New Arrivals

93 Points - James Halliday

Matured in American oak (20% new). Full crimson-purple; the cart carries a full load of all things nice, dispensing blue and black fruits along the way, and just when you wonder whether that's all to be had, polished tannins and a swish of oak put matters right.

95 Points - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

It’s much like last year’s release with just a bit more weight. It’s a better wine as a result. This is a powerful, sturdy red, built Tonka Tuff, with blackcurrant, black olive and bay/gum leaf notes rumbling throughout. In flavour terms it’s almost into gravel territory, and indeed almost into coffee grounds/bitter chocolate. Ropes of muscular tannin pull assuredly through the fruit,. This will be a 25 year+ wine. It is excellent.

** Available for delivery on Friday 14th December **

1 x Eileen Hardy Chardonnay 2013 / 96 Points

1 x Eileen Hardy Chardonnay 2014 / 97+ Points

1 x Eileen Hardy Chardonnay 2015 / 98 Points

1 x Eileen Hardy Chardonnay 2016 / 97 Points

95 Points - James Halliday 

Only Hardys has the viticultural resources available to make a synergistic blend such as this, the unexpected result a coherent medium-bodied wine that is light on its feet, skipping through the full Monty of red and black berry fruits, the tannins adding to the overall picture of elegance.

95 Points - James Halliday

There is definite synergy in the blend, even it if it's the Yarra Valley that provides most of the flavour and the glue; grapefruit is in the driving seats, but there's a special texture to the mouthfeel, part fruit, part oak-derived.

97+ Points - Jeb Dunnuck 

Coming from a terrific site located at the southern end of the Santa Lucia Highlands, the 2016 Chardonnay East of Eden Pisoni Vineyard boasts phenomenal notes of ripe citrus and white peach fruits, white flowers, and freshly crushed rocks. It's clean, incredibly pure, and elegant on the palate, with a level of tension and vibrancy you don't find too often in the vintage. I followed this bottle for two days and it only improved with air. It's a brilliant Chardonnay from Lato that’s going to benefit from a year or two of bottle age and age gracefully for a decade or more. Don’t miss it!

99 Points - Stuart McCloskey 

"A wine which offers a special level of purity from the outset and riveting from beginning to end. The nose is flamboyant, intensely perfumed and layered beautifully with plum, liquorice, asphalt, turning to roasted coffee with more aeration. The palate is seamless and washes sweet fruit across every facet with effortless grace. Sweet raspberry, cassis, violets with a touch of background spice. The tannins are fine with perfectly judge acidity, neither of which interrupts the super-long finish. This wine highlights Paul’s natural skill to understand the correlation between vineyard, grape to wine, which is often amiss. A captivating wine of ethereal grace, magical beauty opposed to a dense powerhouse. A US Syrah masterpiece for sure and will only get better over the next decade (sampled using Zalto Bordeaux glass)"

95 Points - William Kelley (robertparker.com)

96+ Points - Jeb Dunnuck 

Lato always makes the most of this great vineyard, which is located in the cooler, Pacific Ocean-influenced Santa Maria Valley. Black raspberries, red plums, violets, and hints of scorched earth all emerge from the 2016 Pinot Noir Suerte Solomon Hills Vineyard and it’s one of the more masculine, mineral-laced wines in the lineup. Nevertheless, it has beautiful purity and an undeniable elegance. Aged 15 months in 65% new French oak, give bottles a year or so and enjoy over the following decade.

** Special 12 bottle case price - £11.95 per bottle **

96+ Points - Stuart McCloskey

Hand-picked from the Coal River Valley, East Coast and Derwent Valley, whole bunch-pressed, fermented in French oak from five different coopers. Deep aromas of gunflint and ripe, yellow stone fruits harmoniously fused with layers of mineral complexity and a touch of nutty oak. Medium to full-bodied and a silk-like mouthfeel. The palate is drenched with ripe stone fruits and a density, opulence, energy and drive which is quite extraordinary given the wine’s value. Every grape is assessed for its quality and character, hand-picked with care and thoughtfully considered for its winemaking potential. Each fruit parcel is kept separate, which ensures the core of its flavour components are captured at precisely the right moment. Each batch of wine is matured in the finest oak, resulting in a wine that is deeply impressive. Please do not miss this wine's exhilarating complexity and pedigree. Truly remarkable for the price and quite simply the best Chardonnay I have ever sampled at this price level.  Magnificent. Superb now and enjoy to 2023. Served using Zalto Bordeaux glassware.

Each bottle is presented in its original wooden case

95+ Points - Robert M Parker

An absolutely outrageous wine and probably one of the great all-time Cabernet Sauvignons from Sonoma is the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Rosso Vineyard Sonoma Valley. This is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the relatively recent Moon Mountain AVA, that aged for 27 months in 67% new French and 14 % new American oak. This is a wine of thrilling levels of intensity, with an incredible fragrance of spring flowers, blue fruits, black fruits, especially crème de cassis and blackberry, loamy soil undertones, and a touch of licorice and smoke. The wine is full-bodied, with magnificent fruit intensity and purity, loads of glycerin (15.5% alcohol) and a finish of a good 40+ seconds. This is a great bottle of wine that can still be purchased for less than $100.00, which is increasingly rare in Northern California.

96+ Points - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

It’s a Big Day in the North.

Woah. Pow pow powerful, yet light too. Dark cherries, damp earth, spice, maybe some cheeky violet, but a brooding kind of ‘minerality’ throughout. Tannin is firm, a long emery rasp through the palate, pure acidity, perfume, earth and grip on a long finish. There’s some meatiness and smoky reductive stuff here, for sure, but the fruit and vineyard shines through. I’m all about this. Wonderful.

96 Points - James Halliday

The Dr Edge Pinots are part of a voyage of discovery, so it is that the East, North and South are all clone 115 (the ‘16s were MV6), and all have identical vinification: half whole-bunch carbonic maceration, half whole berries, once wild fermentation begins, 80% of the bunches are destemmed on top with 20% remaining as whole bunches, matured in French barriques (10% new) for 9 months. Fragrant, with more red fruits, long and silky; reflects the clonal change, driven by the very cool vintage, the tannin sotto voce.

95+ Points - Gary Walsh (Wine Front)

Fine perfume, pretty and floral, strawberries dusted with pepper and spice, smoky autumn leaves and walks in the park. It’s delicate, rose petals over strawberry, cool bell-clear acidity, a playful rasp of tannin, and a spicy strawberry finish of impeccable length. Lacy, delicate wine. Diaphanous and thoroughly charming. Oh yes.

97 Points - James Halliday

MV6, 777 and 115 clones, 60% from the Derwent Valley, 30% East Coast and 10% Tamar Valley. The bouquet is multifaceted, with no single message from the single vineyard group, the palate moving onto another tier, but carries with it the higher-toned red fruits of clone 115 (compared to MV6 last year). It also achieves a lightness of touch without any sacrifice of line or length. This is the serious business of enjoyment, not the science of dissecting small pieces of a large puzzle.

99 Points - Bob Campbell

This a terrific example of one of the country's consistently best wines. I find the silken, seamless texture totally seductive. It's challenging to identify individual flavours because there are so many of them, this wine defines complexity. Floral, herb, berry fruit and an array of hard-to-describe savoury elements suggesting baked earth, wood smoke and the sort of scents you might encounter in sniffing distance of a Turkish spice stall.

97 Points - James Suckling

This has a very attractive, pure core of ripe red and black cherries, adorned in gently spicy and sappy nuances. Youthful and full of promise. The palate has a smoothly carved core of ripe red cherries with powder-fine tannins that build in layers and hold a supple, strong and focused finish. 

An intensely perfumed nose that’s dominated by floral notes in the typical Calvert expression. Rose and violet give way to underlying blueberry and plum with background hints of leather and polished wood. The power of the fruit is considerable but the overall mouthfeel is characteristically refined, precise and detailed. The linear nature of the tannins brings a pleasing tautness and purpose. As accurate and fulfilling as we could ever imagine it to be.

95 Points - Bob Campbell

Aromatic pinot noir with spice, plum and violet aromas that are joined by liquorice, prune and subtle nutty oak on the palate. Dense, intense wine with strong sweet fruit restrained by subtle tannins. A rich, almost chewy wine, with impressive underlying power. Best served slightly chilled to temper fruit sweetness.

94 Points - James Suckling

Complex, brambly red-cherry and red-plum aromas with a lightly sappy, forest-floor edge. The palate has a super smooth array of vibrant red cherries and a clearly defined, layered texture.

97 Points - Bob Campbell

Delicious pinot noir, with a sumptuous texture and floral, plum, dark cherry and Oriental spice flavours. Supple, elegant wine with impressive underlying power - the flavours linger long after the wine has been swallowed (or spat in my case). An accessible wine in a very appealing style.

97 Points - Stuart McCloskey

By far, the standout wine from the Talbott samples which I received. The nose unfolds with some aeration but retains its tight, mineral and steely fresh character – a nutty character unfolds after a while. The palate offers a degree of richness but has a tight and elegant core which is most attractive. Buttered citrus, stone fruits and tropical layers in abundance with touches of toast and oak. The mouthfeel and textural grip are impressive which support the wine’s overall harmonious balance. Lovely acidity and vitality which contrasts beautifully with the ripe fruit and toasty, mealy flavours. This is just beginning to show its full potential and will comfortably cellar for 5+ years. Excellent and served using Zalto Bordeaux glassware.

94 Points - Bob Campbell

First release of a brand new wine brand. Quite a rich, flavoursome and oaky red with cigar box, plum, dark berry, anise, spice and liquorice flavours. A weighty, textural wine with appealing spicy complexity. Accessible now but should age well

95 Points - Bob Campbell

First release of a new Marlborough chardonnay. Full-flavoured, with salty, briny, citrus, toasty yeast lees and spicy oak flavours. Lively, tangy wine with a pleasing texture and lengthy finish. Intensity and power suggest good cellaring potential. Clearly one to watch 

98+ Points - Lisa Perrotti-Brown (RobertParker.com)

The Clare Chardonnay is sourced from the Hyde Vineyard on the Napa Valley side of Carneros, planted to Old Wente clone vines that are now 22 years old. The 2015 Chardonnay Clare is a doppelganger for a great Meursault, featuring gloriously seductive pink grapefruit, lemon meringue pie and mandarin peel scents with hints of lime blossoms, fresh ginger, struck match and toasted almonds. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is super intense, with layer upon layer of electrically charged citrus and floral notes, framed by lively acid and a silken texture, finishing very long and very minerally. Wow!!

97+ Points - Jeb Dunnuck

The 2015 Chardonnay Estate Vineyard is another steely, concentrated, almost austere wine from the estate that’s going to demand cellaring. Dried herbs, citrus, white flowers, and salty minerality give way to a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, backward Chardonnay that has awesome potential, yet needs another year of bottle age.

96 Points - Lisa Perrotti-Brown (RobertParker.com)

Medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Estate Vineyard is beautifully scented of red roses, oolong tea, dusty soil and cinnamon stick with touches of cranberries, rhubarb and fungi. It displays incredible structure on the medium-bodied palate with very firm, very ripe tannins and an electric backbone of freshness supporting the densely packed perfumed red fruits, finishing with great length and depth.

98 Points - Stuart McCloskey “An incredibly exciting wine from the boutique winery based in Martinborough. Dark, brooding with a wonderful perfume - full of the aromas of Autumn. Damson, cinnamon, spice and a touch of woodsmoke. The palate exudes intense, luscious and concentrated flavours of sweet, ripe damson, plum, spiced cherry and black fruits. The quality of the fruit enriches the fleshy mouthfeel which is so satisfying and moreish. Lots of drive and energy too. The texture is luxurious and balanced perfectly with fine-grained supporting tannins. A superb wine which flows seamlessly and lasts on the palate forever. Just beautiful” Zalto Burgundy glass is a must!

Viticulture & Winemaking: There are eight clones of Pinot Noir in the vineyard. They are close planted and have a low fruiting wire, giving very small vines which produce intensely flavoured fruit. Most clones are harvested and fermented separately, except for 15 rows that contain a mixture of the Dijon clones that are treated as one parcel and co-ferment for added complexity.

Hand-picked, 14 days on skins, 20 months in French barriques and hogsheads (72% new). Good depth to the colour; a powerful, medium to full-bodied shiraz expressing place, variety and vinification to maximum benefit. The black cherry and satsuma plum fruit has the usual cool grown exotic spices, and the tannins do their job to perfection.

97 Points - James Halliday

The wine lives up to its reputation as one of Australia's greatest chardonnays, and you wonder why it isn't more frequently mentioned in dispatches. The answer is at least partly due to the very small amounts judged by Petaluma to be up to the strict standards set. Grapefruit leads the superb flavours of the palate, white peach in close attendance. The acidity is precise, the oak merely a means to an end.

Tasmanian and Yarra Valley fruit bursting with flavour and complexity in equal measure, yet linear in its profile. An amalgam of excellent fruit, mouth-watering sulphides, seamless oak integration and zest appeal, with everything reined-in by superfine acidity. Chardonnay nirvana well and truly thriving in Australia.

95 Points - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

This is a beauty. Powerful but graceful and refreshing. Layered with judicious sweet and spicy oak, sumptuous, fresh stone fruit and green apple flavours, detail in ‘mineral’ charm and ‘savoury note’. So much going on. And though so much going on, such harmony and precision, despite the assertive nature of the wine. It’s regal stuff here, done so well.

This is Rolls Royce stuff from a big company made exactly as it might be from a small producer. It's open-fermented with precise plunging automated by the winemakers with the push of a button, and then put in 100% new French oak for 15 months. Lead me to Hermitage in the Rhone Valley and I?ll find its brother.

Small open fermenters, hydraulic-plunged, basket-pressed, matured in French barriques for 16 months. The dense colour attests to the quality of the fruit and the intelligent winemaking (in a state of the art winery); it manages to combine richness with finesse, a gin-clear sense of place, and a lightness of foot aided by the controlled alcohol and superfine tannins.

Crimson red with dark hues. The nose is alive with rose petal and lavender characters, sweet spice and white pepper, with hints of dried herbs, and pleasant sweet strawberry Grenache aromas. The palate is complex with soft, round savoury and spice characters from the extended maceration, Grenache berry flavours and a hint of quince paste, with a good length and soft tannin finish. It is a luscious, well balanced wine which is drinking well now, and will also cellar well for the next 10 years or more.

98 Points - James Halliday

The 22nd release of Meshach celebrates the great '12 Barossa Valley vintage. The colour is still deep crimson-purple, setting the pattern for the bouquet and palate to follow. A wine of the highest quality in the Olympian class of Barossa Valley shiraz, seamless, calmly powerful and perfectly balanced. Black fruits dominate, but this is no one-dimensional power play, with hints of licorice, bitter chocolate and graphite. The tannins and oak contributions are perfectly placed and paced.

91+ Points - Lisa Perrotti-Brown (RobertParker.com)

The 2016 Chardonnay Mannequin has delicate peach blossoms and ripe pears notes with hints of ginger, freshly baked bread and allspice. Full-bodied with a seductive oiliness to the texture, it fills the palate with spicy pears plus savory/toasty nuances, finishing long and perfumed. 8,100 cases produced.

Pale yellow with a chartreuse tint, the wine opens with bright aromatics of lime zest, lemon, green apple and a touch of honey. The entry is refreshing with ripe pineapple and grapefruit, framed by a nervy backbone of satiating acidity. A mid-palate of white peach and a hint of pith melds seamlessly into a long, energetic finish of wet stone and key lime.

Bright ruby in the glass, the aromatics concentrate—cherries, raspberries, dried rose petals, a touch of sweet oak and a hint of forest floor. The entry is silky with a classic Pinot Noir palate: loads of ripe red fruit, savory undertones and a principled backbone of acidity. Balanced, lean and complex, the wine finishes softly at length.

17 Points - Richard Hemming (JancisRobinson.com)

Wonderfully rich nose with black cherry, tea leaves, dried herbs and liquorice. Packs a serious punch but the aromatic complexity matches the structural intensity. Rich, ripe and potent.

An inky, dark garnet sits in the glass with bursting aromatics even from afar—ripe blackcurrant and blackberry with hints of Kirsch, Madagascar vanilla and cigar box. Velvety and rich on entry and through the mid, the wine offers flavors of dark plum, blueberry and notes of fennel, fresh leather and a subtle minerality. Plush, layered and dense, the wine finishes with dusty tannins and a lingering touch of black cherry.

91 Points - Lisa Perrotti-Brown (RobertParker.com)

Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Palermo Cabernet Sauvignon (mainly Cabernet Sauvignon with splashes of Merlot and Malbec) opens with notions of crushed red currants, blackberries and mulberries with touches of Indian spices, sandalwood and menthol. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a wonderfully spicy undercurrent with loads of red and black fruits and a chewy frame, finishing long and perfumed. 24,000 cases produced.

Royal Hobart International Wine Show 2016 - Trophy Best Riesling
Royal Hobart International Wine Show 2016 - GOLD
National Wine Show of Australia 2016 - GOLD
Decanter World Wine Awards 2016 - GOLD
Sydney Royal Wine Show 2015 - GOLD
Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2014 - GOLD

98 Points - James Halliday

A special cellar release wine. Luminous green-gold, the bouquet and palate an exercise in harmony. Meyer lemon and lime flavours lead the journey, hints of lightly browned toast in the background. The acidity is essential, but it is likewise simply part of the team.