Australia & NZ
These far-flung wine regions may be referred to ‘new’ when compared against the historic European wine regions, but they have a long winemaking history. Spared from Phylloxera, Australia in particular has world's highest concentration of venerable vines and legendary producers such as Penfolds, Henschke and Tyrell’s have been around for over 150 years. Though for many years piggybacking on Europe’s successes, branding their own wines as ‘Chablis’, ‘Hermitage’ etc., Australia now have created a real identity of their own, making inimitable styles like Coonawarra Cabernet or Hunter Valley Semillon.
New Zealand doesn’t quite have as an extensive history but has established itself in an astonishingly short amount of time as a reliable source of whistle clean, distinctive examples of varietals like Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.
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Australia & NZ
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Wine Spectator (97)
Big and powerful, brimming with tarry, spicy black cherry, dark plum, blackberry and chocolate flavors. Rich and gooey like a warm flourless chocolate cake, yet it finds a plush balance that keeps it from veering off into heaviness. This has grace, harmony and refinement, without losing an ounce of power. Drink now through 2025. 600 cases imported. -HSHK$4,115.00 -
James Suckling (98)
This pinot has an x-factor that sets it apart. There’s an almost peppery edge to the violet, blueberry and red-cherry nose with sappy and earthy elements, as well as roasted game and fragrant baking spices. The palate has a very plush, attractive and fresh array of vibrant and detailed pinot fruit on offer. Long and precise. Drink or hold. Screw cap.HK$3,855.00 -
The Real Review (96)
Deepish, bright, youthful red/purple colour, with a lovely fragrant bouquet of red and dark cherries, strawberry and rose petals. It's complex and foresty too, but shows more primary fruit and perfume than usual for a young Escarpment pinot. Dried flowers, dried herb, savoury underbrush aromas. Very complex and profound in the mouth, with a very long carry. The tannins are in excellent harmony. An outstanding vintage for this vineyard. (70% whole-bunches)HK$2,800.00 -
Wine Advocate (95)
The full-bodied, rich 2019 Kupe Pinot Noir is a lovely example of how size doesn't have to mean a loss of elegance. Bold black cherry and plum flavors combine with nuances of cola spice and mocha to yield ample complexity, while the palate is plush and velvety, seamlessly extending through a lingering finish. While delicious now, I expect it will drink well for more than a decade.HK$2,500.00 -
James Suckling (96)
Intensely spicy and perfumed with concentrated notes of purple plums, cherry stones, rosemary, neroli, cloves, cigar box and ground coffee. The tannins are firm and tightly-knit, providing a solid frame to the dark fruit. Sensual and distinctive. Try this from 2024. Screw cap.HK$2,375.00 -
Matthew Jukes (19.5+)
I had to wait two hours for this wine to budge in the glass and reveal just a few chapters of its extraordinary flavour. Initially, this is a super-earthy, backward, and introverted Pinot, and if I were on a fly-by-style tasting, I would have marked it down as closed and incommunicative. It certainly needs time, but I am convinced that this is a genuine Grand Cru-level New Zealand Pinot, and I have not tasted many of these in my nearly four decades in wine. While the first taste was firm, unyielding and gruff, second and third visits revealed violets and plums, exotic hints, ravishing bitterness, and then, later, volleys of exquisite fruit and earthy. This is a desperately important wine for Escarpment, Martinborough, and New Zealand and will surely blow peoples’ minds. Just remember to be patient.HK$845.00 -
Matthew Jukes (19.5+)
I had to wait two hours for this wine to budge in the glass and reveal just a few chapters of its extraordinary flavour. Initially, this is a super-earthy, backward, and introverted Pinot, and if I were on a fly-by-style tasting, I would have marked it down as closed and incommunicative. It certainly needs time, but I am convinced that this is a genuine Grand Cru-level New Zealand Pinot, and I have not tasted many of these in my nearly four decades in wine. While the first taste was firm, unyielding and gruff, second and third visits revealed violets and plums, exotic hints, ravishing bitterness, and then, later, volleys of exquisite fruit and earthy. This is a desperately important wine for Escarpment, Martinborough, and New Zealand and will surely blow peoples’ minds. Just remember to be patient.HK$3,000.00 -
Matthew Jukes (19.5)
This is the most expansive Kupe I have tasted (and I am lucky to have tasted every release). Last year’s 2021 was a revelation; this year’s 2022 release is a more refined and distinguished creature. Before you read on, particularly if you are new to these wines, it is essential to understand that these are not heavy wines. As you climb the ladder in other portfolios, you often find yourself wading in a gloopier pool. At Escarpment, you don’t taste heavier wines, just those with Ultra HD, as opposed to regular HD! Like all the Pinots in this collection, the energy and impact of these wines are collectively interwoven to create complexity and resonance. 2022 Kupe sings, not like Brian Blessed, José Carreras, Chris Cornell, or any belter. It is Lennon, Elliott Smith, John Grant and other artisans (the female analogy is better, but I wanted to start with Mr Blessed because I felt a Pinot version of him would be hilarious), and the musicality, penetration, and not volume, coupled with flavour memory (not earworm, but smile-inducing toe-tapping remembrance) is what makes this wine so unique. With 42% new oak for 20 months, which I cannot see for the life of me, and sensational length and complexity, this is another super-star release.HK$2,760.00 -
Wine Advocate (94+)
Deep, dark and intense, there are 330 cases of the 2014 Heipipi The Terraces Malbec Merlot Cabernet Franc. Plummy and rich, it's full-bodied, with velvety tannins that give a sense of plushness in the mouth. Traces of oak remain, hinting at cedar and vanilla, but what impresses is the depth and power of the fruit, which is expressed without any sense of jamminess or surmaturité. Give it a couple of years in the cellar, and drink it over the next decade.HK$4,485.00 -
(6x75cl) 2023HK$1,760.00 -
(1x75cl) 2016Wine Advocate (92)
Unusually delicate red fruit notes mark the nose of the 2016 Pinot Noir. It's a mélange of strawberry, raspberry and cherry, with some herbal notes, cola and spice blended in. In the mouth, the wine is medium-bodied and supple, with a long, silky finish.HK$990.00 -
Bob Campbell MW (95)
Delicately-scented pinot noir with appealing violet, red rose, dark cherry, anise and subtle smoky oak flavours. A supple wine with an ethereal, seamless texture. This entry-level pinot noir sets the bar high for the more illustrious labels.HK$3,165.00 -
Vinous (92)
The 2020 Pinot Noir Bannockburn is welcoming as well as rich, savory and sinewy, delivering a plump cloud of both lifted and brooding fruit: a portion of whole-cluster fermentation has brought herbal and violet high notes alongside red and black cherry. There's excellent concentration despite this being the entry to the Felton Pinot range, and fine, lightly furry tannins on the medium-long finish. This could be approached now, but it’s better to wait a couple of years to let the components settle.HK$4,500.00 -
(1x75cl) 2021HK$880.00 -
HK$2,935.00 -
(12x75cl) 2022HK$3,775.00 -
HK$2,955.00 -
Wine Advocate (93)
The 2023 Bannockburn Pinot Noir is vibrant and spicy, with real energy and pace on the palate. Cherry, cranberry, pomegranate and raspberry converge on a springy base of pliable tannin. The acidity, which is bright, is woven through all aspects of the fruit, and the wine feels exciting and fresh as a result. This is a great wine here. It has full flavor and resolved texture at a moderate alcohol level. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.HK$1,955.00 -
(3x75cl) 2023Vinous (94)
While the opening is rather appealing to the 2023 Chardonnay Block 2 with welcoming puppy fat, this is all about its sense of tension, held tightly together as if it's an Anjou Chenin on schist, giving similar tension and chili spice. Pure, succulent fruit is held within a tight corset. The finish is long and savory, with almond pastry layers lingering long alongside the pear and nectarine notes. (100% Mendoza clone, 17 months in barrel, 4% new oak).HK$1,120.00 -
(1x75cl) 2013Vinous (94)
(14% alcohol on the label): Dark, fresh red. Sexy aromas of raspberry and rose petal plus a touch of smoky minerality. Imploded, extract-rich wine with gripping flavors of crunchy berries and savory soil tones. Chewy, impeccably balanced Pinot Noir with terrific rising length and finesse. This should reward further aging. (Incidentally, Walter also opened a bottle of the 2012 Block 3, which offered sexy scents of red fruits and truffley underbrush and lovely sweetness to its lush flavors of strawberry and smoke. This wine from thick-skinned grapes and a cool summer has plenty of fat but is a bit burlier and seems more heavily extracted than the 2013 version. I rated it 93 points and recommend that it be consumed within the next four or five years.)HK$1,285.00 -
(6x75cl) 2022
Wine Advocate (94+)
The 2022 Block 3 Pinot Noir leads with licorice and exotic spice, clear red fruit and lashings of plump, mouth-filling tannins. This is a wine of ease, of effortless flow of tannin and acid as one. It's a beauty. Today, it's showing more of its exotic spice than its red fruit. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.HK$5,725.00 -
Wine Advocate (94)
Med to deep ruby-purple, the 2013 Block 5 Pinot Noir is youthfully mute on the nose with subtle cherry and pomegranate notes plus underlying plum and garrigue hints with some Chinese five spice and tree bark. Medium bodied and very earthy, it fills the mouth with densely packed savory layers and firm grainy tannins, finishing long.HK$8,255.00 -
Vinous (93+)
(40% of this wine is from the same deep silt soil as Block 3, the rest from clay and schist; vinified with 25% whole clusters and aged for 17 months in 35% new French oak): Medium-deep red. Pure but tight and reticent on the nose, hinting at raspberry, flowers and spices. In a richer, sweeter, more mouth-coating style than the 2014 Block 3 but less showy today even if it's sharply delineated. Showing more red fruits than black but this wonderfully fine-grained, tactile, soil-driven wine needs a year or two in bottle to express itself. Finishes ripe, sappy, savory and long, with a fine dusting of suave tannins and lingering sweetness. With extended aeration, this wine gained in sex appeal.HK$11,300.00 -
Vinous (97)
The 2020 Pinot Noir Block 5 offers up a mouthful of gorgeous Pinot Noir that's perfectly ripe without being overripe, blossoming in the mouth but retaining focus and shape as if it is wearing a pair of control pants. It's a wine that’s at ease with itself, offering rich red berries, fruitcake, festive spices and a subtle floral lift. There are plentiful tannins – in the context of Pinot Noir – and they coat the mouth like melted chocolate, making you want to lick your lips long after drinking. Overall, a finely balanced wine that has captured power and seduction in the same package. Lengthy, brooding finish.HK$5,480.00 -
HK$845.00 -
(3x75cl) 2023Vinous (94)
The mouth-filling 2023 Chardonnay Block 6 offers a touch of ripe apple fruit while never becoming big, thanks to that cool-climate line of acidity. It exudes subtly fragrant, delicate floral tones alongside the almond and pastry character from extended time on lees. This was delicately handled with a very subtle oak influence, allowing the savory fruit and precision on the finish to shine. It can be approached now, whereas Block 2 needs more time. This was done with 6% new oak and aged for 17 months in barrel.HK$1,105.00 -
HK$1,025.00 -
Wine Advocate (93)
The 2018 Calvert Pinot Noir displays intertwined briary notes of red raspberries and resinous herbs. It's medium-bodied, with supple, slightly dusty tannins, but there's also a wiry backbone of acidity that further brightens the wine and imparts terrific length on the mocha-tinged finish.HK$3,155.00 -
Wine Advocate (95)
The 2021 Calvert Pinot Noir leads with pomegranate and strawberry, rosehip and crushed walnuts. This is a spicy wine with lashings of black tea, fine tannins, pliable structure and an effortless flow of fruit in the mouth. Everything feels perfectly judged. I love the freshness of the acidity; it leaves the feeling in the mouth on an uptick. A flourish. It's good. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.HK$3,165.00 -
Decanter (97)
A harmonious wine, so generous and giving that you nearly overlook the firm spine of acidity and tannin that shows its pedigree. Very fragrant and complex, with fruit, florals and spice. Great flow across the palate and proper build to the long finish. Very complete and inviting now, it’ll be hard to keep your hands off this but it will age very nicely indeed. B Corp certified and biodynamic.HK$2,395.00
