Calvados, Malbec, Riesling, sa...

From a south facing vineyard site near the Rhine river at 100 to 120 m altitude. The soils are mainly loess and loam with some gravel and a little bit of quarzite in the subsoil.

This is the lowest lying GG, leading with a composed nose of stonefruits spiked with ginger and earthy tones. With a few swirls it ramps up in intensity, vanilla and peach flavours emerge alongside delicate herbal delights. There's a lovely play between exuberance and subtlety, it's a delightful tease. A long and linear drive on the palate gains power and traction pulling in more flavours along the way. Fine chewy phenolics add dimension to the finish. This has a long life ahead. GABRIELLE POY, PWS
 

This has a wicked reductive edge now, so either don't touch this for a long time, or let it open up in the glass (or, yes, decanter!). When it does finally give way, soak up the amazing, stoney nuances, freshly squeezed Japanese plums and Korean pears. Medium-bodied and tightly constructed on the palate, bound by a flinty texture with pointed acidity and crunchy lemon zest STUART PIGOTT

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Here is a great Mosel Kabinett that needs a bit more time to show what it is really made of. Still very young with a pronounced yeasty character that slowly recedes with aeration, but the white peach and honeysuckle aromas that emerge are stunning. Extremely vibrant and precise, the slatey acidity making this fabulously graceful. As pure as an Alpine stream running with glacier water. STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

The 2017 Camalaione, Le Cinciole's Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Syrah blend, packs a huge punch. Blackberry, lavender, grilled herbs, chocolate and incense power through. There is plenty of intensity, but not exactly much elegance or finesse. (94) ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous

Here's a nice Sangiovese to serve with an appetizer of wild mushroom pâté spread over slices of freshly baked whole wheat bread. The Poggio Scalette 2017 Il Carbonaione is a sultry and rich wine from a hot vintage. Fruit in 2017 is dark and ripe, but more importantly, the vintage delivers extra concentration and textural fiber because of the lack of rain and moisture for most of the summer. This wine shows lots of rich and concentrated fruit at its core, with lighter touches of baked terracotta, toasted spice and iron ore. You might be surprised by a floral tone of violet and dried lavender that pops up on the close. MONICA LARNER, Wine Advocate

This starts very quietly and gently with a wafting cloud of floral aromas, but then your gaze is pulled into the base of this Gothic cathedral window, pulling you ever further upward until you are staring at the heavens. Supernatural energy and vitality, the wet stone character cascading over your palate at the super-long finish. Doesn’t want to stop! From organically grown grapes with Fair'n Green certification. Drink or hold. (98) STUART PIGGOT

Lots of mint with sage and fresh rosemary to the currant and orange character on the nose, as well as some ripe raspberries. The palate is very refined with creamy and crunchy tannins that run the length of the wine. It shows a crunchy and energetic personality. Give it a year or two to come together, but it's showing brightness for the vintage. JAMES SUCKLING

+ Trophy Best Cabernet Blend 2022 Yarra Valley Wine Show +
A blend of 80/20% 1995-planted cabernet and 1990-planted malbec. Matured in 225L barriques (15% new). A brilliant crimson purple. Aromas of cassis, blackberries, violets and a gentle whiff of cedar emanate from this beautifully put-together wine. Elegant, medium bodied and with super-supple tannins, Sarah Crowe has crafted an approachable and seductive cabernet. The well-deserved winner of the Best Cabernet Blend trophy at the 2022 Yarra Valley Wine Show. (96) PHILIP RICH

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

There’s something almost animalistic about the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Pelagrilli, which I’m finding quite appealing. Wild blueberries, crushed violets, allspice, spiced orange rinds and hints of cocoa can all be found in the glass. The clay soils of the area impart a velvety-smooth and undeniably elegant feel, with a dense textural wave of ripe dark red fruits that coats the palate in concentration, complemented by sweet inner herbal tones and hints of lavender. Like the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove, the 2018 reveals a massive wall of fine-grained tannins through the finish, leaving only nuances of sour citrus and currants to linger. This untamed beast of a Brunello will require extensive cellaring to reveal all of its charms. Of note, there will be no Riserva PS bottled in this vintage, and so all of that juice was used to bolster the Pelagrilli and the Rosso. ERIC GUIDO

Welcome to the Riesling deep end. Not dramatic, but really profound, with massive structure. This is all wrapped in very refined mirabelle and fresh honeycomb aromas. Great textural complexity and chalky minerality. Flows so gracefully over the palate, gliding off into the distance. A mix of vines planted just after 1945 and young vines from a massal selection. Basket-pressed. (97) SRUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

The 2020 Riesling Clos Saint Landelin is already open and shows exquisitely ripe tart apple notes. A gorgeous aromatic overtone of apple and yarrow carries over to the palate, where a super-smooth, concentrated palate projects generosity without any fatness. The texture has a notion of citrus pith and chalkiness. A lovely and taut Riesling with a lasting finish with a distinct trace of wet limestone. (Bone-dry) ANNE KREBIEHL MW

Wonderful aromas of sour cherries and orange peel follow through to a full body with layered tannins that are creamy and juicy. Intense finish with excellent structure. Give this time to soften and come more together. JAMES SUCKLING.

Intense, yet supple and fluid, this red is signaled by a smoky aroma, with blackberry, plum, earth and charred wood balanced by lively acidity and firm tannins. Very fine length. BRUCE SANDERSON, winespectator.com

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

The 2021 Chianti Classico Riserva Le Baròncole is a real head-turner, one of the best versions I have ever tasted. Large-scaled, ample and wonderfully complex, the 2021 has it all. Black fruit, gravel, spice, licorice and incense saturate the palate. There's a kiss of French oak, but it’s better integrated than in most years. Readers should expect an especially broad, full-bodied Baròncole. I loved this from barrel, and I love it today. Fabulous. (95) ANTONIO GALLONI, vinous

Extremely floral, with cut violets, black cherries and blueberries, following through to a medium to full body with firm tannins and tangy acidity, Merlot and cabernet sauvignon. From organically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but better in a couple of years. JAMES SUCKLING

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

From a south-southwest, wind-exposed slope with gravel, sand and loess soils

The ripe yet delicate apricot character is married to a concentrated, sleek and very polished palate, with mineral acidity that runs right through the wine, from the tip of the tongue right to the very back. Great finesse and originality. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. (98) STUART PIGGOT, jamessuckling.com

This wonderful Mosel Kabinett has a wide spectrum of white tree fruit, wild berry and herb aromas. Impressive concentration on the very focused light-bodied palate. I love the racy acidity and pronounced slatey minerality that is wrapped around the very long and clean finish STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

 

Packed with vivid black cherry, black currant and plum fruit, as well as iron, sanguine and tobacco accents, this red shows some power and tension, but also grace and balance. The lingering aftertaste features bright, ripe fruit and wild herbs. (97) WINE SPECTATOR

2 BOTTLES AVAILABLE

The Isole e Olena 2021 Chianti Classico is a softly textured and charming wine that is impeccably buttoned up and balanced. It offers terrific value at this price point. This wine is packed with bright fruit, wild cherry and blue flower. It ends with a blast of refreshing acidity that is consistent with Sangiovese. MONICA LARNER, Wine Advocate

Bit by bit, it reveals characteristic nuances of brushwood, currants, rosehip, strawberry and pepper. Succulent and light on feet, the palate is judiciously concentrated with pure and persistent red berries. Taut, integrated tannins provide definition, and it trails off with garden-fresh herbs. This should give plenty of pleasure over the next eight to 10 years. DECANTER

Super-spicy Chianti fully focused on licorice root, restrained black cherries, fresh violets and meaty notes. It seems to be a serious effort, with graphite flavors allied to firm, chalky and chewy tannins, crisp acidity and a super-polished finish. JAMES SUCKLING

The 2021 Chianti Classico is deceptive in its light color and medium-bodied structure. It possesses notable textural depth and supporting structure. This is such a pretty and expressive wine. Dried herbs, mint, spice and crushed red berry fruit are nicely drawn. Bright acids and floral overtones pull it all together. ANTONIO GALLONI

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

The 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigneto San Marcellino is a dense, packed wine. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2016 is an infant. Super-ripe blue/purplish fruit, spice, leather, tobacco and menthol build in the glass. The 2016 is dense and opulent, and yet the acids pulse with energy, lending a feeling of translucence that becomes especially apparent on the finish. That combination makes for a compelling Gran Selezione that should age well for 15-20 years or more. ANTONIO GALLONI

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

The 2019 Petresco picks up where the 2018 left off, although it is perhaps a bit more reserved at this stage than its older sibling was. Deceptive in its mid-weight structure, the 2019 possesses notable depth and intensity. Time in the glass brings out shades of red/purplish Sangiovese fruit mixed with suggestions of new leather, spice and menthol. The 2019 spent two years in wood (equal parts cask and barrique) followed by a year in cement. (97) ANTONIO GALLONI

Generosity of fruit with a slick and well-manicured bed of dark, soft berry fruit is overlain with some really snazzy wood influence. It plumps out to fill the mid palate before tightening up on the energetic and gravel laden finish. You think soft because of the luxuriating profile but the wine itself says "no, I'm here for the long haul" with an inner tension and rocky mineral drive. It's a serious wine, no doubt, but I drank it after being opened all day and it's more sultry, suave characters pulled ahead. Lovely. This is genuinely fantastic. ROSCOE

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

The 2021 Chianti Classico is fabulous. Bright and punchy, with terrific resonance, this wine shows just how compelling the vintage is. Readers will find a Chianti Classico of dynamic energy and volume. Dark red cherry, purplish fruit, lavender, rose petal, spice and a gentle kiss of French oak build into the sumptuous, vibrant finish. Superb. The 2021 was aged in 500-liter barrels (5-6% new) for 14 months and is a blend of fruit from Greve, Gaiole and Radda. ANTONIO  GALLONI, Vinous

This has a fresh character with ripe cherries and raspberries as well as dried flowers, bark and stones. Polished and textural with a medium body and vivid acidity. Focused and fresh with chalky tannin structure and a linear finish with notes of citrus and minerals. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. JAMES SUCKLING

A saturated purple/magenta hue, the 2021 Chianti Classico is lush and fresh with aromas of black raspberry, black cherry, violet, and fresh leather. Plush and inviting, with bright acidity along the sides of the palate shining through, it offers a velvety texture with a long finish. It’s polished but not oaky and has a very refined feel, with medium to full body and a long and balanced finish. Drink 2026-2040. JEB DUNNUCK

This red is precise, offering cherry, raspberry, rose, iron and tobacco flavors fused to a steely, dense and vibrant structure. Balanced and intense, building to a long aftertaste infused with fruit and mineral notes. Best from 2026 through 2045. BRUCE SANDERSON, Wine Spectator

Very exotic, with papaya, pineapple and jack-fruit aromas, but also tropical flowers and touches of fresh ginger and galgant. Enormous concentration and refinement, the fruit rippling over the palate in waves, and each time you think that you’ve taken them all in, the next wave hits you. Almost endless wet-stone finish! Vegan. Drink or hold. (98) STUART PIGOTT, Jamessuckling.com

Really pretty fruit with pure berries and cherries with flowers. It’s medium-bodied with medium round tannins and a juicy finish. Shows a citrusy undertone to the whole thing with fresh acidity that runs long. Give it two or three years to come together. Better after 2025. JAMES SUCKLING

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

A deep well of ripe mirabelle and persimmon on the nose. Then comes the rich and concentrated but silky and precisely balanced palate. Very long and expansive finish with a fabulous texture and a delicate floral-honey touch. STUART PIGOTT, Jamessuckling.com

The 2020 Riesling Rüdesheimer Rosengarten Monopol Grosses Gewächs is from two parcels within Rosengarten, the Bienengarten and Kreuzgarten, within the village, flat, close to the river, hence a very warm site, on a sandy, loamy soil. This makes it an outlier among Rüdesheimer Grosse Lagen. The vines are 50 and 20 years old. Just a hint of honey plays on the nose, with a slight note of shriveled, dry fruit that was common in 2020. The palate is rounded and really concentrated, with insistent, bright, dried lemon notes and citrus pith. It is mouth-watering, with real chalkiness of deep soil that begins to take over from the fruit. It's round, rich and with much personality. ANNE KREBIEHL, Vinous.com

The 2020 Petresco is 100% Sangiovese from the estate's highest-elevation blocks facing Lamole, where soils are especially rocky and the vines are older. Wildflowers, herbs, rocks, menthol and licorice soar out of the glass. This is an especially savory, expressive Sangiovese that emphasizes mineral and floral notes more than primary fruit. Petresco spent two years in 60-70% cask and the rest in barrique, followed by a year in cement. It remains one of the most distinctive wines in all of Italy. Magnificent. (97) ANTONIO GALLONI

Striking nose of garden herbs with just a hint wet earth underlining the delicate white tree fruit aromas. Stunning concentration and energy on the super-straight medium-bodied palate. Very long, almost perfectly balanced finish that is surprising for this category at this early stage in the wine’s development. Great slate expression. (96) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

The very deep and refined peachy fruit is overlain with sweet floral nuances and underlined by a fascinating minerality that builds as the wine flows over the medium- to full-bodied palate. From old vines at the bottom of the Grand Cru Schlossberg site. (95) STUART PIGGOT

The 2022 Rosso di Montalcino is exotic. The bouquet leaps from the glass, mixing medicinal cherries, mint, pine and blood orange. Seamless and silky, this soothes the senses with its soft textures of opulent ripe fruits, all balanced by tactile minerality. Residual acidity adds amazing, juicy freshness through the finish as the 2022 tapers off gently tannic, potent and long. This is quite unique from a typical Le Potazzine, ripe and intense, yet I'm loving it all the same. ERIC GUIDO, Vinous

The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino opens slowly with a blend of savory herbs, worn leather, dried roses and cinnamon-dusted currants. This flows across the palate with textures of pure silk, racy yet refined, with a seamless wave of ripe red fruits that slowly saturate toward the close. It finishes long and staining yet harmonious. Crunchy tannins frame the experience without slowing its momentum as licorice and orange notes gradually fade. This fantastic, high-energy rendition of Talenti’s Brunello will thrive over ten to fifteen years of cellaring. ERIC GUIDO

The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino bursts from the glass with an intense array of black raspberries, lavender, sage, wet stone and crushed rocks. This is elegant and velvety on the palate. A rich wave of ripe red and black fruits soothe, lifted by vibrant acidity and hints of mint. The 2019 finishes with a mentholated freshness, leaving a tarry concentration and a coating of fine-grained tannins that saturate. This is a dark and radiant beauty that will require extended cellaring. ERIC GUIDO, Vinous.com

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

A deep well of ripe mirabelle and persimmon on the nose. Then comes the rich and concentrated but silky and precisely balanced palate. Very long and expansive finish with a fabulous texture and a delicate floral-honey touch. STUART PIGOTT, Jamessuckling.com

The 2020 Riesling Rüdesheimer Rosengarten Monopol Grosses Gewächs is from two parcels within Rosengarten, the Bienengarten and Kreuzgarten, within the village, flat, close to the river, hence a very warm site, on a sandy, loamy soil. This makes it an outlier among Rüdesheimer Grosse Lagen. The vines are 50 and 20 years old. Just a hint of honey plays on the nose, with a slight note of shriveled, dry fruit that was common in 2020. The palate is rounded and really concentrated, with insistent, bright, dried lemon notes and citrus pith. It is mouth-watering, with real chalkiness of deep soil that begins to take over from the fruit. It's round, rich and with much personality. ANNE KREBIEHL, Vinous.com

Here’s a very classic Mosel Spatlese with exactly the combination of richness, elegance and delicacy that makes this category unique. Such delicate white peach and sliced pear, rose and honeysuckle aromas. Very long finish that is as succulent as it is refined. You just want to linger there for as long as you can. (96) STUART PIGOTT, jamessuckling.com

A lacy layer of floral honey lies over the very ripe white fruit aromas of this very elegant Auslese. In spite of the impressive concentration and succulence, this riesling Auslese is still really fine, even filigree. What a great vibrancy this also has at the dense finish! Enormous aging potential. Limited production. Drink or hold. JAMES SUCKLING

The 2021 Kiedrich Turmberg Riesling Auslese is precise, fresh and flinty on the nose yet pretty sweet on the palate. This is an elegant and refined, dense and saline, seriously grippy and stimulating Auslese with enormous aging potential. Very long but very sweet as well. 8.5% stated alcohol plus 110 grams per liter of residual sugar. Natural cork. Tasted in July 2022. STEPHAN REINHARDT, The Wine Advocate

The Argiano 2019 Brunello di Montalcino comes out stronger than the previous 2018 and 2017 vintages, thanks to the precision and focus of its fruit flavors in this balanced vintage. It shows ample depth and volume, with sweet cherry and blackberry that fold into softly toasted spice and earth. Floral hints of lilac and iris make brief but poignant appearances. Velvety tannins and a nicely concentrated mid-weight palate give good staying power. MONICA LARNER, Wine Advocate

STAFF PICKS 2022 - ROSCOE HALLIGAN-ROSE


What a wine. It was a bit of an all-out brawl this year to see who would take out the big gong. I nabbed a couple of contenders on a recent weekend to examine them properly in the right kind of environment, under a tree in my yard with some mates and some nibbles. At the end There Can Be Only One and that had to be the Freddy Emile 2016. It's like they bottled The Quickening.
The power here is genuinely staggering. It's so compact and tense that it isn't entirely comfortable to taste at this early stage. Even with a few years under the belt it is almost completely primary with little or no indication of age showing amongst that youthfully imploded and inwardly focused fruit. Scintillating stuff. It practically hums with pent up potential. The length is unreal and it stains the palate with wildly mineral fruit. The palate is hugely impactful and it hits like a sock stuffed with pool balls being swung around. It is  a genuine WOW wine but it comes with a caveat, do not drink them too early. There is so much here just waiting to unveil itself. This is probably the best young version of this storied wine I have ever drunk. ROSCOE


Luminous straw-yellow. Complex, mint-accented aromas of nectarine, tangerine and powdered stone, plus a hint of licorice. Then bright, juicy and dense, showing outstanding acid-sugar balance and a penetrating juiciness to the stone fruit and herbal flavors. Finishes multilayered and very long, displaying noteworthy clarity and limy cut on the saline finish. Wine lovers everywhere know just how great Frédéric Emile Rieslings can be, but this looks to be a real knockout in the making; I absolutely love this wine's mineral drive and precision. It pulls off the neat trick of being both very ageworthy and also lovely to drink right now. I was happy to know that my palate was still working after an extremely long day of tasting when I told Pierre that in this vintage of Frédéric Emile I found more of the Geisberg than the Osterberg (in most vintages, the wine is a blend of 60/40 Osterberg-Geisberg, at times even 70/30, but this year it's more like 55/45). (97+) IAN D'AGATA, Vinous Media

The lemon-sherbet note here is really beautiful. Then comes a wealth of herbs, ranging from thyme to parsley, with a touch of sea salt, before turning to more floral nuances, such as cherries and almond blossom. The powerful acidity seems to surround the whole mouth and makes this almost like licking a lemon; the unmistakable dryness is all the more enjoyable because of it. Long and very elegant on the finish. STUART PIGOTT

Deep bright purple-red colour leading into a stylish bouquet of sweet mulberry and other berry fruits, violets and cassis, succulent and mouth-filling, with masses of fine emery-like tannins that run the length of the palate adding authority, structure, length and refreshment to the aftertaste. Concentrated, superripe blackberry, cassis and mulberry flavours; oak tucked discreetly into the background. (98) HUON HOOKE, The Real Review

Really delivers as you might expect from this excellent concentrated and powerfully frame vintage in Margaret River. It’s dominant cabernet with smaller portions of merlot, cabernet franc and malbec. Typical of this wine since switching to biodynamics, it is bright and brilliant with a nervy tense energy to drive the palate. The succulent fruit is harness by fine chalky tannins and neatly played oak of which 55% was new. A wine of extraordinary elegance and poise with a few of many decades. (98) RAY JORDAN

Needless to say, Margaret River enjoyed another superb vintage with the 2022 season. Slightly cooler, Cullen report that it was a vintage of “immense perfume and texture”. The wine is a wonderfully vibrant purple in colour. The nose gives up plums, cassis, spices including nutmeg, chocolate, mocha, bay leaves, cigar box notes – think a freshly opened box of Cohiba Siglo VI – and near perfect oak integration. This is finely balanced and exhibiting immense length on a palate that sees the emergence of aniseed, mulberries and coffee beans. An alluringly supple texture with the silkiest of tannins, though plenty of them – there really is some grip here. This will easily sail through fifteen to twenty years in a good cellar. (98) KEN GARGETT, Wine Pilot

Diana Madeline. The name evokes a lot of emotions, for what the woman stood for then and what the wine stands for now. The 2021 vintage equals 50 years of cabernet sauvignon plantings at Cullen. When released in early 2023, it was on what would have been her 100th birthday. It’s a wine that can come from nowhere else, so strong is its sense of place. Expect to swoon over aromas of roses, violets and mulberries doused in baking spices, a ferruginous quality as much as detailed if persuasive tannins. It’s complex, complete and structured. Gosh, what a wine. What a woman. The perfect combination. (97) JANE FAULKNER, James Halliday