The 2021 ‘Upper Barn’ is a utterly fantastic new Chardonnay bottling by Stonestreet. Right away on the nose you are allured with layers of tropical fruits and butterscotch alongside juicy pear and suggestions of baking spice dusted pie crust. The palate is rich and dense with a heady concentration and beautiful underlying tension. Finishing exceedingly long, this is a head-turning bottling that will cellar well for at least another decade. Drink 2023-2033

The 2019 Mt. Brave Cabernet Franc is a stunning new wine by Chris Carpenter. Very inky in the glass, this 100% varietal wine offers insanely good aromatic range from mulberry to huckleberry compote, espresso grounds, wet stone and shades of black licorice. The palate is soft and refined with a great underlying verve and beautiful texture. This is just sensational wine that is drinking beautifully now at the near four year mark. Tasted twice with consistent notes. Drink 2023-2040-

Clearly Australian, due to the ripeness of the fruit. Kirsch, rose hip and a scruff of dried thyme dousing a broad scape of gritty tannins and maritime tang. Very good. Best after 2026. Alkina Grenache Assembly tasting.

This is a new single vineyard wine with iodine, lead pencil and gravel, as well as currants. Full-bodied with firm and racy tannins that are slightly austere but in a sophisticated way. Vivid acidity. It needs time to come around but it’s already attractive with a citrus peel and blue fruit finish. Made from 100% cabernet sauvignon. 100 cases produced. Drink after 2026 but hard to wait.

Amazing wine. Deep and elegant at once. Seamless, just so seamless. Blackcurrant and bay leaf notes, woodsmoke and cedar, roasted nuts, some coffee, some salted black olive characters. Tannin is immensely fine-grained; the finish all-round feels confident and long. Spread; that’s what this wine has. Lots of spread. It’s championship material. It’s a long-termer.

Leading off the Mt. Brave releases, the 2021 Merlot Mount Veeder has a beautiful perfume of red, blue, and black fruits as well as lots of floral nuances. It's full-bodied and concentrated, with a layered, seamless mouthfeel and a gorgeous finish. It can be consumed now and over the coming 15 years.

A layered and flavorful red with black berries and blueberries with currants and chocolate. Iron, too. Full and chewy tannins that remain creamy. Savory with exotic spices. Cloves and Chinese spices. A blend of 88% cabernet sauvignon, 10% petit verdot and 2% cabernet franc. Mostly Sycamore and Boshe vineyards. The balance and harmony in this is really fantastic. And it can age. Drink or hold.

This is a new single vineyard wine with iodine, lead pencil and gravel, as well as currants. Full-bodied with firm and racy tannins that are slightly austere but in a sophisticated way. Vivid acidity. It needs time to come around but it’s already attractive with a citrus peel and blue fruit finish. Made from 100% cabernet sauvignon. 100 cases produced. Drink after 2026 but hard to wait.

A very fine tannined red with an energy that gives length and dimension with crushed berry and violet character. It’s medium to full body with subtle fruit and a fresh finish. So beautiful now. Blend of grapes from vineyards in the mountain sites of Diamond, Spring, Howell, and Mount Veeder. A blend of 80% cabernet franc and 20% merlot. 363 cases produced.

Lots of blackberries, blueberries and hints of crushed stones with some almonds and nuts. Full and velvety tannins with a juicy texture and a long and flavorful finish. Shows length and polish. A blend of 93% merlot, 5% petit verdot and 2% tannat. 674 cases produced. Needs time to soften and come together. Best after 2026.

This is such a beautiful white with sliced apple and pineapple with hints of lemon tart. Full-bodied with creamy texture and a lemon curd, honey, stony and fresh finish. Extremely energetic and long. 450 cases produced. Drink or hold.

Aromas of currants with lead pencil, bark and dried mushrooms. Fresh herbs, too. Full-bodied, with creamy and firm tannins that are polished and give great length. Chewy at the end. So long. Made from 100% cabernet franc. 377 cases produced. Give this three or four years to soften and beyond. One for the cellar.

By some considerable distance, this is the best Pinot Noir release from this Kendall-Jacksonowned Chilean operation. Showcasing the 667 and 777 clones, grown on quartz and granite
soils, it has alluring perfume, layers of juicy, sappy raspberry and black cherry flavours, wellhandled 15% new wood and polished tannins. 2024-29

Reminding me of obsidian with its inky black hue, the 2020 La Muse is lush with layered aromas of blackcurrant, violets, polished leather, and vanilla bean spice. Full-bodied and supple, with a luxurious mouthfeel, sweet, velvety tannins, and a hint dusty earth, it’s approachable upfront (the most approachable wine in this lineup) and has outstanding length. It captures the style of the estate and is one of the best examples from the vintage, with notes of mocha on the finish. Drink 2026-2046.

Aromas of bark, forest flower, mushroom and white truffle with ripe fruit. Chalky. Volcanic ash. Full to medium body with more tannins that are chewy and compacted. Lovely polish to it all. Yummy texture. Lead pencil, too. Drinkable but better in 2026.

Iodine, licorice, bark, and fresh mushrooms. Red currants. Lead pencil. Full-bodied with chewy tannins that are powdery and juicy. Savory. Flavorful. Terra-cotta and clay. Milk chocolate. Tight and linear. Clear and all there. 95% merlot and 5% malbec. Needs time to soften. Drink after 2025.

The nose is mint, wet stone and blackberry pie. The palate entry is pristine, focused and ethereal red berry and herb. The core offers mouth-coating silky spice, mineral, cherry finishing with fine red berry acidity. Drink 2023-2032.

From the Upper Barn vineyard at over 480m in the Alexander Valley planted in 1982 to Old Wente clone Chardonnay, old vines in this part of California for Chardonnay. This wine shows a wonderful elegance and depth of rich stone fruits. Honeyed pear and ginger mark the aromas, followed closely by white flowers and beeswax. The palate flashes opulence while maintaining a delicate character. Honeyed apricot flavours, grilled peach richness and lifted seaspray minerality. There is ample verve and freshness to this wine to complement its depth.

The fruit meets the structure of the wine in the plush palate of this wine at 16 years. Aromatics of violets meeting cinder, blackberries and fresh mint. The lushly fruited palate is a core of blackberry fruits, dusty gravel, and finely built tannins that compel this wine ever-forward.

A stunning wine at 12 years on from a cool and raining vintage, winemakers recall it was hailing on the crush pad. Gorgeous herbal aromas of fennel, dill, and eucalyptus. Shows the complexity of cool vintage Cabernet, flashing elegance along with structure. Savoury notes of bay leaf, forest floor, currants and smoked cedar plank all come together beautifully before a finish marked with mineral character and bright acids.

Cabernet Franc dominant this blend offers wonderful savoury freshness and complexity; from a warm vintage that started with plenty of winter precipitation, the wines show a corresponding balance and longevity: fresh herbes de Provence, pencil lead, violets and oak-derived notes of cassia bark. The palate reflects the wine's rich aromas, with anise, fennel and dark chocolate embracing a core of fresh brambleberry fruits and a kiss of fresh spearmint. The structure is something to behold, with fine tannins that show perseverance and elegance.

This superb, world-class Chardonnay uses grapes from four different regions across the Western Cape - Barrydale, the Overberg, Robertson and Stellenbosch - and is a seamless cuvée of the quartet. Refined, scented and deftly wooded in 50% new barrels, it’s a dry, structured, serious style with toasty top notes, plenty of extract and notes of lemongrass, aniseed and oyster shell. 2023-30

Established in 1971 by Alan Hickinbotham on the hill above Clarendon, this vineyard developed into a legend under the halo of the family name (Hickinbotham's father had established the oenology course at Rose-worthy; his brother Ian was the first winemaker at Wynn's Coonawarra). The Jackson family, already invested in Yangarra Estate, purchased the property in 2012 and put the Yangarra team in charge - - Peter Fraser and Chris Carpenter, working with Michael Lane on viticulture. Shiraz accounts for 80 acres of the site, providing this "pure and concentrated, perfumed syrah," as panelist David Hawkins described it. There's freshness to the fruit, along with a savory undertone of fruity mushrooms. The brisk tannins are elegant and delicate in the context of McLaren Vale. Oak aging adds to the wine's espresso-roast depth, its firm, gentle touch like a finger on the pulse of the fruit. -J.G.

The 2021 Chardonnay Machado is fabulous. All the brightness and energy of the year comes through in a wine that sizzles with tension. White flowers, crushed rocks, mint, white pepper and citrus lift this gorgeous, sculpted Chardonnay. Intense saline notes punctuate the finish. This is such a classy wine. The parent material here is from Sweeney Canyon, a vineyard that played an important role in the early days here but that is no longer planted.

This is a big wine, it’s deep almost purple hued tone is almost impenetrable. 60% Cab Sav 40% Shiraz, all from mature 1971 vines. Intense brambly black fruits, cassis, bay leaf, black olive, peppercorn, aniseed pastille with a slight potpourri note and a subtle campfire peatiness. Heavyweight, compact fruit is at the core of this wine, wrapped with experienced winemaking and new oak. Lifting its head through the tight weave is a nimble acid line, ducking and threading at a steady pace through the mouth. Tannins are firm and unrelenting, which will provide decades in the cellar. These muscles are so tightly knit, it will take a few deep tissue massages, a decant and time in the bottle to relax and open up. This is a power brokers wine, weighty and sure of itself, with well shined shoes. Would love to see this in ten plus years’ time.