Bob McDonald

9.4

Limited notes from my 70th Birthday lunch. From magnum. One of my favourite Australian Shiraz from Heathcote with the trademark earthiness and black fruits. Plush rich and savoury all at the same time. — a year ago

Daniel M

9.0

Château La Reyne - Cahors - grand vin - 2018

This is a complex wine! Cherry, chocolate, pencil lead on the nose. Wow this is inviting. The palate is showing a huge acid backbone, a great matter, some width with cherry all along, a good grip, that typical sandy, dusty tannin touch in mid palate before a very long fruity finish with that grain. One of the best value i recently came across! (6 euros in equivalent currency) — 3 years ago

Andy Thomson

8.9

Bought at the winery. Pleasant! — 2 years ago

with Cheryl

Bob McDonald

9.7

Dense dark crimson, almost black in colour - opaque. Lots to unfurl on the nose with initial aromas of Tar, Black pepper, plum, black and blue fruits, dark chocolate and a herbal nuance. Densely packed and full bodied. Obviously the product of old vines. The vineyard was planted over a hundred years ago in 1920. One of those unique wines that has the ability to be full bodied and elegant at the same time. Never heavy, you could drink this all night. Still has latent energy at 16 years of age. An aristocratic Shiraz in company with the world’s finest. Jay Miller had an erudite comment when he said that the only competition for this wine comes from the likes of Guigal, Chapoutier, Chave, Krankl, and Ringland. I would be patriotic in addition to Chris Ringland, and include Peter Gago and Fraser McKinlay. Roman Bratasiuk is the winemaker of Astralis- which is made from a 4 hectare paddock in Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale. — 3 years ago

Gae Saccoccio - NdC

9.6

Really complicated on these so suspect days, expose themselves with concepts such as: tradition, terroir, identity without falling into the most sinister rhetoric if not sounds just trite and hypocritical as the counterfeit currency with which even large-scale industries - supported by marketing - pays back its inattentive mass audience riding the wave of the country of origin or protected typicality. A diabolical mechanism this one for which even the most noble ideas probably the right practices and good experiences completed in the scale of centuries to human measure and not on massive industrial scale, are trivialized by sleazy slogan, emptied of meaning to be more or less surreptitious thanks to barbaric persuasion techniques and brain-washing propaganda.
Yet with the Valentini's Trebbiano you may not groped to summarize in words if not by drawing on terms so appropriate to express it. Now concerning this iconic label we've got behind it a local grape variety, a real family and a great wine that collect in a bottle the past and present story of a side of Abruzzo who claims to defeats victories and sacrifices to dominate the abuses (on and of) nature, miseries and splendours of agricultural seasons. Places, people, vision, wines such as Valentini are here to remind us how each bottle stay so proudly standing as non-reproducible beauty and fermented goodness expressing all its artisanal uniqueness and authenticity which are just that suspect to industrial wine production in manufacturing chains on standardized quantities; wines that are all equal to themselves even though wine itself is not much left at the end of the day/cycle. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Valentini 1998 is what we have to rate right now: rusticity with class; style, purity and glory of a local grape recognized by many admirers from all over the world: act local think global this is another slogan-cliché which in this specific Valentini's wine exemple could sounds a little less false and more effective. — 8 years ago

with Alberto and Giovanni

Bob McDonald

9.5

After the recent straight entry level Giant Steps Pinot from 2017 which was fruit driven and quite delicious this is one of their individual paddock wines - Applejack which is made in a different style with whole bunch ferment to the fore. Notes of anise and white pepper to the red fruited nose and palate. Hint of clove. Oak is resolved to my palate. Impressive and showing Steve Flamsteed’s ability as a winemaker. Postscript: Jackson Family Wines from the USA has acquired Giant Steps as of a year ago I believe. I would expect Giant Steps to be more readily available in the US now. — 3 years ago

Daniel M

9.0

Second try with this one in 2 weeks but now all my senses are back in full effect. Typical youthfull, playful nose with cherry and hay. The palate is well designed with sheer acid, a blooming cherry note all along, some nice width, a tannic wall in mid palate which kicks things up a notch, leaving a slighlty drying effect which lasts until the very end. The finish is fruity. A very lovely, yet simple wine. It's rare these days to find burgundy pinot for that price (equivalent to less than 10 euro in local currency) and that lovely. — 3 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

Strong in colour for a 14 year old Wine. Notes of dried florals like Lavender. Rich and flavoursome, earthy with an animale note. Going strong at nearly 15 years of age with M + intensity. Jasper Hill one of the early wineries in Heathcote and helped put Heathcote on the map over 30 years ago. — 6 years ago