Calvados, mencia, Cabernet Ble...

I can't remember a Haut-Batailley this tannic, yet the tannins are savory and very ripe with beauty and purity. Full-bodied, chewy tannins and a long and intense finish. (95) JAMES SUCKLING

The grand vin 2018 Château Haut-Batailley is a beauty and is comprised of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Merlot brought up in 60% new French oak. It's an attractive, elegantly styled wine that has lots of juicy Merlot notes of black cherries, graphite, scorched earth, and spice. Rich, medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, and with terrific purity on the palate, this brilliant Pauillac is going to be approachable in just a few years and will evolve gracefully. This wine hit 14.3% alcohol with 3.61 pH and an IPT of 81. My money is on it being one of the best to date from this estate. (95+) JEB DUNNUCK

The 2019 Haut-Batailley has a precise and quite understated bouquet with mineral-rich black fruit, cedar and mint, just a very slight floral note developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with graphite infused black fruit, classic in style, very well balanced with wonderful tension. It fans out effortlessly on the finish. Superb. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. (95) NEAL MARTIN

Plenty of blueberry and chocolate aromas and flavors. It's full and chewy with a powerful finish. Tar and graphite at the end. Solid core of fruit and tannin here. One of the most structured I have had from here. Cazes family making the difference. (96) JAMES SUCKLING

The Cazes family has turned out a beautiful 2019 Château Haut-Batailley. It has the pure, clean fruit and aromatics of the vintage as well as medium to full-bodied richness, plenty of cedary spice and tobacco notes, ripe yet certainly present tannins, and a great finish. It's largely in the same classic, elegant, concentrated style of the 2018 and is going to reward 5-7 years of bottle age. (95+) JEB DUNNUCK

A cushioned width of aroma - this is very inviting. In the mouth a modest cushion too - but there's also some riper fruit depth and a silky texture - a super Bourgogne - with an almost sparkly, mineral finishing style - faintly tannic at the end. BILL NANSON

The 2021 Bourgogne Chardonnay "Les Grandes Coutures" is fragrant on the nose with Golden Delicious and light white cotton scents. The palate is medium-bodied with brisk acidity and a saline finish. NEAL MARTIN

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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!

An exceptional vintage for white wines. A lower pH, inherent freshness and phenolic bite, the artillery that delivers the impressive structural latticework necessary for further development. Really classy. Subdued aromas of cinnamon, sesame, quince, ginger and toasted hazelnut, with the barest hint of fruit. Better this way. The mid-weighted palate is pliant, nicely chewy and multilayered. The finish is exceptionally long, although I look forward to tasting again in another six or eight years after things unravel and meld. Stunning chardonnay, aligned with top-tier Chassagne and certainly among the finest tasted in recent memory (97) NED GOODWIN, Jamessuickling.com

A cascade of yellow grapefruit juice, juiced green apples and lime sorbet. Elderflower and Acacia blossoms. A hint of green coconut and lemongrass. It's full of citrus zest with an almond milk creaminess and roast raw macadamia on the finish. Nutmeg, tahini and baked anzac biscuits. A harmony of high tones and deep base notes that presents a birds eye view of Hills chardonnay. There is real power and weight here but with plenty of fruit tension and enough malo buffering. A joy to drink now and will cellar 5-8 years. I can see this served beside a river of raclette on hot bread. (96) SHANTEH WALE, Wine Pilot 

From a vineyard planted in Gladysdale in '09. Matured in seasoned barriques. My pick of the '21 single-vineyard chardonnays, this has a complex bouquet of just-picked nectarines, white flowers and oyster shells. The palate is nicely balanced, with good weight and concentration. It's also chalky textured, saline and long. And, like Mac Forbes' single-vineyard wines, in particular, it's been built to last. (96) PHILIP RICH, Halliday Wine Companion

Petite Yarra. AOC? Clay with mudstone and dry-farmed vines.

It glides. With a silky texture, lightly yoghurty core and a chalky, citrusy finish. Quite light on its feet with blanched almonds, crisp green apple, just a hint of crunchy white nectarine as it’s mostly citrus driven. All fresh, smooth and minerally. She’s pretty. KASIA SOBIESIAK, The Wine Front

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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!

From eight different sites in the Eola Amity Hills, winemaker Daniel Estrin learned how to make Chardonnay from Litorrai's Ted Lemon. Paul Gerrie makes up the bulk of this wine with Eileen and Louise. 100% barrel fermented Estrin uses a tactile approach to the lees inclusion in this wine. At the entry-level, this wine is still over-vintaged, which builds tension in the wine. Notes of tarragon and chipped flint frame the smoky grilled lemon aromatics. Stony flint streaks introduce the palate, green mangoes, and grilled lemon peel. Delicious and a tad unbelievable as their entry-level bottling. CLIVE PURSEHOUSE, Decanter

The 2022 Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills is a total pleasure on the nose, wafting up with notions of sweet spice, chamomile and ginger-tinged yellow apples. Round and supple, this possesses a core of juicy acidity that enlivens it's tart orchard fruits as a salty sensation forms toward the close. It tapers off with tension, cleansing and fresh, leaving a mineral twang and hints of sour citrus. Beautiful. ERIC GUIDO

A bright medium yellow hue, the 2022 Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills is elegant, with a juicy, decadent feel to its notes of sweet oak spice, delicate, floral perfume, wet stone, and fresh white peach. Refreshing and mouthwatering, it’s medium-bodied and crisp, with good ripeness of acidity and a clean, elegant finish. It’s going to age well over the coming 6-8 years. JEB DUNNUCK

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Winemaker Daniel Estrin calls this wine one of tension and generosity. A blend of fruit from Eileen, Louise and the Paul Gerrie vineyards, this wine spends 11 months in barrel and four to five months in stainless steel. Effusive florals lead the aromatic display with a bruised apple note and stony petrichor. The palate is honeyed and shows that tension as well, with Pacific-inspired salinity, chamomile and beeswax carrying the finish. DECANTER

What a pretty nose of white peaches, white lavender, hazelnuts and salted almonds. Full-bodied yet fresh, with sleek, salty layers. Excellent texture and complexity. JAMES SUCKLING

The 2021 Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills is fresh and floral with notes of quince, yellow flowers, and honeycomb. Medium-bodied, with ripe golden fruit on the palate and fresh underlying acidity to balance things out nicely, it's drinking well now and will drink well over the next 4-6 years. JEB DUNNUCK

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What really impresses here is the tannin framework, which displays refinement and power at the same time. It's full, yet very polished, racy and long. Loads of blackberries and walnuts with crushed grapes. 88% cabernet sauvignon and 12% merlot. (97) JAMES SUCKLING

The 2020 Durfort Vivens has turned out beautifully, unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark cherries and berries mingled with hints of licorice, baking chocolate and mint. Medium to full-bodied, deep and fleshy, it's layered and concentrated, with lively acids and broad structural shoulders, its generous endowment of powdery tannin asserting itself on the youthfully firm finish. More tightly wound than the extroverted, charming 2019, the 2020 will demand patience, but it's a very strong performance for this estate. (95+) WILLIAM KELLEY

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This has to rank up there with the best of the Tiers Vineyard Chardies yet released. It was an ever so slightly warmer vintage than the previous and this is reflected in the depth and fruit concentration expressed with relative opulence. Lots of nectarine, and cashew with a spicy pear edge to it. The fine chalky acid really holds the tension ensuring a defined and exceptionally long finish. A dry savoury and tight subtle astringency on the finish provides the final flourish to an outstanding wine. (97) RAY JORDAN, Wine Pilot

The vines used for Tiers were planted in 1981, which is pioneering territory for Adelaide Hills. The clone is unknown, though they think it’s related to the cuttings brought in by James Busby in 1832.

There’s a bit of ooomph and weight to this wine, though it’s still clearly ‘fine wine’. Pear, banana, cashew and spice. It’s glossy and slick, but has a good cut of grapefruity acidity to offset, and the finish is long and offers powdery grip to close. A little more generous than some years, I feel, but very good Chardonnay here. GARY WALSH, Wine Front

Pear, grapefruit and lemon oil, almond meal and biscuit spices. It’s a bright and tight wine, a distinctly citrus-laced line of acidity, grapefruit, green olive and honey lemon, it’s flinty too, though has a light creamy cashew gloss to temper, and the finish is long with a zesty aftertaste. This seems like a long term wine, and while it’s kind of brittle as at now, its intensity and length mark it out as a classic Chardonnay. GARY WALSH, The Wine Front

If Tiers 1.5m Chardonnay hails from the “new” block of French Bernard clones planted in 2003, fruit for this Tiers Chardonnay is off the “old” block, the original block established in 1979. A cool vintage and low yields bring good concentration, but what really characterises the wine is its open and inviting summery bounce and energy. It rocks. Orange and citrus blossom aromatics, a hint of honeysuckle join aromas of apple, citrus, grapefruit, white peach and spice. Lemony bright acidity rules the palate, enticing tastebuds and melding with lemon sorbet, zest, stone fruit and a distinctive quince tang against a nougat warm and buttery texture. Layer upon layer of concentrated flavour . . . and bounce. JENI PORT, Wine Pilot

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Medium-full yellow colour; a touch of grassiness at first sniff, then lemon, grapefruit and verbena, the palate refined and intense, seamless and energetic with a laser-beam focus, an impression of richness and a long-lasting finish. Mouth-watering aftertaste. Utterly delicious chardonnay. HUON HOOKE, therealreview.com

This is a flavour town style of Chardonnay. Apple, stone fruit, minted cream, ginger, green chilli and assorted spice. It’s a juicy affair, a big burst of almost tropical richness, but also has a grapefruit and fresh pineapple cut to acidity, flinty and chalky grip, with a bold, intense and fruity finish of excellent length. It’s quite a lot of wine, though it’s also very good. Needs a little more time to settle. Calm your farm Bull Swamp; you’re a bit of a crazy puppy at a now. GARY WALSH, thewinefront.com

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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!

Lots of mulled cherries, blueberries, iron, and bouquet garni emerge from the 2020 Château Faugeres, a rich, focused, yet fruit-loaded barrel sample that has a good sense of purity and elegance. I was able to taste two bottles, both showing medium to full-bodied richness, with one having slightly more precision. Both showed great mid-palates, and this is certainly a beautiful wine in the making. Two to four years should do it well and it’s going to have two decades of longevity. (95) JEB DUNNUCK

A ripe, rich red that delivers loads of crushed-berry, chocolate and walnut character, as well as fine tannins through the center palate. Layered texture (95) JAMES SUCKLING

The 2020 Faugeres offers ripe black plum and boysenberry fruit on the nose, which is extravagant and verging on ostentatious, though somehow it maintains focus and delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with red cherries, boysenberry, cola and light allspice notes on the entry. Well balanced with impressive depth toward the fleshy finish, leaving a lick of dark chocolate on the aftertaste. This is a fine Faugeres that should be afforded 4–5 years in bottle NEAL MARTIN

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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!

Merenzao is the same variety as Trousseau (and Bastardo in Portugal) and was probably brought to Ribeira Sacra by the Cistercian monks who set up camp here in the Middle Ages. Algueira’s Merenzao vines have an average age of 80 years and are rooted in a steep slope of gneiss, quartz and slate in the Amandi Gorge. The fruit sees a wild yeast, 100% whole-bunch ferment, is pressed by foot and aged for 12 months in old oak and some local chestnut vessels.

The result is an extraordinary, unique wine with a complex perfume of finely detailed fruit characters that recalls wild cherry steeped with blood orange, rose and a tincture of wild herb. There’s more colour and muscular density from the solar year, yet it remains super lucid and tender and finishes long, leaving behind a lick of elegant tannin and a perfume of sweet red berries and smoky minerals. This is one tasty Bastardo!

STAFF PICKS 2024 - ALEX WILCOX

The Prince Wine Store team uncovered the Lilbert on a recent trip to France and we were very lucky to be given a small allocation for Australia. This tiny producer (3.5 hectare) is a great addition to our Champagne portfolio. For me this is what champagne is all about - pure fine and elegant with an underlying power - this is truly an anywhere, anytime great bottle of Champagne. If you haven't tried it, you really should.

Bertrand Lilbert's crafts his wines from 100% Chardonnay grown in the Northern part of the Cote du Blanc, the NV is a blend of 50% reserve wine and 50% from 2016 for this most recent bottling. As small grower Champagne prices continue to skyrocket this cuvee is great value for money and will stand up against many bigger name Blanc du Blanc. Elsewhere, these wines have a cult like following, something we hope to help build here. This will be a feature of my Christmas Day in Tamworth. ALEX WILCOX


Lilbert-Fils is a small, slightly under-the-radar grower in Cramant with a loyal following, and it's easy to see why. With 50% of the blend for the first wine of the house coming from a perpetual reserve of Cramant Chardonnay started in the 1990s by Bertrand Lilbert's father, this is an entry level that is anything but simple and youthful. The style is rather floral, with apricot and jasmine notes floating over a real hit of savour from the reserve and a bone dry, mineral presence. It's singular, yet harmonious; a blanc de blancs that takes care of the simple pleasures, yet hides rather a lot under the bonnet. TOM HEWSON, decanter.com

Note on previous release:
As is consistently the case with this wine, the nose is airy and almost delicate with its softly yeasty aromas of Granny Smith apples, lemon-lime and a floral top note. The ultra-fine if firm mousse contributes to the impression of refinement on the equally pure middle weight flavors that terminate in a clean, dry and delicious but not really austere finale…BURGHOUND

Offering up aromas of orange zest, white flowers and green apple, the 2022 Pernand-Vergelesses Les Combottes Blanc is medium-bodied, bright and lively, with a charming, fine-boned profile that will make friends on release. WILLIAM KELLEY

Ooh, that’s a waft of inviting aroma – lots of white flowers too. Mouth-filling with lots of energy, juicy wine and completely delicious – full but with plenty of energy to balance. BILL NANSON

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Coming from the blending of plots on the heights of Saint-Romain, the downgrading of the Appellation Village of the Cote de Beaune and the purchase of grapes from another certified organic farming estate. Our Bourgogne Blanc combines freshness and minerality, finesse and depth.” – FRANCK BUISSON

From Rajat Parr and Sashi Moorman of Sandhi fame. Fruit for this estate wine comes from Burgundian clones rooted into a rockier section of Seven Springs’ mid-slope, which they believe plays into the texture and final flavor profile of the wine. Whole cluster pressed indigenous yeast fermentation in once-used puncheons and barriques. Aged 6 months in neutral barrique and 1 month in stainless steel. Cold stabilized and lightly fined with bentonite clay before bottling 

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