RED WINE

Haut-Médoc
5ème Cru Classé
The 2009 Belgrave has a ripe red cherry, kirsch scented bouquet with hints of raisin and fig. It is just flirting with over-ripeness...but not over-ripe! The palate is medium-bodied with candied red fruit, a little chewy in texture and perhaps needing more mineralité on the finish. Yet, there is fine density and decent precision on the finish. Maybe give this another couple of years in bottle. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits' Ten Year On tasting. Neal Martin 90

 

Pessac Léognan

Grand Cru Classé

The 2019 Domaine de Chevalier has the potential to be one of the wines of the vintage. Regal and soaring in the glass, with tremendous intensity, the 2019 is pure magic. An exotic mélange of ripe red plum, gravel, spice, cured meats and incense develops with time in the glass. Effortless and wonderfully nuanced, the 2019 is a fabulous wine in the making. Don't miss it. ANTONIO GALLONI 95/97

Beautiful, ripe redcurrants, bay leaf, violets and raspberries on the nose. Full-bodied with firm and very tight tannins that are polished and layered. Crushed stones highlight the beautiful blue fruit. Poised and refined. 60% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, 6% petit verdot and 4% cabernet franc. Try after 2026. JAMES SUCKLING 97

Pomerol

 

Purchase En Primeur. Arrival due September 2022.

 

The 2009 La Conseillante has a very classy and sophisticated bouquet with beautifully defined black and red fruit mixed with black truffle and pressed rose petals. The oak is just completely subsumed here. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe and saturated tannin, a fine line of acidity, fresh and tensile with a sense of mineralité on the finish. This bottle shows even better than the one poured at the property 12 months earlier. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting. Neal Martin 97

Pauillac

 5ème Cru Classé

The 2019 Lynch Bages is every bit as magnificent from bottle as it was from barrel, if not moreso. What a wine! Towering and vertical in its bearing, the 2019 is a total stunner. There is plenty of Lynch Bages charm, but what distinguishes the 2019 most is its spine of tannin and energy. Time in the glass brings out sweet red cherry, plum, blood orange and pomegranate and mint. The 2019 is a great, great, great Lynch Bages. It reminds me of the epic 1989, but with the youthful grip of this vintage. A towering Pauillac, the 2019 Lynch Bages will make a great addition to any cellar. Antonio Galloni 99

Pessac Léognan

Grand Cru Classé

Purchase En Primeur. Arrival due September 2022.

 

The 2019 Pape-Clément was picked from 17 September to 10 October, underwent a 30 day maceration. Matured in 90% oak barrels and 10% wooden foudres for 18 months. It has a very perfumed bouquet with luscious black cherries and boysenberry fruit, touches of raspberry preserve and crème de cassis. The palate is full-bodied and quite muscular, exerting a firm grip and displaying plenty of tobacco-tinged black fruit that dovetails into a more saline, marine influenced finish. This is a very serious Pape-Clément that will require longer ageing than its peers, but will surely be rewarding for those with patience. Tasted on five occasions - hopefully there is some wine left back at the château. Neal Martin 96-98

Pauillac

 

5ème Cru Classé

 

Purchase En Primeur. Arrival due September 2022.

 

Bright, full ruby. Pure, vibrant aromas of cassis, blackberry, blueberry, licorice, graphite and leather. Like liquid velvet on entry, then energetic and sharply delineated in the mid-palate, with penetrating minerality intensifying the pristine dark berry flavors. Most impressive today on the extremely long, perfumed finish, which shows suave, noble tannins and a magically light touch for such an intense wine. This wine is remarkably tastable today but it's also built for 30+ years of aging. Stephen Tanzer 96

 

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

 

1er Grand Cru Classé B

 

 

(15.5% alcohol on the label!): Saturated medium ruby. Enticing aromas of cassis, coffee, mocha and licorice pastille. Hugely dense but fine-grained, offering a liqueur-like, exotic sweetness to its superripe dark fruit and chocolate flavors. For all its richness and baby fat, the wine's chalky underpinning prevents it from coming off as monolithic. Perhaps most impressive on the broad, extremely long, palate-staining finish, which features a boatload of ripe tannins and repeating sexy oak tones. This outstanding Troplong-Mondot should drink well for the next 25 years. Stephen Tanzer 95

 

Pauillac

 

Cru Classé

 

Purchase En Primeur. Arrival due September 2022.

 

The 2009 Pichon-Baron continues to amaze - a benchmark wine of recent years. The bouquet gushes from the glass, offering blackberry, melted tar and graphite aromas seamlessly integrated with the new oak, all very precise and quite mineral-driven. The palate is well balanced with supple tannin, a superb line of acidity, immense purity, and less voluptuousness than its peers, but more class and restraint. This is evolving into one of the standouts of the vintage from Pauillac and unusually, it surpasses the 2010. Show-stopping! Tasted at the Pichon-Baron vertical at the château. Neal Martin 97

 

Saint Émilion

1er Grand Cru Classé B  

The 2019 Pavie was picked from 30 September to 11 October at 29hl/ha. It is initially exubertant, feisty on the nose, a bit like the Pavie-Decesse. Allowing my sample an hour in the glass, it evolves more grace and composure with scents of blackberry, briary, incense and iris flowers. The oak beautifully integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, quite an edgy line of acidity, touches of graphite infusing the very pure black fruit on the satin-textured finish. This is undoubtedly a very impressive, sauve Pavie destined for long-term drinking. Neal Martin 96-98

Lots of roses and dark fruit, such as blackberries and brambleberries on the nose. Full-bodied, yet tight and poised, with real focus and firmness and seamless tannins that run the length of the wine. Minerality and persistence in a cool way. This is very serious for the vintage and for the cellar. Try after 2025. JAMES SUCKLING 97

Pauillac

 

5ème Cru Classé

 

Purchase En Primeur. Arrival due September 2022.

 

The 2019 Pontet-Canet is plush, dense and explosive, with tremendous richness and pure, soaring intensity that strengthens in all directions with time in the glass. A wine of gravitas, the 2019 is statuesque in build. As always, Pontet-Canet offers a very personal, idiosyncratic expression of Pauillac. A range of lifted floral and savory notes ring out on the finish.

The 2019 is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, harvested between September 23 and October 10, which is a typical time frame for the estate. Yields came in a 33 hectoliters per hectare, more or less the historical average these days. For the first time, all sorting and destemming were done by hand and the wine was vinified only with manual punchdowns (i.e. no pumpovers), without any motorized equipment. Cuvaison was around 21 days, after which the wine was taken off the skins for the malolactic fermentation (which was done in the fermentation vats), and then racked into barrels and concrete for aging - 50% new oak, 35% amphora and 15% once-used barrels. Sadly, 2019 is the last vintage at Pontet-Canet for long-time Technical Director Jean-Michel Comme, who left after 31 years to focus on his own projects. He is succeeded by Mathieu Bessonnet, formerly at Chapoutier. Antonio Galloni 95-97

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

1er Grand Cru Classé B

The 2019 Troplong Mondot is without question one of the wines of the vintage. Vertical and explosive in feel, the 2019 dazzles with its magnificent balance. Inky red/purplish fruit, cinnamon, chocolate, dried flowers and lavender open with a bit of time, but Troplong is not a wine for the here and now, but rather a wine for readers who can be patient. The 2019 is all class and refinement. Those qualities become increasingly apparent over time, once some of the initial power and density subsides with air. This is the first time the Grand Vin was blended before the malolactic fermentation. ANTONIO GALLONI 97

The purity of fruit is pretty phenomenal here with blackcurrants, cherries and crushed-stone undertones. Floral notes of roses and violets, too. Full-bodied, yet this is a linear style with super fine tannins and great length and beauty. You really want to drink it. It grows on the palate and shows real power, with breadth and depth. Remains fresh throughout. Really something. Try after 2026. 98 JAMES SUCKLING

Pomerol

 

Purchase En Primeur. Arrival due September 2022.

 

The 2019 Vieux Château Certan is even better from bottle than it was from barrel. It is very clearly one of the highlights on the Right Bank. Soaring aromatics are immediately captivating. There is an exoticism in the 2019 that I saw from barrel that is evident in the bottled wine, but today, I see more balance and harmony. Crème de cassis, licorice, lavender, spice and rose petal blend into a core of red/purplish berry fruit. All the elements are so well balanced. The Grand Vin is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, but the blend also includes one lot of young vine Cabernet Sauvignon that was added for its aromatic presence. That decision paid off in spades, as the 2019 is truly magical. Antonio Galloni 98+

18 BOTTLE AVAILABLE

Just mid ruby. Bags of minerals with hints of tar and cinnamon bark. Sweet, elegant raspberry palate that is still a little youthful framed by long, coating tannins. Seems ready, but there is much more to come. WALTER SPELLER, jancisrobinson.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!

Offering up aromas of plums, raspberries and spices, the 2019 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Gruenchers is medium to full-bodied, fleshy and gourmand, with a ripe core of fruit, succulent acids and fine, youthfully chalky tannins that assert them selves on the finish. WILLIAM KELLEY

Here the nose is relatively firmly reduced so be sure to give it some air if you're tempted to try a bottle young in the interest of science. There is excellent size, weight and mid-palate density to the rich but nicely detailed, muscular and powerful flavors that also culminate in a youthfully austere, lingering and structured finale. Patience definitely recommended. "Outstanding" BURGHOUND

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!

Balsam herbs, cocoa and sweet white smoke give way to crushed black cherry and plum as the 2017 Brunello di Montalcino blossoms in the glass. This is elegance personified, silky, deep and round, yet delivering a core of saline-minerality that creates a savory sensation – umami, in a way – with masses of ripe red fruits and confectionary spices to contrast. The tannins are sweet and round, presenting a chiseled structure; yet it’s not forceful. This tapers off with a tart twang of sour wild berries under an air of lavender and violets. Wow; there is so much concentration and depth here, but also balance...2017 should not be missed. ERIC GUIDO, Vinous.com

The Uccelliera 2017 Brunello di Montalcino does a great job showcasing that extra power and brawn of the vintage and the richer textural structure of the southern side of the appellation. The bouquet is up front and beautifully measured with lots of red and purple fruit definition followed by spice, tar and earthiness. What sets this wine apart in this hot and dry vintage is the mouthfeel. It delivers fiber, flesh and soft tannins. MONICA LARNER, Wine Advocate

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!

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!

Rich and deeply alluring, the 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva wafts up to display crushed ashen stone mixed with hints of ginger, dusty florals and black cherry preserves. This is velvety-smooth and pliant in feel, lifted by cooling herbal and mineral tones, as an opulent wave of ripe red and black fruits washes across the palate, leaving a staining of minerals and spice in its wake. It’s long and structured, in need of further time to come fully into focus, yet somehow the 2016 Riserva remains completely fresh, tapering off to inner earth tones and hints of blueberry. Time will reveal further depths. This is an utterly classic Uccelliera Brunello in the making. (97) 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!

This is one of my all-time favorite Brunellos, and although personal tastes are fluid and may change from time to time, there is something timeless and solid about this wine. It's like a touchstone. The Casanova di Neri 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova is graced with a similar interlude of elegant rose or crushed flower that we saw in the annata wine. It appears more prominently here, and with more shape and focused intensity. Make no mistake, Giacomo Neri builds wines for pleasure and sensual impact, and this wine ticks all those boxes. But it also shows floral elegance and sour cherry freshness that defies our expectations of the vintage. (96) MONICA LARNER, www.robertparker.com

This is a beautiful wine with a lively and layered bouquet, topped off with a bright cherry highlight. The Gianfranco Alessandria 2018 Barolo San Giovanni continues to evolve in the glass and show its complexity. A second round of aromas includes spice, sweet oak and rust. This estate ferments in steel with maceration times lasting up to 10 days. This keeps those primary aromas intact. MONICA LARNER

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 2019 Pinot Noir Mays Canyon is another of the more accessible wines in this range. Hints of blood orange and cinnamon lend an attractive, exotic flair. Bright acids perk up the dark cherry, plum, cedar and pipe tobacco flavors nicely. Understated and gracious to the core, the Mays Canyon Pinot is all class and ready to deliver pleasure with minimal cellaring. 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!

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!

This little gem comes from a mate and ex-employee Matt Keoghan and sourced from his family property in the Adelaide Hills. The family have been in the business for ages so know what they are doing when it comes to putting out quality fruit and this certainly delivers.

This sees about 40% whole bunch and ten months in old oak with no additions and just a touch of sulphur at bottling.  It's the kind of syrah we love, elegant in style that ties in pretty, violet florals, dark berry and mulberry fruit with a dash of green herbs and olive. Judicial oak frames the sweet fruits nicely, Succulent and soft but doesn't shy away from being a little bit serious too.

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!

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!

Polygon No. 3 is a tiny plot measuring just 0.274 hectares in size and contains approximately 200, densley packed vines. Working with terroir specialist, Pedro Parra, the team identified this polygon to be unique in its limestone content. There is shallow red brown earth over deep chalky sedimentary limestone which contains fractured schist and the limited presence of iron. NASAA certified organic and biodynamic.

Onkaparinga. A wonderful word. Plum and cherry, ripe and spicy, an earthy coal-like character. It’s firm and almost liqueur-like in intensity, with firm dusty tannin, and a dry plum and dried flower finish. Very good, but not quite as good as the other two single vineyard wines. Kind of sticky in its firmness. GARY WALSH, www.winefront.com

From the Onkaparinga Hills, a parcel of dry-grown bush vines, fermented as whole clusters and aged in a single, larger-format cask. This parcel was planted in the early 1970s and it has a sappy feel (whole clusters) and bright, very pure raspberries and some leafy elements on offer, as well as blueberries. The palate has quite smooth and ripe tannins, holds a fresh edge (low pH) and delivers a similar combination of red and blue fruits as seen on the nose. A little, chewy stone pop at the finish. Nuanced and elegant. Good now, but even better in a year or two. (95) NICK STOCK, www.jamessuckling.com

Hobo Wine Camp The Hobo Wine Co Alexander Valley Cabernet 2019 A restrained and food friendly style. About 65% from Hobo's own block in Mitch Patin's Lloyd Vineyard on West Soda Rock Road planted in 1998 towards the southern end of Alexander Valley on the banks of the Russian River. The remaining 35% comes from a steep knoll called Trieb Vineyard in the more northern reaches of the Alexander Valley. Native yeasts, punch-downs and old French oak for about 15months. PWS

We've featured the wines of under the Amen Break label a lot here and there is a reason why - they rock. Hailing from a small village in east of Australia called New Zealand the Clonal Brothers are Matt and Steve Harrop and together they are a lethal winemaking combination. One of the most sampled drum patterns music nerds will recognise this as a 6- to 7-second (4-bar) drum solo performed by Gregory Sylvester "G. C.". Coleman in the song "Amen, Brother" performed by the 1960s funk and soul outfit The Winstons.

There's certainly a bustle in the hedgerow here, with blackberry, black raspberry, leaf, dried roses and pencils. Medium-bodied, cool acidity, a distinctly 'mineral' feel, intense small berried dark fruit, graphite tannin, a little sundried tomato and raspberry pip, and a spicy and gently bitter amaro/sappy finish of excellent length. Tight and crunchy, and very good to drink. I like it a lot. (93+) GARY WALSH, winefront.com

A rare grape variety in the USA and most-where else too. This is from a vineyard ownded by Brian Babcock in Suisun Valley. A small two-acre block of Charbono which is slow ripening even with the warm weather and holds its acid well. Seems like a perfect pair for Cali's sun-drenched vineyards and owner Kenny Likitprakong vision to bring something a little more interesting to the table than the just the usual drab fair of innocuous plonk.

A dark brambly affair on the nose, with a little blue fruits, plum, savoury spice and an earthy hit that remind me of some southern Italian varietals like nero d'avola and primitive combined. The palate though comes through with a lovely bite of acidity and firm, chalky tannin that keep it much fresher and brighter than one might expect. A little fleck of cherry and wild earthy hit on the close make for a fascinating drink.

20% Whole Clusters or stems were included in the natural fermentation and the wine was aged in all older barrels for 10 months before bottling. PWS

The northcoast blend is off several Sonoma vineyards with the idea to showcase cool climate refinement thanks to the proximity to the North Pacific. Usually a blend of several cabernet vineyards with a touch of merlot for a little extra plushness. Each plot is fermented individually and aged in neutral French oak before being blended. then bended. PWS

This estate is the home of Alvaro Palacios, the famed Priorat producer. Having formally departed Alfaro in 1989 in order to set up shop in Priorat, Alvaro 'returned' in 2000 following the death of his father, Jose, who set up the family business in 1945 and ran it from then on.

Under Jose, Palacios Remondo was a conventional Rioja of industrially-farmed Tempranillo expressed within the Crianza-Reserva-etctera model of production. In the years under Alvaro's guidance, the vineyards and wines have undergone extraordinary change. Nowadays the vineyards are bio-dynamically grown low-crop organic plantings of local Garnacha genetics, with a scattering of Viura.  Any Tempranillo in Palacios Remondo wines is purchased from good growers near Haro on the Ebro's north shore.

 

 

40% whole bunch, 12 days maceration, fermentation in stainless, 6 months lees-ageing in 2800 litre 'mud jars'. Slow, gentle elaboration yields a fluid, lively Mandó (with 30% Arco).

This is so beautifully balanced with bright fruit, creamy and crunchy acidity and delicate tannins. Full and compressed with very polished tannins that go on for minutes. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. JAMES SUCKLING

Lanzaga a village wine, combining 35 plots, handled separately and blended after selection. Aged a year or so: half the wine matures in relatively neutral 1500-2000 litre wood; the rest in a mix of 225 and 600 litre barrels (at most 10% new oak).