage began with a healthy water supply in the soil from a warm winter of storms. Budbreak was early in what would be a warm year, complete with some heat spikes. Merlot is at the heart of la Muse, and it comes with a series of complex flavour layers. Inspired by the Pomerol style, the first release was 21 years ago. Seillan works with fifty micro-crus in Eastern Sonoma when he blends this wine. The fruit is California opulent, but Seillan plays that off against dried herbs, woodland spices, and French oak ageing to achieve a level of harmony seldom seen in California. 2019 is aged 16 months in 95 percent new French oak, and the blend is 90/5/5/ merlot, cabernet franc, and malbec from Alexander Valley, Bennett Valley, Chalk Hill, and Knights Valley.

Pale ruby-purple, the 2018 Pinot Noir The Sum has alluring scents of cranberry sauce, tea leaves, gravel dust and iron with meaty undertones and wafts of iodine. The medium-bodied palate is grainy and refreshing with concentrated, savory fruit and a flourish of spicy accents across the long, detailed finish. With its structural harmony and detailed intensity, it's a great candidate for the cellar.

The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Speciale was aged for 24 months in French and American oak barrels and comes from several vineyards, including Lasseter, Monte Rosso, Murray Ranchand Smothers-Remick Ridge. It is incredibly expressive, at its peak between supple fruit and savory maturity. Deep ruby, the nose is surprisingly detailed, holding on to a core of black currant andcherry fruit. It offers up continually shifting nuances of dried lavender and rosemary, soy sauce, aged leather, cured beef and the iron-like mineral tones characteristic of many of the ArrowoodCabernets. Powerful but weightless, the full-bodied palate isintense and pure, with layered perfume, powdery tannins,seamless freshness and a very long finish. It will continue to hold inthe cellar for another decade. 490 cases were made.

Pale ruby-purple, the 2018 Pinot Noir Estate Cuvée has a pure,detailed perfume of lilac, blueberries, aniseed, tea leaves and woodsmoke. The medium-bodied palate has a powerful frame of grainy tannins and mouthwatering acidity that elevates its nuanced, floral flavors, and it finishes very long and layered.

Pale ruby-purple, the 2018 Pinot Noir Triple Black Slopes is powerful and perfumed! It explodes from the glass with a sultry perfume of lilac, blood orange, tea leaves and conifer with anintense core of red cherry and blueberry. The medium-bodied palate offers firm, ripe tannins and seamless acidity to support its concentrated fruit, and its long, spicy finish hints at more to come.It's a great candidate for cellaring.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Clairière comes from vines top-grafted to the 667 clone in 2018. It has deep, broody aromas of blackberry and boysenberry preserves, brewed tea, bergamot, aniseed and cola,with singular herbal and floral tones that set it apart in this lineup.The medium-bodied palate is surprisingly powerful, offering abundant, finely chalky tannins, energetic acidity, loads of complex,detailed flavors and a very long, nuanced finish.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Emery comes from newly defined parcels inthe Emery block at Willakenzie estate. "In 2019, we carved outsome pieces of Emery that looked different," winemaker Erik Kramer explained. "If the vines look that different, something is going on, and there's no way it's not affecting the grapes. Now we have the estate and the space to engage in that type of detective work." The parcels, planted to 667, 777 and Pommard clone vines, run along a central ridge of the estate from around 600-700 feet in elevation. Medium ruby, it has very pretty scents of red cherry and raspberry with nuances of rooibos tea, star anise, lilac and mushroom. The medium-bodied palate unfolds its complex flavor layers slowly, framed by abundant, chalky tannins and bursts of mouth watering acidity, and it finishes with notable length and detail.

The 2019 Chardonnay La Crête, the inaugural release of this wine,comes predominantly from newer Chardonnay vines planted at Willakenzie Estate. "As we add more Chardonnay to the estate, I have been in the process of isolating blocks," winemaker Erik Kramer explained. "It's my job as a winemaker to find where on the property the best wine is made. I don't think we could have made Chardonnay like this from the old plantings. This is a better location, and it gets protracted ripening." The La Crête features expressive aromas of white peach, honeycomb, pastry and lilac with top notes of lime peel. The medium-bodied palate explodes with concentrated, layered flavors carried by tangy acidity andsaline tones, and it finishes with tremendous length and floral perfume. It's an impressive first release that illustrates the potential for world-class Chardonnay in the Willamette Valley.

Even better, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Sycamore Vineyard is jaw-dropping stuff and does everything right. More structured and tannic compared to the Bosche, it has loads of red and black fruits as well as sandalwood, camphor, bay leaf, and bouquet garni-like aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, deep, layered, and concentrated, yet still with this wonderful sense of elegance, it needs 3-5 years of bottle age and will evolve for 20-25 years as well.

Medium deep crimson. Medium-powered wine with redcurrant, raspberry, blueberry aromas with flinty complexity. Sweet fruited palate with strawberry, red currant, raspberry pastille fruits, fine lacy tannins, some good mid-palate viscosity with a touch of mocha and integrated acidity before finishing gravelly firm. Drink 2024 – 2032.

Medium crimson. Dried roses, strawberry apricot nectarine aromas with hints of sesame ,roasted walnut. Beautiful strawberry apricot, hint raspberry pastille flavours, fine loose knit chalky tannins with al dente textures and beautiful quartz-like acidity finishing with a feathery plume. Very minerally with lovely fruit complexity and torque. Drink now – 2040.

Pale medium colour. Waxy, grilled nut, apricot aromas with shellac notes. Beautifully concentrated apricot nectarine, grilled nut flavours, some waxy notes, fine loose knit chalky / al dente textures and fresh indelible acidity. Precise, richly flavoured and crunchy. Drink now – 2028.

Medium deep crimson. Blackcurrant, blackberry, graphite aromas with mocha, roasted chestnut notes. Beautifully concentrated wine with plentiful cassis, blackberry, graphite, fine gravelly textures and integrated mocha, roasted chestnut, vanilla oak. Finishes chocolatey with ample sweet fruit notes. Gently vigorous with superb fruit complexity and mineral length. 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Shiraz. Drink 2024–2038.

Deep crimson. Classic blackcurrant, dark chocolate with roasted almond, roasted chestnut notes. Inky deep wine with beautiful blackcurrant pastille, roasted chestnut flavours, fine grainy textures and underlying cedar notes. Finishes chalky firm with seductive sweet fruit notes. A highly individual style with superb definition, fruit complexity, concentration and oak handling. 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec. Maturation for around 16 months in 50% new and seasoned French oak barriques. Drink now–2034.

Deep, rich red colour with a good purple tint and a tremendously rich, deep, complex bouquet of toasty oak-tinged chocolate and mocha, and some fruitcake. Tremendous flavour and explosive depth and persistence. A very impressive and dramatic grenache. A very special wine.

From the highest section (210m) of the '46 bush vine grenache, hand-picked, mechanically sorted, cold soak, open-fermented, hand-plunged, wild yeast-fermented, on lees in used French oak for 12 months. Deep, bright colour; the complex dark fruits of the bouquet lead into a palate of exceptional depth and dimension, not least the firm tannins more often encountered in cabernet than shiraz, and almost never in grenache. Amazing. 160 dozen made.

Fruit off Block 31 from the highest section - 210m and the deepest sand for the ?46 planted bush vines. 50% whole berries, wild yeast and on lees in used French oak for 1 year. No need for winemaking accoutrements - a pure expression of that discrete spot. Perfectly modulated, the tannins enmeshed with the fruit from whence they came, excellent fruit yet the most savoury and earthy toned and deepest of the three Grenaches.

The flagship shiraz with fruit off two blocks, 25% whole bunches, wild yeast, French oak 40% new, aged 15 months then a barrel selection. Quality control in check. It effortlessly reaches a depth of flavour and presence while retaining its verve. Smells of a spice shop next door to a baker, with the dark fruit in line with sprightly acidity and shapely if firm tannins. Stunning now, even brighter future.

Ex 1946 Blewitt Springs bush vines planted in a deep sandy dune that Yangarra call The Beach; dry-grown, bunch-sorted, wild yeast, open fermented and basket pressed. Bright clear though deep crimson hue; scented/perfumed, and I'm gone for all money without even tasting it. And I haven't fooled myself. Except why on earth is is only $45? Its red fruit sundae glistens with dew drops on a spider's web, yet also has a savoury echo towards the finish.