Benjamin Leroux
Rockcliffe Peaceful Bay Merlot
In the glass: Medium to deep red black. On the nose: Full of bright red cherry with hints of red olive and fine oak spice. On the palate: Quite a jubey and appealing red fruit core giving long and silken flavours that are generous and classy. Fine oak gives subtle support throughout. Lovely now yet with good mid-term potential.
Shiraz
This wonderfully elegant Shiraz shows intense, pristine, blackberry fruit and ripe, silky tannins. It almost has a Pinot Noir elegance to it and, luckily, the quality of future vintages will only be getting better too as Voyager's new clones come on line.
Rippon Vineyards Mature Vine Pinot Noir
Complex and savoury with attractive fruit purity, the Rippon Mature Vine Pinot Noir is a blend of Rippons oldest vines. It is the farm voice, a wine of superb structure, depth and typicity.
Derwent Estate Calcaire Pinot Noir
This enticing Pinot Noir wine exudes fruity aromas of plums and black cherries coupled with a backdrop of earthy overtones. This well balanced bouquet is followed by a fruity palate rife with rich dark berry fruits and cherries. This wine boasts of an impressive structure, derived from the French oak maturation.
Mt Difficulty Long Gully Single Vineyard Pinot Noir
Long Gully Pinot Noir is handcrafted in very limited quantities and only released in outstanding vintages. Crisp blackberry and Bing cherry interplay with baronial floral notes alongside an assemblage of sweet brown spices. These same lifted dark cherry and berry notes dominate the entry onto the palate; theres a classic Long Gully dense mid-palate with flow and texture. The wine finishes strongly with a lovely tension present right through the fine-grained tannins and spicy dark berry fruit. Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir will improve for 10 15 years given optimal cellaring conditions.
Escarpment Te Rehua Pinot Noir
Forester Estate Margaret River Yelverton Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Grape variety - 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Oak maturation - 15 months, 60% new and 40% 2 year old French oak barriques. Colour - Deep red with red-purple hue. Aroma - A ripe, concentrated and complex wine that’s loaded with cedar oak, cassis, bay leaf, damp earth, dried lavender and gravel dust. Palate - Rich and long with very fine tannin. There are classic Cabernet characters of cassis, bay leaf, mulberry, cocoa and lavender with cedar oak in support. A ripe, brooding wine that will benefit from decanting. Food matches - This wine suits the classics. Try with matured hard cheeses, rosemary infused lamb or rare beef fillet steak. Peak drinking - Drinking well upon release but has the potential to evolve and impress towards 2032. Viticulture - Fruit sourced to make the Yelverton is grown with absolute attention to detail. Identification of soil boundaries within blocks is the first step in selecting potentially superior fruit. Close monitoring and analysis of these vines leads to shoot or bunch thinning by hand if required to obtain the perfect balance for good exposure and healthy ripening. A philosophy of minimal inputs in these premium blocks allows the unique combination of variety, soil type and microclimate to shine through and produce a parcel of fruit with true character. The 2020 vintage was a near perfect growing season with mild day temperatures, cold nights and no heat spikes. Winemaking - Our Forester Yelverton Cabernet Sauvignon parcels are gently crushed to small open fermenters and receive a slight “drain-off’ of free run juice to increase the skin to juice ratio. This helps intensify the flavour, aroma and body of the wine without altering the underlying unique vineyard qualities present. A slow temperature controlled ferment is employed with daily draining away of fermenting juice under gravity and pumping back over the skins to assist in the extraction. Heading down boards keep the ‘cap’ of skins submerged beneath the cool fermenting wine to avoid excessive heat which we believe leads to a more refined wine. The ideal skin contact time in fermenter varies from one vintage to the next with the 2020 Cabernet spending an average 25 days in contact with skins before pressing out. The best parcels are aged in fine grained French oak barriques for 15 months with careful blending of the Yelverton taking place approximately three months prior to bottling. Storage and Bottling - The 2020 Yelverton was bottled in November of 2021 to premium claret glass with a stelvin closure. Stored in our temperature controlled cellar prior to release this wine is drinking exceptionally well now and with prudent storage should continue to show well towards 2032. Decanting recommended.
Stella Bella Wines Serie Luminosa Cabernet
Xanadu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Xanadu Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is vibrant and robust with great balance from the bouquet of ripe forest fruits and violet on the nose; A refined structure of tannins, oak use and the acidity on the palate; All are great indications of a wine that would benefit from careful bottle maturation for many years to come.
