White

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

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

This is a blended white with a fair bit of class. It’s pungent and intense on the nose, extending through to a crisp intensely flavoured palate. The vibrant bursts of fruit are complemented by some nice barrel fermentation influences which add so much texture and palate richness. Great drinking now but has a few years to see it develop further...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Cliff Royle grabs the fruit from the cooler climate at Karridale. The result is a wine that retains its fresh linear characteristics but then with further winemaking influence through wild fermentation in oak and tank it strikes at another level of complexity. The aromas have a distinctive light stone fruit, lychee and citrus character. Beautifully weighted palate with texture and...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

The power and intensity of the '22 vintage is evident from the start. After wild fermentation it then spent 10 months in large format oak of which 40% was new. The result is compelling. The oak is part of it but not overt and perfectly integrated into the fruit. A little more struck match and sea spray on the nose...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This has become one of the benchmark chardonnays in Margaret River. And this early warm vintage has produced another exceptional wine. It goes through complete wild yeast fermentation, followed by barrel fermentation in a third new French puncheons, with maturation over 10 months. There was no malolactic fermentation or lees stirring, so it retains a lively acid energy. The palate...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

This is one of the best cabernets yet from Flametree. It also seems to be the most structured. Deeply concentrated ripe fruit is the basis. The aromas captivate with exotic violet, blackcurrant and a decent dollop of chocolate. The palate is intricately woven with that mix of fine firm tannins, fine-grained oak and opulent fruit carrying long. The palate has...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Pym sources this from a single Karridale vineyard. This was a very good vintage in Margaret River with the small volumes have tremendous power and fruit concentration. You can see that immediately here. There's a creamy nectarine combo working on the nose with deeper mealy complexity. It's been put through malolactic fermentation which seems to complete the entire package perfectly....

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is a classy chardonnay from what was a cooler season in Margaret River that produced white wines of finesse and purity. Fermented in a mix of 25% new and 75% once-used French oak before malolactic fermentation which took place over 12 months. Engaging aromas of hazelnut and stone fruits with a little lemon curd and fresh brioche. The palate...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

A wine of tremendous complexity, evident immediately on the nose. Aromas of nectarine, cut lime, and lemon rind mingle with subtle smoky gunflint characters. The palate shows the influence of fermentation in a mix of new and old French oak, creating complexity and depth with impeccable balance. That ever-so-slightly struck match character complements the fruit intensity, finishing with a slightly...

Margaret River

White Varietal

This can be a polarising wine but in this case it is a beauty. Made using demi-muid and ceramic eggs for fermentation and then left for 10 months in these vessels to build texture. One of the most distinctive aromas of any white variety. Dominant lychee, lime and pear with a liberal sprinkle of spices. The palate is textured but...

Margaret River

White Varietal

One of the most distinctive of all white grape varieties. It can go a little over the top, but Pym typically handles it extremely well, capturing the lychee, musky and gingery notes of the variety. More importantly, he creates a textural feel that restrains the phenolics and delivers good, rich fruit flavours. He uses ceramic eggs for the fermentation and...

Margaret River

White Blend

This is an expression of field blending with pinot gris, viognier, gewurztraminer, riesling and sauvignon blanc coming together to produce a wine of depth and complexity with the high-end aromatics that you might expect with these varieties. So many subtle fruit characters emerge, but they are all overlaid with a distinct spiciness and a sustained acidity to an extended finish....

Margaret River

White Blend

This is a white blend of pinot gris, viognier, gewürztraminer and sauvignon blanc, so you're getting an awful lot of aromatics crammed into a fairly tight space. Do they compete? Well, not really. They actually work together rather well, producing a wine that is, as you would expect, wildly aromatic, with all manner of citrus, roses, ginger, pear and musk...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Made in a similar way to the standard savvy, but gets an extra six months in the mix of demi-muid and ceramic egg vessels. Lifted gooseberry with a pebbly vanilla bean and stone fruit combo in the nose. The palate reveals more minerally and savoury notes which complement the rich texture. Sustained acidity and a fine flinty edge completes a...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Since its first release some years ago, I’ve been a fan of this wine. I love the way it’s structured, the balance between the intensity of the Karridale fruit and the oak, which builds both texture and complexity to create a wine of real class and expression. This vintage delivers a mix of citrus, dried herbs, and slightly nutty tropical...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Few winemakers capture such complexity and intrigue with sauvignon blanc as Stuart Pym, and he's done it again with this excellent wine. As always, he uses oak in the process, and it creates such a compelling and engaging combination on the nose. Lemony, nutty characters merge with the punchy tropical fruit of the variety, along with that little gooseberry lick....

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

The thing about Pym's wines is texture. And this super expressive savvy displays that character perfectly. It's a bright and punchy little number but not the modern fruit bomb. It's layered and loaded with a mix of tropical fruit delivered with a creamy rich palate feel. The finish shows a crunchy chalky minerality. This is the type of savvy I...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Plenty of interesting winemaking techniques have been used to coax the best from this variety. After gentle whole bunch pressing the fermentation takes place in demi-muid oak barrels and ceramic eggs, where it is left for 12 months with occasional lees stirring to build texture. Intense aromas of lime and passionfruit on the nose with just a trace of vanilla...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Always interesting. And always distinctive. A little bit of winemaking goes in here to create a wine of rare complexity for this variety. All wild yeast fermentation in large format old oak and ceramic eggs successfully builds complexity but retains the vibrancy of the fruit. A complex mix of creamy fruit and dried herbs and lighted floral notes. The palate...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

An excellent value for money chardonnay offering plenty of deep flavour. Opens with a citrus and stone fruit mix on the nose. Then the palate lifts with stone fruit and a bright lemony acidity. Trace of grapefruit adds to an appealing wine for drinking in the next couple of years.

Margaret River

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

Really belts out some decent aromatics of tropical fruit and subtle grassy characters. Palate has plenty of sweet fruit with an intensity driven by a crisp and crunchy acid. A lift of citrus and passionfruit completes the picture. Ideal in the short term.

Western Australia

Chardonnay

A pleasing chardonnay of medium weight and intensity that delivers its fruit load with a spicy creamy character overlaying the riper stone fruit and melony influences. Designed as a user-friendly wine for drinking in the short term.

Western Australia

White Blend

A neat punchy little number with plenty of zip and zing. Lively tropical and slightly grassy notes on the nose with a precise and flavoursome tropical fruit and melony citrus combination on the palate. It’s ready to go now but another year or two would add a little palate complexity.

Western Australia

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

Punchy and crisp, fresh as a daisy blend offering plenty of immediate enjoyment. A grassy stone fruit combo is held tight and crisp with a fine, delicate acid. Yet the fleshy fruit wraps it up nicely. Excellent wine in the short term.

Great Southern

Riesling

This great wine has its genesis in the first vines planted at Forest Hill in the mid-sixties. It is characterised by its leaner tense palate profile with a fine wet slaty edge that is pure riesling. But, in good years you get a little more weight in the palate without compromising the integrity of the stye This one nails it....

Mount Barker

Riesling

Lightly perfumed and delightful aromas of lime and light talc. It was a very good year, and it was a late season allowing the fruit to build up easily. It’s stainless steel fermented but has an extended time on lees. The palate is the key. It’s powerful with texture and talcy threads with liberal spices. It has a slightly limey...

Great Southern

Riesling

This superb dry-grown vineyard was planted in 1975 and consistently delivers outstanding fruit. This wine manages to bridge the divide between the high tensile leaner style and the more textured and flavoursome. So you get a bit from each camp to create a thoroughly beautiful wine. Lots of spicy lemon peel and citrus in here with a penetrating palate of...

Mount Barker

Riesling

A more fragrant and lively wine that was planted in 1975. First made in 2018 as a result of pushing riesling further with more texture based on the Germanic style. Has a nice line and minerality. It gets about 15 to 20% fermentation in an oak foudre. The aim is to get a little productive funk into it. Very attractive...

Mount Barker

Chardonnay

This is a powerful statement of chardonnay. It’s all Gingin clone and about 25% new oak. There is a mealy character here with a nutty roasted cashew. Handpicked and wild fermented and the best barrels go into a blend. There is an intensity here with stone fruit and white floral notes. A most attractive wine with savoury characters carrying the...

Mount Barker

Chardonnay

An incredibly powerful and layered chardonnay showing some distinctive winemaking artefacts that have been well managed with the quality fruit. On the nose, a struck match aroma lifts. A light lees influence and some malolactic fermentation have enhanced the palate feel. Lemon, savoury brioche characters and a little honeycomb on the palate with a dry minerality defining the finish.

Mount Barker

Riesling

This was picked a month earlier than 2023 and comes from the younger vines and includes some of the Geisenheim clones. Has a distinctive beeswax aroma with plenty of bright talcy bath salts character. Has good depth and long flavours with a fine acidity sustaining the finish. Has a lovely bright fruit character to it.

Great Southern

Riesling

Quite simply one of the state’s finest rieslings. It’s from the oldest vineyard block on the estate. The nose has a distinct crystalline, mineral, lemony aroma, with a fairly typical Great Southern spiciness. Then the palate is awash with slatey, wet, pebbly characters, edgy lemon and lime, and a little cut pear. It’s a precisely linear wine with tremendous depth...

Great Southern

Riesling

Here’s a wine that captures the vineyard site. Planted dry-grown in 1975, it delivers incredibly intense and powerful aromas of lemon and lime, with spicy, chalky, basalt characters. The palate is quite textured, with really fine, precise acidity holding it through to an extended finish. A distinctive wine, with crunchy, quartz-like characters providing such a compelling addition to the palate.

Great Southern

Chardonnay

Power, precision, intensity. It’s all here in this single-site wine from dry-grown vines planted 40 years ago. There’s a steeliness about it, but also a textural feel. A compelling mix of lemon, oatmeal and a little butterscotch on the nose, with a flavour profile that is deeply concentrated but effortlessly long. Fine, crunchy, chalky minerality holds a tight line, carrying...

Mount Barker

Chardonnay

This is a blend of Block 8 and about 30% Burgundian clones then the rest is Block 9 with some younger vine Gingin clones. All wild fermented in Burgundian oak in largely 500l with about 20% new oak. Has a nice balance of citrus and nectarine with a slight sea spray character. The citrus lift on the finish is very...

Mount Barker

Chardonnay

A very tidy chardonnay that comes from three different sites on the Forest Hill Vineyard and Highbury Fields, with a combination of Gin Gin and Bernard clones. Richness and texture have been built in but have not been overdone. Instead, it creates a complexity of savoury fruit characters and a slightly minerally chalky character, accentuating the dry finish. Very nice...

Great Southern

Chardonnay

Generously flavoured and richly textured chardonnay from vines planted back in 1985 and supplemented with some Bernard clones of ’95, ’76 and ’96. Notes of lemon meringue and brioche with a little quince paste on the nose. The palate is deliberately textured, but still with a controlling fine mineral acidity. Lemon meringue and quince paste, with a trace of butterscotch...

Great Southern

Riesling

Talk about a great value high-class riesling, then this guy is right on the money. It comes from two vineyards, the 1975 planted Block 2 and the younger Highbury Fields. It’s distinctly talcy with a lemon zippy aroma that pokes into the palate. That talcy acid persists creating a wine of penetrating flavour with a nice palate pleasing texture.

Great Southern

Riesling

Although the vineyards at Forest Hill go back to 1965, this one is sourced from several sites. It really is a quite beautiful wine, capturing the vintage, which was very good for white wines, rather well. Spicy lemon zest and mineral notes on the nose are intense. Then the palate, as always, is powerfully defined and linear, with tremendous mineral,...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is a chardonnay that relies less on winemaking intervention and is designed to present the variety and region in their clearest forms. The rich stone fruit flavours are balanced with a deft touch of oak. It works well because the quality of the fruit is so good. Ideal to drink in the shorter term while all those primary characters...