Château Langoa Barton 2020 – Sister property to Leoville Barton and similar to her big "sister" in terms of the quality. Big scaled on the nose and palate with creamy blackcurrants, graphite, fat tannin, strong backbone, and striking complexity. Classy stuff.  53.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and 8.5% Cabernet Franc. 13.5% alcohol.

94+p. 

2017 GRANGE/ This 2021 release marks the 70th anniversary of Grange. Dense, dark, supple and quite beautiful this year. The oak is a major player, of course, but the bounty of red fruits on the palates sings in a louder voice than that of the dark, resinous and frankly charry baritone oak. It is hard not to make comparisons between this and a universe of stars… such is the kaleidoscopic thrust and pull of the galaxy of flavours on the palate. Forest berries, butcher’s meats, exotic market spices, peppercorns from the bush, all of it swirling within a midnight vortex of tannin and shape. Extraordinarily beautiful, perhaps more beguiling than the 2016 simply by virtue of its unexpected delicacy on the palate. I love this release. What a beauty.

100% shiraz this year – previously this occurred in 1951, 1952, 1963, 1999, 2000, 2011, 2017. Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale. 18 months in American oak hogsheads (100% new).

Brand & Sons ‘Coonawarra’ – ‘Last Sunday Drive’ Cabernet Franc 2019 – We are back in ‘every wine gets a name’ territory. At least this time the wines have a story. The Brand family is one of the most famous and respected in Australian wine. Brand and Sons is the latest incarnation (this is Brand and Sons winemakers, not the plumbers or funeral directors – apparently a popular business name). The family’s involvement in Australian wine dates back into the 1850s. Current custodian, Sam Brand, is fourth generation. I remember meeting Eric Brand several times, an absolute gentleman (I specifically remember one day in a park near a local restaurant in Coonawarra, a bunch of somms, after some lengthy tasting sessions, were happily informing the world of their extensive wine knowledge. Sitting on a nearby bench was an older gent with a smile – Eric Brand. I remember thinking that he’d forgotten more about wine than all those somms, who clearly had no idea that they were in the presence of winemaking greatness, were likely to learn in a lifetime). Eric married into the Redman family (Coonawarra is a bit like Tasmania). I knew Eric’s son, Jim, quite well years ago. An exceptional talent himself and sadly no longer with us, taken far too young. Sam is Jim’s son and winemaking talent has not fallen far from the tree. But I digress. 

This is a fine example of Cabernet Franc. Offers a gentle leafy note, in keeping with varietal expectations. Blackfruits and blueberries. Plenty of grippy tannins and juicy acidity. The wine has good length. This is still very young. Expect good things over the next four to eight years. A fine example of Cab Franc, for those interested. 92.

Harlan Estate 2018 / 100 points / Classy earth, oak and bay-leaf character on the nose, together with dark fruit, such as currants and blackberries. Forest flowers, too. Full-to medium-bodied, linear and tight with coolness and freshness. Mint and spearmint to the dark fruit. Lasts a long time. Such balance and intensity. Tight now, but great energy and length this year. Incredibly sophisticated and seductive. A joy to taste now, but try in 2025.

From a cooler, fresher vintage and based on more Chardonnay than usual (55%), with 45% Pinot Noir, the Philipponnat 2008 Clos des Goisses Extra-Brut shows an exciting bouquet of bright fruits, crushed chalk, bread and iodine notes. On the palate, this is an excitingly vibrant, fresh and chalky Clos with lovely citrus and cumquat flavors on the finish. The 2008 is very complex, bright, super clear and fresh, with a tightly woven structure but still great finesse and elegance. This is a fabulous Clos for the next three decades. The dosage is 4.5 grams per liter. Disgorged in April 2017 (?), tasted at the domaine in April 2018.

In April this year, on a very sunny early morning and after a memorable tasting at Jacques Lassaigne in the far south, I had a fantastic tasting with Charles Philipponnat and Antoine de Boysson, his commercial director. Sixteen cuvées instead of breakfast was a great start to the day, the more so since I had a trilogy of the famous, south-facing, 30% to 45% steep Clos des Goisses (2007 to 2009), the rare but adorable 2006 and 2007 (!) Clos des Goisses Just Rosé and the 2008 Les Cintres, the second vintage of the single-plot cuvées. A 100% oak-fermented Pinot Noir from the central part of the Clos des Goisses, the 2008 Les Cintres is not only the most impressive one of this group but also one of the finest Champagnes I have had this spring. The 2008 Mareuil-sur-Aÿ is also an outstanding Pinot Noir, though I did not taste the 2006 Le Léon, which is also crafted exclusively from Pinot Noir grapes from the historic Le Léon plot between Aÿ and Dizy that was—like the Clos des Goisses—already being cultivated by Charles's forefathers in 1522. All of the 1522 cuvées, not matter if 2007 or 2008, are extraordinary again.

2020 Seppeltsfield Great Terraced Vineyard Grenache, Barossa Valley 170th Anniversary / Medium deep crimson. Attractive musky plum, strawberry pastille aromas with hints of sage and star anise. Medium bodied, supple and lacy textured with dark plum, strawberry, raspberry touch flavours, attractive mid-palate negroni like viscosity, fine plentiful looseknit tannins and integrated fresh acidity. Finishes chalky firm, pure fruited and minerally. Delicious early to medium term wine. Drink now – 2028 14.5% Alc 96 points

The top Elderton wine has always been the Command Shiraz. I could compare the 2016 and 2017 editions. The 2016 from the low yielding home block (1t per acre) is matured mostly in new oak lightly toasted puncheons, 2/3 American. Attractive blue fruit dominates the palate. The wine has good energy, and the acidity is well balanced (94 points). By comparison, the 2017 is lighter and fresher, but has enough fruit weight and attractive chocolate notes (94 points).

Some wonderful bottles arrived over the last days for tasting. The wines are coming from three continents but have one point in common: they will be released in September 2021 on the Bordeaux marketplace. Therefore the tasting gives an interesting and deep inside view to what expect as recent arrivals from the new world. 

2018 Penfolds BIN 98 Quantum Cabernet Sauvignon/ Ruby. Cassis, vanilla, spices, rich, deep, some floral high notes, deep and rich nose, intense. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, dark fruits, anise, blackberries and spices, rich, intense and layered, quite a bit of wood, dense and long. 96

Hugel Riesling Vendange Tardive 2012 / Bright golden yellow. Candied lemon peel, custard cream and apple pie on the very refined nose, with a hint of minty herbs. Sweet, dense and lush, but with a terrific spine of acidity framing the pineapple and fresh citrus flavors. Really opened with aeration to show knockout complexity. Hugel was unsure initially about making a VT in this vintage but in the end opted to make this one. The grapes are from the Schoenenbourg.

DRC Romanée Conti 2008 / Good medium red, but hazy from the recent racking. The nose shows darker aromas than La T a che: berries, violet, Oriental spices. At once spherical and penetrating, with a silkiness that bathes the palate in berry, pepper, spice and mineral flavors. Comes across as fatter than La T a che today, with a stronger early impression of sweetness. Boasts a three-dimensional texture and uncanny depth, but this is sure to shut down in the bottle. Perhaps most impressive now on the back end, which features great rising length and grip.

Penfolds Bin 144 Yattarna 2018 / Launched in 1998 with the 1995 vintage, Yattarna is the result of one of the most comprehensive, focused and highly publicised wine development projects ever conducted in Australia. The aspiration and independence of mind across generations of Penfolds winemakers inspired the ambition to create a white wine that would set the standard for ultra-fine Australian Chardonnay, a sortof 'White Grange'. They aim to source and select only the very best Chardonnay fruit from cool-climate regions, in this case Tasmania, Tumbarumba, Adelaide Hills. The name Yattarna is drawn from local indigenous language, meaning ‘little by little, gradually’. Acidity 7.3 g/l, pH 3.12. Aged for eight months in French oak barriques (60% new). All three regions enjoyed a relatively wet winter and spring, setting the vines up with healthy soil moisture profiles for the ensuing growing season. Tasmania experienced clear and generally warm conditions from January onwards, with no extreme heat spells leading into harvest. The temperature breached 35 °C only once in January, resulting in optimal conditions for ripening. Tumbarumba had plentiful rainfall right up to December, when a dry spell set in. In February, temperatures were generally cool allowing for slow, consistent ripening. The Adelaide Hills fruit set was slightly above average. The region experienced a warm finish to the growing season, but well-developed canopies shielded the fruit from adversity and ensured the berries ripened evenly. Harvest was an orderly affair across the three regions. 

Fine, complex, really rather burgundian nose and great crystalline fruit and grip without austerity. The acidity level is really quite high compared with many other Chardonnays. Pretty smart. You would be very happy with this if labelled Puligny-Montrachet actually. Good stuff and it should have a long life but could be broached already.