Two blocks with lots of structure, both southwest facing, with 667 and 115 clones, at about 450 ft elevation. This is good stuff, says Moore, the winemaker, so he started popping heads on barrels to manage the structure, adding to the elegance of the wine, which shows so much rose petal character. He's using 50% new oak, but the oak integration early on makes the palate more silken, says Shane Moore. Imagine a cool rose petal sitting on your tongue, elegant florals and blue and black fruits. The finish lingers long with fresh mint and a touch of smoky clove.

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.

Dark ruby. Opens with aromas of elderberry, tobacco and soil, progressing to dark fruited, tea-like palate. Broad and mouth filing with dense flavors, dry tannins, and rich extract on a lingering finish. A beautiful wine. 100% Sangiovese aged 12 months in second use French oak. pH 3.37, 15% alc.

(Stonestreet in Italian) is an elegant wine that opens with a fine perfume of flowers, fruit and mountain herbs. It’s high toned, ethereal, and well worth the money. Strada al Sasso is a selection of the best barrels from the 405m high Strada al Sasso vineyard planted in 1998 and overlooking the walled town of San Gusmé. Matured 12 months in second use French oak barriques. Sourced from the Castelnuovo Berardenga UGA, which will be listed on the label beginning with the 2022 vintage.

Rustic aromas of cherry, cranberry and cinnamon candy are dusted with earth tones on the nose of this wine. The palate is elegantly layered in a tense texture as flavors of pomegranate, alpine strawberry, sagebrush and chipped oak work into a delicious display.

Powerful, with plenty of verve and polish to the generous flavors of morello cherries in syrup, spiced plum, black currant and juicy blackberry. Accents of bay leaf, sage and rosemary, along with pepper, black tea and licorice notes, linger on the long, velvety finish, backed by a hint of Sichuan pepper. Drink now through 2037.

The nose is linear and fresh, with notes of lime zest, lemon balm and minerals. The palate is powerful yet tightly wound, displaying notes of grapefruit, creme brulee, orange sherbet and nectarines. Drink or hold.

The 2019 Journey is a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon matured for 20 months in 40%. new French oak. It has pure, layered aromatics that unfurl continuously as it spends time in the glass: cassis and blueberry mingle with tones of menthol, pipe tobacco, soy sauce, chargrill and cocoa powder. The full-bodied palate offers Goldilocks ripeness, and its fruit is accented by mineral and floral character. It’s powerfully structured with powdery tannins and seamless acidity and has a long, complex finish. It will benefit from 3-5 years in bottle and will be long lived in the cellar. 240 cases produced.

The 2021 Chardonnay Seascape Vineyard comes from a vineyard west of the town of Occidental at around 1,000 feet of elevation. The wine was barrel fermented and matured for 13 months in 30% new French oak. It has pretty scents of lime peel, citrus blossom, cream cheese and graham cracker. The lightbodied palate is silky and concentrated with youthfully coiled flavors, tangy acidity and a long, mouth-coating finish. It will benefit from 2-3+ years in bottle. 268 cases were made.

From vines planted in 1995, the 2021 Chardonnay Three Jacks Vineyard was barrel fermented and matured for 14 months in 31% new French oak. It has detailed aromas of lemon confit, honeysuckle, oyster shell and crème fraîche. The palate is so dynamic! It has a luxuriously satiny texture and surprisingly concentrated flavors that range from lemon to honey and ginger. It’s structured by lightning-like acidity and has a very long, mineral-driven finish. 338 cases were made.

Barrel fermented and matured for 14 months in 13% new French oak, the 2021 Chardonnay Fog Dance Vineyard has a unique expression that’s both exotic and precise. It opens with gregarious scents of candied peaches, orange blossoms, honey and cashews. The palate pairs concentrated layers of spicy peach and tropical citrus fruit with tangy, laser-like acidity, and it has a very long, shimmery finish. 300 cases produced.

The 2021 Chardonnay Stone Côte, from a block within the Durell Vineyard, was barrel fermented and matured for 14 months in 13% new French oak. It has detailed aromas of apricot, citrus blossom, oyster shell, matchstick and beeswax. The light-bodied palate combines expansive, mineral-driven flavors with tangy acidity, and it has a long, textural finish. 386 cases were made.

Downright sexy from first sniff, Applejack evokes wild raspberries, mulberries, crushed roses, summer herbs and sweet-savory-earthy nuances like hoisin sauce-glazed mushrooms. It glides across the tongue like glycerin, buoyed by the midpalate with a lick of tart berry acidity, and tugged by savory, cat's tongue tannins. Well-developed now, it could evolve further for another eight to 10 years. 

Sexton is the richest of the trio of single vineyard Yarra Chards. Medium gold in hue, it opens with opulent aromas of caramel, gingersnap, citrus and mushroom. Its generosity on the palate is brightened by lovely, unforced acidity. Long, with a mineral note creeping in amid the more polished oak-and-lees characters, this drinks nicely now but should evolve beautifully over the next several years and until 2034.

Pronounced aromas of fresh, juicy black currant and beet juice, with cloves and a briny olive note behind, open. The mocha-like oak shows a touch too. There's succulence and fruit concentration to the palate. It's weighty but balanced by tangy acidity. Fine, well-tucked tannins add structure and food-friendliness. You could drink it now, but it will greatly reward patience as it evolves over the next 10 to 15 years.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard was matured for 15 months in 85% new French oak. It has an opaque ruby color and unfurls slowly on the nose, segueing from soy sauce, tar and Chinese five spice to red and black cherries and aniseed. The full-bodied palate is most notable for its Goldilocks ripeness—it sits at a modest 13.6% alcohol—and its youthfully coiled flavors are streaked with spice and iron tones. It has an exceptionally powdery texture and bright acidity, and touches of herbs and flowers emerge on the long, latent finish. 990 cases produced.

The Ovitelli Grenache is fermented and matured in ceramic eggs, the Hickinbotham Grenache in cocciopesto stone amphora and the High Sands Grenache in old oak. The maturation vessels largely define the personalities of the wines—the vineyards too—and so the differences between them are stark. I like this 2022 Hickinbotham Grenache, as it gives permission for us all to "have a favorite" without declaring one is necessarily better than another. Here, the fruit is from Clarendon (hence Hickinbotham, the other part of Jackson's Family Wine Estates in McLaren Vale) and has an inherently darker register of flavor and tannin. The fruit was destemmed and crushed prior to its 150 days in amphorae, and this seems to emphasize the licorice and wet asphalt, petrichor and black tea, black olive tapenade and caper brine. Bitter amaro herbs are profuse in this wine, with dried rosemary and thyme, orange peel and tobacco, old rose petals and blood orange acidity. As this wine opens up in the glass, it is knitting together admirably, leading me to suggest that time in a decanter is a necessary action. Gritty tannins through the finish complete the picture. 14.5% alcohol sealed under screw cap.

Subtle nutty notes mingle with lime blossom and fresh pear. Very silky, very fine, with a beautiful velvety texture. Acidity is deep set, and has some subtle textural notes providing interest on the palate. Gently saline. Very long – and should age with interest. Their oldest Roussanne vines, hand-picked, fermented in ceramic eggs. Half was fermented on skins and remained on them for 120 days before pressing. All matured for four months in ceramic eggs before bottling.

Exotic spice woven through vibrant fruits. Some slightly earthier elements too: porcini powder, candied beets. High notes of bergamot and white pepper. It moves with a slippery momentum, plush fruit pulled along by gently buffed tannins and a precise acid line. Complex, composed and a harbinger of great things to come.

During my tasting with winemaker Kristy Melton in July of 2024, she unveiled this brand-new wine for the Freemark Abbey portfolio. There has not been a new single-vineyard Cabernet in the Freemark Abbey portfolio since 1984, until this Colline Vineyard bottling. Sourced from blocks at the front of the Cardinale property on the east side of Highway 29, in the same bale clay loam soils as To Kalon across the street. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 26 months in 66% new French oak. A very pure, dark fruit character resonates in the glass, nuanced by expressive graphite minerality and that fragrant oakville garrigue of sagebrush, along with elegant cedarwood notes. Full-bodied with a wonderful core of inky black fruit framed by superfine-grained tannins that coat the palate, resolving with lovely savoury notes of black liquorice, black olive, a hint of violets and charcuterie. Very polished. This will remain the portfolio moving forward with an annual production of around 500 cases. In its debut 2021 vintage, only 100 cases were produced due to low yields.

This wine is rich, with aromas of blackberry, cassis, plum, orange zest and allspice on the nose. The flavors on the palate are red plum, pomegranate and orange marmalade, intertwined with vanilla cream, bay leaf and a dry, silky finish. Hold or drink until 2034 Pair with short ribs.

The nose shows aromas of lemon pith, orange zest and jasmine. The palate is full-bodied and textured, with bright acid and a long, lingering finish that has notes of honeydew melon, green papayas, red apples and flint. Powerful with restraint. Grown at 550 meters in vineyards planted in 1982. Drink or hold.

This red shows a balance of power and restraint, with aromas of black cherries, dark chocolate, coffee and cloves. The palate is full-bodied, showing fine tannins and acid with lingering notes of blackcurrants, cured meat, earth and tomato bush. Grown at 670 meters on volcanic quartz soil. Drink or hold.

The aromas are rustic and savory, with dark fruit, brambles, dark chocolate and thyme. The palate is full-bodied with silky yet firm tannins, bright acidity and layers of blackcurrants, charcuterie, graphite and sage. Very good. Single vineyard grown at 600 meters on a southeast-facing slope. Drink or hold.