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Alegre & Valganon Rioja Tinto 2020
$53.00Jeremy’s score 91/100A classical, restrained, medium to full-bodied blend of tempranillo and grenache that delivers charming Old World savoury style. A musky perfume of rose petals, dark cherries, redcurrants and fiery eastern spice precedes a spotlessly clean, firmish and fine-grained palate whose moderately rich core of fruit culminates in a savoury finish of spice and red licorice.
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Altera Terra Corda Pinot Noir Shiraz 2023
$33.00Jeremy’s score 92/100There’s glorious drinkability and value within this remarkable blend of two varieties and two regions that has an uncanny village Beaujolais-like style and quality. Its heady fragrance of rose petals, morello and maraschino cherries and raspberries reveals notes of exotic spice and bubblegum. Long and vivacious, steeped in flavour but just medium in weight, it moves down a fine, powsery spine towards a tingling finish of refreshing acidity, finishing savoury and persistent. Astonishing.
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Altera Terra Fidelis Shiraz 2022
$75.00Jeremy’s score 96/100Blended across three regions, this is a classic Doug Neal red of fragrance, texture and balance, in this case reminiscent of Crozes-Hermitage. Lifted by heady scents of potpourri and eastern spice, its fragrance of redcurrants, blackberries and blood plums is both densely packed and floral. Supported by a drying, gravelly spine, its luscious core of plump, translucently bright black and red fruits knits tightly with cedary oak, extending long and measured towards an artfully balanced and savoury finish.
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Altera Terra Shiraz 2022
$35.00Jeremy’s score 91/100Let this wine open a little and marvel at what $30 can still buy you. Heady and musky, with a fiery bouquet of red berries, plums and redcurrants backed by suggestions of cedar, graphite and eastern spice, it’s medium in weight but delivers surprising intensity and texture. Underpinned by a slatey spine, its generous dark fruit drives long and persistent, while the finish is stylish and savoury. What a package!
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Altera Terra Wood’s Paddock Shiraz 2021
$95.00Jeremy’s score 97/100A truly superior medium-bodied and savoury Rhône-inspired shiraz which gradually unfolds a deep, dark and smoky bouquet of blackberries, cassis and dark plums backed by notes of gravel and mineral but lifted by exotic scents of eastern spices. Almost a case of shiraz meeting pinot, it’s long and deeply layered, with a dewy core of black and red fruits framed by pliant but genuinely firm and bony tannins, building flesh and roundness as it finishes with an emphatic flourish of pristine flavour and balance.
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Balgownie Estate Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
$48.00Jeremy’s score 93/100A properly firm and textural cabernet with a rich core of dark berries and plums that moves down a crunchy spine of gravelly tannins before being punctuated with refreshing acidity. Lifted by floral scents and notes of leather and dried herbs, it’s tightly knit with cedry oak. Well worthy of cellaring, it perhaps lacks the concentration for an even higher score.
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Cannibal Creek Sauvignon Blanc 2022
$40.00Jeremy’s score 94/100Few drinkers of serious Australian wine are even aware of this very Loire-inspired expression from Gippsland in Victoria. Scented with floral notes of lychees, gooseberries and passion fruit backed by meaty, waxy and nougat-like aromas, it’s luscious and layered, long and gentle. Underpinned by minerals and marzipan, it finishes long and savoury with lingering notes of cured citrus and a bright acidity.
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Castle Rock Estate Porongurup Shiraz 2021
$36.00Jeremy’s score 92/100A long, smooth and seamless, faintly rustic (in a positive sense) shiraz whose meaty presence of brambly blackberries, blackcurrants and blueberries is underpinned by a fine, slatey spine. Its meaty, spicy fragrance of vivacious dark fruits reveals notes of chocolatey oak, cracked pepper and a charming earthiness, while it finishes long and and licorice-like. It’s varietally correct, but has much in common with good pinot, and should flesh out over the medium term.
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Chateau de Beaucastel Coudoulet de Beaucastel Cotes-du-Rhone 2020
$75.00Jeremy’s score 95/100Very classy, smooth and polished, this southern Rhone blend of roughly 30% each of grenache, shiraz and mourvedre is completed with 10% of carignan. While it retains its shape and style, it builds considerable richness with aeration, suggesting a long and rewarding cellar life. Scented with pristine dark flowers and berries, with notes of spice, roasting meats and earthiness, it’s long and unctuous, supported by a fine-grained spine of drying tannin before finishing with lingering suggestions of smoke, leather and tobacco.
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Chateau Teyssier Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2019
$70.00Jeremy’s score 95/100A classic Old World blend – in this case from merlot and cabernet franc. Its earthy, faintly leathery fragrance of dark cherries, redcurrants, blueberries and dark plums reveals cedary oak and a whiff of dried herbs. Supported by a fine but kernelly backbone, it’s long and elegant, with a charming depth of dark, luscious fruits, cigarbox and chocolatey oak. The longer it breathes, the more textural, chewy and savoury it becomes, but there’s never ever any shortage of fruit. Watch it evolve.
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Corymbia Rocket’s Vineyard Tempranillo Malbec 2022
$42.00Jeremy’s score 94/100I love what Rob Mann does to craft this exceptional wine from his family’s mature Swan Valley site. Wild, briary and floral, laced with black and blue berries, redcurrants, dark chocolates and blood plums, it reveals a hint of dried herbs. Fullish to medium in weight, its wonderful length of juicy, vivacious black and blue fruits is framed by a firmish, drying extract, finishing long, mineral and savoury with a lingering note of licorice. Since its inception, this label has totally reset the bar for Swan Valley red wine.
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Corymbia Rocket’s Vineyard Tempranillo Malbec Blend 2023
$44.00Jeremy’s score 94/100Genius winemaking and a superbly managed site has created the best Swan Valley red in decades. Laced with fiery scents of paprika and eastern spice, its heady bouquet of dark violet-like floral notes, blackberries, dark plums, briar and dark chocolates reveals a hint of roasting meats. It’s sumptuous and bloody, long and mouthfilling, unfolding a smooth core of dark, perfectly ripened fruits framed by firmish fine tannins before finishing with softness, savoury qualities and a lingering note of licorice.
