100 Best Australian Wines 2026 Review
feedback first…
Some wonderful quotes about this year’s 100 Best from attendees, sommeliers and winemakers alike (thank you for your kind words)
“Thank you for all the things you do for Australian wine.” AC
“Holy Moly, what a book! Well done, Matey. Thank you for your spectacular arrangement of words about the wines. Unique and beautiful.” VW
“Thank you Matthew – this is brilliant. Absolutely love the way you’ve written about the wines.” DC
“Heartfelt thanks and congratulations on the herculean achievement that is the 100 Best Australian wines 2026.” KM
“Legend, bloke. Love that you still love what we do here. Muchly appreciate being part of your world. You are a true champion for all of us Aussies.” SB
“Another terrific guide to Australia’s finest.” MB
“What a day! I don’t think I’ve seen a group of such engaged tasters. Such fun too.” AL
“Just wanted to say a huge thank you for last night. It was my second time attending, and it’s quickly becoming one of my favourite events! I really love the opportunity to try such incredible Australian wines, and I’m so grateful to you for being such a passionate advocate for them.” MH
“Just wanted to pass along thanks for yesterday and for a truly lovely day. It was a tremendous space, with tremendous wine, fantastic people and fantastic food! It was a great day, and I really appreciate you hosting and having me along.” MF
“Great to see you today and thank you for putting on such a great tasting and lunch, with such sensational wines.” TP
“Thank you for a brilliant tasting and lunch!” EJ
“Thank you once again for such a joyous and generous day. It was just the most fascinating (and delicious) exploration and absolute proof we in the wine trade should be singing from the rafters about these wines!” WC
“Thank you so much for the invite; it was a truly spectacular day.” AFW
AND a very nice quote from my wine writing friend, Richard Siddle, “Matthew Jukes, arguably the UK and, if not the world’s, leading Australian wine critic.” The Buyer July 2026
Thank you to the following wine businesses and wineries that sent representatives to support these events and pour their outstanding wines.
Alkina, Enotria, Fells, Jackson Family Wines, Jeroboams, Hatch Mansfield, HN Wines, House of Arras, Kaesler, Liberty Wines, Penfolds, Peter Lehmann, Rathbone Wine Group, Vasse Felix & Yapp Bros.
And thank you to my sponsors
I am pleased to announce that I have received support from two fantastic sponsors this year. Australia’s First Families of Wine has sponsored 100 Best for the second year in a row. This collective of some of the most revered and respected wineries in the land trumpets the tagline ‘The Heart & Soul of Australian Wine’, and this could not be more accurate given the reputations of both the wineries and their roll call of talented winemakers.
In addition, I am delighted to announce my first partnership with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission in London this year. Austrade is the Australian Government’s trade promotion agency, helping Australian companies expand internationally. Austrade’s contribution has allowed me to introduce the featured wines to a significantly broader network of UK importers, buyers and partners. After 40 years working in the wine trade, it is both a relief and a joy to announce the support for my work on Australian wines from these two august bodies.
My favourite images from each of the five nationwide, sold-out 100 Best Festival events
LONDON – 7 MARCH 2026 – TATE MODERN
The first festival coincided with the arrival of the new Australian High Commissioner! Jay and Mel Weatherill have been long-term supporters of my work, dating back two decades to my series of homeless charity events, Wine Rules, in Australia back in the early noughties. And the ever-present Elizabeth Bowes, deputy HC, who has been steadfast over the last few years, supporting 100 Best in the UK.
the crowds (720 people came to the tasting and dinner, making this the largest ever 100 Best event)
more crowds
MANCHESTER – 10 MARCH 2026 – HALLÉ AT ST MICHAEL’S
the set-up of the inaugural event in Manchester, partnering with the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.
kick-off, with Manchester indie specialist, Reserve Wines, in the house !
YORK – 11 MARCH 2026 – YORK MINSTER REFECTORY
The venue – the spectacular York Minster Refectory
set-up for a sold-out tasting and dinner
the guests
BIRMINGHAM – 14 MARCH 2026 – THE GRAND HOTEL
a record-breaking 300 attendees in Birmingham
the crowd
Phil Innes, the mastermind behind Loki Wines, in the Grand Ballroom
EDINBURGH – 21 MARCH 2026 – THE EDINBURGH ACADEMY
a stunning day in Edinburgh at the Academy, with the irrepressible Diana Thompson, Wine Events Scotland
record-breaking crowds – double last year!
sold out masterclasses
and amazing feedback from the crowds
THE SOMMELIER EVENTS
I hosted two Sommelier / On-Trade Expert events in Edinburgh and London, and I am thrilled to report more attendees than ever. Here are a couple of images from representatives of the following elite establishments.
EDINBURGH
the set-up at Smith & Gertrude, Portobello
The tasting, and largest attendance ever
the dinner
LONDON
the largest ever tasting and lunch, this time at Trinity, Clapham
and the attendees…
5 Hertford Street; 10 Greek Street; 64 Goodge Street; 67 Pall Mall; Amazonico; Aulis by Simon Rogan; Bacchanalia; Bar Brett; BiBi; Dan’s; Divino Enoteca; Dorian; Dream International Restaurant Group; Edition Hotels; eòrna; Heron; Hide; Hunan; Impala Soho; JKS Restaurant Group; L’Enclume; Lyla; Martin Wishart; Moor Hall; Noble Rot; Number One Balmoral; onegreatbottle; Oswald’s; Scoop; Slonk Wine; Smith & Gertrude; The Glenturret; The Kitchin; Trinity; Wedgwood The Restaurant; W Hotel Edinburgh; Wine Events Scotland and WoodWinters.
The 51 Festival Wines – Free to view for ALL
Scroll down for full notes, RRPs and stockists
Sparkling
NV Jansz Tasmania, Premium Rosé, Tasmania | 12% | £19 www.frazierjones.wine, www.auswinesonline.co.uk, www.booths.co.uk
While non-vintage Jansz ‘white’ usually leads the way in its annual entry in 100 Best (yes, this is the most mentioned fizz brand by miles!), and of course, it pops up in the copy below, there has been a concerted effort at this imperious house to fine-tune the quality of the rosé and it has leapt up in allure over the past couple of years. Leaving aside the flavour of these wines for a moment, which I know is the whole point, it is worth underlining in red pen and highlighting in neon yellow the value these wines bring to everyone on the planet. There are no serious sparkling wines anywhere with the breeding, depth of flavour and genuine sense of place that these wines have as a natural matter of fact. And this is at the ‘full’ price of nineteen smackers. When deals pop up, and they do with encouraging regularity, this wine and its sibling transform from being the best value, elite-tasting, traditional method sparklers around to looking, frankly, like a typo! Don’t fret, just order a pile, because they will live happily for a couple of years, and they fulfil every celebratory duty imaginable. So – flavour. This rosé is a lesson in wild cherry blossom and plum skin on the nose, and it carries a little more weight on the palate than NV Jansz Tasmania Premium Cuvée (12%, £18, www.waitrose.com, www.flagshipwines.co.uk, www.booths.co.uk). All great rosés should smell ‘pink’ when blindfolded; if they don’t, bin them! Jansz rosé is sheer (bargain-priced) perfection, and its white sibling is even, silky, surprisingly complex and as clean and refreshing as a mountain stream.
NV House of Arras, Brut Elite Rosé Cuvée 1801, Tasmania | 13% | £45 www.shelvedwine.com, www.carruthersandkent.com, www.lokiwine.co.uk
The Arras portfolio splits neatly into two halves – the fresh, bright, uplifting styles, which I love, and the big, rich, aged styles, which need a knife and fork; you will have guessed these are not my cup of tea. In the past, the full-bodied, yeasty styles dominated the portfolio, but I am thrilled to report that for the very first time, four wines from the dynamic end of the collection have made the grade this year. Something is happening at the House of Arras, and I am pleased to see this welcome, positive evolution into wines that refresh and enchant in equal measure. My headliner, the Brut Elite Rosé Cuvée 1801, sat in the same spot last year, and it is an even finer wine in 2026. There is a hint more colour and perfume this time around, and with four years of ageing, the texture is incredible. But what transforms this rosé from a delightful wine into a superstar is the finish, which is staggeringly refreshing, taut and chalky. In addition, NV House of Arras Tasmania Blanc de Blancs (12.5%, £35, www.amathusdrinks.com, www.thechampagnecompany.com, www.lokiwine.co.uk) is no stranger to 100 Best. It was this wine that started the move towards more dynamism and definition. These days, this wine shows more autolysis and patisserie, and it is certainly a more erudite proposition than ‘A’! It is also drier and longer, meaning it is not only more gastronomically astute but also more involving and thoughtful on account of its linear appeal and fine detailing.
Whites
2025 Shaw + Smith, Sauvignon Blanc, Adelaide Hills, South Australia | 12% | £21 www.tokesfoodanddrink.co.uk, www.majestic.co.uk
Shaw + Smith is my Winery of the Year, and it is this wine that kicked off the whole story back in 1989. I bought the very first S+S wines to make it over to the UK in the early Nineties, and I haven’t stopped since. In my eyes, Martin Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith AM MW put the Adelaide Hills wine region on the international map, while coherently introducing the notion that Australia could make elite ‘cool climate’ wines to rival the very best. How right they were! This 2025 is a veritable time machine, and it whisks me back to my very first visit to the winery and Adelaide in 2000. While the Kiwis, over the ditch, claim Southern Hemisphere ownership of the Sauvignon Blanc grape, S+S conjures up a much fitter, more toned and less tropical model, with a much more Loire-inspired flavour palette, and it pole-vaults out of the glass with a spectacular aromatic volley of raw citrus and seashell freshness. Pricewise, it is yet another steal, and it’s what it doesn’t have as much as what it does that makes me love it so much! If you fancy a feisty attack and pin-sharp finish, but want a change of tack from a Riesling, this is your wine!
2024 Kaesler, Old Vine Semillon, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 11.5% | £24 www.jeroboams.co.uk
What on earth is Kaesler doing making white wines? The impertinence of it all. Of course, you will find a mighty haul of Kaesler red wines (seven to be precise, which is a record) later in this Report, but while I have your attention, those dastardly devils have sneaked a white onto the page, and it is celestial. In fact, the vines used were planted in 1961, and it is a miracle no one has grubbed them up! 2024 was a very early harvest, and the Kaesler squad did everything possible to capture the extraordinary vitality and precision held in these precious grapes. And guess what? They aced it. This is a spectacular wine, and it summons up elemental forces from the vineyard and carefully places them in the grapes. Tim, Nigel and Steve have managed not to lose one iota of this vineyard’s life force, and you can taste this energy coursing through this brittle, razor-blade sharp, water-white, pith- and zest-imbued wine.
2019 Tyrrell’s, Single Vineyard Pokolbin Hills Semillon, New South Wales | 10.5% | £24 www.thewinesociety.com, www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk
This wine hails from a parcel of fruit first planted in 1970, and it shows the most extraordinary grace, given its age. In addition, the value afforded here is bizarre. How on Earth can this wine cost twenty-odd quid? Anyway, grab some bottles, and see if you can find the answer in the glass. I can’t. What I can see, however, is a classic Tyrrell’s headliner in a huge haul of worthy wines! And would you believe it? It still tastes youthful, nervy, musical, lemony, energetic and brimming with class and character.
2024 Forest Hill Vineyard, Estate Riesling, Mount Barker, Western Australia | 12% | £22 www.yapp.co.uk
Four, line-priced, estate wines made the grade with ease this year from the brilliant Forest Hill Vineyard, and each wine possesses a similar silhouette. There is a shivery freshness, coupled with amazing linearity, that makes both the whites and the reds equally refreshing and mesmerising. My headline Riesling is truly delicious, loaded with talc, resin, lime skin, and icicle-sharp minerality, and the palate finishes raspy, raw, and packed with amazing kinetic energy.
2024 Pewsey Vale, Eden Valley Riesling, South Australia | 11.5% | £18 www.amathusdrinks.com, www.fieldandfawcett.co.uk
This the current release, and what a wine! I noted a couple of cracking descriptors when I tasted it for the first time, a year ago, and added a few more over the course of last year! ‘Devastating’, ‘electrical storm’, ‘plunge-pool’, ‘citrus-grove’, ‘mojito tang’, and ‘Ninja moves’ are a few of the more evocative. If you combine these images and top and tail them with a heavenly lime leaf perfume and chilly, spine-tingling finish you get Pewset Vale Riesling.
2024 Yalumba, Y Series Pinot Grigio, South Australia | 12.5% | £10 www.londonendwines.com, www.winerack.co.uk
I have thrown Y Series PG into the first team this year! Why? I hear you cry. Haven’t you left your Daily Mail years behind you, Jukesy? The answer is, of course, but when I spot rare gems, I cannot sit idly by and leave them unmentioned. This is a benchmark Yalumba wine, and by that, I mean it is superbly professional, epic value, stunningly authentic and worthy of a place in your fridge door alongside the semi-skimmed!
2023 Tahbilk, Nagambie Lakes Marsanne, Victoria | 12.5% | £17 www.greatwinesdirect.co.uk, www.allaboutwine.co.uk, www.thefinewinecompany.co.uk
In 2023, this electrifying wine is bright, crammed with chilled pineapple chunk drama and topped with talcy, cleansing acidity. It is a world-class beacon, which casts a laser beam of bleached lemon and green apple skin, underpinned by tart greengage tension.
2024 Yangarra, Circle Grenache Blanc, McLaren Vale, South Australia | 13% | £27 www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk, www.amathusdrinks.com
Circle Grenache Blanc is reassuringly accurate, with edgy citrus and apple-skin notes and a chilly, seaspray freshness that makes the mouth water. It is leagues more interesting than any French versions I can think of, and in terms of perfume and palate weight, it ought to displace many a Chardonnay while bringing a new and fascinating flavour twist to people’s flavour repertoires.
2024 Tahbilk, Viognier, Nagambie Lakes, Victoria | 13% | £17 www.shelvedwine.com, www.justincases.co.uk, www.winedirect.co.uk, www.noblegrape.co.uk, www.auswinesonline.co.uk, www.strictlywine.co.uk, www.vinvm.co.uk, www.haywines.co.uk, www.thechampagnecompany.com, www.winepoole.co.uk
Tahbilk redefines this grape variety’s delicacy quotient by quietly tiptoeing across the palate while you are temporarily distracted by the hauntingly pretty nose. While the aromatics point toward a wistfully tropical, smoochy creation, the freshness on the palate and water-white hue conspire to bring a blanched almond and white flower tone to this glorious wine that renders it lounging somewhere between Phillip Shaw’s whip-cracking The Dreamer and Yalumba’s Samuel’s Collection number, with its alluring curves and creamier stance on the mid-palate.
2024 Chaffey Bros, Düfte Punkt Field Blend, Eden Valley, South Australia | 12.5% | £20 www.greatwine.co.uk
Welcome to 100 Best, Chaffey Bros, and pull up a chair. No, better make that a chaise longue, as this wine is as laid back and chilled out as any in this Report. The catchy name for this generously aromatic wine translates as ‘Fragrant Point’, and while this is a decent name, I would add another word to its title, ‘die’! My German is limited to say the least, but bolting this three-letter word onto the front bumper of Düfte Punkt turns Fragrant Point into a no upper limit plural, and this is undoubtedly what this wine deserves because it possesses more ‘points of perfume’ than I can count. The reason for this gorgeous aromatic assault on the senses is that it is made from a field blend of Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Kerner. While I appreciated previous versions of this ambitious white wine, I found many of them a little too bloomy and funk-laden for my tastes. In 2024, the team has polished the bunches and allowed the co-fermentation of these three expressive grapes, retaining clarity and directness that transport the flavour to another plane of accuracy. While there is a lick of sweetness on the finish (a mere 5.2 g/L residual sugar), this is not a German, Alsatian, Alto Adige, or Marlborough facsimile. It is, by all accounts, a wine with its own distinct identity, and this must be resolutely linked to its Eden Valley location and the confidence and acumen of winemakers Theo and Daniel. I urge you to seek it out for obvious food-pairing duties, and you don’t need me to direct you to the styles of cuisine that will work! But I think it is equally well served as a retro, ice-cold aperitif. It has a magical quality that soothes and transports, and rather than always reaching for bubbles, I think the aromatic splendour and beguiling texture of this wine will relax your mood and soothe your senses like no other.
2023 Robert Oatley Wines, Signature Series Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia | 12.5% | £15 www.vinvm.co.uk, www.cambridgewine.com, www.majestic.co.uk, www.coop.co.uk Heroic in every respect, not least the eye-poppingly keen price, Sig Chardy is an elite wine masquerading as an everyday glugger, and while this is factually true, when you open the bottle, you must be prepared to be amazed! The fruit is liquid gold, with herbal highlights and faint sea spray flourishes. The finish is teasing, bright, light and with knicker-snapping acidity that jolts the senses, preparing the palate for the next sip. Do not hesitate – drive down to your local retailer and fill your boot! And the fabulous news is that this Chardonnay is one of a family of wines, and every single one hits the high notes.
2024 Cherubino, Ad Hoc Hen & Chicken Chardonnay, Pemberton, Western Australia | 13% | £17 www.noblegreenwines.co.uk, www.cheerswinemerchants.co.uk
This is an absurdly delicious seventeen-quid Chardonnay, and it has more than a couple of guy ropes of flavour tethering it to 2024 Cherubino Pemberton Black Label Chardonnay, which is a £43 number! Act fast – this is your mid-week guilty pleasure, and it was universally adored at the Festivals!
2023 Ox Hardy, Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills, South Australia | 12% | £19 www.ocado.com
This elite, but extraordinarily well-priced wine, is a marvel. The fruit is super classy, even-tempered, and beautifully weighted, as it treads the boards between sleek, all-purpose white-wine duties and crisp aperitif responsibilities. One might say it is Chablis-shaped, but this would be doing it a huge disservice because the quality and clarity of fruit here is extraordinary. Ox’s fruit comes from mature Chardonnay vineyards, one just west of the famous Oakbank racecourse, and the other is in the shadow of Mt. Torrens. The juice gets first-class treatment, fermented in older French oak barriques and hogsheads, and approximately 20% in stainless steel. This elite-level care is the reason why this wine tastes like it is twice the price! In addition, you can order it in any corner of the country, and it will be on your doorstep in the blink of an eye, so what are you waiting for?
2023 Robert Oatley Wines, Finisterre Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia | 12.5% | £26 www.hedonism.co.uk
The 2023, and the follow-on 2024 vintage, which I have been given a sneak preview of, are both glorious. Fuller, bolder and more demonstrative, with a luxurious veneer of posh French oak adding glamour and poise, this is a ‘Premier Cru’ Margaret River offering at a ‘Village’ price!
2024 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Messenger Vineyard Chardonnay, South Australia | 13.2% | £28 www.greatwine.co.uk
Messenger sports a delicate white-flower bouquet, with a smooth, free-flowing palate and a skinsy, crisp, zesty finish. A glorious thread of acidity keeps it firm and brittle. And while you might be lulled into thinking this is an Aussie version of a Pouilly-Fuissé, with its friendly mid-palate and white peach hints, the finish adds more drama than any Mâconnais wine I have tasted this year.
2023 Vasse Felix, Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia | 12.5% |£32 www.majestic.co.uk
For my money, this wine is more forward, glossier and perhaps less intense than its parent (2023 Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay £58), and it is nearly as attractive and certainly more liquid and gluggable! There is so much volume of fruit here, and for every moment of luxury, there is an amazing twist of lime zest freshness. Tattoo this brand on your wine brain or anywhere else that takes your fancy, because the future for this epic estate is glittering, and with over 100ha of elite Chardonnay vines in the ground, Vasse is putting everything on gold!
2024 Penfolds, Bin 311 Chardonnay, Australia | 13% | £32 www.laithwaites.co.uk, www.woodwinters.com
True to the Bin 311 model, this is a slender wine with gorgeous notes of almonds and white flowers over a formal citrus core, and it has a more succulent mid-palate than some of the edgier recent vintages. Drawn from cool climate parcels, including fruit from a new property in Tasmania, this is an expressive Bin 311, and it hits the nail on the head. This is about as crowd-pleasing as Aussie Chardonnay gets, and this remains one of the bargain-priced wines in the ever-expanding, international Penfolds collection. Jump off the Penfolds Chardonnay springboard and dive into the impressive workhorse wine that has performed out of its skin in 2024.
2024 Shaw + Smith, M3 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, South Australia | 12.5% | £36 www.majestic.co.uk, www.tokesfoodanddrink.co.uk, www.lokiwine.co.uk
M3 is another world-famous creation from this legendary property and, in 2024, the stance on the palate is more rigid, cleansing and vital than of late. I love this style of Adelaide Hills Chardonnay as it projects class, refinement and a large slice of sophistication. It will also age gracefully for a good few years, too!
2024 Giant Steps, Circle of Fifths Chardonnay, Yarra Valley, Victoria | 13% | £40 www.nywines.co.uk
I have had the immense pleasure of tasting the new Circle of Fifths wines no fewer than eight times, and on every occasion, I am floored with their complexity, grace, and, excitingly for all keen oenophiles, their immediacy. For the first time, winemaker Mel Chester has blended her five single-vineyard Chardonnays and five single-vineyard Pinots, bottling this pair under the super-cool moniker Circle of Fifths. Lazy folk will assume these two wines are cobbled together from leftovers that miss the cut for the Tarraford, Sexton, Primavera, Applejack and Bastard Hill Vineyard wines. And while this is certainly factually true, the sensorial pleasure derived from the layering of flavour, akin to five musical instruments in harmony by contrast to five devastating solos, is utterly mesmerising. And so, the name itself makes even more sense, given it is a nod to music theory’s circle of fifths – the sequence of perfect intervals used to build pleasing chords. Great wines are always exercises in harmony, and this pair is an exquisite, affordable and authentic example of this craft. With a 15% kiss of new French oak, the balance here is breathtaking. Do not waste a moment in securing your stock.
2024 Cherubino, Black Label Chardonnay, Pemberton, Western Australia | 13% | £43 www.tauruswines.co.uk, www.oxfordwine.co.uk
As you will all know, and shame on you if you missed last year’s Report, I went absolutely crazy for the 2023 Black Label Chardonnay on a trip Down Under, which encouraged Larry to bring it to the UK. When it arrived, the reception it received was incredible. I noted that it was my highest-scoring Chardonnay of 2024, and it appears many agreed. So, when I tell you that this 2024 is even more scintillating, you must act fast. Larry opened a secret bottle for me last autumn, and instead of tasting it, I pretty much finished the bottle with Larry and some pals in no more than a couple of minutes. It is phenomenal. And so, when I say that this 2024 vintage is even more mystical and rewarding, I realise some might find this a dubious statement. Well, the only way for you to find out is to taste it. You will then discover that these Pemberton grapes possess even more infinitesimal detail and minute fractals of mouthwatering flavour than one can compute. Perhaps this is why I returned to the glass on so many occasions over such a short period of time!
Reds
2023 Yering Station, Yarra Valley Pinot Noir, Victoria | 13.3% | £26 www.vivino.com, www.corkingwines.co.uk
This was a breakthrough wine in the history of this label. As you know, this Report is designed to last for the entirety of this year, and there will be a moment, and I can’t predict when this will be, when the glorious, silky-smooth, bright-as-a-button, cherry red 2023 vintage, will hand its cap to the feistier more youthful 2024 vintage wine. What I find simply incredible about this duo is that the ‘house style’ at Yering Station has long been set in stone. These wines have remarkable purity and resonance. They are ‘light’ in the truest sense of the word, but their flavours are surprisingly intense. This dichotomy is a little confusing, but these wines manage to trick the senses: the Campari-like bitterness, which plays a supporting role to the fruit, powers this wine and extends the finish to the length one would usually associate with a much more powerful wine. Oak is always kept to a minimum, so the cherry, cranberry and plum fruit notes are assured of a starring role. I urge you to seek out these two wines.
2024 Giant Steps Circle of Fifths Yarra Valley Pinot Noir, Victoria | 13.5% | £40 www.nywines.co.uk
(See the Circle of Fifth Chardonnay entry above for more details). This is luminous, enchanting and arrestingly complex, given it weaves 42% whole bunch parcels and 15% new French oak into its chassis, it is a mind-blowing piece of winemaking acumen.
2022 Ox Hardy, Grenache, Blewitt Springs McLaren Vale, South Australia | 14% | £19 www.ocado.com
This wine also uses sensitive winemaking to highlight its gloriously silky flavours. With 10% whole bunches and the mildest of oak regimes (six months in old French barrels), a portion of 40-year-old Blewitt Springs fruit is augmented with a splash of 50-year-old Conte Vineyard fruit from McLaren Flat. The result is a bunch of red flowers resting in a bowl of velvet!
2024 Alkina, Estate Grenache, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 13.5% | £36 www.flintwines.com
I unleashed a 19/20 score, seconds after my very first sip of this wine. 2024 Alkina Estate Grenache is based on two main blocks of vines: Block 7 (clay and pockets of limestone) and Block 10 (straight clay), and it also includes splashes of fruit from Block 18 and the ludicrously epic Polygon No. 5 (see below). It uses 80% whole bunches in the fermentation, which takes place in concrete ‘tulips’ (no oak is used here!). Only 275 dozen were made, making this a tiny production in the world of wine, but a hefty number of bottles at super-boutique Alkina. It is very pale in colour, superbly refined and controlled, and the flavour is akin to a tightrope walk across braided steel, surrounded by rose bushes and raspberries. It is stunningly savoury, too. In addition, rhubarb-like tanginess, red cherry-stone notes, and brittle acidity all add up to a gorgeous amaro experience. It reminds me of a chimeric amalgam of a ‘70s Monthélie crossed with fabulously sunny Serralunga d’Alba Nebbiolo. And then I pinch myself and return to Earth after a dynamic flavour journey, because, of course, it could be none other than Alkina’s awesome Grenache.
2024 Yangarra, Circle Grenache, McLaren Vale, South Australia | 14% | £30
www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk, www.amathusdrinks.com
Circle takes Yangarra’s most famous grape, Grenache, knocks off tannins and heft, and gives it a polish, resulting in a vivid purple, rose petal-scented, limber, mildly spicy red that is guaranteed to appeal to one and all.
2021 Kaesler, Reach for the Sky GSM, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 15% | £24 www.jeroboams.co.uk
Reach for the Sky is a crazy, inexpensive, curveball of a wine with gorgeous, fleshy, open-armed flavours, and it gets you into the Kaelser mood without having to drop too much dosh!
2023 Torbreck, The Steading GSM, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 15% | £40 www.jeroboams.co.uk, www.bbr.com
’23 The Steading is open and unfurled, making it an arrestingly attractive, and it is drinking right….NOW. While the Mourvèdre slice is spicier than usual, with a nice gritty traction that keeps the louche Grenache from slip-sliding away, the overall stance on the palate of this crowd-pleaser is of an unabashed performer, yearning to be poured and adored. Keep the mighty 2022 in your cellar (if you bought it last year) and allow this loveable rogue to leapfrog it today!
2023 Yalumba, Y Series Shiraz, South Australia | 13.5% | £10 www.majestic.co.uk
This is this year’s least expensive red wine, and it is a Titan in the world of ten-quid creations. I cannot think of another red wine from any country that show the flair and accuracy found here. It is bold and ripe and very much a forward-drinker from an elite estate rather than simply a run-of-the-mill Aussie cheapie. There is an intangible degree of authenticity here that makes it soar above its ten-pound price point.
2019 Tyrrell’s, Old Hillside Vineyard Shiraz, Hunter Valley, New South Wales | 13% | £30
www.thewinesociety.com, www.londonendwines.com
Here you arrive at a wine that could never be confused with an old Hunter Valley ‘Pinot’. In fact, the main French wine styles that slam immediately into the front of my brain are the dress circle of Northern Rhône villages, including Cornas, Crozes-Hermitage and St-Joseph. And not the modern versions, either! Those wistful, harmonious, sauvage styles from the ‘80s and ‘90s, that I particularly adore. Nostalgic, yes, but also delicious, suave, harmonious and haunting, too, this is a delightful wine!
2023 Peter Lehmann Wines, Hill & Valley Shiraz, Eden Valley, South Australia | 14.5% | £16
H&V Shiraz packs a punch with more depth, gravitas, and more layers than you can imagine at this price! It’s a classic Peter Lehmann wine that wears its heart on its sleeve, and it takes me back some 40 years to when I first met the great man himself.
2023 Torbreck, Woodcutter’s Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 15% | £22
If you want to dip one pinky in the Torbreck pool without getting too submerged in pricey wines, then look no further. This is a genius wine for the cash, and it looks like a Torbreck, smells like a Torbreck and tastes like a Torbreck. The only reason it trips in around the twenty quid mark is that it is forward-drinking, harmonious, genial and built for immediacy. What more could you possibly ask for?
2022 Kaesler, The Bogan Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 15% | £35
The Bogan has earned a name change. I ought to campaign for this, because this once-bogan creation is now one of the most civilised and urbane Shiraz in the Valley. In 2022, it focuses on the earth spectrum and draped around this toothsome core is glorious, billowing, gentle, liquorice-tinged black fruit. For every molecule of fruit-focused exuberance, an equal and opposite molecule of elemental spice, dirt or herb counters and balances, and the result is a silky wine with a raw and enticing edge. Sensual and dangerous, this is a fabulous ‘Bogan’, and I don’t doubt it will evolve over the coming years, too!
2024 Paringa Estate, Estate Series Shiraz, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria | 13% | £47
There are very few boutique producers in the world whose wines deliver as much immediacy and reward as Paringa’s. The glimpse of a Paringa label raises my mood immeasurably, in part because I have been a fan for 25 years and because the wines are always stunningly assembled and delicious. This good-looking Shiraz is a prime case in point. It tastes like no other wine made from this grape on Earth, and yet while it is clearly a Shiraz, and most likely from an excellent maritime climate, the gloss, precision, and splendour in the glass is textbook Paringa. Toothsome, luxurious, adroit and heady, it gathers complexity from 10 months spent in new and seasoned oak barriques, yet the spice and earth notes are derived in the vineyard, so its GPS authenticity is guaranteed. I have always posited that Lindsay, and his son Jamie McCall make Pinot with Shiraz hands and Shiraz with Pinot hands. And this mantra adds a degree of mystery and exoticism to both varieties. While there are definite Auguste Clape notes on the nose, and Pierre Gonon hints on the palate, the rest of this vehicle seems more slippery and buoyant than most Volnays! While your mind boggles, you head straight back for another sip, finally concluding, as I have over the course of two and a half decades, that this wine is not an amalgam of others’ efforts, but a benchmark Paringa – a model all its own. Add geometric tannins and a whisper of Mornington sea spray freshness, and you have a mesmerising concoction guaranteed to enchant the senses.
2019 d’Arenberg, Dead Arm Shiraz, McLaren Vale, South Australia | 14.5% | £39
I met up with one-man-weather-system Chester Osborn late last year, and he told me that d’Arenberg is the largest organic/biodynamic wine estate in the country. I must admit this impressive fact had never registered in my mind, but in contemplating this remarkable achievement, it made even more sense than ever as to why these already famous wines have, of late, embodied another level of vitality and definition. The Dead Arm is a savoury, deeply elemental wine with a bass note that would make Royal Blood jealous. And while there is such an impressive array of black fruit and spice that greets the taster, much of the action takes place on the finish, where it rolls on and on, mopping up fragments of oak and skin, tannins and pith, leaving the palate pristinely refreshed and alert. How is this possible, given the apparent dimensions of this imposing red? The answer must be linked to the soils and the vines, which, by all accounts, are in perfect harmony!
2021 Kaesler, Old Vine Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 14.5% | £40
Employing large-format puncheons has allowed this wine to take its foot off the oak accelerator, letting the fruit in Old Vine Shiraz express itself fully in the glass. The result is a super-deep and brightly fruited Shiraz with amazing cadence and amplitude of flavour. Made from three iconic parcels of fruit, which in turn layer dried spices, tobacco leaf and bark notes, and these anti-fruit elements bring a sense of rigour and form to the plush blackcurrant flavours. Step back from the glass, then return to find wood smoke, heather, and leather. And again, move away and back to discover fig, beetroot and faint seaweed notes. Delicious, ever-changing and engaging, this is a wonderful wine with a cornucopia of talents.
2023 Torbreck, The Struie Shiraz, Barossa, South Australia | 15% | £50
It was virtually impossible to pick my headliner for Torbreck this year as the entire portfolio is staggering, but The Struie took the job, given its nosebleed 19.5/20 score. The 43% Eden fruit in this wine is blacker than a century-old inkwell, and while it is not the dominant portion of this Eden/Barossa amalgam, by God, it makes itself heard in this wine. I love the way that, as every year passes, individual wines, presumably because of an infinite number of decisions going their way, end up playing themselves into legendary contention. It is impossible to predict which label will take the top spot on the podium, and it is not always the rock star wine with the fattest prices that comes away with the biggest praise. In the challenging 2023 vintage, The Struie has, and I have whispered His name in this piece before, the presence of a deity in the glass! It is clearly one of the greatest Torbreck wines of all time, and it is most definitely my favourite Struie. Bring value for money into the equation, and this wine is in contention for finest value, bang for the buck, and flavour for moolah Shiraz on Earth. The nose is a great big signpost saying, ‘this way’, and the palate is a hint lighter and gentler but altogether genial and balanced, like a philosopher with a good back catalogue of side-splitting one-liners. Experts will fall off their chairs while tasting this wine, while newcomers will feel spectacularly welcome. It’s a slice of eminently affordable luxury, and you’d be mad not to take advantage of it today.
2018 Peter Lehman Wines, Stonewell Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 14.5% | £60
Stonewell is the Lehmann Barossa Valley icon Shiraz, and it is a chiselled matinee idol in the glass, with a mature outlook and a thoroughly civilised air. This wine has such a mighty history; it is so exciting to let you know that the 2018 vintage is up there with the very best! The great man in the sky would love this wine!
2021 Kaesler, Old Bastard Shiraz, Barossa Valley, South Australia | 14.5% | £115
Planted in 1893, Old Bastard has never been in better form than this 2021 vintage. It positively glows in the glass, and while it appears oil-rig-black and menacing, it is in fact incredibly luxurious, silky, sooty and invigorating. The nose is as complex and the most ostentatious of florists with an infinite combination of blues, blacks, reds and purples. This is the only wine that sets out its oak stall like a Venetian woodturner. Tighter oak, with less toast, brings more expression and more tension. And then the earth opens, and you fall headlong into a chasm of dramatic and elemental darkness that makes the heart pump faster. The texture and flow are more melodic than I have ever experienced in this wine. While the team was conscious of sacrificing power for character, the results show that they have managed the near-impossible: balancing these twin traits with epic precision. This is a seriously triumphant wine and, alongside the other wines in this entry, it marks a massive turning point for this skyrocketing estate. Perhaps it is no surprise that ’21 Old Bastard scored 19.5/20 in my notes.
2023 Cherubino, Pedestal Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Australia | 13% | £17
www.noblegreenwines.co.uk, www.cheerswinemerchants.co.uk
It looks like 2026 is the year of the Prince! I have loads of stunning Cabernets in this year’s Report and many expensive wines, too. But more often than not, the headline wines I have selected are the Princes and not the Kings. I suppose, subconsciously, most people will imagine that Australia makes legions of serious Cabs, and this is true. Still, no one would expect there to be so many stunners either side of the important £20-mark. I have loads here, and none more impactful than Pedestal, from the multi-talented Mr Cherubino. I tasted this wine with Larry in the autumn and wrote a florid tasting note along with a mighty score. The all-important 100 in a circle accompanied these scribblings, which means it went straight into the long list for this Report. And then I moved on. A couple of months later, I nearly fell off my chair when I found out the price of this wine. It is mind-blowing value for money. Perhaps the main reason for its diminutive price is that Pedestal Cab employs no costly oak. Instead, the fruit is generous, seamless and amazingly erudite, and there is no Cabernet on Earth that can hold a candle to this wine, others in this entry, and in the Report as a whole. Fill your boots.
2023 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia | 13.8% | £28
This legendary wine has been repackaged and given a subtle new name. It still doesn’t say ‘Black Label’ on the label, but at least there is no colour change, so that everyone will recognise it! The addition of ‘The Original’ might take a couple of years to get used to, but it fits this timeless wine. While last year’s 2022 release was a much more free-flowing and ‘delicate’ style of Coonawarra Cabernet, this 2023 is somewhat of a shock to the system. Stunningly deep, juicy, and exotic, this is a fabulously active and indulgent wine, offering tremendous joy and attractiveness. It is a baby, but it already shows rare velvetiness and precocity. That said, there is an astounding amount of energy here, and while I find it delicious and pliable, it is certain to live for a decade or more, so there is no hurry to drink it. But I would certainly encourage you to peek inside the bottle and gauge for yourself when the flavours will suit your drinking window. Score-wise, this is a solid gold and spectacular value for money, as always.
2022 Vasse Felix, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Australia | 14% | £37
www.majestic.co.uk, www.auswinesonline.co.uk
Even though it doesn’t say it on the label, this wine is known as ‘Premier Cabernet’ at Vasse Felix, and it is a star. The 2022 vintage was a cracker, resulting in an amazingly dark, much richer and more forceful hero, and this is such an opinionated wine, it blows my mind, particularly in this price band. The fruit is superbly luxurious, and there are none of the green or minty notes found in older vintages. This might seem somewhat fanciful, but I am certain this wine is the finest Premier Cabernet I have tasted, and it would not look out of place next to early releases of the all of the top Cabs in Margaret River!
2020 d’Arenberg, Coppermine Road Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale, South Australia | 14.5% | £42
Coppermine Road is born of low-yielding, mighty, power-packed Cabernet vines, which could not be more delighted with their position on the McLaren Vale ‘riviera’! While this wine has often revelled in its often rakish and rebellious stance on the palate, this 2020 is a more civilised and honed number than I can remember. I am used to finding the tannins here piquant and impatient, but there is polish and control in evidence, perhaps indicating this wine has emerged unscathed from its piratical past and is enjoying a debonair awakening! And what a pair this wine makes with The Dead Arm (above). Both are authoritative, opulent and imposing, and they have long lives ahead of them, but they are also remarkably charming in their youth, and this is a welcome development for the d’Arenberg fanbase.
2021 Moss Wood, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Australia | 14% | £80
Ths wine is made from 95% Cabernet Sauvignon (all Houghton Clone), 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot from 52-year-old vines, and it is as pure, deep and ripe-fruited as any Moss Wood I have tasted. With only 16% new oak involved, the fruit enjoys the centre stage without interruption, and it appears to revel in the attention. 2021 was a slightly cooler year in Margaret River, and this means that, alongside the gloriously direct fruit, there is a sense of freshness and levity on the finish. This means that at five years of age, this is a rare Moss Wood that is drinking well and guaranteed to knock all-comers sideways with its incredible class and refinement. This estate was born two years after me, and for all my wine life, Moss Wood has been one of Australia’s finest Cabernet Sauvignons, and it is so exciting that year in year out it strives to gain yet more complexity and more fans with its stunning wines.
2022 Wynns Coonawarra Estate, John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia | 13.5% | £96
John Riddoch accounts for approximately 1% of the Wynns harvest, and the recent run of releases has consistently been outstanding. The 2022 vintage was something altogether different, though, with a dark, tense, and power-packed frame. It is fascinating to think that a wine with this concentration and complexity carries only a 13.5% alcohol framework, and I am certain it has 35 years ahead of it. I can predict this with cast-iron certainty as I have tasted Wynns wines back to the 1950s, and they age like clockwork. I tasted this wine over five days, and it gradually emerged from its chrysalis. When it was fully open and showing all its cards, it was clear that 2022 John Riddoch is a monumental creation. While it is shaped like a traditional Cabernet now, with square shoulders and impeccably tailored cassis fruit, it, too, will follow the traditional John Riddoch path, lightening and loosening, bringing hints of red fruit into play. This wine has more potential and focus than any young John Riddoch in the last decade. In terms of value for money, it is a world-class Cabernet that combines European detail and dimension with Australian sunshine and professionalism. It is sublime, and I awarded it a score of 19.5/20.
2021 Penfolds Seventy Six Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia | 14.5% | £16
In 2021, Seventy Six displays masses of juiciness, attack and spice, with a bonfire-tinged perfume and gorgeous sprinklings of char and bruised berries throughout. It is remarkable to think that the same care and attention is paid to this wine as it is to the legions of expensive Penfolds wines, and I can assure you, knowing those responsible, that it is. I take my hat off to Koonunga Hill Shiraz/Cab – it has always flown the flag!
2022 Yalumba, The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, Barossa, South Australia | 14.5% | £45
www.majestic.co.uk, www.thewinesociety.com
The Signature is one of the figurehead wines of the entire country, and it has been on an extended run of superlative wines for many decades. But since the early Noughties, the wines have ramped up their absolute quality and further accelerated from 2010 onwards. While the price has barely moved over this period, these wines are twice as serious, twice as age-worthy and twice as delicious as they were a mere decade ago. This is 100% down to the efforts of the vineyard and winemaking teams, as well as, and I am guessing here, some huge sacrifices in terms of volumes while the wines have become grander, more focused and more magnificent. If you have not tasted Sig before, you are in for a profound treat. It is a £45 world-class wine that ought to send seismic shockwaves around the world to wineries and winemakers who bottle oak soup, make up embarrassingly high prices on a whim, and court 100-point scores from people with bumblingly limited tasting experience. Yalumba is the most recognised winery in the history of 100 Best, and this wine, along with the other 14 (plus four more referenced below), are mile-high billboards to the mastery of Aussie wine craft. And so, here is another The Signature release that is as spectacular as it is staggering in value. The nose is pure, midnight-black, refined, and it cuts deep, before the palate transports your senses to another plane of consciousness. The weld between the 51% Barossa Cabernet and 49% Barossa Shiraz is invisible. There is no Eden Valley fruit whatsoever in this wine, which is a superb wine nerd fact! 2022 was a slightly cooler vintage than normal, and it brings a sense of gravitas, focus and concentration here, without adding to the weight or overall dimensions of this wine. It is a red-hot 19/20, and I cannot fault its demeanour, delivery, or impact! And what amazes me more than anything is that it is drinking already, and yet I venture it will run for three decades if given the chance!
2023 Penfolds, Bin 389 Cabernet/Shiraz, South Australia | 14.5% | £65
www.waitrosecellar.com, www.bbr.com, www.goedhuiswaddesdon.com
The stats for this wine are as follows: 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Shiraz; 45% McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Barossa Valley; 14.5% alc.; 12 months in American oak hogsheads of which 33% were new. This is a storming vintage for Penfolds’ The Great Australian Red blend. With spectacular balance and intrinsic fruit harmony, this is an uncommonly precocious wine, and while it is glowering and dark, the tannins are genteel and toothsome. There is a perfect counterpoint between depth, accuracy, and juiciness, making this a fascinating, highly desirable, and delicious Bin 389.