98 Points

Swan Valley

Fortified

I remember my first tasting of this this wine many years ago. It was life changing and I’ve been a fan of these Swan Valley fortifieds ever since. Rich and lavishly complex with caramel and dark chocolate with liqueur orange and fruit cake aromas. The palate builds a multi-layered complex richness displaying those leathery, dark fruit cake and syrupy chocolate...

Swan Valley

Muscat

This luscious, fabulous muscat from the Swan Valley remains a work in progress, in that when the vintage is right it is blended back into the older wine that dates back over many years. This is as good a blend as I have tasted. Raisiny, caramel, dark toffee, spice and dark chocolate. The colour is even starting to develop a...

Frankland River

Cabernet Sauvignon

While there are stylistic similarities with the previous vintage, this is a prettier and if anything, more delicate expression. Yet, there is ample engine room power here. It’s so bright and alive with energy from the first take on the nose through to the perfectly balanced and weighted medium bodied palate. Love the powdery tannins and super-fine-grained oak use. “Jack”...

Frankland River

Cabernet Sauvignon

While there are stylistic similarities with the previous vintage, this is a prettier and if anything, more delicate expression. Yet, there is ample engine room power here. It’s so bright and alive with energy from the first take on the nose through to the perfectly balanced and weighted medium bodied palate. Love the powdery tannins and super-fine-grained oak use. “Jack”...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This chardonnay comes from the Wallcliffe area within Margaret River. The fruit from this season was excellent, but then Cliff Royle has harnessed it perfectly creating a wine of tremendous power, yet at the same time subtlety and elegance. Slight struck match flinty characters on the nose merge with deeper notes of lemon curd and quince with a slightly oyster...

Frankland River

Cabernet Sauvignon

While there are stylistic similarities with the previous vintage, this is a prettier and if anything, more delicate expression. Yet, there is ample engine room power here. It’s so bright and alive with energy from the first take on the nose through to the perfectly balanced and weighted medium bodied palate. Love the powdery tannins and super-fine-grained oak use. “Jack”...

Swan Valley

Muscat

Glorious statement of this famous Swan valley style. Multi-layered complexity of toffee and luscious honey and raisins. There's stone fruit vanilla bean and licorice swirling through the thick unctuous palate. Has been freshened with some younger material to add some zip to the finish. Average age of the wine is 20 years with the base blend of vintages between 1974...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

This was a very good vintage in Margaret River after the slightly more challenging ’21. This has the refined elegance and prettiness that is the Moss Wood DNA. The colour is quite pale compared to some previous vintages, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is some shrinking violet. Violets, yes, but plenty more in an engine room that is...

Great Southern

Chardonnay

Oh, yes. Here is further evidence that this has become one of the State’s finest chardonnays. It seems this cooler vintage has suited it perfectly. It’s sourced from the cool climes of Denmark. The intensity and sustained power is evident immediate with the penetrating aromas of butterscotch, stone fruit and lemon curd striking out. The palate delivers with intensity and...

Mount Barker

Cabernet Sauvignon

What a sensational wine. Perfumed and powerful with tremendous concentration and power. Used some concrete fermentation and stainless steel. Has beautiful elegance and weight through the palate with fine chalky tannins and fine-grained oak influence. Has such an ethereal aroma of violet and red berry. Tremendous power here yet it’s elegant and pretty. This is 100% cabernet.

Swan Valley

Muscat

From one of the great names in Australian fortified wines. The base wine for this great liqueur muscat was picked in 1983 after which the best vintages were chosen to be regularly blended. It is a smooth and mellow wine with all the complex and intrigue of caramel, honey and chocolate swirling through the aromas and then into a multi-layered...

Swan Valley

Muscat

This luscious, fabulous muscat from the Swan Valley remains a work in progress, in that when the vintage is right it is blended back into the older wine that dates back over many years. This is as good a blend as I have tasted. Raisiny, caramel, dark toffee, spice and dark chocolate. The colour is even starting to develop a...

Great Southern

Chardonnay

What a cracking chardonnay this is. It’s been sourced from Denmark in a season which produced excellent fruit intensity. Garland has harnessed this expertly. Opens with a steely spicy creamy pear and lightly roasted cashew aroma. But it’s the palate where things get really exciting. Subtle combinations of nectarine, lemon, grapefruit and cashew combine to create a whole greater than...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Oh my. We have something here. Cherubino sources the fruit from vineyards in Karridale in the south and Wilyabrup in the north. So, you are getting that delicacy and fineness from Karridale and the power and richness from Wilyabrup. It makes for a thoroughly magnificent chardonnay that delivers a powerful statement presented with such finesse. The palate especially is so...

Frankland River

Grenache

Cherubino pushes boundaries with this marvellous grenache. It’s made in a clay cement ovoid tank which is a giant egg that creates a sort of vortex of continual movement. The outcome is stunning. There’s pristine purity and vibrancy here as the grenache elevates to new levels of seductiveness. You just keep going back for more. Terrific stuff.

Pemberton

Chardonnay

Okay, I’ve tasted a few of these and I reckon this is the best. Great vintage, yes, but then the subtle winemaking has brought it to a new dimension. While bunch pressing and naturally fermented in new and used puncheons, which just takes the edge off the oak. The power of the Gingin clone is evident immediately. Lemon, quince and...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

Pure and powerful Margaret River cabernet from right in the Wilyabrup dress circle. Opens with a salvo of fruit nuances on the nose. Blackcurrant and blackberry with some interesting blue fruit touches. Then there is the lifted bay leaf and minerally oyster shell. It is so classically cabernet. The palate is elegantly presented but deeply intense with dark fruits lifted...

Swan Valley

Verdelho

Liqueur verdelho is one of the remarkable wines of the Swan Valley. It also shows the extraordinary versatility of a variety that can on the one hand be fresh and fruity and on the other – well, this. A rich and unctuous fortified wine of breathtaking depth and richness. Layer upon layer of toffee, honeycomb and rich raisin fruit. The...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This chardonnay comes from the Wallcliffe area within Margaret River. The fruit from this season was excellent, but then Cliff Royle has harnessed it perfectly creating a wine of tremendous power, yet at the same time subtlety and elegance. Slight struck match flinty characters on the nose merge with deeper notes of lemon curd and quince with a slightly oyster...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This will sit alongside anything Peterkin has made in more than four decades as one of the finest winemakers in the region. It is a cracking good wine delivered with precision and power with a degree of delicacy and finesse that makes it so appealing. Incredible intensity on the nose with aromas of white peach and grapefruit with a little...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Let’s cut to the chase. The finest Deep Woods chardonnay yet. It has it all. Great fruit has been harnessed with whole bunch pressing and fermentation in new and seasoned French oak. Further lees stirring has built in texture, contributing to a thoroughly beautiful, refined mouth feel. Opens with a stone fruit and savoury light lemon curd aromas. Peels off...

Margaret River

Red Blend

This is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, malbec, merlot and petit verdot. Opens with beautifully scented, aromas of blackcurrant and blackberry with a slightly cedary influence. The palate is perfectly weighted and crafted. Deeply concentrated fruit surges forward, supported by quite firm tannins and plenty of oak. Has a slightly chalky character with traces of bay leaf and seashell minerality....

Margaret River

Chardonnay

The vineyard stamps its character on this from the get-go. Notes of lemon scents with lightly roasted cashew and faint struck match. The palate is intense and with a fine acidity and minerally character defining it through its linear range. Beautifully integrated and tightly coiled before releasing through to a sustained finish. A wine that will really show its true...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

This pinnacle of the Howard Park red wine stable is now a 100% cabernet sauvignon off the Leston Vineyard in Margaret River. The result is a firmer and more classically Bordeaux styled wine with a distinctive Margaret River nuance. There is a lifted of bright red fruit on the nose with notes of violet and blackcurrant, merging with other lifts...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

An outstanding chardonnay which comes from the Allingham vineyard at the cool Karridale subregion. It is so exquisitely integrated and woven together with such subtlety and precision. It gets down to each barrel where decisions are made on malolactic fermentation and the degree of lees stirring. The result is a marvellous wine displaying freshness and vibrancy with typical notes of...

Mount Barker

Cabernet Sauvignon

One of the oldest cabernet plantings in the Great Southern, having started in 1972. Nelson picks in two portions and ferments separately in amphora and barriques with about 30% new oak. He is aiming for a modern style and more refined and elegant style of cabernet. It’s bright and lively with energy bursting through it. Has a floral note with...

Great Southern

Chardonnay

This is something of a breakthrough chardonnay from Denmark. It joins some other outstanding wines being produced in this subregion, but when you take in the price Nelson is making a real statement…and why not. It comes off the Karriview vineyard and was picked from selected vines with just enough to make one barrel. Basket pressed to oak and then...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Product of the excellent albeit quite small ’22 vintage. Heady stuff on the nose with distinct pear and edgy lime characters with a note of oatmeal and cashew. The palate is layered with nuances emerging at every turn. Has a crystalline edginess that cuts through, while complex flavours of quince, lemon pith and grapefruit reveal. There’s a dry savouriness that...

Porongurup

Pinot Noir

The source of this exceptional wine are the oldest vines on the estate, planted by Angelo and Wendy Diletti in 1986. It is as good as any pinot yet made from this super vineyard. Seamless structure and silky smooth with a velvety mouth feel. The aromas of strawberry and plum merge with a slightly spicy earthy mushroom-like nuance. Effortlessly long...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Remarkably complex aromas of dominant stone fruit like nectarine with less of the pear and cut lime character you expect. An intense and powerful wine with a distinctive chalky limestone influence on the palate. Lacks the super intensity of the 2020 yet it has great length and focus. Continues the subtle move to Burgundian styles. This is one of the...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Shines as brightly as any of the stars in Margaret River’s galaxy of great chardonnay. A supremely balanced and precise chardonnay with a succulent natural acidity despite having been through 100% malo. It’s one of the most sophisticated and complex of any Heytesbury to date. Deep mix of cashew and mealy grapefruit with a slightly savoury finish competing the palate....

Frankland River

Mourvèdre

This is the second vintage of the Farvie Mourvedre and takes the excellent ’21 up a notch. It has a dry, savoury and slightly ferruginous rusty nail character offsetting the sweet floral notes on the nose. The palate is a superb interpretation of the variety in these Frankland soils. There is a slightly greater volume of fruit than ’21, bit...

Frankland River

Grenache

Nice to have this wine back in town after an absence in 2021. The power and concentration of the vineyard and the style is immediately evident. The intensity strikes immediately on the nose, while once the wine starts to roll across your palate you know you in a head zone of great power. It was a warm and concentrated vintage....

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

Really delivers as you might expect from this excellent concentrated and powerfully framed vintage in Margaret River. It’s dominant cabernet with smaller portions of merlot, cabernet franc and malbec. Typical of this wine since switching to biodynamics, it is bright and brilliant with a nervy tense energy to drive the palate. The succulent fruit is harnessed by fine chalky tannins...

Frankland River

Red Blend

A more fragrant and perfumed wine than the excellent 2019. It also reveals a slightly firmer spine of chalky tannin and oak. It's a blend of cabernet sauvignon with shiraz and malbec from Frankland River. Super saturated fruit intensity from this excellent vintage provides a palate coating textural feel. Hugely concentrated and immensely powerful palate is expertly controlled to a...

Swan Valley

Muscat

Glorious statement of this famous Swan valley style. Multi-layered complexity of toffee and luscious honey and raisins. There's stone fruit vanilla bean and licorice swirling through the thick unctuous palate. Has been freshened with some younger material to add some zip to the finish. Average age of the wine is 20 years with the base blend of vintages between 1974...