Jamie Lauder

9.1

2018 vintage.
100 % Riesling from Block 5. A 2 acre vineyard in size.
Pale straw yellow. Stoney lime juice, tangerine, kiwi and white flowers.
Crisp and dry with bracing acidity and minerality on the finish.
All hand picked fruit and whole bunch pressed.
Spends 4 months on the lees then aged 2 years in bottle before release.
This wine is built for long term aging.
7 to 10 years is no problem. — a month ago

Matthew Cohen

9.7

Man this is so young. 3-5 years at least from an early peak. But you can see the greatness. Man this is going to be a wine of a lifetime.

Nose is pungent cranberry flowers. An assault on the no trial. Nose petals peeking through. Some lilacs.

Palate is stunningly fresh. So delsignore. You get the amazing Nebbiolo fruit you’d expect from 16 but it’s as fresh as just picked grapes. Bright cherry. A bit of darker red cherry. A hint of licorice. Some cranberry fruit.

A beautiful wine.

On the swallow this is starting to show that “oh my god I can’t believe I’m drinking this” perfect balance of truly great wines.

As this opens piercingly intense. Pure pure pure. A hint of elegant brick like you get in old burgundy. Intense Dried rose petal extract.

Finish is so profound you leave it on the palate for like a minute sucking in air and mumbling “mmmph. Mmmph mmmph” it’s so good you do t want it to stop.

Bought from fass selections — 3 years ago

M. Christopher Roebuck

9.2

More and more I will be getting out of my comfort zone. This is a single vineyard Chenin Blanc from South Africa, Stellenbosch. Hand-picked whole bunches, kept on the skins for 12 hours after harvest before gentle pressing. 12 month fermentation and maturation in 225L French oak barrels. The skin contact produces a beautiful medium gold color that's as shiny as a wedding band on a honeymoon. Indeed, honeysuckle is among the aromas that also include pear, peach, apricot, marmalade, and a twist of lime. Everything gets confirmed on the palate, with a touch of brioche. Medium plus bodied, dry (with a hint of residual sugar on the tongue), medium acidity. A great wine.

92+ points — 4 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.3

A deep Ruby red - no hint of bricking. Coonawarra mint noticeable on the nose. Possibly drinking this a little young at 16 years of age - at least a 20 year old wine. From a warmer year showing cassis, blackcurrant, milk chocolate and a little bay leaf. Fine grained persistent tannins. Hand pruned and picked, natural yeast fermentation, matured in French oak. A gift to us from the owner and winemaker, Sue Bell. Drinking well, thanks Sue. I hope you don’t think we drank it too early. — 2 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.4

Founded at end of 1800 when Lavinio Franceschi, Florence land owner, visited the area. Over a century later, Tenuta covers an area of 530 hectares (140 planted with vines; 50 with olive trees). Aged in French oak for 36 months, 100% Sangiovese hand picked from 20-year old vines. A Gem! Deep Ruby. rich berry fruit aromas with complex spice. Palate has rich berry fruit flavors, baked cherry, with tobacco, cacao & subtle spice. Soft tannins, long finish ending with seductive earthy tones. Nice, aged well! — 4 years ago

Devin Bray

9.4

All fruit at Yarra Yering is hand-picked into 10kg picking buckets in the cool of the morning, and delivered direct to the winery. The fruit is sorted, then either destemmed or crushed into the traditional Yarra Yering “tea chest” 0.5-tonne open-fermenters. Depending on the variety, stalks may be added back during the fermentation stage in baskets for easy removal when there is just enough stalk tannin present.

Occasionally there will be some 100% whole bunch fermenters for use as a blending component. The stainless steel lined wooden tea chest fermenters were designed to hold just the right amount of fruit to fit into the basket press. During fermentation they are hand plunged for gentle tannin extraction, initiated naturally or sometimes with a specific cultured yeast strain.

Once fermentation is complete they will be basket pressed, preferred for its gentle separation of wine from the grape skins and seeds before being transferred via gravity to barrel.

Completes malolactic fermentation in French oak barrels.
Pleasingly unusual in its initial presentation, redolent of roasted carrots and turmeric, Indian spiced cauliflower. Resolves into a more familiar kalamata olive and ripe red fruit character, with some notes that push the profile towards a bigger, almost chocolatey, vanilla-laced Australian character with a velvety smooth, Syrah-like mouthfeel. The sweet glazed root vegetable flavors remain, quite welcome and delicious. — 4 years ago

Jess

8.9

Medium ruby color.
Aromas of red fruit, spice.
Dry. Flavors of raspberry, strawberry, cherry, cinnamon, red berry compote. Medium-rich, velvety tannins.
Intensity: 4/5
Complexity: 3/5
Balance: 4/5
Finish: 4/5 — 10 months ago

Jamie Lauder

9.1

2022 vintage.
Produced in the Alsatian traditional style of Edelzwicker, an aromatic blend.
All hand picked and hand sorted fruit.
50 % Gewurztraminer, 27 % Riesling, 10 % Pinot Auxerrois, 8 % Pinot Gris and 5 % Pinot Blanc.
Bright, shiny straw gold.
Apples, white flowers, ginger and citrus on the nose.
Tangerine, lemon lime, pink grapefruit pith, and honeysuckle flavours.
On the back label of every bottle, they thank all the grape growers by name and location. — a year ago

Matthew Cohen

9.5

Nose is so supple. Warming (not in an alcoholic sense) and comforting. Dried roses. Spices. As this opens, intense hand crushed rose petals. With some more time intense lilacs. I mean really intense like elite volnay intense. Wtf!?!

Palate is still so fresh. Moderately dense fruit. Bright cherries. So juicy. Terrific spice. Rose petal juice. Wow. Nice elegance. Only 13.5% alcohol. Not one of these ponderous post climate change monsters. As it opens very good deliciousness. A lovely Roundness. Spice. Wow.

Great fresh finish.

This is exactly why you want in an entry level Barolo. Not Uber dense and overly weighty. Stunningly drinkable. Wow.

I’m having it with cassouela. Yes I know I should have had valtellina wine to stay in Lombardy... bite me. All the ballers in Milan drink barolo.

Bought from fass selections. — 4 years ago

Tania Vetluzhskikh

8.9

Tasted in 2020 — 4 years ago