These are my tasting notes from the bottles I thought were the best of the day. I look forward to buying some of them and drinking them at ease with a good pairing of food. Meat yes, of course, but also hearty pasta, baked fish, roasted veggies and aged cheese.
Howard Park
Abercrombie 2010
Intense, round and long, can still evolve 4-5 years to round tannins to perfection.
Score 89
Larry Cherubino
Cherubino Margaret River 2013
Perfect balance, long and mod complex.
Score 90
The 2021 bottle is fruity, balanced, ready not, more limited potential.
RRP £42 Score 89
Budworth 2019
RRP £65 Score 94
Frankland River 2011
An incredibly sumptuous wine with compex tertiary notes and velvety consistency.
RRP £65 Score 96
Leewin Estate
Art Series 2019
Intense aroma, balanced and surprisingly ready now, maybe thanks to the French barrique.
RRP £50 Score 90
Moss Wood
Moss Wood 2001
Smooth, long an complex, almost creamy.
RRP £80 Score 94
The 2021 bottle is also ready now, less complex.
Score 90
Nocturne
Yallingup 2021
Balanced and long, best in 3-4 years?
RRP £ 32, Score 89
Single Vineyard 2022
Round, perfect balance, long, ready.
RRP £47 Score 92
Passel Estate
Passel Estate 2018
Perfect balance and very long, complex.
RRP 35 Score 93
Pessel Estate Lot 71 reserve 2017
An amazing wine with still 4-5 years of potential evolution.
RRP £55 Score 95
Stella Bella
Luminosa 2017
Intense, elegant, complex and long. An exceptional cab, destemmed and hot fermented (29 °C) with 14 days on skins, MLF in oak and 14 months in French barrels, mixed new and used.
RRP 58 Score 95
Vasse Felix
Vasse Felix 2016
86% cab, 14% malbec
A harmonious wine, it's got everything you can dream of in a cab: elegance, length, complexity, body.
RRP £38 Score 96
The Vasse Felix 2021 bottle turns out to be quite a bit lighter. Score 89
Tom Cully 2015
81% cab 16% malbec 3% petit verdot
A delicate wine still sports good complexity and length.
RRP £ 100 Score 90
Voyager Estate
Voyager Estate 2014 and 2018
Both vintages are superb cabs, with perfect balance and great length and complexity.
Steel open top fermentation and aged in French oak (half new) for 18 months.
RRP 66 Score 95
Woodlands
2014 Matthew and 2020 Eleanor
Both bottles offer a perfectly balanced wine, very complex and long. Fruit is still there but it has evolved, especially in the 2014 vintage, into intriguing tertiary nuances. Wines on the border of exceptionality.
RRP £75 Score 95
Levantine Hill
Samantha's Paddock mélenge traditionel
65% Cab 15% merlot 7% cab franc 3% malbec
Tasted the 2017 and 2018 vintages, both sumptuous, harmonious wines that tower above the magnificent landscape of Australian cabernet.
RRP £110, Score 95
Mount Mary
Quintet 2016
Round and ready now, a smooth velvet wine.
RRP 80 Score 94
The 2021 vintage is still a bit rough at the edges, give it a few years in the bottle.
Penfolds
Bin 407 2022 and 2010
Predictable, the 2010 is ready now and, incredibly, so is the 2022.
Both round, smooth like velvet, very long.
RRP £75, Score 95
Bin 707 2022 and 2020
Both amazing bottles, at the top of the Penfolds range, with length complexity and fruit.
RRP £450!! Yes Four hundred and fifty! Score 95
Yalumba
The Caley Cab/Shiraz 2016 and 2020
77% cab, 23% shiraz, proportions can change from year to year
Two harmonious bottles continue the incredible series of this afternoon.
RRP £240 Score 96
Henschke
Cyril Henschke 2019
A long and complex wine, I know I sound repetitive but this is the theme today.
RRO 125 Score 94
Kaesler, Barossa
Age of Light 2018
RRP 65 Score 92
Penfolds, Coonawarra, 2020 and 2022
Bin 169
Surprisingly the 2022 is readier than 2010, or put it another way 2010 is fresher than 2020.
RRP 160 Score 95
Wynns Coonawarra Estate
John Riddoch 2010 and 2021
RRP £100, Score for the older bottle 94 and the younger one 92
