Vintages Release: April 4, 2020
91
Luigi Bosca Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Reserve’ 2017
Mendoza, Argentina $18.95 (128629) 13.8% alcohol
This mellow 100% cabernet sauvignon, from vines averaging 40 years-old and aged 14 months in French and American oak, opens the door to an intense nose of ripe blackberry, blueberry, green pepper, black peppercorn and graphite. Silky soft on the palate, it showcases concentrated flavours of dark ripe fruit, dry cherry, kirsch liqueur, dry sage and a heartwarming peppery note showing up mid-palate persisting in the splendid dry savoury finish. It’s totally enjoyable to sip on its own or poured alongside herb-marinated, grilled flank steak. (Louise Boutin)
Vintages release: April 18, 2020
90
Henry of Pelham ‘Estate’ Riesling 2018
VQA Short Bench Hills $19.95 (557165) 10.5% alcohol
This is the off-dry wine to serve to your, ‘I don’t like sweet wine’ friend. Once passed the petroleum whiff, poached pear, ginger and honey aromas charm the nose, There’s good weight on the palate lifted with bright pink grapefruit acidity and pickled ginger zing, delighting the most sceptical palate all the way to the honey-tinged yummy finish. This is a value-laden treat on its own or when paired with a vegetarian red curry. (Louise Boutin)
Vintages Release: April 18, 2020
92
Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection’ Shiraz 2017
Barossa $24.95 (12907) 14.5% alcohol
This is an easy-going, crowd- and food-friendly shiraz that’ll please novice and connoisseur red-wine lovers alike and it’s great value. Aromas of red and dark cherry/berry fruit dressed with savoury spice, pencil shavings and licorice abound. It flows over the palate with delightful flavours of red plum and black raspberry with peppery notes and dollops of racy tang and acidity providing balance throughout the lengthy, mouth-watering finish and aftertaste. Delightful on its own, sublime with burgers, pizza or grilled rack of lamb. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: April 18, 2020
92
Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection’ Shiraz 2017
Barossa $24.95 (12907) 14.5% alcohol
This is an easy-going, crowd- and food-friendly shiraz that’ll please novice and connoisseur red-wine lovers alike and it’s great value. Aromas of red and dark cherry/berry fruit dressed with savoury spice, pencil shavings and licorice abound. It flows over the palate with delightful flavours of red plum and black raspberry with peppery notes and dollops of racy tang and acidity providing balance throughout the lengthy, mouth-watering finish and aftertaste. Delightful on its own, sublime with burgers, pizza or grilled rack of lamb. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: May 2, 2020
91
Henry of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Chardonnay 2018
VQA Short Hills Bench $29.95 (616466) 13.0% alcohol
This is a well-crafted, oaked chardonnay sourced from hand-harvested fruit, fermented and aged in French oak barrel, 40% new. Expect a complex nose of baked apple, dry pear, cardamom, butterscotch and vanilla. This is medium-bodied with refreshing texture and offers orchard fruit, caramel and vanilla flavours all balanced with lemon curd notes in the clean medium-long finish. This is a treat with sea-salt dusted, roasted almond or baked brie on toasted baguette. (Louise Boutin)
Vintages Release: TBD
• The following 2018 John Duval Wines ‘Plexus – White Blend’ is a northern Rhône-inspired blend—48% marsanne from Marananga region/43% roussanne from Kalimna region/9% viognier from Eden Valley.
95
John Duval Wines ‘Plexus – White Blend’ 2018
Barossa, South Australia $40.00 12.5% alcohol
This leaps from the glass with alluring, complex aromas of ginger root, mandarin peel, nectarine and wisps of honeysuckle. It showcases deft balance, excellent value, generous mouthfeel, purity of fruit and plenty of pizzazz. It’s crisp and refreshing from twist top to last drop providing segue to a fruit bowl of flavours with honey-drizzled nectarine and quince jelly mingling on the mid-palate with piquant spice, lemon curd and blood orange. These compatible flavours persist through the mouth-watering finish. Good now and for the next 5 years, pour with pan-seared freshwater fish or mussels steamed in white wine, leeks and garlic. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• The following 2017 John Duval Wines ‘Plexus – Red Blend’ is a blend of two wine regions—87% Barossa Valley with the balance from Eden Valley—and three grape varieties—51% Shiraz sourced from old vineyards in sub-regions of Krondorf and Ebenezer, and Eden Valley region/32% grenache from Tanunda and Ebenezer sub-regions/17% Mourvèdre from the Light Pass sub-region. 2017 was an excellent vintage in these parts with exceptionally long hang time for the fruit. Picking began in Light Pass on March 10 and ended in Eden Valley on April 30 allowing fruit to attain optimum Baume level (sugar level in unfermented grape)—as well as organaleptical ripeness—taste, smell, sight and touch. The 2017 has all its stars aligned with a near-perfect previous winter and 2017 growing season from which the stunning fruit used in this wine was allowed to find much of its own way to bottle with very little human intervention.
98
John Duval Wines ‘Plexus – Red Blend’ 2017
Barossa, South Australia $54.95 (73049) 14.5% alcohol
This showcases persistent purity of fruit, deft balance, elegance, complexity, value for money and fabulous flavour. Aromas of violets, sprigs of savoury herbs and spice-infused red cherry/berry fruit abound. It bathes the palate with an elegant, balanced and delectable flow of crunchy red currant meeting ripe, sweet-tinged mulberry and blueberry decorated with savory notes, soft, ripe tannin and enhanced by mouth-watering tang. Medium-plus bodied with creamy smooth mouthfeel, you can enjoy now with a grilled rack of lamb or tuck away for seven or eight years to experience and enjoy all it has to offer. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• The following 2018 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection – Eden Valley’ Viognier was 60% pressed into small and large, old French oak barrel with the balance in stainless steel tank then left 10 months on its fine lees and stirred regularly.
92
Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Samuel’s Collection – Eden Valley’ Viognier 2018
Eden Valley $24.95 13.5% alcohol
A perfumed nose of honeysuckle and pit fruit—yellow plum, nectarine and apple—ushers in a glorious gusher of palate flavours all creamy smooth with excellent mouthfeel—sugared and grilled pink grapefruit juxtaposed to ripe, sweet grilled pineapple, ripe apricot and great balancing tang from lemon curd. It finishes lengthy and balanced on a pin with ripe palate flavours and racy citrus tang. Pour with roast chicken or breaded veal cutlets. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• Fruit for the following 2017 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Virgilius’ Viognier was hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed to small and large seasoned French oak barrels, none new, before being ambient-yeast fermented in the old barrels then maturing ten months on its lees (spent yeast cells) with regular stirring to enhance many aspects in the wine; e.g. increase mouthfeel, heighten palate weight, increase complexity and flavour generosity.
95
Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Virgilius’ Viognier 2017
Eden Valley $59.95 13.5% alcohol
This is Yalumba’s flagship white wine, kudos to winemaker, Louisa Rose, for waving her magic wand over this stunning Virgilius viognier. It’s naturally dressed in Australia’s colours—gold and green-hued in the glass. Lifted aromas of Indian cooking spice, quince jelly and wisps of honeysuckle abound. The palate’s treated to a medium-plus bodied, generously textured flow of balanced and beautiful ambrosia—lemon curd, quince jelly, white peach and sharp ginger root—persisting through the monumentally long, delectable finish. Food friendly, pour with beef tagine, curried lamb or your favourite spicy lentil recipe. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
92
Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘Sanctum’ Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
South Australia $18.95 (460667) 13.0% alcohol
Earthy, smoky aromas give way to black berry and blueberry and baking spice on the nose of this beauty. A profusion of cranberry and red currant mingles with black pepper-infused, juicy black currant adorned with juicy tang and underpinned by soft ripe tannin. This is medium-full bodied with silky smooth mouthfeel, deft balance, complexity and racy pizzazz. It finishes long and luxurious. It's drinking well now and will on to 2026. Pour with thick, grilled medium-rare, premium-cut beefsteak. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• Thirty-six percent of the following 2014 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Menzies’ Cabernet Sauvignon matured 20 months in new French 300L hogsheads with the balance in one year and older small and large American, French and Hungarian barrels.
96
Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Menzies’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
Coonawarra $70.00 14.0% alcohol
The fruit for this wine was sourced from a vineyard of mostly 29-year-old vines found in the heart of Coonawarra’s iconic terra rossa soils and it shows up in the dazzling aromas and delectable flavours. Aromas of peppery spice, floral notes and hints of mint precede a balanced and beautiful shower of palate-flavours—dark bramble berry interwoven with crunchy pomegranate and dark bittersweet chocolate. This showcases persistent purity of fruit, deft balance, a firm structure and a long, dry, lip-smacking finish and aftertaste. Drink now after a three-hour decant and for the next decade. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• The following 2014 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Octavius – Old Vine’ Shiraz was sourced from vines averaging 71 years with 63% sourced from Barossa Valley, 37% from Eden Valley. Finished wine was matured in 38% new French and American octaves (100 L barrels coopered by Yalumba at their winery cooperage) and 19% one-year-old French barriques (250 L), hogsheads (300 L) and octaves (100 L). Vines from which fruit was sourced for this wine average 100 years old with 61% sourced from Eden Valley and the balance from Barossa Valley.
96
Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Octavius – Old Vine’ Shiraz 2015
Barossa $155.00 14.5% alcohol
Aromas of grilled savory herbs, red fruit—plum and currant—interlace with mocha, vanillin and baking spice on the nose. A surge of ripe boysenberry and passionfruit mingle with exotic spice and aniseed on entry meeting up with good weight and generous texture mid-palate and persisting through the extended, balanced and beautiful finish and aftertaste. This is firmly structured and delectable from cork pop to last drop after a four-hour aeration/decant and poured with seasoned and grilled medium-rare, beef tenderloin steak. This can be easily cellared until 2035. (Vic Harradine)
Vintages Release: TBD
• Cabernet Sauvignon fruit was sourced for the following 2014 Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Caley’ Cabernet Sauvignon – Shiraz from a 2.7 Ha plot of an estate Coonawarra vineyard planted in 1972 now supplying 82% of total fruit for this wine while the 18% Shiraz was sourced from two, old-vine Barossa vineyards with one planted in Eden Valley in 1972 by the late Helen Hill-Smith and the other from a vineyard in the Krondorf area planted 1974.
97
Yalumba Family Winemakers ‘The Caley’ Cabernet Sauvignon - Shiraz 2014
Coonawarra & Barossa $500.00 (537316) 14.0% alcohol
Aromas of sprigs of savory herbs, medicinal notes, red and dark berry fruit leap from the glass. It coats the palate with a powerfully structured wash of black currant, dark plum. mint and a ripe, linear streak of tannin framed by tangy acidity. This showcases persistent purity of fruit, good balance, elegance and ageability; good to go now to 2045. It will take years for this to fully reveal itself; patience should be highly rewarded. (Vic Harradine)
Classics Catalogue Release: April 2, 2020
• The following 2017 John Duval Wines ‘Entity’ Shiraz was sourced from 100% old-vine shiraz found in the Krondorf, Eden Valley, Light Pass, Moppa and Ebenezer areas then barrel matured for 15 months, with 32% new, fine-grain 300 L French oak hogsheads and the balance in two-, three- and four-year-old French oak 300L hogsheads.
96
John Duval Wines ‘Entity’ Shiraz 2017
Barossa, South Australia $59.95 (73056) 14.0% alcohol
Lifted aromas of red cherry/berry fruit intertwined with mixed spice and floral notes abound on the nose of this fabulous, value-laden shiraz. It wraps around the palate with a medium-bodied, generously textured swath of flavour showcasing crème de cassis, juicy blueberry and wisps of black licorice persisting through the lingering, luscious, balanced and beautiful, finish and aftertaste. Drinking well now and with careful cellaring, good to 2027. (Vic Harradine)
Classics Catalogue Release: September 3, 2020
• The following 2015 John Duval Wines ‘Plexus – Red Blend’ was sourced from old shiraz vines in the in Ebenezer and Krondorf regions, grenache from the Tanunda, Eden valley and Ebenezer regions and mourvèdre from the Light Pass and Ebenezer regions. Fermentation was accomplished with submerged cap in small open-top stainless steel fermenters before 100% barrel maturation for 15 months in 300L French oak fine-grained hogsheads with only 10% new and 90% in well-seasoned, three to six-year-old hogsheads allowing wine to express its lively red and black fruit, crisp tang and fine-grained tannin.
96
John Duval Wines ‘Plexus – Red Blend’ 2015
Barossa Valley, South Australia $54.95 (73049) 14.5% alcohol
This delectable red blend—52% shiraz/32%/grenache/16% mourvèdre—surges over the palate with flavour galore preceded by aromas of floral notes, savoury herbs and red and black berry. Palate flavours of black bramble berry, red currant and pie cherry are underpinned by ripe fine-grained tannin and framed by lip-smacking tang with all persisting through the balanced and beautiful exceptionally lengthy finish and aftertaste. It’s medium bodied with good mouthfeel and good to go now with grilled beef tenderloin or, after careful cellaring, enjoyed after another seven or eight years. (Vic Harradine)
Classics Catalogue Release: October 1, 2020
• The following 2016 John Duval Wines ‘Eligo’ Shiraz is inextricably entwined with its iconic winemaker. This is the best wine that John Duval could fashion after sourcing and then further selecting the best shiraz that Barossa Valley and Eden Valley had to offer this vintage. Meticulous vine and barrel selection and masterful wine blending coalesced with the highly talented John Duval in this, his flagship red wine. It’s 100% shiraz with approximately 65% sourced from Barossa Valley floor and 35% from cooler Eden Valley. It was fermented with submerged cap in small stainless steel fermenters with some batches remaining up to two weeks on their skins. It was then matured in 100% French oak 300L hogsheads for 20 months—50% new and 50% in two and three-year-old hogsheads. A doff of the cap to winemaker extraordinaire, John Duval.
98
John Duval Wines ‘Eligo’ Shiraz 2016
Barossa, South Australia $125.00 (399642) 14.5% alcohol
Dark, almost opaque in the glass, aromas of black Bing cherry, juicy black currant and grilled savoury herbs proliferate on the nose. It cuts a wide swath of balanced, medium-full bodied, generously textured palate flavours—black raspberry, blueberry and wisps of vanilla, charcuterie and earthy notes soaked in delightful tangy acidity and underpinned by still-evolving ripe tannin. This is both graceful and powerful at the same time, it’s drinking beautifully now and will provide additional delightful aromas and flavours with controlled cellaring now to +2025. (Vic Harradine)