Light straw yellow in the glass. Spiced poached apple and vanilla aromas. The palate has good density and tension. It's quite powerful, with pear and apple fruit, honey, and hints of sandalwood spice. Good length, and the weight and power are well balanced by a lift of acidity and some phenolic grip at the finish. Points: 91/100
From the Brini vineyard, Blewitt Springs, off 50-year-old vines; even split between tank and barrel, with a new Austrian puncheon among older French barrels. There’s a pithy grip to this, an apple-skin burr, knitting into the lees-built texture of regular bâtonnage, with flavours of baked green apple and fresh pink Cripps, peach kernel, wild herbs, a ginger/galangal note, a brininess, some cinnamon and riverstone. Quietly complex and quite the pleasure to drink. Points: 94/100
There’s a gravity to this wine. Not a lot, but enough, and it comes together with a general fruitiness, and a deal of texture too. We’re clearly in good territory. Apple juice, apple skins, nashi pears, salt, pepper, a gentle run of tonic water, metal and smoke. It’s very good. It will age. It feels structured and upstanding. 93+ Points: 93/100
