Tom Kline
Hand-picked before slow and gentle pressing, keeping the finest free-run separate. Matured for seven months in 1–3-year-old French oak puncheons and a cocciopesto amphora. There’s lovely density on display here with preserved lemon, baked peach, baked yellow apple, grilled nectarine and candied ginger making up the core. Delicate stone fruit blossom notes dance around the edges adding prettiness, along with allusions of manuka honey, saltbush and some grilled-nut savouriness. The aromatic balance is very attractive, with the fruit, floral and savoury tones melding perfectly. The palate is richly textured while still precise and fresh — yellow apple, peach, nectarine, gentle honey, grilled nuts, candle wax. The phenolics and acidity hold hands to cut it all up and frame it long – very long, in fact – with the former adding a subtly papery texture. Intensity, texture, complexity and ample structure – it’s all there and still with a fresh appeal. Excellent. Points: 94/100
