James Halliday

Rubicon 2016, the deep garnet-purple colored Cabernet Sauvignon gives up bold notions of crushed red and black currants, wild blueberries and blackberry preserves with touches of violets, dark chocolate, cardamom and bay leaves plus a hint of unsmoked cigars. Medium to full-bodied, the palate reveals great elegance and depth, with a beautiful line of finely grained tannins and amazing freshness, finishing long and layered.

Bass Phillip Estate Pinot Noir 2018 – Gleams with the lustrous beauty of old sterling silver. The waves of fruits, predominantly red but with some purple, flow effortlessly across your palate; all the architectural requirements have been subtly built behind the veil of fruit. Drink to 2014.

Swinney Farvie Syrag 2019 / Bacon fat, maple, salted pomegranate, raspberry, graphite, red dirt, mulberry and pink peppercorn. Like the Hokusai wave, this crashes and courses with flavours and textures, ebbing and flowing on the palate. This is balanced, restrained, long, powerful and most importantly, shaped and structured by supple, chewy tannins. They hold the fruit in the cups of their hands and usher it through a very long finish. A weightlessly poetic wine. 98 pts - Exceptional

Warterton Hall Riesling 2016 /Vines planted in ’99. 389 dozen produced. It’s a searing riesling, all cut and thrust, but blossomy aromatics and a punchy aspect to its orange/citrussy flavours make you sit up and take notice. It doesn’t lack texture either. Indeed, the more you look at this wine the more impressive it seems.

Hill of Grace 2015 / “Henschke says the '15 vintage provided stunning and elegant Eden Valley shiraz with extraordinary flavours, purity of fruit and acid balance. And indeed that's a fair description of this medium-bodied Hill of Grace. The colour is still bright, clear crimson-purple, and the beautifully balanced fruit flavours are vibrantly fresh. It would be easy to underestimate the likely longevity of this wine. One of the all-time greats.”

Penfolds Grange 1990 / Destined to be one of the greatest Granges. A beautifully weighted and concentrated bouquet, with seamless fruit and oak; masses of dark cherries and plum. In the mouth a superb wine; while the fruit is opulent, it is not excessively so; indeed there is a touch of near austerity to the fine tannins to give the wine both character and balance. The iron fist in a velvet glove.

2015 Henschke Mount Edelstone / "This was the first wine sold in bottle ('52) by Henschke, although it has had to play second fiddle to Grange since '58 when the latter came on stream. New oak is only 22%, and the majority of the oak is French. The vintage was excellent, the flavours deep, with soft blackberry and plum fruits wending their way across the palate, cushioned by cedary oak and carefully polished tannins. It's utterly classic drinking, with unalloyed pleasure now but no less in another 20 years."97 points