Wednesday Wines – Episode 263 – The 100 Best 2025 – FESTIVAL WINES TASTING NOTES, STOCKISTS & PRICES
I have just completed the most exciting Festival tour of the UK since I started my 100 Best Australian Wines initiative 21 years ago. Every attendee is handed a copy of the full 82-page report to use as a tasting booklet and aide memoire. For the first time, I have decided to publish my tasting notes on the 53 wines I poured for all attendees. I have noted the average retail prices and stockists, along with ABV%, all provided by the UK importers.
These are the most delicious Aussie wines imaginable, so you can be sure you will enjoy every single wine listed below. If you would like to download the entire report with all 271 wines mentioned, along with all of my in-depth annual reports, you can do so as a Member of this website (see the JOIN tab on the home page).
photo courtesy of Phil Wilkinson
100 Best is kindly sponsored by AFFW
Sparkling
NV Jansz Tasmania, Premium Cuvée, Tasmania (12%, £19, www.waitrose.com, www.frazierswine.co.uk).
Traditionally made from top-quality grapes, this wine (and NV Jansz Rosé) represents unrivalled quality and considering not only the Aussie scene but also the world’s sparkling wine styles, including the ever-growing canon of English sparklers, I cannot think of a pair of wines as carefully assembled and rewarding as these. If you search hard, you might find seasonal deals as low as £15, which is incredible. Perhaps it’s unsurprising that I recommend Jansz more than any other sparkling wine producer for elite gatherings and celebrations!
NV House of Arras, Brut Elite Rosé Cuvée 1801, Tasmania (13%, £45, www.amathusdrinks.com).
While Arras has been famous for making big, rich, powerful, and award-winning sparklers for decades, the newfound delicacy and precision that forms the theme for a scion of their wines has caught my eye recently. None more so than this exquisite rosé that is so pale and demure it confounds the senses. It spends four years on lees gathering lip-smacking detail, yet this super-refined wine refuses to put on any weight, revelling in its slender frame and beguiling floral stance. Near-white in hue, I find this wine completely mesmerising, and I trust Festivalgoers will fall at its feet.
White
2023 Vasse Felix, Filius Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia (12.5%, £14, www.majestic.co.uk, www.booths.co.uk).
Bright, cleansing, energetic and expressive, this wine represents sensational value for money and staggering class, and it shows why winemaker Ginny Willcock has won so much admiration in the wine trade worldwide. Filius is Vasse Felix’s gift to the world, a cheerleader for the brand and a wine of earnest integrity and regional accuracy. It is drop-dead gorgeous and bargain priced. What more could you ask for?
2023 Robert Oatley Wines, Signature Series Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia (12.5%, £15 www.cambridgewine.com, www.majestic.co.uk, www.vinvm.co.uk).
I am spoilt for choice for epic value Chardonnays in this year’s 100, and I urge you to buy every single one and bathe in their collective glory. Australia is the home of phenomenal tasting AND phenomenal value Chardonnay, and ’23 Sig is a prime example. This is not just an inexpensive, tasty white wine but a detailed, multi-faceted creation with a Margaret River Signature inked across its wondrous flavour. It is far too easy to drink, epically balanced and even treated to some decent carpentry, although it is stunningly well hidden.
2022 Kilikanoon, Mort’s Block Riesling, Clare Valley, South Australia (11.5%, £18, www.dulwichvintners.co.uk, www.simplywinesdirect.uk, www.ministryofdrinks.co.uk).
Mort’s Block is a justifiably famous Clare Riesling, and in 2022 it is a thoroughbred beauty. Unlike the 2024s, which appear in my Report, this 2022 is a couple of shades richer and infinitely more mellow, which is the difference a couple of years makes. Coming from a single vineyard on the north side of the winery, Mort’s Block is made from a light pressing, so the fruit is super-pure and delectably refreshing. It is drinking well already, with stunning balance and vivacity, but there is no hurry to polish off any bottle because I anticipate it has a further five years to run!
2024 Tyrrell’s, Hunter Valley Semillon, New South Wales (11.8%, £20, www.henningswine.co.uk, www.justincases.co.uk, www.vinvm.co.uk).
This is a fabulous advert for first-class Hunter Semillon, and it only costs twenty quid! Clean as a whistle, the whip-crack acidity and water-white colour make this a gorgeous icebreaker, and it ought to be served in pints, not glasses!
2023 Yering Station, Village Chardonnay, Yarra Valley, Victoria (13% £20, www.auswinesonline.co.uk, www.liquoricewine.co.uk).
The Yarra Valley, in Victoria, is a haven for elite Chardonnays, and Yering Station was the very first vineyard established in this valley in 1838. Village Chardonnay is the classic estate cuvée at this famous winery, and for only twenty smackers, you can treat yourself to a slice of extraordinary class and refinement. Lime leaf, lemon balm, hints of brioche and hazelnut make this a chic number and probably the most versatile of the four, yes four, Yering Station Chardonnays to make the grade this year.
2022 Xanadu, Black Label Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia (12.5%, £25, www.corkingwines.co.uk).
There is an all-pervasive freshness and clarity to Xanadu Chardonnay that impresses greatly. Here is a ripe, stunningly complex, main course white wine with the balance and poise of a much ‘lighter’ style! It is so clever and surprising that it sends shock waves around your palate. The southern reaches of the Margaret River region give rise to the most amazing, crystalline, finely woven Chardonnays, and this is a thriller. In terms of value for money, this is yet another head-scratcher. How do they do it? Don’t ask – take advantage for as long as you possibly can. The 2023 vintage, which follows this wine, is another stunner, with expressive lime-themed fruit underpinned by chilly, minty-fresh acidity. I am often asked how tension manifests itself in a white wine. The finish on Black Label Chardy is a masterclass in this art!
2022 Robert Oatley Wines, Finisterre Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia (12.5%, £26, £26, www.cambridgewine.com, www.tauruswines.co.uk, www.hedonism.co.uk).
If you add a tenner’s worth of fruit to the Oatley Signature Chardonnay programme, you end up with this knee-trembler. And what a wine: I can’t think of any twenty-six-pound Chardonnay in our solar system that layers flavour like this wine. Served blind at a Clos de Vougeot bash, it might start a second French Revolution! And I can say this about every wine in the Chardonnay section of 100 Best and those Chardies mentioned in dispatches. With genuine class and balance in abundance, Finisterre proves you can drink world-class white wine without breaking the bank.
2024 Dandelion Vineyards, Wonderland of the Eden Valley Riesling, South Australia (11.5%, £28, www.lokiwine.co.uk).
The Dandelion folk make epic wines, and every bottle in this entry is superb value for money, stamped with indelible Dandelion flair, and loaded with terrific regional accuracy. 2024 Wonderland is a richer and seemingly riper wine than the two Henschkes in my report. It has a luxurious feel with brief moments of exoticism over a silky-smooth lemon balm theme, and the finish loads chalky acidity and pumice-like traction, hinting at its ability to age well, too. I know from experience that there is an x-factor to all Dandelion wines that makes them instantly enjoyable, and I can’t put my finger on why they are so magnetic. Perhaps it has something to do with the texture of these wines. They all possess a slipperiness and polish that gleams on the palate, radiating sensuality and indulgence in equal measure.
2023 Penfolds, Bin 311 Chardonnay, Australia (13%, £32, www.bbr.com, www.waitrose.com, www.laywheeler.com, www.goedhuiswaddesdon.com).
2023 Bin 311 shows terrific balance and fruit so crystal clear and trembling with delicacy and poise it rather defies comprehension. Give it a whirl: the value afforded here is astounding!
2021 Yangarra, Estate Roussanne, McLaren Vale, South Australia (13%, £32, www.hedonism.co.uk).
This hauntingly beautiful wine sits just underneath the majority of Chardonnays in this year’s 100 Best Report but above the Semillons and Rieslings in terms of fruit-weight and presence. This is a style that usually manages to confuse and delight in equal measure. With an ethereal set of florals and a gossamer-smooth texture, this is a ‘foodie wine’ that has a repertoire way beyond that of a run-of-the-mill Chardonnay. Once again, Yangarra brings us a left-field flavour that ought to be a mainstay in our wine diets. I hope you take note and add this spectacular estate to your wish list!
2023 Howard Park, Heritage Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia (12.5%, £34, www.winedelivered.co.uk).
This is a sensational wine with a perfect balance between sensual, refreshing Chardonnay grapes, which hail from the brilliant Karridale sub-district, and careful use of new and used French oak. Larger barrels are favoured here, so the oak notes caress the fruit instead of dominating, and this leaves the Chardonnay free to enchant the senses with its unrushed Comice pear, white peach and green apple skin freshness. The climate in this part of Margaret River yields lusty wines with exceptional freshness, and this Heritage-label creation is a classic case in point.
2022 McHenry Hohnen, Hazel’s Vineyard Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia (13%, £35, www.tanners-wines.co.uk).
I tasted this wine three times in one week when I was touring Western Australia in October 2023. It was one of the most memorable and delicious wines of the many hundreds I sampled on this amazing trip. It was also one of the first I tracked down on my return to the UK. Hazel’s is such a mainstay in the Margaret River Chardonnay firmament, and I am used to seeing this wine sitting in among a posse of wines that cost twice the price, gleaming with character and excellence. The trick is that while there is a massive amount of complexity here, this wine never loses momentum on the palate. It maintains a brisk pace, which is key to exacting maximum refreshment and joy in its victim. By contrast, some wines park up on your palate and refuse to budge – I never order a second bottle, let alone finish the first. McHenry Hohnen has become a go-to Chardonnay expert.
2023 Cherubino, Black Label Pemberton Chardonnay, Western Australia (13%, £43, www.henningswine.co.uk, www.tauruswines.co.uk).
This was one of the most erudite and impressive wines I tasted last year, and Larry Cherubino opened it on a whim one evening. It was not part of any formal wine tastings or presentations – just a glass of wine. I nearly fell over! I gave it a 19/20 score in my hasty scribbled notes, polished it off in double quick time and then made a note to revisit it at the earliest opportunity to go through the whole exercise again in slo-mo! There is no doubt that Pemberton’s potential is completely untapped. Because of the brilliant sunshine and extraordinary natural acidity inherent in its wines, I cannot imagine what the future holds. If Larry’s Margaret River wines are impressive (see below), then the wines from Pemberton, given time, might rival the greatest in the country. This is a vital wine for all die-hard Chardonnay enthusiasts to track down and taste. Spectacular, epée-like acidity underpins awe-inspiring fruit with so much silky refinement it soothes every ruffle, removing unwanted and irrelevant frictions and concerns in one magical, mesmerising moment. We all need more of this wine in our lives.
2018 Tyrrell’s, Winemaker’s Selection Vat 1 Hunter Valley Semillon, New South Wales (11.5%, £55, www.nywines.co.uk, www.wineandwhisky.co.uk).
I cannot remember a more sensual and silky Vat 1. Usually, this elite Sem shows attitude, pinching your palate and elbowing your taste buds as it glides by, but this 2018 vintage is liquid gold. Pure, light, tender, and conversational, the tenderness takes the breath away and will amaze fans of this legendary label. Made from the finest fruit on the estate with vines dating back to 1923, this is a wine of uncommon amplitude and cadence, and it is sure to make its mark on everyone lucky enough to taste it.
2023 Giant Steps, Single Vineyard Sexton Vineyard Yarra Valley Chardonnay, Victoria (13.5%, £55, www.laywheeler.com, www.thefinewinecompany.co.uk).
From my Winery of the Year 2025, comes this elevated, ethereal, complex and classical beauty. This has long been the super-star cuvée at Giant Steps, and it does not mind stepping aside in 2023 to allow others to join the podium. Beautifully balanced, everything is here, and in this vintage, it is delivered in a leaner and more dynamic format than of late. Sensational.
Red
2021 Lake Breeze, Bullant Shiraz, Langhorne Creek, South Australia (14.5%, £15, www.hic-winemerchants.com, www.strictlywine.co.uk).
This is another wine that has benefitted from a short back and sides at Lake Breeze (in addition to Bernoota which appears in this post below). But don’t worry because the chunky, ebullient, chocolate fondant and blueberry jelly notes are all present and correct. All that has changed is the glossy texture and the welcome addition of fabulous, dried spices and cracked pepper aromatics.
2022 Yalumba, Samuel’s Collection, Barossa Shiraz, South Australia (14.5%, £16, www.lokiwine.co.uk, www.vinvm.co.uk).
This wine will be tasted by a couple of thousand people on the 2025 Festival tour, and I am certain it will recruit legions of fans to this estate’s wine. Since 100 Best started back in 2004, Yalumba has gained more mentions than any other winery, and it has a portfolio that spans from ten quid gems to three-hundred-pound intergalactic missiles. This spicy, bright, cinnamon and oak-imbued Shiraz is a perfect case in point. It has Yalumba emblazoned down its spine, and I know the employees are every bit as proud of this wine as they are of the collector’s editions. You will taste what I mean.
2021 Kilikanoon, Killerman’s Run Shiraz, Clare Valley, South Australia (14.5%, £17, www.ampswinemerchants.co.uk, www.de-burgh.com, www.mumblesfinewines.co.uk, www.southdownscellars.co.uk, www.waudwines.com, www.fountainhallwines.co.uk).
I don’t think I have tasted a more exciting or modern wine from Kilikanoon, and when you cast your eye over the price, you might think I have not double-checked with the retailers before pressing ‘save’, but I have! With equal parts earth and fruit, this lovely Clare Shiraz is a smart and superbly balanced wine with extraordinary detail for a wine dwelling on this tier of a winery’s portfolio. My advice is to get in quick because while Killerman’s Run might be starting a purple patch of releases, I have not tasted any subsequent vintages, so take advantage of this unicorn wine because nothing in life is guaranteed. You are safe in the knowledge that it has at least five years ahead of it, so this is as safe a bet as it gets.
2022 Torbreck, Old Vines Mourvèdre Shiraz Grenache, Barossa Valley, South Australia (15%, £19, www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk, www.vinvm.co.uk, www.rfvintners.co.uk, www.nywines.co.uk, www.vinneuf.co.uk, www.vineandbine.co.uk).
Made from 53% Mourvèdre, 43% Shiraz and 4% Grenache, this wine is blended from every corner of the Torbreck estate and, as such, it is a highly complex tapestry of red and black fruit, ripe earth, dried spices and fresh herbs. This wine belies its diminutive price with a stunning perfume, a silky mouthfeel, and a crunchy, drying and minutes-long finish.
2022 Moss Wood, Amy’s, Margaret River, Western Australia (13.5%, £20, www.jeroboams.co.uk, www.fieldandfawcett.co.uk, www.thewhalleywineshop.co.uk, www.hic-winemerchants.com, www.cheerswinemerchants.co.uk, www.experiencewine.co.uk, www.thesecretcellar.co.uk, www.waitrose.com).
I have been singing about Amy’s for aeons as it represents a glimpse of the glory of the great Moss Wood Grand Vin while packaging a flavour that rewards immediately. There is no need to cellar this wine because it is match fit and ready to perform. Interestingly, this is one of the most structured Amy’s of late on account of the quality of the harvest, but even this doesn’t slow down your enjoyment. It means you must stop at nothing to buy some for your collection. Bright, open and feisty, this is a perfect early-drinking Margaret River Cabernet with just that bit more grunt and depth of field than usual. Electric!
2022 Silver Lining, Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills, South Australia (13%, £22, www.greatwine.co.uk).
You must hand it to Marty Edwards. He loves Pinot and lives in the Hills, so why wouldn’t he try to make this dream a reality? Well, for one, stage fright would be a very good reason. There is nowhere to hide when you make a Pinot, and anything less than excellent would be a grave disappointment for a man who has sought perfection his whole winemaking life. Then, try to kick a goal at a price point that seems impossible for this variety from anywhere on earth, let alone from the pricey turf overlooking Adelaide. So, when I tell you that he has achieved the impossible and made one of the most delicious, accurate and comforting wines of the year, it makes you sit up and wonder how on earth he did it. You must taste this wine because one sip reveals a Pinot of such accuracy and delicacy it brings a tear to the eye. Is it a one-hit wonder? Is it the Holy Grail of £20 Pinots? Is there a pipeline from Chambolle to Mount Lofty? I cannot answer these questions, but you will surely find enlightenment when you taste this unbelievable wine.
2021 Lake Breeze, Bernoota Shiraz/Cabernet, Langhorne Creek, South Australia (14.5%, £24, www.harveynichols.com, www.shelvedwine.com).
Goodness me, I thought I had covered all Bernoota’s bases in the twenty or more years I have been savouring this legendary wine from the wilds of Langhorne Creek. How wrong can one be? In one fell swoop, this gentle, often somewhat dishevelled giant has had a somewhat surprising makeover, emerging from its den looking ever so glossy and, dare I say it, suave. As I stood mouth agape, catching flies, I pinched myself. I went back to my glass, where I found gloriously layered fruit – a millefeuille of Shiraz and Cabernet, glued together with pared-back, fragrant oak in place of the rough and ready thwack from a carpenter hastily pinning two-by-fours together with a hammer and nails. Even the trademark Langhorne tannins are well turned out. I immediately wondered whether I liked it as much as the wines of yore and immediately realised I was comparing a Ford Mustang to an old Model T. Looking back in time is always emotionally engaging, but embracing evolution and the advancement of technology and taste is our divine right, and as much as I adore the venerable vintages of Bernoota this 2021 is a modern classic in every way imaginable. The Folletts have done an exceptional job with this wine because it keeps every iota of its world-class DNA while improving its overall performance beyond all imagination.
2021 Mount Langi Ghiran, Cliff Edge Shiraz, Grampians, Victoria (14.5%, £24, www.harveynichols.com, www.strictlywine.co.uk, www.vinowines.co.uk).
Darren Rathbone is the CEO and winemaker of the Rathbone Wine Group, which owns Victoria’s oldest winery, Yering Station, founded in 1838; Xanadu Wines, the elite Margaret River set-up in Western Australia; and also the idyllic Mount Langi Ghiran, a cool-climate Shiraz icon in the Grampians, a couple of hours’ drive west of Melbourne. Darren launched a suite of 2021 vintage Shirazes last year, and they blew the roof off St. James’s private wine club, 67 Pall Mall, with their uniquely compelling flavours. Darren raided his museum, opening wines as far back as 1981. It was extraordinary to taste how his precious granitic soils and briskly racy climate give rise to some of the purest, most dramatic Shiraz wines on earth and that they can easily manage four decades! Every Shiraz is imbued with its trademark cracked pepper nuance, which Darren and his crew, along with the Australian Wine Research Institute, have identified as Rotundone, an aromatic compound that, in minuscule quantities, gives these wines their indelible perfumed signature. My chosen headliner from this elite collection of wines is the wine that takes inspiration from the expensive versions and packages it perfectly, delivering tremendous value at £24. The first three words of my tasting notes for this wine read, ‘off the scale’. The iodine perfume is exceptional here, akin to a Cornas at twice or three times the price. The fruit is so tempered, civilised, and honed that it is already drinking well!
2022 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia (13.4%, £25, www.majestic.co.uk, www.mrwheelerwine.com, www.dmbwines.co.uk, www.frazierswine.co.uk, www.greatwine.co.uk, www.winedirect.co.uk).
This is the 67th vintage of Black Label, and it must be noted that this is a very strong year in the history of this incredibly important wine. With gorgeous blackcurrant and blackberry fruit on the nose, this is an expressive vintage and one of the more structured and bolder of late. It possesses strident tannins and a formal stance on the palate that takes me back to my early introductions to this wine some four decades ago. But of course, this wine could never have been made back then because the know-how in the vineyard and winery had not evolved to the skills Wynns deploys today, and this means the fruit is so much purer and more defined. This is a genuinely great Black Label with stunning breeding, thrilling traction, spice, and an immovable sense of place.
2023 Paringa Estate, Peninsula Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria (13%, £27 www.vinvm.co.uk).
Paringa is a season ticket holder in 100 Best, and this year, the solo entry is a wine of such ebullience and excitement it is extraordinary. With a darker hue than many wines of this price point and a hearty slug of posh French oak, giving it an improbably grand posture on the palate, this is a benchmark Mornington Peninsula Pinot made by a modest fellow who picks up awards at will, such is his winemaking prowess. I have known Lindsay McCall for over twenty years, and he is a meticulous craftsman with an attention to detail and flavour delivery like no other. While this beauty is already well into its stride, it is a wine that will evolve and gather complexity if it is given the chance. I warrant newcomers to this name will tattoo it on their wine memory banks in seconds after the heavenly plum and cherry flavours seep into their senses.
2023 Alkina, Kin Grenache, Barossa Valley, South Australia (13.5%, £28, www.raeburnfinewines.com).
This is the finest release of Kin Grenache to date, and it is another sappy, challenging creature with raw skinsy red cherry and rhubarb stalk offset by shovels of earth and fauna. It is impossibly classy and possesses a flavour that exists nowhere else on the planet. This time 100% of the fruit was fermented as whole bunches in the concrete tulips, and I must underline the fact that wines of this class, uniqueness and staggeringly high build quality cannot be found anywhere else at this price!
2023 Alkina, Kin Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia (13.5%, £28, www.raeburnfinewines.com).
This wine a relatively civilised gent with a discreet 8% Mataro tucked into its breast pocket. Kin Shiraz is a juicier and more free-flowing wine than the 2022 vintage offering, and it is the perfect wine to introduce this particular form of artistry to my 100 Best audience.
2022 Penfolds, Bin 28 Shiraz, South Australia (14.5%, £30, www.bbr.com, www.waitrose.com, www.tesco.com, www.ocado.com, www.booths.co.uk, www.majestic.co.uk, www.harveynichols.com, www.harrods.com).
Bin 28 is a thriller in 2022. Made from Shiraz parcels in McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Padthaway and Wrattonbully and matured for a year in American oak hogsheads, this is a ripe, bold, dark-fruited wine with masses of energy and an all-encompassing attitude. Smoky tones meld with warm earth, plum and blackberry notes, making this a rich mouthful of Shiraz. Made from the time-honoured ‘Penfolds recipe’, the American oak brings hints of coconut and cake spice, which serve to make the whole experience even more moreish!
2023 Yering Station, Estate Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley, Victoria (13%, £30, www.oldbutcherswinecellar.co.uk).
Gosh, this is a refined creation. Pretty and pure on the nose with wild cherry and rose petal notes and then more profound and more insistent on the palate, there is glorious, tender fruit here atop a mulberry and plum palate, and the texture is clean, resonant and discreetly spicy. While this is a youthful candidate, it has already found equilibrium, and the flavour attacks are stealthy and well-organised, with the tannins and balancing acidity keeping their distance, allowing the Pinot serenade to continue untroubled. Yering Pinots always manage to possess an innate freshness that elevates the experience, making them truly refreshing and dangerously easy to demolish!
2022 Jasper Hill, Occam’s Razor Shiraz, Heathcote, Victoria (15%, £33, www.yapp.co.uk).
This structured, imposing wine with a delightfully menacing edge deserves to be decanted and served blind at top-notch dinner parties. It shows stunning Heathcote minerality under a glistening, black-fruited suit of armour. Jasper Hill makes terrific wines, and while I love this estate’s famous cuvées, Occam’s is a covert culvert into this famous winery’s portfolio without dropping a bull’s eye! It’s simple: when presented with a choice, choose Occam’s Razor. I love it and marvel at its unique Shiraz flavour that will have you searching for tasting notes never uttered before!
2022 Yangarra, Estate Old Vine Grenache, McLaren Vale, South Australia (14.5%, £33, www.vinvm.co.uk, www.littlefinewinecompany.co.uk).
What a contrast this 2022 is to last year’s 100 Best entry, the juicy 2021. This time, the fruit is flick-knife-sharp, fabulously powdery and teasingly mouthwatering. This is a stunning wine with equal parts plush fruit and elemental earth, and they conspire to bring untold drama to the perfume and flavour. Setting out on a five-to-eight-year journey, this wine already makes Southern Rhône creations look a little flaccid and undernourished. I am not sure why anyone would want to graduate from this wine to a higher plane!
2022 Dalrymple, Pinot Noir, Pipers River, Tasmania (13.5%, £34, www.flagshipwines.co.uk, www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk).
This beauty has a naturally light frame and a beautifully bitter, cherry stone and herb character. It seems connected to its soils with fabulous teasing acidity and minerality, which conjures up flavour notes from Marsannays and Fixins of old. Stunning and silky on the one hand and then gritty and furtive, this is a brilliant wine and one that is guaranteed to make you smile because of its beguiling and mischievous character.
2021 Kaesler, The Bogan Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia (14.5%, £35, www.jeroboams.co.uk).
The Bogan is made from multiple parcels of Shiraz that narrowly miss out on the cut for inclusion in Alte Reben (below). Made from all estate fruit with blocks going back to 1899, The Bogan is granted 30% new French barriques for a 16-month dunking, and the result is as far removed from its naughty name as possible. Plummy and fruit-driven with more red/purple flavours and less black fruit than in years gone by. The finish is prim, precise and pure, underlining the terrific quality of the 2021 vintage.
2021 Vasse Felix, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Australia (14%, £37, www.majestic.co.uk).
This is the 50th vintage of this wine, and the elegance, class and control here make you double-take just checking no one has swopped in a classed growth Saint-Julien when you were not looking! Made from 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Malbec and employing 37% new oak French barriques for 17 months, the recipe might feel formal, but this is a relaxed and wonderfully conversational wine. Again, I am privy to some insider information, and I am thrilled to report that the 2022 vintage of this wine is another amazing creation. This time, the vintage is darker, richer, more forceful and opinionated. This superbly luxurious and layered wine has a sootier, meatier core. Warmer and fuller than the 2021, this vintage represents the other side of the Margaret River coin, and I love both vintages equally.
2023 Giant Steps, Yarra Valley Pinot Noir, Victoria (13.5%, £37, www.92ormore.com, www.thefinewinecompany.co.uk).
This is another greedy entry for my Winery of the Year, Giant Steps. While this winery has consumed an awful lot of ink on these pages, every wine is worthy of inspection, and I trust you will make an effort to join this glorious throng. My featured Pinot is the first rung offering on this veritable Pinot skyscraper. The fruit is as precise and silky as I could ever wish for, and the freshness and lightness of touch are delectable. And then the gravitas kicks in, and the length of the palate rolls on, unravelling a carpet of red flowers and fruit. This is a truly stellar wine, and it is not a lesser member of this Pinot Family. It is, in point of fact, the bull’s eye of this glorious Pinot dartboard. While the others have rigidly defined characters, this clever fellow straddles all of them, pleasing all-comers with its authentic charm and mesmerising flavour.
2021 Mitolo, G.A.M. McLaren Vale Shiraz, South Australia (14.5%, £40, www.ozwines.co.uk, www.kwmwine.com).
I was left gasping after sprinting through the new Mitolo releases, and I am sworn to secrecy about a new raft of wines arriving in the UK later in the year, but I have found one wine you must learn about right now! This sensational creation, named after Frank Mitolo’s children, Gemma, Alexander and Marco is one of the shining lights of McLaren Vale with its exceptional fruit quality and resonance. Dark, indulgent, exotically proportioned, and loaded with mocha, espresso and dark chocolate complexity, this demonstrative wine appears full-bodied and imposing on the palate but finishes impressively clean and lifted. The counterpoint between exuberance and freshness makes Mitolo wines so compelling, and G.A.M. is a superhero in the portfolio. There is always a sense of the McLaren Vale coastline in the Mitolo wines, and a faint saline and saltbush ozone brings even more levity to this mighty wine.
2020 Kaesler, Old Vine Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia (14%, £40, www.jeroboams.co.uk).
Old Vine Shiraz narrows the ‘field’ to just three vineyards, and the backbone of this wine is formed from cuttings taken from Old Bastard (also featured in the Report), and it is aged in puncheons. There is so much more depth and earth piled into this wine; it appears to have a GPS locator embedded in every sip. This is the most engaging OVS I have tasted, with no shortage of subtlety and composure.
2022 Torbreck, The Steading GSM, Barossa, Valley, South Australia (15%, £40, www.thewinesociety.com, www.laywheeler.com).
In many ways, The Steading is the most complex wine to assemble because it is made from some 45 different parcels of grapes. I have long been a fan of this label, not least because it retails for a snip of the price of some of the starrier names, and yet it always shows trademark Torbreck swagger and élan. 2022 is a sensational vintage for The Steading, and it might be the most profound release of this label to date. The time-honoured blend of GS&M can sometimes be a confusing puzzle to fit together, but in 2022, it tastes like the puzzle pieces fused of their own accord, each edge gliding seamlessly into place and settling into the whole in perfect symmetry. With a wet Spring and a cool Summer, this was always going to be a fascinating wine because both Grenache and Mataro adore these conditions. Unusually, the fanfare of red/pink fruit notes is arresting, with rhubarb, cherry and raspberry tones surfing the aroma’s top notes. Beneath this frivolous exterior, a much darker and more lusty wine lurks. There is undoubted energy here, carrying the flavour along with considerable momentum, and it flatters the drinker, seemingly ushering you to the glass with an uncommon tempo, but this is an illusion. This troubadour attempts to woo you before time, and while it is easy to fall into its trap, try your best to resist. Great vintages of The Steading tend to kick off after they have spent four years (not two) in the bottle, as this time is spent unlocking the deep mulberry and plum notes hidden behind the energetic acidity in the centre of the swirling, silky flavour. This vintage of The Steading will rise to every expectation and more.
2021 Cherubino, Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon, Western Australia (14%, £43, www.vinvm.co.uk, www.latitudewine.co.uk).
Whenever anyone opens a bottle of this wine, I want the J. Arthur Rank Gongman to appear out of the ether and smash his mallet into his target with everything he’s got! This heroic pronouncement sets the perfect scene for this monumental Cabernet. Mighty, profound, deep, and velvety, a newfound level of luxury and glossiness is found here, and in this avalanche of succulent cassis and black cherries lurks spellbinding Italianate acidity and pulse-racing Saint-Estèphe-shaped tannins. Do not miss out on this blockbuster experience – this is one of the finest MRCS Larry has assembled.
2018 d’Arenberg, Dead Arm Shiraz, McLaren Vale, South Australia (14.2%, £44, www.greatwine.co.uk).
No 100 Best Report could be complete without a stellar red wine from the McLaren Vale mothership, d’Arenberg. The Dead Arm is always a wine that grabs one’s attention, and in 2018, it is a stunner. Muscular, proud, four-square and imposing, this is a thrilling creation and possesses more silkiness and tenderness than I have ever seen in a wine that usually pulverises the senses. This portfolio of tremendous wines is noticeably inching towards modernity, and this glacial-paced progress is already paying dividends, as I can see more detail and freshness in these red wines and less grit, skin and barrel than ever before. Come with me and pour yourself a large glass of The Dead Shiraz to sip along the way!
2018 Passel Estate, Lot 71 Reserve Syrah, Margaret River, Western Australia (14%, £44, www.mustandlees.co.uk).
Made from 29-year-old vines and sporting a robust 14% alcohol, there is a genuine earthy tang here derived from hand-picked fruit that is treated to ‘whole-bunch-cake’ treatment, and this layering of stems and fruit imbues both plush fruit and thrilling acidity in the core of this impressive wine. There is Barbera-like, plummy purity here, which I find magnetic and with one-third of new 500L puncheons employed, some forceful, perfumed carpentry tones are fully on board. A liberal lashing of savoury, peppery spice completes the picture, making this a gorgeous, modern wine, which is perhaps not necessarily a classic Syrah, but it is undoubtedly a Passel Estate GPS-centric wine. I rarely include Margaret River Syrahs in 100 Best because I find the majority too foresty and lacking in direction. Lot 71 knows its mind, and it can hold its own alongside this grape’s fragrant Adelaide Hills, Tassie, and Victorian cousins. Passel must be bursting with pride!
2021 Yalumba, The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, Barossa, South Australia (14.5%, £45, www.thewinesociety.com, www.majestic.co.uk).
Good Lord, this is a phenomenal creation. I sat next to Lucy Hill-Smith when I enjoyed my very first sip of 2021 The Signature, and it was, at once, superbly aromatic, incredibly linear and discreetly spicy. I was clearly in the best seat in the house! There is amazing balance found here, and I cannot wait to taste this wine over a couple of days, to deconstruct it and marvel at its constituent elements. While this is a terroir-driven creation of imperial quality, the fruit is spotlessly clean, profoundly deep and amazingly vibrant. I absolutely love ’21 Sig, and I cannot wait to show it to the world.
2018 Robert Oatley Wines, The Pennant Cabernet Sauvignon, Frankland River, Western Australia (14%, £48, www.vinvm.co.uk, www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk).
Late last year, in a room of around eighty elite Aussie Cabernets, from all the big names (and all the big prices), this was one of a handful of wines that stayed in my memory for days. Classy, exuberant, and layered, the fruit quality is nothing short of majestic, and the overall halo of flavour is profound. Coming from the famous Justin Vineyard, which was planted in the ‘60s, this is an impeccable Cabernet, and in terms of value for money, it obliterates fifty-quid Super Tuscans, Napa Cabs and Mendoza candidates with its blindingly serious flavours.
2022 Torbreck, The Struie Shiraz, South Australia (15%, £50, www.majestic.co.uk).
I started to write notes about how this was a pretty boy, a Jude Law if you will, but as the flavour grew, the dimensions expanded and firmed up on the finish, and entirely different ideas formed in my wine brain. To fully understand the following fanciful description, we must start with this wine’s philosophy – literally its roots. The notion of blending Eden Valley fruit, taken from vineyards situated at 400-500m, with warmer Barossa Valley sites at 200-300m is not new. Many try to craft wines that marry freshness and spice with density and grandeur and fail to get the balance right. I do not want an ugly weld joining these two vehicles. I would rather experience the vinous equivalent of a top-of-the-range Bentley with its ostentatious frippery removed, roll bars fitted, and four-point racing harnesses and bucket seats in place of the kid leather chaises longues. Get rid of the B&O stereo – I want to hear the engine. Ditch the fridge and Champagne glasses in the boot and pursue this weight-loss programme with the help of an adrenalin-fuelled mechanic until you have a Titanic engine supported by a lightweight but extraordinarily robust chassis. Remove any nomenclature on the boot and rename this vehicle The Struie. It is a perfectly dimensioned weapon – purring, ready to tear away from the blocks with the perfect balance of power and poise.
2018 Kaesler, Age of Light Cabernet Sauvignon, Barossa Valley, South Australia (14.5%, £65, www.jeroboams.co.uk).
It was a joy to meet up with Kaesler winemaker Tim Dolan and vineyard manager Nigel van der Zande in London last year, and it must be said at the outset that their suite of wines has never looked better. My headliner demonstrates that this Shiraz stronghold can now turn its hand to Cabernet excellence with tremendous accuracy and conviction. Melodic fruit and a hauntingly long finish mark this as a remarkable example of a Barossa Cab. Age of Light seems the most appropriate name for this perfumed creation as clarity and resonance are found, and it sings on the nose and palate without ever lapsing into being too weighty or ponderous. This wine and its stablemates below reinforce this age of enlightenment for this famous winery.
2022 Howard Park, Abercrombie Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Australia (14.5%, £79, www.winedelivered.co.uk).
I am so delighted to have the honour of writing about this sensational young wine. I first tasted it at a wine tasting organised by my wife, and it immediately jumped onto the shortlist for this year’s 100 Best. 2022 Abercrombie spent 12 months in 30% new oak, and this considered recipe allows the spectacular quality of the fruit to shine through. Super-classy, epically structured and profoundly pleasurable, there is brilliant potential here, and unlike hosts of youthful Cabernets, it is patently obvious that we are in the presence of a genuine superstar and a vintage of simply jaw-dropping quality. If you check the shelves, the 2022 might not have arrived by the time this Report is published, but you can fill the void with the amazing 2010 vintage! Give UK importers Wine Delivered a call and reward your senses with another stellar Cabernet from the famous Howard Park estate. This vintage is set for the long run, and yet there is much to admire before the tannins blow the whistle on all the fun.
2018 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Michael Shiraz, South Australia (13.5%, £80, www.frazierswine.co.uk, www.greatwine.co.uk, www.seckfordwines.co.uk, www.carruthersandkent.com, www.winedirect.co.uk).
Wynns has a remarkably civilised touch with the famous Shiraz grape. Fewer than 1000 bottles were produced of this sensational tour de force. Tailor-made by Sue Hodder, Sarah Pigeon and the team, and involving vines planted in the 1970s which, curiously, ripen at much lower alcohol levels than those found in other parts of the country, there is a gentleness and discreetness here that I find irresistible. A French kiss of 28% new hogsheads, 17% older French barriques and 55% seasoned French oak means this is an elegant, fruit-focussed being, and the flavour is genteel, precise and elegant. I am tired of people saying that Aussie Shiraz is a fruit bomb. Line up, you fools, and taste this and other heart-achingly beautiful, superb-refined versions in this Report. One day, they will learn!
2021 Moss Wood, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Australia (14%, £80, www.jeroboams.co.uk).
I love the 2021 vintage of this Margaret River standard bearer Cab. Made from 95% Cabernet Sauvignon (all Houghton Clone), 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot from 52-year-old vines, this is as pure, deep and ripe-fruited as any Moss Wood in years gone by and with only 16% new oak involved, the fruit enjoys the centre stage and why not? 2021 was a slightly cooler year in Margaret River, and this means alongside the gloriously upholstered fruit and hints of exoticism, the tannins are demure and refined and keep themselves occupied at the back end of the wine, only coming out for a quick wave at the crown on the finish! So, we have somewhat of a treat in 2021 – a Moss Wood that has all the grandeur of a great year and a wine that is drinking very well in its youth, too!
2021 Elderton, Command Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia (14.5%, £85, www.dvinecellars.com).
Undoubtedly, 2021 is a celestial vintage for Elderton’s icon wine Command. But before I elucidate about this seismic wine, I know there are still some random bottles of the outstanding 2020 Elderton Command Shiraz Barossa Valley (14.5%, £85, www.dvinecellars.com) out there. Twenty-twenty was an unusually silky vintage for this mighty wine, and I love it so much that I have opened countless bottles for private client events to rapturous applause. It’s funny how tasters see the name and think, ‘err, this is going to be too young, what’s Jukesy thinking?’, and then when the smile creeps across their faces, they, too, recognise its delicious and all-encompassing precocity in an instant. The 2020 vintage reminds us that nature is very much in charge, and while wines have distinct characteristics and hard-fought reputations to consider, sometimes weather patterns override the best-laid plans and temper a wine such that it can be immensely enjoyable in its youth. So, what of the new 2021? If I tell you that it borrows some of the 2020’s charm and free-flowing attitude and splices it onto the century-old vines in this special Command block. The result is a wine that is at once mighty and awe-inspiring while also remarkably welcoming and responsive. It is literally a best-of-both-worlds vintage for Command, and among the amazingly expansive and fondanty black fruit core, there are electrifying red fruit bolts of lightning that fire up your senses and stir the loins. Luxurious and detailed, this is a once-in-a-generation vintage for this legendary vineyard, and it will be launched in the UK at the first 100 Best Festival event!
2019 Yangarra, Iron Heart Shiraz, McLaren Vale, South Australia (14.5%, £90, www.vinvm.co.uk).
This is a commanding creation made from vines planted in 1999, which have been certified biodynamic and organic since 2012. The soil type is ironstone gravels, hence this wine’s name and this very wine is sourced from the 1.8-hectare Block 15, where the North Maslin sand comes to the surface. Twenty-five per cent whole bunches are used here, and there is a sterling rendering of 35% new French oak, too, so there is a lot going on! Initially, this wine is calm, centred and wonderfully floral, and then it starts to modify its stance, firming up, broadening and bringing tremendously crisp and pure mineral tones. The result is a second half that shocks with its staggeringly adroit tannins and glorious lip-smacking acidity. You don’t know whether to ask for a top-up or call for a medic such is the fine line between pleasure and pain.
2021 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia (13.5%, £100, www.bbr.com, www.justerinis.com, www.frazierswine.co.uk, www.greatwine.co.uk, www.bordeauxindex.com).
In one word – ‘epic’. I tasted this wine on my return from ten days in Bordeaux, where I tasted a vast number of youthful Cabernets, among other styles of wine. If this beauty had been slipped into the mix, it would have lounged near the top of the pile. John Riddoch is a pristine Cabernet with relatively low alcohol (top Bordeaux typically ranges from 13 – 14.5%), firm acidity and a reasonable percentage of new French oak (approximately 25%). This recipe sounds like one read straight from the fiche technique of a great Left Bank wine, albeit with a lower percentage of new oak! In reality, John Riddoch is more akin to an elite Saint-Estèphe than a typical New World Cabernet: don’t even contemplate Argentina, Chile, Tuscany, South Africa or California because the bulk of these wines are not even in the same ballpark. ’21 JR is pure, stunningly plush, deeply fruited, seemingly weightless, and incredibly detailed. It is a superb thoroughbred with impeccable balance, and it is as relevant for an old-world geek as it is for a new-world disciple. It is time that Wynns John Riddoch sat alongside the acknowledged world Cabernet greats, and this vintage will undoubtedly help make this dream a reality.