Smells like that moment when you're bubbling strawberries in a pot and suddenly the kitchen is filled with the knee-buckling heady joy of strawberry jam. Wonderful layers of velvet-kiss, scarlet-lip, ruby-pool, indigo-ink-stained fruit and husky, dusky tones of coffee, cocoa husk, star anise. Tannins like an ensemble of cellos. It tastes disarmingly easy and ready and arms-wide-open. Deceptively easy, because this is a beautifully made wine and there is nothing simple about this jewelled Grenache. (TC)
Egregiously heavy bottle. Complex blend and winemaking! Despite four years in bottle, it smells as youthful and fruity as a one-year-old wine. It smells like a bowl of fresh quinces, like daffodils, like wet chalk and bergamot and yuzu cordial. So fresh! And so fresh on the palate as well, although here that hint of wet chalk becomes structural and mineral, taking shape and deepening the curved carve of acidity, drawing the white-yellow notes of the fruit into length, allowing tiny white and yellow flowers to dance on the edges, just out of sight. There is absolutely no hurry to drink this wine that tastes as if it hasn't even begun to get going. (TC).
Transparent garnet. Delicate earthy nose followed by surprisingly full-on strawberry fruit. Still quite youthful with good acidity and smooth texture. I’d wait until at least 2025 to enjoy this but there’s no excess sweetness and hardly a trace of oak. Long. A bit of a charmer but less forward that its Bastard Hill stablemate. (JR).
Tense, intense nose with marked acidity promised. Gosh, and there is it on the palate! Stony texture and extremely youthful. Hovering somewhere between lemon and grapefruit flavours. It certainly has potential but I’d leave it alone for at least a year. (JR).
A little lean for a stereotypically Aussie Chardonnay but this is, on the other hand, eerily like a Chablis with its sleek, stony fruit. Juicy and appetizing. Lots of texture but ready to enjoy already! (JR).
Transparent garnet. Very fruity and forgiving on the nose. Violet scents. Really mouth-filling and already very welcoming. There’s a hint of white pepper on the end. This is a really interesting wine with fruit that subsumes the light tannin. (JR).
An intense, linear wine. So bright, tangy and cherry-like, with great acidity lifting raspberry, cranberry, sage, chalk and rooibos tea flavors. Made with 100% whole clusters. Drink or hold.
So beautifully developed now at age nine, it's rich in marzipan, lemon creme, lemon zest and lime peel. Bright with citrus acidity, tangy, dry and appetizing in texture. What an elegant, balanced and complex wine. Drink or hold.
A very tensile, fresh and mineral-laden wine that's tangy in acidity and has an almost crunchy, lively texture. Made from a singular section of the 3-D vineyard planted with Wente and Mt. Eden clone grapevines. Lemon pith, limestone, crisp green apples. So intense and taut, it is sure to age and improve. Drinkable now but best from 2029.
Lively, fresh and energized at age nine, this wine has plenty of life ahead of it. So vivid in cranberries, rooibus tea, rhubarb and dried cherries on a frame of firm acidity. Elegant and silky. Drink now or hold.
So peppery, savory, smoky and meaty in aroma, showing the wild side of the grape variety. Sour cherries, black pepper, singed herbs, wood char, graphite and iron flavors. Medium-bodied, racy with acidity and nicely chewy in tannins. Drink or hold.
A suave, composed and subtle wine with great mellow fruit, spices and woodsy, savory accents. Medium-bodied, moderately tannic, aged in neutral barrels that Greg Brewer calls "exhausted." Hardly soft, though, it is alive with fresh acidity and lifted by fine-grained tannins. Drink or hold.
A lush and ripe-tasting but also bright and balanced wine that's mouthwatering to sip. It offers sour cherry and red cherry aromas followed by good baked cherries, red currants and dried cranberries on the palate. Moderate tannins and tangy acidity give it life and energy through a lingering finish. Sustainable. Drink now or hold.
Bright, polished and layered, this is a harmonious wine that blends apples, lemon zest, light baking spices and vanilla bean. Medium-bodied with a rich mid-palate, vibrant acidity and a sense of chalky minerality. Drink or hold.
An unoaked chardonnay that's full-bodied but balanced and amazingly rich in ripe fruit. Flavors of lemons, green apples, pineapple. mangoes, minerals and chalk. Harvested late in the year, fermented in steel tanks, then bottled and sold early while it's fresh and racy in texture. Despite not aging in barrels, it offers good butter and spices considering how crisp and tangy it is. Drink now.
Achieves excellent balance between a tangy feel and generous flavors. Quite toasty, flinty and nervy in aromas before a ripe, buttery palate delivers good richness and length. Minerals and sea salt on the nose, then bright pineapple, baked apple, butter and lemon zest on the palate. Drink now or hold.
A sturdy, straightforward wine with good, ripe black fruits and meaty, spicy accents on a generous texture. Light tannins and a rather full body give a relaxed mouth-feel. Drink now.
Fresh, clean and balanced, this is fruit-driven and refreshing. Medium body and good, citrus acidity back up crisp green-apple and Bosc-pear flavors, while showing slightly oaky, buttery influence. Drink now.
Ten months in French oak gives this Chardonnay a characteristic honey and nectarine dimension, along with a bit of pear and apricot. Pleasant acidity on the finish.
Offers forward notes of raspberry and black cherry preserves, with touches of warmed licorice and rose hip, but the edges are just a touch blurry, and the underlying structure shows a hint of grain. Drink now through 2026. 352 cases made.
A stunning version, showing wonderful precision. Offers wild strawberry, raspberry and maraschino cherry flavors that are sleek and polished, plus wild fennel, toasted green tea, rose petal and cardamom details. There's a hint of forest floor on the long finish, with dense, velvety tannins. Drink now through 2037.
Aromatic and expressive, offering bright notes of cherry preserves, cranberry and fresh raspberry coulis up front on a silky, weightless frame. Yet this red's power comes from its expansive details, with elements of lavender, apple blossoms, clove-spiked orange, oolong tea and toasted cumin lingering on the long finish. Drink now through 2036.