Wine Advocate (97)

The 2005 Shiraz “Attunga 1865” is sourced from ungrafted vines planted in the Clare Valley in 1865. It spent 25 months in 100% new French oak hogsheads and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Opaque purple/black, it reveals an ethereal bouquet of crushed rocks, acacia flowers, espresso, mocha, black cherry, and blackberry. This leads to a powerful, intense, yet elegant wine with a very long, seamless finish. This beautifully balanced effort will excite tasters over the next 25 years. Kilikanoon’s winemaker is the talented Kevin Mitchell. The house specialty is Shiraz but Mitchell does equally well with Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Grenache.

James Suckling (98)

Fresh blueberries and brambleberries take center stage, which is striking for a wine of this age. There are also lots of roasted herbs, such as sage, not to mention floral elements, including lavender and dried violets. Then come cedar, sandalwood and tar. The tannins are incredibly round and soft, without the slightest hint of anything dry. This is among the most elegant of Riojas, where the acidity is wonderfully pronounced and cuts right through any touch of dried fruit. Long and powerful, yet subtle on the finish. Drink now, or hold for a very long time.

Tim Atkin MW (94)

La Rioja Alta is one of the most traditional wineries in Haro’s Barrio de la Estación, famous for producing wines that are good to drink on release, but also age beautifully in bottle. This new Gran Reserva, made from Tempranillo with 6% Graciano for added backbone, is very much a reflection of the cooler, more “Atlantic” 2014 vintage. La Rioja Alta didn’t make its top two Gran Reservas – 904 and 890 – in 2014, so all of its best grapes were used for Viña Arana. Fine and elegant, with vibrant acidity, notes of coconut and cinnamon from the American oak and a core of savoury, refreshing tobacco leaf and red berry flavours framed by fine, caressing tannins. Old-fashioned Rioja at its glorious best.

Decanter (96)

Beautiful nose coconut cream, vanilla and mocha nose. Smooth and mellow on the rich and velvety palate with lots of sweet spices, dates and chocolate-covered currants. Long-lasting and utterly delicious.

Halliday Wine Companion (99)

This achieves another step up the quality ladder for Leeuwin Estate, seemingly impossible. There's been no change in the vinification, nor in the vineyard. The change is an increase in the intensity of the flavours, and hence their length and aftertaste. It's an extraordinary wine, among the greatest of Burgundy (and elsewhere in the world). Whatever you expect from its future development will be delivered.

The Western Australian (99)

Let's put it this way. This is the closest I have come to awarding a wine 100 points...Stellar wine from a stellar vintage. The remarkable this is that this is a wine 100 percent barrel fermented in new French oak barriques with regular lees stirring for 11 months - and it certainly doesn't taste excessive, or even slightly oak. It has such high-fidelity purity with complex seductive aromatics of vanilla bean and light oatmeal with a cutting minerality and spicy lift. But the palate, oh the palate. This is where things start to explode. Power, poise and persistence with a dry savouriness balancing the intense ripe fruit. It is such a long finish with an ever so slightly, charry finish completing a remarkable wine

Wine Advocate (95)

The red flagship 2006 Viña Tondonia Reserva was inspired by the vineyards of the Médoc but produced with local grapes, 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho, 5% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, which achieved 13% alcohol in 2006. It always matures in used American oak barriques for some six years. The oldest of all the reds I tasted, it was also the one with more freshness, which speaks to the quality of the vineyard. This takes the lion's share of the 400,000 bottles the winery produces, with some 220,000 bottles filled over a period of 12 consecutive days in May 2014.

Wine Advocate (96)

Following the appreciation of the 2007 vintage from María José López de Heredia, the red 2007 Viña Tondonia Reserva is showing great, revealing unusual finesse and elegance. The nose is a little reticent but nuanced and complex, a little shy rather than explosive. The palate is medium-bodied, and the tannins are very refined. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Viña Tondonia Reserva of recent years. 200,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2015.

A connoisseur's delight, the Love Over Gold Menglers Hill Love Over Gold Shiraz 2014 is the epitome of opulence. This handcrafted, single-vineyard wine hails from the prestigious Menglers Hill, situated within the acclaimed South Australian wine region, Barossa Valley. It is the creation of the renaissance winemaker, Warrick Duthy, the impassioned force behind the boutique wine label, Love Over Gold.

The 2014 vintage encapsulates the vineyard's story with its exceptional purity and intensity. The grapes endured a growing season of dry, warm days and cool evenings, producing a wine enrobed in powerful dark fruit flavours, tempered with refined acidity and structured tannins. Nineteen months in French oak barrels imbued the Shiraz with complex layers of chocolate, vanilla, and spice, making each sip a revelation. The Love Over Gold Menglers Hill Love Over Gold Shiraz 2014 is undeniably an unforgettable imprint of time and place, a testament to the art of winemaking.

James Suckling (99)

Marvelous aromas of crushed berries, tobacco, cedar and mushrooms. Some dried cheese. Then turns to flowers. Very complex. Full and intense with fantastic depth and power. It goes on for minutes. It is a wine that exudes tradition but gives a sense of modernity with precise winemaking. Two years in oak, one in concrete and three or four in bottle. Drink on release and age onwards.

Wine Advocate (100)

I have been terribly excited about this wine since I first learned that (part of) it was still in cement waiting to be bottled in September 2013. I consider the rare white Castillo Ygay one of the greatest white wines ever produced in Spain, and the 1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial is a great addition to the portfolio of the winery--an historic wine that is coming back to life. I did a vertical tasting of many of the old, historic vintages of this wine, and they are included in a separate article in this very same issue. This 1986 had seen the light as a limited early release bottled in 1992 and sold around 1995, and some bottles might still be found in the market. But most of it remained unbottled and was kept at the winery, where it stayed in oak for 21 years, followed by some six years in cement vats until it was bottled. It has 13.5% alcohol, an extremely low pH of 2.98 and 6.75 grams of acidity (tartaric). It has a very subtle nose and it's a bit shy, a little closed at first. It was only bottled one and a half years ago, and it's not crazy to say that the wine is showing extremely young. The wine shows more open the day after, when it has developed some nuances of mushrooms and verbena tea. This is mostly Viura with perhaps a pinch of Malvasía Riojana (aka Alarije). The palate is both powerful and elegant, with superb acidity and great length, with volume and sharpness, with a mineral, umami-driven finish. It fills your mouth, tickles your taste buds and makes you salivate. There is nothing negative about the wine; there is no excess oak, nothing blurry, nothing to improve... perhaps the bottle used! I think this is a perfect wine. It seems to be getting younger and younger with time in the glass; it seems to be getting more focused and sharper, and I have no doubt the wine will evolve and last for a very, very, very long time in bottle. I kept the opened bottle for almost one week and the wine didn't move one inch--no oxidation or any signs of fatigue. Having tasted many other vintages, including the also perfect 1919 (which is still going strong at age 97), I have no doubt we're talking about a white for the next 50 years. Looking at the older vintages, I might even be underestimating its life span. The potential next release could be the 1998 in no less than ten years' time.

Vinous (90)

Bright medium red. Sexy spicy lift to the aromas of red raspberry, underbrush and wild herbs. Broad, dry and classic in a savory Burgundian style, conveying a restrained sweetness to its flavors of raspberry, spices and earth. This very suave, long wine finishes with fine-grained tannins and lovely perfumed lift. Seems more firmly structured than the 2012 version but remains light on its feet.

Wine Advocate (96)

The flagship 2018 Clos Martinet is the wine that started it all and is still a blend of Garnacha (Tinta and Peluda), Syrah, Cariñena, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Monastrell as it was since the beginning but now with a restrained 13.5% alcohol and higher acidity. Clos Martinet is a single five-hectare terraced vineyard planted with clonal material in 1986 on decomposed llicorella slate, iron and big rocks in the soil. The varieties are co-fermented depending on the date picked—at three different ripening times—in two concrete vats and 200-liter oak vats with indigenous yeast and whole clusters. The beginning and end of the élevage was in concrete, and in between they used 2,000- and 4,100-liter oak vats and some 20% in glass demijohn and amphorae. The wine is subtle and a bit shy, insinuating rather than in your face. There is a lot less ripeness than in the past. It's medium-bodied and fluid, fresh and balanced. This is a very elegant Clos Martinet. 11,070 bottles and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2020.

Halliday Wine Companion (96)

Still has good depth of colour, and the components - fruit, oak and tannins - have come together convincingly. The mouthfeel is totally delicious, seeming to create a line of juicy flavour that grows as it travels along the mouth, peaking as it reaches the back-palate.

Halliday Wine Companion (97)

Distinctly varietal nose of vibrant blackberry and dark chocolate fruits, supported by judicious use of classy French oak. The Palate is classically structured , full bodied Cabernet, with silky cassis and dark chocolate fruit finishing with fine dry chamois tannins of tremendous length.

Wine Advocate (94)

Mollydooker's 2018 Carnival of Love Shiraz is more red-fruited and structured than I expected, given the wine's stated 16% alcohol. Raspberries and cedar mark the nose, with hints of chocolate, espresso and baking spices. In the mouth, it's full-bodied, dense and powerful, with ripe but firm tannins supporting the bright berry flavors, then easing into a long, velvety and mouthwatering finish. It should drink well for around a decade, but if you're shy of tannins, you may want to wait another year or two before opening.

Everything you'd expect from a Merlot presented by Mollydooker. Big, voluptuous and uncompromising, yes; but it does maintain varietal correctness. Showing Deep red and black fruit mingled with some cocoa powder and spicy clove elements. Delicious.

Wine Advocate (91)

Mollydooker's 2018 The Boxer Shiraz delivers what fans of this producer have come to expect: huge fruit, plenty of ripeness, tasty oak and oodles of flavor. Cedar, chocolate and mint accent cola, plum and berry fruit on the nose, while the full-bodied palate is round, supple and expansive. It's creamy-ripe, yet the wine ends silky and mouthwatering.

Wine Advocate (95)

The only one of the Mollydooker wines that even hints at needing some bottle age is the 2016 Velvet Glove Shiraz. Hints of hay or alfalfa mark the nose, along with huge raspberry and blueberry fruit. It's full-bodied, rich and tannic on the palate, picking up hints of chocolate and raisin on the long finish. I wouldn't suggest cellaring it too long, in case the dried-fruit notes come too much to the fore.

Halliday Wine Companion (99)

Rare is in a class of its own. Extraordinarily complex, taking on umami complexity, dark chocolate studded with salt flakes, raisins soaked in molasses and more besides. Rich and sweet, but definitely not burdened by all that because it has life, a lemony acidity and a freshness throughout.

Wine Advocate (97)

Concentrated, silky and lingering, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is elegant and fine with salted licorice, ripe raspberry, dark chocolate and exotic spice. It's a beautiful wine that continues the legacy of Moss Wood Cabernets, albeit with a slightly softer, more lilting voice. Age-worthy in the supreme.

Halliday Wine Companion (99)

Stands proudly at the head of the Mount Mary portfolio. A blend of 44% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, 16% cabernet franc and 5% each of malbec and petit verdot, each variety handled according to its structure. Open/static fermenters, wood/stainless steel, 10-14 days on skins, 35% new oak from a range of coopers and forests, 16-20 months in barrel. Mesmerisingly silky, with a kaleidoscope of fruit and secondary flavours.

Halliday Wine Companion (99)

'Arguably, one of the greatest red vintages in living memory', says Mount Pleasant. The flagship wine. Destemmed and crushed, short cold soak, open-fermented, matured in large format French oak (30% new) for 18 months. Has the gently throbbing power of a Rolls Royce; superb, deep crimson-purple hue, itself rare in the Hunter Valley. Countless layers of black fruits have absorbed the oak and put the undoubted tannins into limbo land. O'Shea would have died a happy man had this been his last wine. Dissecting it now is an academic exercise at best, so great is its future. This is as close to a 100-year potential as you are ever likely to find.

James Suckling (98)

This is amazing traditional Rioja with a complexity and beauty of ripe fruit and long aging. Unique. Full body, ultra-fine tannins, tobacco, vanilla, plums and prunes. It lasts for minutes on the palate. Three years aged in oak and three years in bottle. 80% tempranillo with the rest of the classic varieties. All from high altitude vineyards.

James Suckling (97)

This has such attractively fleshy red and dark cherry. Sweetly earthy. The oak is spicy and nicely placed among intense ripe and vibrant cherries. There’s plushness to the supple, fleshy palate. Smoothly rendered and juicy with rich dark cherry to close. The acidity is pitch perfect. Mouthwatering, delicious pinot. Drink or hold.

Wine Advocate - Robert Parker (94)

A prodigious, decadently rich effort, Oliverhill’s 2003 Shiraz Jimmy Section (15% alcohol) is a 100% Shiraz aged in French oak, of which one-third is new. It offers up a luxurious aromatic display of loamy earth, new saddle leather, blackberry liqueur, charcoal, and barbecue spices. Layered, chewy, full-bodied, and opulent with extravagant richness, sweet, supple tannin, and low acidity, this is a knock-out Shiraz to drink over the next 5-12 years.

Wine Advocate (100)

A new addition to the Penfolds lineup, the 2016 Bin 111A Shiraz is a blend of Clare (51%) and Barossa (49%) fruit from vineyards that have previously contributed to Grange. Aged in 100% new French oak, it's a rich, luxuriously textured wine that's packed with ripe fruit and finely textured tannins. Hints of grilled meat and exotic dried spices accent red raspberries and redcurrants in this full-bodied but exceptionally silky and elegant red that meets the high expectations for such a pricey bottling.

Matthew Jukes (18.5+)

Drawn from McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra, Padthaway and Wrattonbully, this is a seriously focussed and complete Bin 407 with impressive length, and it manages to retain control to the very end. There was no Bin 169 or Bin 707 made in 2020, so this wine (and Bin 389 below) has scooped up the very best Cabernet from the estate, and there is no doubt it is a very special creature indeed. Delicious and savoury, the tannins pinch the palate, and it remains reassuringly dry and firm while on the finish, allowing the palate to open up beautifully on the nose. This is a huge success in 2020.