Flowstone

Best Sauvignon Blanc at the 2020 Halliday Wine Companion Awards

James Halliday "A selection of the highest quality fruit, fermented in two barriques. Upon completion, the wine remained on lees for a further 15 months with a bit of batonnage to imbue textural complexity. More reticent aromatically than the standard cuvee, the future lies tucked in between the baby fat of piercing fruit intensity and the sheer tenacity of flavour. This deserves a place among the country's few seriously fine examples - it will unravel beautifully with patience."

96 Points - James Halliday "From a dry-grown vineyard in Wilyabrup planted in the ‘70s, hand-picked, open-fermented, 18 days on skins, matured in French barriques for 3 years with a further 15 months in bottle before release. Stuart Pym makes light work of what is a complex exercise, and a patient one at that given the time in oak and thereafter in bottle. It has a texture and structure all of its own, verging on velvety, yet reminding me that the cassis, black olive and dried bay leaf could only come from cabernet."

Top Rated Cabernet Sauvignon at the 2020 Halliday Wine Companion Awards

97 Points - James Halliday "Open-fermented, plunged three times daily, before 17 days on skins, 3 years in barrel plus another 15 months of settling prior to dispatch, the result is a lustrous cabernet. Crushed herb melds effortlessly with cassis, violet, gummy bear pastille, black olive and a swab of bay leaf tannins. There is so much glycerol, that it is already a nice drink. Perfumed and inviting. However, my suggestion is to test your patience, cellaring it for 8 years onwards."

Top Rated Chardonnay at the 2020 Halliday Wine Companion Awards

98 Points - James Halliday "A low yielding crop from the estate's home vineyard was fermented in equal parts new and used barriques, with full mlf, before a further 18 months of ageing in the same vessels, imparting a key lime zing to the aroma and a finely tuned meld of match strike flint. Lemon curd, white peach and grapefruit pulp purr along finely tuned mineral cylinders. This is exceptional, with winemaking a point. A challenge to differentiate between top white Burgundy and the stamp of a regional superstar!"

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96 Points - James Halliday "From a dry grown vineyard in Wilyabrup, planted in the late '70s. Hand-picked, open fermented for 17 days then heads to French oak barriques for 3 years, and once bottled allowed to relax for 15 months. What a wine. Complex yet refined with florals, cassis and warm earth, full-bodied but long and pure with svelte tannins. Only 92 dozen made."

Exclusive to The Vinorium

97 Points - James Halliday "The 'lucky' 7th vintage, whole-bunch pressed, fermented in French barriques (50% new), 100% mlf, matured for 18 months. The brilliant straw-green hue says there's something special here, for it's incredibly detailed, precise and balanced, the three spears of perfect varietal fruit, high quality oak and acidity all unsheathed, but not required to be thrown. Only 88 dozen made."

95 Points - Campbell Mattinson "Single vineyard chardonnay from the southern reaches of the region. Stunning chardonnay. Not so much idiosyncratic as likely to polarise. It’s rich with custardy lactose character, combined with honeysuckle and toffee apples, though there’s also white peach, flint, woodsmoke and citrus. It’s rich and cutting at once, matchsticky and seamless too. It’s quite outstanding, so long as you’re into this kind of thing."

Exclusive to The Vinorium

97 Points - James Halliday "Hand-picked, whole bunch-pressed, fermented in used oak and demi-muids with staves, matured for 11 months in oak, plus 15 months in bottle. The complex, vaguely smoky/charry bouquet shifts around radically on the super-intense and complex palate, with citrus and snow pea doing battle with ripe citrus and guava/lychee tropical fruits, the latter prevailing. A salute to the late Didier Dageneau."

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94 Points - James Halliday

Handpicked Dijon clones 95 and 96 from a single vineyard at Karridale, whole bunch-pressed, wild fermentation and 11 months maturation in French barriques (20% new), plus 30 months in bottle. 360 dozen made. Trembles on the brink of unripeness, but is pulled back by the complexity built into the wine. Will always be Corton or Chablis, not Meursault or Montrachet.

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James Halliday "70/30%, fermented separately in open-fermenters, the cabernet remaining on skins for 17 days, the touriga for 9 days, matured in French oak (20% new) for 24 months, plus a further 24 months bottle age. Stuart Pym has got his teeth into this bone, and isn't about to let go. It's got flavour, texture, structure, a point of difference - what it doesn't have is the finesse or logic of his other wines."