The Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven on Earth) Valley has a particular affinity for Pinot Noir. The Antarctic Benguela Current brings cooling breezes to the region, providing ideal conditions for the heartbreak grape. This one is known to reflect an almost Burgundian energy and grip. It's complex and savoury, with plentiful dark fruit, spice, and a gorgeous texture. Drink now and into the late 2030s.
A slightly different breed than the '21, the 2022 Antinori 'Tignanello' Red Wine really needs about an hour in the decanter to get going. I enjoyed this wine on five occasions while staying in Firenze and each time I noticed how the wine began to slowly evolve after an hour. It is even more heady and intense than the '21, with a seamless texture and polished tannins that frame a gorgeous core of creme de violette, cassis, loamy soils and suggestions of sweet pipe tobacco on the palate. A total head-turning bottling, make sure to give this a lot of air if enjoying in its heady youth. Drink date: 2026-2046. Score - 99. (Dr. Owen Bargreen, owenbargreen.com, June 10, 2025)
'Taché' is the French word for 'stained' and refers to the red wine dosage in this traditional blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The wine is aromatic, with rose petal and strawberry notes followed by characterful red berry, cassis and bread tones on the palate. Quite versatile, it's well-suited to charcuterie platters, salmon or roast turkey and will drink through 2026.
A floral style with a fairly neutral profile of green apples and broom flowers. It has light body with refreshing acidity and a silky texture. Drink now. Score - 90. (jamessuckling.com, June 23, 2025)
Made from 100% Agiorgitiko grown at high altitudes in Neméa, this wine spent a year in new French barriques, four months of which was on the lees. It's dark and intense, with an interplay of smoky, spicy and mineral tones.[Mundus Vini did not include a tasting note.] Score - Gold. (Mundus Vini, 2025)
There's a purity and beauty to this that impresses you the minute you put your nose in the glass. So aromatic. Flowers, graphite, blackcurrants and hints of gunmetal. Medium- to full-bodied with tannins that coat your mouth but give a feeling of fine cashmere. The length and intensity is calm but rather endless. 45% merlot, 40% cabernet sauvignon,10% cabernet franc and 5% petit verdot. From organically grown grapes. Best after 2028. Score - 99. (jamessuckling.com, April 27, 2024)
Cuvée Juveniles is an iconic name in contemporary Barossan wine. A young drinking wine by design, a blend of 45% grenache, 36% mataro, 17%, carignan and 2% counoise, light on the oak, big on drinkability. High-toned with purple floral and jasmine top notes, juicy red fruits and layered spice, gingerbread, biltong and exotic spice from the mataro, fine, silty tannins and just an effortless, slurpy, easy-drinking vibe. Drink from: 2023. Drink by: 2033. Special Value. Score - 94. (Dave Brookes, winecompanion.com.au, April 8, 2024)
Love Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Extra Brut 2016! The 2016 Grand Vintage Extra Brut is the 77th vintage Champagne released by Moët & Chandon with a cuvée of 48% Chardonnay, 34% Pinot Noir and 18% Pinot Meunier, aged for six years prior to disgorgement. Deliciously luxurious with ripe apple, pear, brioche, toasted hazelnut, citrus blossom flavours on a fine and persistent perlage with a long minerally, toasty and zesty citrus finish, it is simply superb! Drink date: 2024-2030. Score - 94. (nataliemaclean.com, Nov. 30, 2024)
There's no mistaking the varietal signature of dark red berry fruits framed by savoury spices. Aromas of dark cherry skin and plum then a mix of barrel smoke and stony earth layers. Youthful, vibrant and complex. On the palate flavours of purple berries and plum, some nettles and dried herb, clove and vanilla barrel spice and lots of texture. Tannins are ripe with some yet youthfully firm needing cellar time to soften; acidity adds to the impact of the tannins carrying the fruit flavours as well. A lovely wine with complexity and length. Best drinking from 2028 through 2035+. Outstanding. [Decant for 2-3 hours to enjoy tonight.] Score - 95. (Cameron Douglas, MS, camdouglasms.com, April 16, 2025)
Pouilly-Fuissé has a long-held reputation for producing excellent Chardonnays that place an emphasis on fruit over oak. The natural rock formation that surrounds the area creates an almost perfect suntrap that helps the grapes to ripen. A popular choice in Parisian bistros and cafés, Pouilly-Fuissé pairs beautifully with simply prepared roasted chicken or grilled fish.[Concours des Vins Macon did not include a tasting note.] Score - Gold. (Concours des Vins Macon, 2025)
Made exclusively from hand-picked fruit sourced across the valley, this wine offers incredible value with its pure, lemony fruit, palate breadth, freshness and length. Ever-dependable and deeply satisfying, it stands out as one of the region's best buys. Gorgeous in its youth, with lime blossom and green apple notes, it will reward careful cellaring, unveiling toast and flint characters over time. Drink from: 2025. Drink by: 2030. Score - 95. (Toni Paterson, MW, winecompanion.com.au, Feb. 24, 2025)
This is always an engaging, well-crafted wine bursting with apple, citrus, spice, asparagus and mineral elevated by a zesty, driving acidity. A delightful match for goat cheese or herbed chicken breast.
Not yet bottled, the 2020 Côtes Du Roussillon Villages Latour De France Occultum Lapidem is more backward and reductive at this point yet has promising darker berry and cassis fruits as well as notes of violets and peppery herbs. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has good concentration and length, but its purity and balance are what really set it apart at this point. A blend of 60% Syrah, 35% Grenache, and the rest Mourvèdre, destemmed and brought up in concrete, it's going to drink brilliantly on release and have at least 7-8 years of prime drinking. Score - 93-95. (jebdunnuck.com, Jan. 25, 2022)
Quails' Gate's 2022 Reserve pinot noir pours a relatively deep red colour and offers a ripe and dense set of aromatics in the darker fruit spectrum, black cherry, black raspberry, with a dusting of sweet oak spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. The palate is fullish and rather firm, even tannic for the variety, with serious extraction, a long way from prime enjoyment I'd say. The palate is puckering for now, also supported by firm acids. Length and depth are good. It's a bit of a bruiser, tough and chewy; try after 2027. Tasted October 2024. Score - 91. (John Szabo, MS, winealign.com)
The chardonnay summit is reached with Quails' Gate's signature release, a.k.a. the Stewart Family Reserve made with fruit from the chosen sites, meaning best and oldest vineyards in the Okanagan Valley. Volcanic soils of Mt. Boucherie are key in this top shelf chardonnay, whole-cluster pressed and aged for 10 months in a mixture of 35 percent new and (65) neutral French oak. Bâtonnage is carried out, as with all the chardonnay, to effect a texture commiserate with the QG style and no other Okanagan estate expresses this specificity. Close maybe, but not precisely like the kinship of these chardonnay and the family resemblance is uncanny. The vintage is really quite ideal for the SFR. Stock up on 2022s folks - They are the cream that rises to the top for great producers who face greater challenges in too many unfair Okanagan vintages. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted October 2024. Score - 94. (Michael Godel, winealign.com)
Opulent and enticing, the perfumed bouquet shows black and purple fruit intensity, cedar, clove and dark chocolate aromas. It's concentrated and richly textured in the mouth, delivering plump mouthfeel backed by layers of silky tannins, finishing superbly long and satisfying. At its best: now to 2034. Score - 94. (Sam Kim, wineorbit.co.nz, Oct. 2024)
100% Barbera. Rich, velvety and intense, bright red plum, black cherry and herbs, with a rounded texture and long spicy finish. Score - 92. (Decanter World Wine Awards, 2024)
Saint-Véran produces only Chardonnay, and the wines bear a close similarity to those of its renowned neighbour Pouilly-Fuissé, which actually divides the vineyards of Saint-Véran into northern and southern sections. This wine is a wonderful introduction to white Burgundy, offering apple, pear, citrus, almond, spice, and a flinty minerality.
100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cedary nose with balsamic notes and lovely red fruit aromas, touches of mint and blackcurrants. Quite classy, energetic graphitey tannins. Score - 93. (Decanter World Wine Awards, 2025)
A savory and succulent red with strawberry and slate character. Medium-bodied, it has fine and dusty tannins and a tangy, fresh finish. Lemon-rind undertones. So delicious now. Drink or hold. Score - 93. (jamessuckling.com, Nov. 7, 2024)