Sublime. What a gorgeous Grenache! Prettiness and class all in one package.
Sourced from the certified organic and biodynamic block adjacent to the famed High Sands, the vines were planted in 1946. Fermented in ceramic eggs and on skins for 176 days, this is Grenache purity at its best.
Glorious fruit, sizzling weight, it's just marvelously executed. Easily my favourite Grenache in the Yangarra Estate range, juicy raspberries run riot with flashes of blueberries. Superfine exotic spices frame the edges and push long to a persistent and ever moreish finish. So bright and vibrant in the glass, it feels so luxurious with its silky touch. The High Sands is the flagship of the range but I'd easily take three of these to one of those. Just brilliant!

The 2019 Chardonnay Radian Vineyard is a tiny production release and was brought up in 100% French oak. It has a gorgeous bouquet of caramelized orchard fruits, honeyed flowers, almond paste, and chalky minerality. Deep, rich, and concentrated on the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, has terrific balance, integrated acidity, and a great finish. It's another stunning wine from this estate.

Lastly, the 2019 Pinot Noir Truly Rita comes from the Dierberg-Drum Canyon Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills and was brought up in just 22% new French oak. As with all these releases, it's made in tiny quantities. Deep ruby/purple-hued (and almost opaque), it gives up a big, concentrated, exuberant style that has tons to love. Black raspberries, mulberries, leafy herbs, flowery incense, and tons of spicy goodness flow to a medium to full-bodied Pinot Noir with a broad, expansive texture, terrific balance, and a great finish. This classic, pleasure-bent, sexy, Grade A California Pinot Noir will shine for 5-7 years.

The 2020 Chardonnay 3D is another mineral-laced effort, yet it's slightly richer and broader than the Machado. Brioche, toasted spices, honeyed stone fruits, and orange liqueur notes give way to a medium to full-bodied, powerful, concentrated Chardonnay that has bright acidity, beautiful mid-palate depth, and great acidity. It shows an incredible sense of salinity and minerality on the finish and is another awesome wine from Greg Brewer that will drink well for 10-15 years from cold cellars.

Lastly, the 2020 Pinot Noir Machado oozes Sta. Rita Hills notes of mulled red and black fruits, loamy soil, iron, and assorted marine-like nuances. This rich, medium to full-bodied, brilliantly concentrated, and textured beauty has ripe tannins, an expansive, mouth-filling, gorgeous balance, and a great finish. Picking a favorite between these single vineyards is just about impossible, so you can't go wrong with any of these.

The 2020 Pinot Noir 3D displays a more iodine and marine-influenced character as well as both red and black fruits, medium-bodied richness, building tannins, and complex notes of rose petals, scorched earth, forest floor, and spice. Layered, rich, balanced, and structured, it's another magical Pinot Noir from this estate that will benefit from just a year or so in the bottle and keep for 10-15 years in cold cellars.

The 2019 Chardonnay Katherine's Vineyard Signature Collection is one of the very finest wines I have tasted from Cambria and winemaker Jill. Rich, layered and sumptuous, the Collection captures all of the magic of Santa Maria and these own rooted vines that date back to 1971.

The 2020 Chardonnay Machado is a wine of tension and energy. Citrus peel, white flowers, mint, chalk and crushed rocks race across the palate, showing remarkable depth that only continues to build over time. This is another seriously impressive Chardonnay from Greg Brewer.

The 2020 Chardonnay 3D is a classic Sta. Rita.Hills wine. Rich, heady and explosive, with tremendous energy, the 2020 dazzles right out the gate. Readers will find a Chardonnay of real dimension and breadth. Lemon confit, mint, tangerine and tropical accents fill out the layers effortlessly.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Slope is rich with kirsch, umami with dried porcini, lavender, and licorice, and on the palate, it is fleshy with blackberry, fresh leather, and iron-rich earth. Drink 2024-2034.

Giant Steps continues to produce benchmark single-vineyard Yarra Valley chardonnay and this is a stellar example. Pale straw, bright and youthful in the glass. Complex and lifted aromas of grilled nuts, nougat, nectarine, green melon, wet stone and white flowers. Pinpoint and precise on the palate, really fine and focused flavours of just-ripe white peach, mineral, grapefruit pith and some nuttiness. Zesty and crunchy acidity brings cut and drive and there’s a touch of phenolics bringing savouriness and texture. Top notch Aussie chardonnay.

Inky purple in color, opaque and bright. The nose is very tight, but with air it shows cassis, blueberries, spice and slight mocha notes. full bodied. Firm tannins. Very concentrated. On the palate, black cherries, cassis, blueberries and mocha. A bit of menthol on the finish. Long finish. This needs time or a few hours in a decanter but it is quite good. Maybe another three to five years of cellaring and drink for fifteen to twenty after that. Great on its own, it will need big, fatty foods such as prime rib.

Power but with subtlety, generous fruit is laced with delicate spices. This is another brilliant Ironheart Shiraz.
It's concentrated and focused yet shows great width and persistence. Over a few days it held its shape impeccably. Baking spices spiral around purple and blue fruits. Some bramble and cola provide layers of intrigue too. Generous in its delivery, you get a sense it's painted across the tongue. The class here is evident. Persistent on a long and engaging finish, the spices cling on for a moreish ride. Sublime and then some.
Certified organic and biodynamic.
Drink to ten years+

60/40% upper/lower Yarra Valley fruit. Hand picked and open-fermented with 60% whole berries, the remainder whole bunches. A very bright, light–medium crimson red. A gentle waft of fresh raspberries and cranberries, with just the right amount of spice-rack spices. Delicious right out of the gate, this medium-bodied and refreshing wine will age well too. The perfect introduction to modern Yarra pinot.

From the Nocton vineyard in Coal River Valley. Hand picked by 10.30am, into a refrigerated container. The MV6 clone (60%) is whole bunches and the D5V12 clone is fully destemmed. All barriques, 20% new. A gorgeous, bright, crimson. Perfumed and seductive, this leaps out of the glass with an array of aromas including red and black fruits, peony, Asian spices, orange peel and a hint of fresh vanilla bean. More sweet fruited and textured on the mid palate compared to the more fine-boned and linear Yarra single-vineyard pinots. Concentrated but not heavy, with ripe, gently chewy and persistent tannins rounding out an impressive and still quite tightly wound wine, that will need another year or 2 to relax and really hit its straps.

From the Sexton vineyard in Gruyere, planted on the same grey clay as the Applejack vineyard; 50% whole bunches and 50% destemmed. Matured 11 months in French barriques (20% new). Bottled unfined and unfiltered. A dark, deep crimson. A more robust Yarra Valley pinot with its aromas of dark cherries, black plum and a dried-earth character that makes it quite different to the other Giant Step single-vineyard pinots. Sweetly fruited, concentrated and structured on the palate, what this impressive wine doesn't have in finesse, it makes up for in power and grunt. This should still be looking good, 10, if not 15, years from now.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Arrendell Vineyard is intricately layered and unfolds with pine, sweet smoke, and black cherry candy. The palate is full-bodied, with root beer spice and fleshy ripe fruit that fills through the mid-palate and long finish. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.

Sourced from a vineyard named after Don and Jennifer Hartford’s son, MacLean and located east of the town of Occidental on a gentle east-facing slope, the 2019 Pinot Noir MacLean's Block commands your attention with forward aromatics of dark mineral earth, Amarena cherry, cedar, and baking spice. One of the only Russian River Valley wines where some whole cluster is used, its structure is more powerful and well-balanced within its larger, more firmly tannic framework. Drink 2024-2042.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Docker Hill Vineyard is cloaked with a light confectionary aroma of roses, sweet red plum, and cinnamon spice. The structure is ripe, with tannins that emerge on the finish with warming spice. Drink 2024-2036.

The 2019 Pinot Noir Jennifer's is more richly spiced and more brooding, with sassafras and cherry pit. The palate is more structured with saline savor, and the wine has fresh and energetic tension through the finish. Drink 2024-2038.

This vineyard is located on a mountain ridge north of Fort Ross on the Sonoma Coast at 700 feet elevation, and the wine was aged for 14 months in 39% new French oak. The 2019 Chardonnay Far Coast Vineyard offers more lime citrus, saline minerality, and white peach, and the palate is fresh, energetic, and consistent with the nose. Texture-wise, it is markedly different, with more focused structure and tension. Drink 2024-2034.

Large-scaled but sleek in profile, with boysenberry, açaí and loganberry pâte de fruit notes that are brightly defined and inlaid with a violet, anise and graphite spine, which lets the fruit just sail through. Shows serious grip, too, but it's well-buried in the fruit. Best from 2024 through 2040.

Seriously packed, with dense black currant, plum and blackberry fruit flavors embedded with prodigious grip, this manages to have a sleek and well-defined feel. Reveals a long iron spine and flashes of anise and violet in the background. A lovely combination of power and purity. Best from 2024 through 2040.

The fruit for the 2020 Ovitelli Grenache is sourced from bush vines planted in 1946, just after the second World War. This is incredibly fine. It is pure and layered with blood, red licorice, crushed minerals, black tea, satsuma plum, black cherries and framed by ferrous tannins. What a joy this is... it lingers in the mouth long after the wine is gone, allowing for a bit of chew and thought before the next sip. Elegance 101.

The 2006 La Muse is in the prime of its life and at an ideal stage for drinking. A blend of 86% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec, it has soaring, complex aromas of dried red and black cherries, black truffles, dried sage and old leather, plus wafts of dried roses and mint. The medium to full-bodied palate is beginning to soften gently, its rounder tannins and acidity complementing its arresting layers of truffle and savory maturity. It will continue to hold in the cellar over the next decade.