Australia

Beyond Bordeaux – The 2025 Global Fine Wine Offering from La Place de Bordeaux…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

For the past few years, Bordeaux negociants have been supplementing their wine businesses by offering their distribution expertise acquired globally over many decades, to distribute alternative premium fine wines from around the world. CVBG have been one of the largest proponents of the “Beyond Bordeaux” wine category and accordingly, host an impressive fine wine tasting for the trade in London annually. Below are a selection of my scores from the 2025 offerings.

The impressive tasting of Beyond Bordeaux hosted in London by Negociant CVBG Dourthe.

Massetino 2023, IGT Toscana, 15% Abv.

Plush, exotic and lifted with aromatics of cherry kirsch liquor, cassis, sour plum and subtle brûléed vanilla nuances. Super sleek polished texture showing overt stony mineral tannins with a picante, grippy extract on the finish. Plenty of tension belies the 15% alcohol.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Marchesi Antinori Solaia 2022, IGT Toscana, 13.5% Abv.

Deep dark broody aromatics full of macerated black berries, damson plum and black cherry compote with a dusting of brûléed vanilla pod spice. Fleshy and silky soft, fulsome but also very characterful with a classical weightless concentration and elegance. A very polished expression.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Marques de Riscal Tapias 2022, Rioja DOC, 15% Abv.

Shows dense layers of black berry, damson plum and ripe wild strawberry. Ripe tight core with muscle but also precision. The oak is still dominant now but should integrate further and age gracefully.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

F. ALGUEIRA Dolio 2021, Ribera Sacra, 13% Abv.

Layered aromatics with dark bramble berry fruits, a graphite dusting, crushed stones and a hint of smoky reduction. Sleek and precise with a savoury plummy sweet – sour ripeness neatly tucked between bright linear acids and fine chalky tannins.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Chateau Cheval Blanc Petit Cheval Bordeaux Blanc 2023, 13.5% Abv.

A 73% Sauvignon Blanc and 17% Semillon blend, this new release shows a juicy opulent crystalline aromatics full of vibrant yellow grapefruit citrus, fresh fennel, ripe gooseberries and lemon grass spice. Deliciously full with a harmonious texture that’s mouth coating, almost creamy, finishing with a delicious purity and clarity. Superb. 

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cheval des Andes 2022, Mendoza, 14% Abv.

Cool integrated perfumed aromatics offering a classy balance and purity of blueberry, cassis and damson plum. Beautifully fine grained displaying a polished texture. A true class act with superb balance.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Errazuriz Sena 2023, Valle de Aconcagua, 13.5% Abv.

Beautifully aromatic perfumed fragrance of violets, white blossom and hints of saline cassis, black cherry and ripe blueberries. Seamless and silky, but also delightfully vibrant and fresh with a piercing black fruit concentration while remaining classically light on its feet. Very classy expression.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Appassionata Pinot Noir 2014, Chehalem Mountains AVA, Oregon, 13% Abv.

Enticingly fresh aromatics with delightful tertiary hints of freshly brewed tea and sous bois, bold orange and pomegranate nuances. Sleek, soft and very pure, this balances savoury red berry fruits and a bramble berry intensity with citrus, orange vermouth spices and blood orange notes on a very sleek polished finish. Wow. Impressive.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Tasting with Ernie Loosen.

Dr Loosen Wines:

From 130 year old seven hectare plots of Riesling from Ernie Loosen’s Great Grandfather (out of a total 40 hectares in Wehlener Sonnenuhr) Being the 2nd biggest holdings after JJ Prum. 

Riesling Dry 2019, 12.5% – 95+/100

Riesling Kabinett 2019, 9.5% – 97/100

Riesling Auslese 2019, 9.5% – 98/100

 

L’Aventure Optimus 2022 Red Blend – 95/100

L’Aventure Cote A Cote 2022 – 95+/100

L’Aventure Estate Reserve 2022 – 97+/100

Verite La Muse 2022, Sonoma County, 14.5% Abv.

Mostly Merlot, wood spice, black berry, plum pip, with smoky graphite and crushed gravel. Super sleek and polished, seamless, showing sappy leafy black fruits, cedar spice, black tea and a spicy grippy finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Verite La Joie 2022, Sonoma County, 14.5% Abv.

Tightly packed with cedar, spice, chai tea, graphite and real mineral presence. Fruits are dark, taut and full of tension, acids are crisp but with a marble like polish. Tight, classical and serious.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Verite Le Desir 2022, Sonoma County, 14.5% Abv.

Tight dark and broody, this is a classy, tight black fruited expression, offering up hints of aromatic complexity. Red berries, sweet cedar and red currant fruits with a lurking leafy, red cherry intensity. Sublime balance and harmony.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cardinale Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

Beautiful blend of Cabernet vineyards from Spring Mountain with 3% Merlot for extra interest. Delicious black currant, black forest gateau, plums and blueberry compote. Lovely balance with impressive balance and fleshy generosity.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Inglenook Blancaneaux 2023, Napa Valley, 13.7% Abv.

40% Viognier with Roussanne and Marsanne. Lovely cool precision, stony minerality with smoky flinty reduction, spice and dried herbs. Mouth coating, intense but good freshness.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, Napa Valley, 14.1% Abv.

Small warmer vintage with slightly higher yields than 2021, showing blue and black berries, cassis, dried herbs and sweet cedar spice. A harmonious palate showing restraint with intensity and concentration, silky balance and a blueberry, black currant finish. Classical but impressive intensity.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Inglenook Rubicon 2022, 14.3% Abv.

85% Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot – Sweet herbs, sappy cedar, saline black currant, with black and blueberry, liquorice and creamy, graphite tannins. Full, powerful, incredibly complete.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, Coonawarra, 13.5% Abv. 

Quite an ethereal, musky, dusty Cabernet aromatics with blueberry, cassies, black cherry and black berry rock candy. Sublime balance, silky soft tannins with a creamy velvety mouthfeel, tangy acids and a salty black berry fruited finish. The oak is almost imperceptible. Very classy.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2023, 12.5% Abv.

Lovely lemon and lime intensity spiced up by a complexing, well judged smoky reduction. Crisp, crystalline, deliciously lean. This is a truly delicious, grown up fine wine Chardonnay.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2022, 14.5% Abv.

Restrained subdued aromatics, with hints of liquorice, blue and black berry and a spicy, granitic, mineral grippy finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Penfolds RWT Bin 789 Barossa Shiraz 2023, 14.5% Abv. 

Sweet and exotic aromatics full of  black berry, hoisin plum sauce, sweet Christmas spices and a smoky savoury depth with very dry, mineral grippy tannins. Very serious.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Penfolds Bin 169 Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.5% Abv.

Subtle aromatics of black berry, dried mint leaf, chocolate peppermint crisp and sweet dried herbs. Full and creamy, powdery chalky tannins, a cool tangy acidity and a long, focused finish. Very precise.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023, 14.5% Abv.

Sweeter black fruits, mulberry and damson plum, over tilled earth, graphite and chai tea. Dense, complex and textural, pinpoint, focused and tight grained. Dusty chalky tannins, liquid minerals and a picante, pithy finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Penfolds Grange 2021, 14.5% Abv.

Beautiful aromatics of incense, plum sauce, black cherry, and sweet Christmas spices with a kiss of salty black liquorice. Full in the mouth with a textured, grippy tannin frame, plenty of chalky minerality and an unctuous, fleshy, grippy finish. Plenty of premium winemaking on display here.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cloudburst Chardonnay 2023, Margaret River

Fabulous lemon lime intensity with an intricate smoky reductive vein. Wet stones, lemon grass and fabulous depth. Cool classy and restrained, this is top drawer cool climate Chardonnay.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cloudburst Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, Margaret River

A vibrant, distinctive terroir driven expression that oozes terroir… wet stone minerality, tea leaf, graphite, black currant leaf, tobacco and kelp. Deliciously maritime, saline and focused with amazing energy and inner character. Wow!

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Yalumba Florita Riesling 2015, Clare Valley, 12.3% Abv.

Lemon cordial, lime confit, white flowers and hints of butter, ginger and passion fruit crunch. Dry, pristine, very classy!

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Jim Barry The Armagh 2022, Clare Valley, 14% Abv.

An incredibly fragrant aromatics, fully perfumed with rose petal, incense, rose hip, tangerine peel, pink musk, talc, red peppercorns and vibrant red berry fruits. Incredibly cool sleek and silky, this is Armagh elegance at the next level. Fabulous purity, weightless concentration and spectacular elegance. Wow!

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Yalumba The Octavius Old Vine Shiraz 2020, Barossa Valley, 14.5% Abv.

Dark broody black and blue berry fruits, beautifully complex, integrated aromatics of black currant, liquorice and salted caramel. Incredibly harmonious and balanced, this is a sublime Barossa expression.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Annual Judgement of Wimbledon Blind Tasting 2025 – A Celebration of Glorious Grenache…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The world of fine wine is an ever-evolving scene, enriched by a wealth of passionate wine producers but equally by a profusion of passionate wine connoisseurs and collectors all championing different styles of wine. I for one however, cannot think of another category of wine that has in recent years come under more intense scrutiny than that of Grenache or Garnacha Tinta, producing many wines that now sit comfortably at the fine wine top table in the global marketplace. Now in its 9th year, the Judgement of Wimbledon was originally organised by a group of passionate collectors to celebrate the finest expressions of Grenache from various premium producers around the world.

The 2025 blind line up.

On the 1st of May 2025, the time had finally come for the next scintillating instalment of this annual blind tasting challenge. After much deliberation, including many smaller preliminary comparative blind tastings and cork pulling, 16 wines were chosen to make the starting grid for the 2025 judgement tasting. This year’s selection included: three wines from DOC Priorat, two wines from Gredos, two from Aragon, one from DO Montsant, one from DOC Rioja, one from Sardinia, three from Australia, and three from the Swartland in South Africa.

In last years Judgement report, I stated that almost all the big name, big money Grenache wine labels made in a more “sophisticated, terroir-driven style” seemed to be coming from the Spanish heartlands, with many producers making multiple micro-winery boutique labels from old vine plots of Garnacha that in many instances were often abandoned and nearly forgotten and lost for future generations. Grapes that used to be sold off to local co-operatives for below-cultivation cost prices, are now finally being rediscovered with a newly found appreciation for these cherished old vine plots. For the 2025 Judgement tasting, the line-up once again saw a very strong showing from Spain and South Africa, but with this year’s selection featuring a trio of impressively finessed Grenache reds from down under, including one from the Barossa Valley and two from McLaren Vale.

Australian wine has, over the past few years, seen many premium producers begin to reinvent their styles, moving away from the “sunshine in a bottle” mantra, instead embracing minerality, restraint, elegance and freshness, all features that allow for a vineyard’s individual and unique site and terroir characteristics to shine through. Indeed, after the 2024 Judgement tasting, there was a fair amount of parallel commentary surrounding the clear lack of Australian selections, something I feel has been comfortably addressed within the 2025 line-up.

Wine Advocate lead Spanish wine critic Luis Gutierrez.

After Neal Martin from Vinous.com joined the judging panel in 2024, this year, the judges were incredibly fortunate and honoured to be join by possibly one of the world’s emerging critical authorities on premium Grenache, and undoubtedly the one international wine critic that has done more single handedly to champion not only the incredible diversity of Garnacha styles from his home country of Spain, but arguably from all around the world. I speak of course of The Wine Advocate’s lead wine critic for Spain and Portugal, Luis Gutiérrez. The insights, background stories, and tasting expertise offered by Luis made the 2025 Judgement tasting one of the best yet.

Judgement of Wimbledon 2025 Blind Tasting Line Up: 

(…featuring my personal blind scores and tasting notes.)

Wine 1 – 2022 Sands of Time, Thistledown, McLaren Vale, Australia

Dense and ripe, pretty, floral hints of rose petal, red liquorice, brambled berries, mint leaf, chocolate peppermint crisp and red plums. Initially quite deep, broody and restrained. The palate is plush, fleshy but very fine grained, showing depth of bramble berry fruits, vibrant tangy acids, and a gently savoury, strawberry laden accessible finish with a hint of alcohol warmth on the tail. 

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 2 – 2022 Sadie, Soldaat, Piekenierskloof, South Africa

Shows a fine exotic perfume, violets, incense, Turkish delight, plum compote and smoky Turkish bazaar nuances. There are earthy deep broody notes showing plummy meaty foresty hints. Accessible, sweet fruited and quite earthy and brambly, this is full of meaty red currant and strawberry compote, soft fleshy tannins, and a relaxed, lingering finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 3 – 2021 Yangarra Estate, High Sands Grenache, McLaren Vale, Australia

A fine aromatic lift with plenty of perfume and fragrance but also a defined mineral undertones over picante black berry fruits. Plenty of minerality and dry stony tannins supported by fairly light sinewy red and black fruits. Plenty of density, concentration, and emerging power on display.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 4 – 2022 Frontonio, El Jardín de las Iguales, Aragon, Spain

The aromatics show an accessible, attractive perfume of musk, Parma violets, wild strawberry, red cherry rock candy and a hint of oystershell reduction. The entry is cool and fleshy, fulsome, tangy, and fresh but with plump creamy red berry and red plum notes beneath. Finish is tight, a little clipped but seems to have plenty more to offer given time.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 5 – 2022 Alvaro Palacios, Quinon de Valmira, DOC Rioja Spain

Another broody, earthy bramble berry character with hints of plums and mulberry before savoury meaty nuances with a dusty granitic undertone. The palate is incredibly soft, fleshy, and accessibly, loose knit and friendly, the tannins mineral and chalky, over spicy red berry fruits with juicy acids but perhaps finishing a little abruptly.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 6 – 2020 Torres, Mas de la Rosa, DOC Priorat, Spain

A richer, more intense aromatics showing cherry tobacco, tannery leather, stewed strawberries, and dried herb garrigue spice. This is a full, rich, plump expression with massive concentration, tart blue and black berry fruits, a creamy mineral undertone with a long, glycerol finish. Plenty of finesse and polished winemaking on display here.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 7 – 2022 Terroir al Limit, Les Manyes, DOC Priorat, Spain

The pretty aromatics are decidedly blacker fruited with black currant, dry tobacco leaf, salinity, hints of herbaceous leafy berry fruit notes with a mineral granitic undertone. The palate follows with savoury, smoky, toasty, meaty black bramble berry fruits, a loose knit structure, light polished tannins and an all-round accessible friendliness.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 8 – 2022 Mas Martinet, Els Escurcons, DOC Priorat, Spain

The aromatics are fresh and spicy, packed full of dried herbs, potpourri, cinnamon and clove spices with tangy red currant and candied strawberry fruits beneath. The mouthfeel is rich, plush, and superbly fleshy and plump, broad across the palate but always soft and juicy with dusty, chalky fine-grained tannins.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 9 – 2022 Momento, Riebeekberg Grenache, WO Swartland, South Africa

This is a more ethereal, taut, linear style with pure perfumed aromatics of red cherry and strawberry with a dusting of granitic mineral spice. On the palate this wine shows class and pedigree, creamy, limestone chalky tannins, polished sleek red berry fruits and real harmonious balance. A lighter, more delicate, ethereal style that delivers in spades.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 10 – 2021 Teularju, Ghirada Ocruarana, Sardina, Italy

This is a decidedly riper, more opulent style with layers of stewed black berries, creamy oak, molasses, sun raisined plums and sweet herbs, graphite, and sappy wood spice. A warmer, baked fruit expression that points towards later picked fruit in a warmer climate. The execution is faultless, the tannins like velvet, perfectly marrying with a soft, integrated, seamless acidity. No edges, no corners, this is plush hedonistic opulence.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 11 – 2021 Rico Nuevo, La Quebrá, Gredos, Spain

Beautifully bright, aromatic, perfumed red currant and red cherry perfume with subtle potpourri, garrigue and marzipan hints, strawberry pastille, and hints of rock candy. This shows delicate frame and structure but also silky finesse, violets and potpourri, blood orange, talcum tannins and a long, steely, linear finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 12 – Dylan Grigg 2022 Vinya Vella, Old Bush Vine Grenache, Barossa Valley, Australia

A more classical style with sweet herbs, earthy black currant fruits, leafy sapidity, gravel and a peppery garrigue spice. The palate is silky and soft, light, fleshy and accessibly with delicately drying talcum tannins beneath, finishing with a lingering bramble berry, garrigue, meaty spice. Very classy expression.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 13 – 2022 Cuevas de Arom, Tuca Negra, Aragon, Spain

Initially incredibly dusty and mineral on the nose, even slightly leafy, with crushed gravel, chalkboard duster, and a whole bunch red berry picante spice. The spicy, dried herb, garrigue expression blossoms further on the palate, packed full of leafy spice, sandalwood, baking herbs and tobacco leaf, wrapped in cool, chalky, powdery tannins.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 14 – 2021 Naude, Grenache, Swartland, South Africa

A deep and alluring expression with blue and black berry fruits, hints of creamy oak, saline cassis and fragrant rose petal perfume that points to a fine concentrated style. Another very sleek expression on the palate with dusty, chalky drying tannins and intense red berry fruits that are enticingly lean and sinewy, before the tangy acidity fans its tail on the finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wine 15 – 2022 Comando G, El Tamboril, Gredos, Spain

A more exotic, ripe, earthy, nutty, spicy style with bay leaf, clove, potpourri, and a medicinal herbal nuance. The palate follows with breadth and power, creamy supple dry tannins and a very open knit, chalky mineral finish. This is a beautifully subtle expression, that whispers but certainly carries a bit of a punch.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)


Wine 16 – 2021 Venus la Universal, Venus de La Figuera, Spain

An accessible overt style that shows sweet Christmas herbs, sappy spice, exotic black berry, bathroom soaps and pink musk candy. No doubting the pedigree when this wine hits the palate, boasting silky opulence, huge concentration, plush chalky expansive tannins, wrapping fruit concentration and exceptional length. This is certainly a winemaking masterclass on display.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Judgement of Wimbledon 2025 Group Blind Ranking Results: 

With all judges required to offer their final rankings from their favourite to least favourite, numbered from 1 to 16, with the largest score tally going to the top ranked wines which were then all added together to get a final 1 to 16 group ranking by preference points. This format saw Rico Nuevo’s new stylish Gredos place top alongside Comando G’s El Tamboril, followed closely by Judgement newcomer Marelise Niemann’s Momento Single Vineyard Riebeekberg Grenache tied with strong annual performer, Mas Martinet’s Els Escurons from Priorat in Spain. 

The Judges’ Totals by “Preference”

However, using just a straight score ranking by averaging all the judges 100-point scores, interestingly saw the Momento single vineyard Grenache topping the averages with an impressive 96.19/100 score. So a slightly different dynamic to that of the judges’ favourite to least favourite choices which of course could easily see 3, 4 or even 5 different wines sitting on the same score of 94 or 95 points etc. However, judges were then required to retaste the matching scored wines and still order them in a preference from 1 to 16.

The Judgement’s highest scored wines by averaging judges’ scores.
Convenor of Judges, Riaan Potgieter (on the right) crunching the numbers after the blind tasting.

Judgement of Wimbledon Convenor of Judges, Riaan Potgieter’s Final Conclusions:

At the outset of planning this year’s event, I wasn’t sure how we were going to bring some excitement to the day. We were facing a warm 2022 in both Spain and South Africa, and many producers were telling me that the wines weren’t ready yet. This was exacerbated by a few of our favourites being released later than usual, and therefore not available for the event. In the end, we had nothing to worry about as the 2022s acquitted themselves very well and showed better than previous warm vintages did at a similar stage. 

Clearly producers are getting more and more skilful at managing the heat, with most of the wines showing grace and elegance whilst bringing edgy herbal characteristics you don’t get in cooler vintages. A Spanish producer once told me that the warmer vintages are difficult to understand in their youth, but really start to shine after a few years in bottle. Whilst I can certainly attest to this, it seems the 2022s might be able to capture some of that magic much earlier in life.

The top 3 Grenache winners by Judges’ preference.

With a few of our usuals being unavailable, there was space to bring in a few first entrant wines and producers, some of whom I’ve been tracking for some time. Whilst we have tasted their wines for possible inclusion in the past, they have gone from strength to strength in recent vintages and their inclusion became an easy choice. This showed in the final results, with two first time entrants making it into the top 3 wines.

The Judgement of Wimbledon 2025 judges.

One star performer was the Rico Nuevo La Quebrá. I was introduced to this young producer on a trip to Spain in 2024, and loved the wine from the first taste. The Wimbledon judges didn’t know it was in the lineup, and most have never even tasted it, yet it was enchanting and ended up near the top for most. Luis Gutiérrez ranked it his favourite and exclaimed that he “loved it from the first sip to the last.”

Marelise Niemann from Momento pouring her wines in London in recently.

Another strong new entrant was the Momento Riebeekberg Grenache. Whilst we’ve been following Marelise Niemann’s wines for many years, the 2022 single site expressions have taken her Grenache to a whole new level. It ended up 3rd based on ranked preference, but achieved the highest average score across the group.

Generous venue host and fellow judge Barry Van Bergen deep in discussion with Luis Gutierrez.

Finally, a massive thank you to Luis Gutiérrez for joining us at this year’s event. His work has always been our spiritual guide through the exciting world of this, still relatively new, style of Grenache. It was an absolute pleasure to have him there to share the joy of these incredible wines. Signing off for 2025, and I am already looking forward to next year where, I’m sure, there will be even more new discoveries.

Final Judgement of Wimbledon 2025 Results Summary:

A big congratulations to all the producers who are championing elegant, terroir driven, premium Grenache globally. We salute you!

Until next year… that’s a wrap! 🍷

(Ps. If you are a Grenache producer who would like to see your wines considered for the Judgement of Wimbledon 2026 final tasting next year, please do get in touch via my website.)

Dylan Grigg’s Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache 2021 From the Barossa Valley Helps Animate the Old Vine Story…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

With the Judgement of Wimbledon Blind Grenache Tastings held in London over the past years, I have had the opportunity to taste a lot of very interesting top notch Grenache wines from around the world. This, however, is my first encounter with the wines of Dylan Grigg, but it seems he is a lot more famous than you might initially expect, particularly owing to his research and writings around the study of old vines and their interaction with their surrounding terroir.

Dylan Grigg has certainly made a name for himself since completing his PhD on grapevine age and now divides his time between being an international viticultural consultant and producing wines for his label Vinya Vella. The name Vinya Vella (Vella pronounced ‘Vea’) is of course a nod to Catalonia, and to Spain in general, where Dylan Grigg worked and lived with his own young family after finishing his PhD. Deciding to return to Australia from Spain with his family after Covid struck in 2020, Dylan chanced upon the opportunity to buy an old vine Grenache vineyard in the Barossa Valley, not too far from where he grew up and where his parents still live, his ancestors having settled in the Barossa Valley as far back as the 1840s.

Interestingly, my friend and wine scientist Dr Jamie Goode from Winanorak.com, unpacked some of Dylan Grigg’s more complex theories about old vines and what makes them potentially so special. To quote Jamie writing for his Wineanorak.com… “The first of these (theories) is about epigenetics, and it has best been explored by the PhD research from viticulturist Dylan Grigg. It’s hard to put into simple terms, but basically epigenetics is the way the environment writes itself onto the genetics of an organism. It’s not through changes in the DNA – this isn’t possible. But it’s through changes in the proteins that surround DNA in the nucleus and cause some genes to be expressed or muted through alterations in packing material around the genetic code, such as histone deacetylases. Some of these outside-the-genetic (epigenetic) changes can even be heritable. They help a plant adapt to the environment, and Dylan has shown them to be present in old vines in the Barossa. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that if you take cuttings from these venerable old Barossa vines the epigenetic changes are re-programmed. But if you propagate by layering, they can be preserved.” (Source: www.wineanorak.com – Dr Jamie Goode, the Science of Old Vines, March 2022)

If the science of old vines is all a bit too much for you, maybe settle back and just enjoy a bottle of Dylan Grigg’s exceptional Barossa Valley Grenache that, despite its incredible complexity, is equally easy to understand and enjoy as a wine lover. (The 2022 Vinya Vella Grenache was released earlier this year in Australia along with his enticing Vinya Vella Bush Vine Grenache Rosé 2023… but the 2021 vintage is still the current release in the UK.)

Dylan Grigg Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Grenache 2021, Barossa Valley, 14.5% Abv.

The Vinya Vella Old Bush Vine Barossa Grenache 2021 is a fascinating wine, vibrant, perfumed and supremely elegant from the first pour, slowly filling out aromatically and fleshing out with time in the glass. Neither overtly sweet fruited nor over ripe, the aromatics are instead incredibly classical and perfumed, exotic even, packed full of violets, rose petals, spicy raspberry, Turkish delight, sweet clove, cherry tobacco, saline cassis, incense, and delicate Christmas spices. On the palate, the wine is weightless and ethereal, seductively elegant with the texture of silk, with delicate svelte polished tannins supported by layers of red and black berry fruits, bramble berries, cola, and salty red liquorice nuances. Knowing how difficult it is to achieve weightless concentration in perfect balance, this is surely where the old vines really start to play their role in elevating the wine to a higher quality plain. I generally love Barossa wines, but this elegantly finessed Grenache expression opens a whole new window for me on old vine quality from Australia. Drink this beauty now and over the next 6 to 8+ years to enjoy its purity and vibrancy.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Grenache retails for approximately Aus$65 per bottle in Australia.

The Great Chardonnay Blind Challenge 2023 – Putting Some of the World’s Finest Chardonnays Through Their Paces in The Judgement of Surbiton…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

The annual Tim Atkin South Africa Special Report is always an interesting barometer for what’s hot and what’s not in the wider Cape winemaking landscape. It remains an impressive body of work albeit written from the point of view of one individual. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, his 95+ point tasting hosted in Cape Town and Johannesburg in 2023 included 29 Chenin Blancs from around the Cape, confirming this cultivar’s quality and standing in the general South African fine wine landscape. But equally of interest, the tasting featured a whopping 20 Chardonnay whites, making it the second biggest awarded white category after the Chenin Blancs. As Tim and other commentators now point out, South Africa has undoubtedly overtaken France and the Loire region as the most lauded, successful, and sought-after dry Chenin Blanc producer in the world.

Chardonnay from the Cape, on the other hand, has the considerable might and prestige of Burgundy to compete with, and then, just when you think you are gaining ground on this undisputed world market leader, collectors and afficionados are quick to rattle off another incredibly impressive list of producers from California, Australia and New Zealand that are making some very highly rated, eminently respected Chardonnay’s that South Africa’s top producers still need to contend with in international markets in order to catch the attention of importers and top collectors.

For those of you familiar with my own website, A Fine Wine Safari, you might remember an incredibly insightful and challenging tasting that a bunch of fine wine afficionados in London pulled off in June 2018. It was born out of the lunch-time banter between some good fine wine friends who quickly aligned themselves as either New World Chardonnay afficionados or consummate Burghounds. The competitive nature of fine wine does this to grown adults… and so was born, the concept of a New World versus Burgundy Chardonnay shoot-out. Each team of tasters would run several rounds, and through a series of blind, scored tastings, they would select their top 10 wines, without budgetary restrictions, to compete against each other in a grand blind taste off.

The results of this tasting were indeed fascinating…

Read the tasting results here:

https://gregsherwoodmw.com/2018/06/18/the-great-blind-chardonnay-challenge-2018-new-world-chardonnay-giving-burgundy-a-run-for-its-money/

… but also served to confirm that yes, white Burgundy even five years ago was still prohibitively expensive from the top producers and even more so today, and yes, the New World could undoubtedly produce wines that rivalled the very best of France. I was of course lucky enough to serve as one of the New World team members on the June 2018 tasting alongside global heavy-weight journalist Neal Martin, who was there to help oversee the proceedings and to help make it a bit of a legendary tasting event… never to be repeated. Well, they do say, never say never!

In early 2023, one of the fine wine judges on our now famous “Judgement of Wimbledon” Grenache blind tasting panel raised the feasibility of presenting another blind Chardonnay Challenge, but this time not pitched against Burgundy directly, but merely featuring some of the best and most highly rated Chardonnays in the world in another blind, judgement-style tasting… this time not in Wimbledon, but in neighbouring Surbiton. Now, I will be the first to admit that “The Judgement of Surbiton” does not quite carry the same gravitas as “The Judgement of Paris”… however, the fine wine aficionado and obsessive South African wine collector behind the idea, Riaan Potgieter, single handedly organised one of the most impressively slick blind tastings I have attended in many years, featuring a line-up of wines from around the world that any Chardonnay fanatic would give their eye teeth to taste individually, let alone altogether.

The wines were as follows:

Rest assured, tasting so many incredible wines was positively gruelling, not in a bad way but in a mentally sapping way. When confronted with so many individually brilliant wines, it is always going to be hard work separating the merely good from the truly great. Among the 19 wines tasted by seven expert tasters, there were four wines from Australia, three from France, one from Germany, one from Italy, two from New Zealand, four from the USA and of course four from South Africa. Wines were generally all rated 97+ from critically acclaimed international reviewers but the range also included two blind hundred pointers from recent releases, namely Giaconda 2021 from Australia and Kistler Laguna Ridge from Sonoma County, USA.

Where the June 2018 Chardonnay Challenge selection failed to include any South African wines, (not for a lack of trying), this tasting featured four stunning wines that performed incredibly well considering the competition. These included a fabulous Kershaw Wines Deconstructed Lake District Bokkeveld Shale CY95 Chardonnay 2018, a Leeu Passant Chardonnay 2020, a Lismore Estate Reserve Chardonnay 2021,  and a Draaiboek Wines Onskuld Chardonnay 2021 from the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley made by Stephanie Wiid. On the day, six of the seven tasters certainly did not know what the final line up of wines would be, let alone that it would include four South African wines!

But boy did they perform, with the astonishing final Top 5 line-up including:

1. Littoria BA Theriot 2020, USA

2. Kistler Laguna Ridge 2019 (Magnum), USA

3. Giaconda Beechworth 2021, Aus

4. Leeu Passant 2020, SA

5. Draaiboek Wines Onskuld 2021, SA

Followed by in order of averaged score assessment total:

6. Furst Franconia R 2020, Germany

7. Tolpuddle 2021, Aus

8. Shaw + Smith Lenswood Vineyard 2020, Aus

9. Cullen Kevin John 2021, Aus

10. Ramey Hyde Vineyard 2019, USA

11. Domaine de Montille Puligny Montrachet Les Cailleret 2019, Burgundy

12. Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Folatieres 2013, Burgundy

13. Kershaw Decontructed Lake District Bokkeveld Shale CY95 2018, SA

14. Lismore Estate Reserve 2021, SA

15. Kumeu River Mates Vineyard 2020, NZ

16. Gaja Gaia & Rey 2020, Italy

17. Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Marlborough 2021, NZ

18. Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 2019, USA

19. Coche Dury Bourgogne 2013, Burgundy

With the current state of ascendancy of South African wines, it seems obvious that this type of blind judgement tasting is going to be repeated regularly in the years to come. Whether they will all feature this calibre of competition from around the world, is another question altogether. I have it on good authority that assembling this selection alone was a fairly laborious, arduous and long-winded affair. For starters, the Giaconda 100-pointer was flown out from Australia as European stock is only going to be released through the Bordeaux Place and the Kistler Laguna Ridge cuvee was only available in magnum format at great expense. Needless to say, an absolutely phenomenal result for South African Chardonnay!

My personal blind tasting notes and individual Chardonnay Challenge 2023 scores were as follows:

Kistler Laguna Ridge 2019 (Magnum), USA

1. Aromatics of oyster shell, lemon peel and sea breeze, with mineral notes of wet stones. Incredible texture and depth, this coats the mouth with an insistent intensity showing an unctuous length of citrus pastille, vanilla wood spice and lemon oil.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Leeu Passant 2020, SA

2. Taut and fresh, the nose is tight and nervy with crushed rocks, wet stones, lemon peel and dried herbs. Palate is sleek and fresh, energetic, with fresh acids and a tangy, lemon and lime cordial finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Lismore Estate Reserve 2021, SA

3. A more smokey, spicy, herby nose with an underlay of burnt wood embers. Palate is broad and plush, fleshy and glycerol with soft acids, tangy mango and green papaya fruits and a lemon confit finish. Quite an oily style.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Kumeu River Mates Vineyard 2020, NZ

4. Quite a stony, mineral flinty nose with a melange of smoky reduction and sweet lemon and herb nuances. Acids are fresh and vibrant, notably tangy with pronounced savoury wood spice length.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Littoria BA Theriot 2020, USA

5. Nose is elegant and cool, even restrained, showing mojito and mint leaf, dried herbs and lime blossom. The acids are laser fresh and tart, adding a fine frame to the cool, lemon and lime peel fruits. Wonderfully integrated oak massages the fruit beautifully. True class.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 2019, USA

6. A very exotic nose with fig and tropical nuances, waxy apple peel and lanolin hints. The palate is broad and rich, perhaps a touch ponderous and creamy, quite spicy and mineral with petrichor hints, but lacks a bit of verve and vigour on the finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Coche Dury Bourgogne 2013, Burgundy

7. Exotic nose with rhubarb and fennel, wet slate and dried herbs. Palate is taut and tart with a sour acidity, lime zest, savoury lemon, and a massive length and intensity.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Kevin John 2021, Aus

8. A wonderfully fresh, vibrant, lime peel and cordial aromatics, so pure and classical with subtle hints of incense. Palate is fresh, taut and tangy with sweet – sour acids, and a massive lemon & herb fruit length. Beautifully pithy and zesty on the finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Furst Franconia R 2020, Germany

9. A more savoury aromatics with hints of biscuit, oat meal, dried herbs and wet river stones. Palate is fabulously clean, lean and restrained with a fine crystallinity, smoky minerality, and waxy green apple finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Tolpuddle 2021, Aus

10. Deep, wet chalk and struck flint nose with plenty of SO2 floating around with a dusty minerality, vinyl and lemon pith. The reduction follows to the palate with a lemon, apple and vinyl note. Made in a skinny reductive style, this needs more time in bottle.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Ramey Hyde Vineyard 2019, USA

11. Taut shy mineral nose, full of star fruit, hints of honeydew melon and a touch of lemon biscuit. Quite fresh and crystalline, with a really freshly pressed blood orange and tangerine juice intensity.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine Leflaive Puligny Montrachet Les Folatieres 2013, Burgundy

12. A complex but exotic nose with hints of oat meal, chalk, chablislesque minerality and green apple. Lovely notes of savoury pear purée, a hint of reduction, taut and sleek, mineral and classical. Spicy and pithy on the long finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Giaconda Beechworth 2021, Aus

13. A notably reductive nose with wet slate, petrichor, apple peel, chalk and apple cordial. Cool, sleek and elegant, this is a wine with precision, poise and focus expressed with intelligent winemaking.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Shaw + Smith Lenswood Vineyard 2020, Aus

14. Granitic spice, crushed rock, lime peel, green melon, and pistachio macaroons. Clean, intense and pristine with a piquant, pithy limey finish. Such lovely intensity, a sweet – sour palate breadth and a limey saline persistence.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Domaine de Montille Puligny Montrachet Les Cailleret 2019, Burgundy

15. Hints of spicy apple cider, lemon, biscuit, and pear purée aromatics. Palate is soft, cool and fleshy with a crisp but soft integrated acidity, a real elegance and finesse. The palate is smoky, mineral and crystalline, sleek, pure and very fine.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Draaiboek Wines Onskuld 2021, SA

16. Nose shows dusty aromatics, talc, sherbet, lime bon bons, wet stones and sweet baking spices. Palate sings with tart apple, crunchy pear, white citrus and a saline, pithy dry bitter lemon finish. Quite a cerebral wine.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Gaja Gaia & Rey 2020, Italy

17. Sweet confected lift with melon, bon bons, rock candy, with apple and pear boiled sweets. Cool, tangy and crystalline with apple cordial and lime juice hints, finishing with a soft, pithy mineral finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Kershaw Decontructed Lake District Bokkeveld Shale CY95 2018, SA

18. Sweet pear, hints of flinty reduction, savoury oat meal and buttered white toast. There is a massive intensity, richness and tangy freshness with an incredibly salty maritime finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Marlborough 2021, NZ

19. Big, bold intense punchy aromatics that are shrouded in reductive flinty, smoky, stony notes. The palate reveals a magnificent clarity and precision, with the most seductive salty oyster shell notes of chalk stone and citrus. Beautifully fresh and intense, this wine is young but screams class!

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Wines 50th Anniversary Tasting on 29th July 2021 with Vanya Cullen…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

Cullen Wines is a certified biodynamic, carbon neutral and naturally powered estate, with a philosophy summed up in three simple words: ‘Quality, Integrity and Sustainability’. Celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2021, it is one of the oldest and most awarded family wineries in Western Australia’s famous Margaret River region. First established in 1971 by Dr Kevin and Diana Cullen, the winery has built an impressive reputation for biodynamic wines over the years.

Di and Kevin’s youngest daughter Vanya, who has worked at the winery since 1983, became Chief Winemaker in 1989 and Managing Director in 1999. She has worked tirelessly to develop the winery over this time, first introducing organic farming in 1998 and then, in 2004, saw it classified as a fully certified biodynamic estate. In 2000, she was named the Qantas/The Wine Magazine Winemaker of the Year, becoming the first Western Australian, and the first woman, to do so.

In 2019, celebrating 30 years at the helm, Vanya received double Winemaker of the Year honours at both the Australian Women in Wine Awards and the Halliday Wine Companion Awards. In July 2021, I was one of a lucky handful of tasters to hook up with Vanya Cullen in London via zoom to taste through an exciting selection of the winery’s current releases.

Cullen Wines Mangan Vineyard Margaret River Sauvignon / Semillon 2019, 12.4% Abv.

Wonderfully subtle, complex aromatics with delicate notes of white peach, green apple, green nettles, white pepper and cut grass underpinned by a fabulous slatey minerality. Palate is bright and crystalline, tart and fresh with a lemon / lime acidity, and a racy palate of white citrus, lime peel and lemon grass. An electric wine!

(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Wines Cullen Vineyard Margaret River Sauvignon / Semillon 2017, 12.4% Abv.

A cooler vintage, the aromatics show a lovely melange of fruit salad and subtle oak notes leading to hints of wet slate white flowers and subtle petrichor notes with just the slightest nuance of wet grass. Cool and racy, there is a fine line of acidity that is balanced by layers of white peach, green apple and tangy yellow citrus. Zesty, pithy and wonderfully cool climate in style with purity and linearity.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Wines Amber Wilyabrup Semillon / Sauvignon Blanc 2020, 13% Abv. 

A complex aromatic profile with layers of vermouth spices, chalk board duster, peach stone fruits, green tea, jasmine and bitter orange. Certainly fresh, bright and pure with plenty of skin contact phenolic spice (10 days in 300L amphorae and tank). On the palate the acids are mellow and tangy, the yellow orchard fruits cool and soft textured with a fine dusty mineral grip. A lovely characterful wine that is seductively exotic with its bitters and negroni-style finish. The perfect gourmet wine selection.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Wines Kevin John Wilyabrup Chardonnay 2019, 13.5% Abv.

Yields were reduced in 2019 due to frosts but the rest of the growing season was kind yielding high quality fruit. The wine saw 100% malolactic fermentation and spent eight months in 30% new French oak puncheons and barriques. The aromatics are dusty and spicy, lifted and citrusy with plenty of white flowers, orange blossom, green pear and tangerine cordial. The palate is cool and bright showing a real sweet and sour tangy acidity, massive orange and tangerine fruit concentration with real intensity and expansive depth. Plenty of lime peel, honeysuckle, fig, toffee apple and sweet vanilla pod spice.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Wines Red Moon Mangan Vineyard Wilyabrup Malbec / Petit Verdot 2018, 13% Abv. 

Fermented with natural yeasts, 57% of the wine was matured for five months in seasoned French oak barriques with the balance in stainless steel, being bottle without fining. The nose is deep and broody with plenty of black chai tea, delicate notes of spearmint and black currant and subtle hints of black plum and pomegranate. The palate is plush and lush, filled with plummy, sappy, mulberry and black berry fruits, juicy black cherry acids, finishing with a long, mellow, pithy fine-grained mineral tannin finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Wines Mangan East Block Margaret River Malbec / Petit Verdot 2019, 13.5% Abv. 

Made from grapes harvested from the prime sections of the Mangan vineyard, fruit was destemmed, basket pressed and vinified to accentuate the fruit flavours of the grapes, before being aged for five months in 45% new French oak barrels. The aromatics are richer, deeper and broader with vibrant notes of sappy plum, mulberries, melted chocolate and a melange of black forest berry fruits. The acids are crunchy and the palate loaded with mocha laced black currant, spicy plum, mulberry and hints of bramble berries. Fine structure, impressive density and a long, spicy bitter chocolate finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Wilyabrup Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot 2019, 13.5% Abv. 

A premier selection of fruit, the grapes were naturally fermented before being basket pressed to barrel where the wine was matured for 15 months in oak of which 45% was new French oak. The aromatics show lovely black berry and red cherry fruits, raspberry herbal tea, hedgerow spice and a fine, leafy vanilla pod complexity. The palate is intense and concentrated, tangy, vibrant and fresh, with a wonderfully lithe textural elegance, an effortlessly classical mouthfeel and a long, suave, powdery tannin grip finish. Very smart in its youth, sure to be even greater with cellar age.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Cullen Wines Margaret River Late Harvest Chenin Blanc 2020, 8.3% Abv.

A cool pale light lemon yellow colour in the glass, the aromatics are expressive and pure but also wonderfully subtle with notes of my yellow citrus pastille, pear purée, passion fruit cordial and green mango hints. The palate is soft, cool and very elegant with a very genteel nature, a soft creamy mouthfeel, supple tangy acids balanced by pure sweet green and yellow orchard fruit and baked apple concentration. Very accessible and smart.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

(The UK importer of Cullen Wines is Liberty Wines)

Henschke Current Release Tasting with Stephen and Prue Henschke – 150 Years of Winemaking History…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Like many fine wine lovers in the UK, I probably don’t drink enough top end Australian wines these days because the best stuff is either difficult to get hold of or very expensive or both. Australia suffers from having a small number of very top end power brands that are incredibly sought after by locals and international buyers alike. So when considering the most famous quality wine brands, Henschke must be right up there with others like Penfold’s Grange, Jim Barry’s Armagh, Torbreck’s The Laird and of course the super sought after cult producer Wendouree’s Clare Valley Shiraz.

I recently got the opportunity to catch up with Stephen and Prue Henschke in Australia over Zoom to taste through an impressive array of their current releases. But it’s amazing to think that this “new world” estate first produced wine in 1868 and six generations later, the quality has never been higher.

As innovators, Henschke first adopted screwcap closures in 1996 starting with their Julius Riesling and more latterly, adopted the vinolock closure in 2004 for certain red wines. Henschke also only use organic and biodynamic viticulture and winemaking for their wines.

Henschke Croft Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2018

Lovely yellow citrus driven aromatics with delicate notes of biscuits, leesy white toast, green apple pastille and gentle kiss of vanilla oak spice. Acids are crunchy, tangy and bright framing steely white citrus notes with stony minerality, pithy yellow grapefruit, hints of white peach and a taut, crystalline green apple finish. Lovely focus and purity.

(Wine Safari score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Henschke Giles Lenswood Pinot Noir 2018

First produced in 1989. Ripe generous nose packed full of baking spices, sweet exotic herbs, bramble berry, sun-dried cranberries, pink musk, candied strawberry, blood orange and subtle raspberry and pomegranate. The palate shows a polished, moderately dense texture with powdery tannins, chalky grip and a round, bold plummy red forest berry fruit character.

(Wine Safari score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Henschke Henry’s Seven Barossa Shiraz / Grenache / Mataro / Viognier 2018

Named after Henry Evans who planted the first 7 acres of vineyards in Keyneton in 1853, the nose is packed with black fruits, black berries but also lovely complex notes of sage, black pepper and spicy plum. The palate is vibrant and grippy with attractive rustic hints, sweet savoury black currant intensity, finishing with focus and persistence. Very attractive.

(Wine Safari score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Henschke Johann’s Garden Barossa Valley Grenache / Mataro / Shiraz 2017

Made from Low yielding old vine bush vines that are dry grown and trellised on limestone soils. This wine shows rich opulent characteristics of sweet Chinese five spice mixed with notes of blueberries, black berries and raspberry coulis. Palate texture is super bright and juicy, light on its feet but with delicious concentration, powdery tannins and a succulent blueberry crumble finish with a beguiling lick of grey slate dust. Compact and very complete.

(Wine Safari score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Henschke Keyneton Euphonium 2015

Previously called Keyneton Estate, this is a blend of 50 year old vine Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc from vineyards planted by Cyril Henschke in the Eden Valley in the 1960s. The aromatics are complex and dense, packed full of sage, baking herbs and earthy peppery spice. From the great 2015 vintage, the Cabernet Sauvignon reveals notes of sweet black tea, tannery leather, sweet cherry tobacco and bramble berry spice and combines beautifully with savoury Shiraz nuances and just a kiss of hoisin plum sauce on the finish.

(Wine Safari score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Henschke Mount Edelstone Eden Valley Shiraz 2015

From the historic Mt Edelstone vineyard planted in 1912. Low yielding, dry-grown Shiraz vines produced a wine first bottled in 1952 and is the longest consecutively produced single vineyard Shiraz in Australia. The nose boasts layers of Chinese five spice, dried violet perfume, sage, dried mint leaf, camphor and black plum with a sprinkling of black pepper spice. The palate is generously fruited but dense and muscular while remaining texturally polished and precise with fine supporting mineral tannins. The palate is very expressive with layers of creme de cassis, savoury sweet black plum and shows a fabulous harmony and balance together with power and poise. A class act yet again.

(Wine Safari score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wines are available in the UK from importer Liberty Wines.

Putting South Africa’s Finest Wine Offerings Into Perspective – Tasting Australia’s Penfold’s Bin 620 Cabernet Shiraz 2008….

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

I had a wonderful time in Cape Town at Cape Wine 2018 and before that at the Nederburg Auction of older South African wines. Of course Cape Wine 2018 will be remembered for Tim Atkin MW’s first personal 100 point SA wine score, an active debate surrounding scoring and score inflation both in South Africa and globally and also the prickly pear issue of where to price South Africa’s premium wines, many made from old vine heritage vineyards around the Western Cape that are super expensive to farm. Serious questions indeed.

Some of these questions were brought into a new perspective when I returned to my office to find a bottle of Penfold’s Bin 620 Cabernet Shiraz from Coonawarra freshly opened on a colleagues desk courtesy of a private client. This is a Wine Advocate 98/100 point wine as scored by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW and retails currently in the UK market for £850 per bottle inc taxes (R16,575 pb). So we are talking serious kit here… and amazingly a wine that makes even the Penfold’s Grange look positively cheap!

Tasting the wine, it is a blend that pays homage to the 1966 Bin 620, a legendary Penfold’s show wine from a great vintage. Crafted from the uniquely Australian Cabernet Sauvignon – Shiraz blend, this wine is considered to be the personification of the Penfold’s house style and worthy of a Special Bin status. The wine was bottled by Penfold’s Wines at Nuriootpa, South Australia in July 2009. The 2008 vintage was produced from the low yielding Coonawarra Blocks 5, 10 and 20 and is considered to be made in a very similar style to the famous 1966 vintage. The wine was barrel fermented in new French and America oak and is classically structured and considered worthy of extended cellar aging for several decades.

Penfold’s Bin 620 Cabernet Sauvignon – Shiraz 2008, Coonawarra, 14 Abv.

The wine has a wonderfully deep ruby garnet opaque core and is a blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon and 49% Shiraz. Rich, lifted and hedonistic, the nose is brimming with earthy black berry, freshly torn mint leaf, camphor leaves, wood spice, dried tree bark, cassis and black cherry kirsch liquor notes with nuances of milk chocolate, bruleed coffee beans and exotic botanical herbal spices. The palate is dense, creamy and unctuous but retains a certain poise and posture supported by gravelly mineral tannins, graphite spice, crème de cassis and a fine vein of palate refreshing acidity. The finish is super long and intense with just the faintest hints of cherry cola, salty liquorice, black berry confit and freshly baked raspberry crumble. The vinous adjectives and descriptives positively drip out of ones mouth with this complex offering. It is a big wine that walks a very neat, classical line and will impress most fine wine connoisseurs.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

So how does this wine compare to some of South Africa’s finest? In wine terms, however delicious this wine is, it still  has the taste of a lot of sunshine on the fruit and the creamy unctuous glycerol mouthfeel is perhaps not as conducive to matching with food other than perhaps with meaty barbeques. This is a micro-cuvee of only 900 cases so merits attention to detail and probably a big price tag. But I would argue there are many equally impressive South African benchmark reds every bit as alluring and complex and which are much more classically proportioned and suitable for a true gourmands palate. As for the price, well, the mind boggles. R16,000 Rand can buy quite a lot of very fine wine.

As I questioned at the Cape Wine 2018 Old Vine Seminar, the problem with South Africa’s premium wine offering is not their quality and certainly not their styles but more the fact that the wines are more appreciated overseas than they are in the local home market. South Africa’s finest crown jewels are all being exported because the local market, unlike Australia, USA or New Zealand is not comfortable paying the prices that these fine wines inevitably will need to sell for. Locals shy away from buying wines over R250 Rand (£12.99) a bottle let alone R16,000 Rand a bottle. The result is a two speed market where all the best offerings are exported to an appreciative, thirsty European audience while the home market scrapes the barrel like a fishy bottom feeder in a muddy pond trying to find the last undiscovered bargains. This needs to change before we can set about bringing better profitability to the local wine industry. A healthy fine wine market inevitably has to be driven primarily by strong local demand… then the rest will follow… a la Penfold’s top cuvees.

Tasting Margaret River Icon Estate Vasse Felix’s New Releases with Head Winemaker Virginia Willcock …

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Vasse Felix has been one of the leading producers of premium Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Margaret River region of Western Australia for a very long time. Just last year they celebrated their 50th birthday as a winery with their first vines planted in 1967 by founder Tom Cullity. Their success undoubtedly lies in their wine’s supreme elegance and finesse married with concentration and power. Indeed, bigger bolder wine styles were made in the 1990’s but more recently the wines have become finer boned, prettier and more elegant without losing any of the innate power of quality Cabernet Sauvignon tannins.

I tasted through the new releases today in London at 67 Pall Mall private members club with head winemaker Virgina Willcock joining in the tasting via live satellite link from Margaret River. Ahhh… the joys of technology.

Vasse Felix Filius Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, Margaret River, 14 Abv.

Blended with 13% Malbec, the Filius shows a soft sweet fruited nose full of violets, fresh spearmint, black berry and cassis lift with hints of dusty tobacco complexity, bruised black plum and wet earth. The palate is light footed and very elegant, full of polished tannins, subtle minerality and soft, fleshy accessible black berry fruits. Bright, super fresh, elegant and very accessible. Drink now to 2026+

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, Margaret River, 14.5 Abv.

Whole berry and 100% natural ferment with 8% Malbec added to the blended before 18 months of barrel ageing. Deeper and darker, packed with black berry, black cherry, eucalyptus, earthy mulberry, kelp and boiled black currant bon bons and a dusty limestone minerality. Plenty of piercing cassis intensity, suave polished pinpoint tannins, supple silky fruit texture and again, a very vibrant integrated seam of freshness and acidity. Beautifully perfumed, supremely pretty, impressively concentrated. Drink now to 2030+

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Vasse Felix flagship Heytesbury Bordeaux red blend had been produced since 1995. This wine saw its last edition in 2012 when the wine was transformed into the Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon / Malbec cuvee in honour of this Margaret River pioneer who sadly died just before the first Tom Cullity 2013 blend was released.

Vasse Felix Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon – Malbec 2013, Margaret River, 14.5 Abv.

20% Malbec and around 4% Petit Verdot. A wonderfully complex intense expression with dusty limestone, violets, cherry blossom, graphite, black currant, black pithy cherry and a pronounced maritime saline kelp savoury note. Palate is ultra polished, beautifully focused and pure with incredible vivacity and soul. Super elegant, saline and bright and intense with a long, fine eucalyptus kissed finish. Very impressive indeed.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vasse Felix Tom Cullity Cabernet Sauvignon – Malbec 2014, Margaret River, 14.5 Abv.

Dense, savoury and earthy, there is a very fine depth and purity with notably greater concentration, tannin texture and power. Very classical and Bordeaux-like aromatics with cedar, violets, buttered brown toast, graphite dust and a crushed gravel minerality. The palate is full and deep, swallowing the 60-70% new oak with great ease. There is impressive fleshy depth, concentration but also noteworthy classical restraint. Suave and intense with powdery tannins and acid brightness melting into each other, complimenting each other in a superb synergistic marriage. A truly iconic, delicious, premium benchmark Cabernet Sauvignon expression from Margaret River.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vasse Felix Filius Chardonnay 2017, Margaret River, 12.5 Abv

Wild yeasts and 100% barrique fermented. Remarkable dusty, gravelly, cool climate Chardonnay feel with vibrance, brightness and linearity. Nose is full of lime peel, oat meal, brioche, ripe lemon and savoury buttery biscuit notes. Steely, taught, lemon and lime cordial notes are packed with layers of gravelly limestone minerality, bright acids and an incredibly youthful, saline, pineapple leesy finish. Very impressive for the price.

(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vasse Felix Chardonnay 2015, Margaret River, 13 Abv.

Deep, broad and powerful with wonderfully complex serious notes of lemon pie, lime peel, green apple and wet chalk minerality. Captivating richness and density but also wonderfully complex struck match flinty nuances. Tightly wound, power packed and deliciously fresh and saline with a textural, yellow grapefruit and pineapple finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2016, Margaret River, 13 Abv.

A wonderfully powerful, intense structured Chardonnay that incorporates all the great qualities of Chardonnay into one wine. Loaded with wet chalk, struck match, delineated texture and linearity, boasting incredible complexity of white citrus, lime marmalade, green apple, brioche and buttered brown toast. Amazing textural balance, sensorial intensity and a very long, mouth watering finish. Superbly impressive benchmark cool climate Chardonnay that will appeal to Burgundy lovers and general Chardonnay connoisseurs.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

“I want to drink the best wines money can buy… and if I can make wines similar to those wines, then I think that’s great… and I want to drink them!” – Virginia Willcock

Australian Chardonnay Punching Above Its Weight – Tasting Penfolds Yattarna From Adelaide Hills…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Just a few days after the Great Chardonnay Blind Challenge, I was fortuitously served this delicious Aussie Chardonnay with Sunday lunch at my father-in-law. While the same vintage would set you back circa £75 per bottle if purchased now, the quality was very impressive and reinforced the high octane performance of the three Australian contenders entered into the blind Chardonnay challenge.

For me the whole selection process has been an enlightening revelation confirming the true pedigree of top Australian Chardonnays from regions like the Adelaide Hills, Beechworth, Mornington Peninsula and Margaret River. Can South Africa compete with these top Aussie expressions? Hmmm…. I think I feel another Australia versus South Africa blind tasting coming on!!

Penfolds Yattarna Bin 144 Chardonnay 2003, Adelaide Hills, Australia, 13.5 Abv.

A bright, clear medium straw yellow, this 15 year old Chardonnay is in fabulous condition bearing in mind it’s from a fairly warm climate. But Adelaide Hills often manages to conjure up tantalising expressions with fine acidity and great age-worthiness. This wine is bold and luscious with a complex nose of buttered white toast spread with yellow grapefruit preserve, lemon peel and hints of honey and a kiss of butterscotch. But you’d be foolish to think the aromatics are just fruit and oak driven as pronounced notes of wet slate and gravel minerality emerge as the wine sits in the glass. The palate has a fine dense texture with an underlying freshness and vibrancy that makes this wine feel more like 5 years old than 15. The sweet lemon verbena and pithy yellow citrus fruits are concentrated and intense, lingering on the finish and draw you back for one sip after another. A really lovely wine that would not be mistaken for Burgundy but that is almost certainly drinking better than most 2003 white Burgundies. Drink now to 2026+

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Fine Wine Friday at Chez Bruce With Some Iconic Wines…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 1 Comment

Well, it’s that time of year when we gather to bid farewell to fine wine friend Keith Prothero before he decamps to the Cape for the summer / UK Winter. I volunteered to organise the lunch finale with Bruce Poole, co-owner of Chez Bruce, Keith’s favourite restaurant in London and below is a little snap shot of the epic wines consumed. All wines were tasted blind before they were revealed.

Wine Advocate reviewer Neal Martin (left) with Bruce Poole, co-owner of Chez Bruce
 

First up, a vibrant, tantalising Clos des Goisses 1996 Champagne from Philipponnat with a fine leesy biscuit lift and a pronounced, creamy citrus note. Beautiful definition, purity, and a salty briney undertone that melts away into dusty lemon, buttered toast and a crisp, vibrant finish with great structure. A good bottle drinking at its peak. (96/100 GS)



The first flight of five whites started with an impressive Niepoort Coche White Blend 2011, briming with creamy peachy yellow fruits, lovely struck match reduction, ample minerality, woodsmoke, cassis leaf, wet slate, and wonderfully fine depth. I loved the tension and profound, subtle, buttery depth. Truly one of Portugal’s finest still white wines. Malcolm Thwaites, who has just recently visited Dirk Niepoort during harvest, actually called the wine amazingly! (95+/100 GS)


Next up, Keith’s Sandhi Sanford & Benedict 2011 Chardonnay. Initially smokey and seductive, with intense saline notes, lemon and lime cordial richness, huge concentration, this was a complete ringer for an old world Burgundian grand vin. Only after it had sat in the glass for a while, did it finally start to reveal some exotic new world fruit notes. A monumental effort from California and the ultimate ringer capable of fooling even the most talented tasters. (96/100 GS)


The Sandhi was followed by one of the truly great white wines of Burgundy, a superb bottle of J-F Coche Dury Meursault 2013. Wow, tasted blind, this was intensely taught, pin point, and precise showing lime, stoney liquid minerals, crushed limestone tension and focus. Very intense with seamless texture, regal mineral complexity, subtle passion fruit hints and great rigour on the finish. “Wines like this should challenge the senses, not entertain them!” was a very poignant comment from Nigel Platts Martin. (96/100 GS)


At these lunches, we always seem to open our “back up bottles” even when not required, and here again, my Didier Dagueneau Buisson Menard Pouilly Fume 1997 was added to the first flight. An interesting bottle, it had tasters scratching their heads endlessly as the wine unfurled in the glass. Plenty of white peach, passion fruit, pineapple and stoney minerality were in evidence. Beautifully exotic with a mercurial dry finish. “A bit of an upstart”… but certainly showed its class in my mind. (93/100 GS)



Just as we were about to move on to the reds, we were treated to another late addition and definite rarity. A fine bottle of Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2002. The initial nose was quite lactic, with hints of cottage cheese and cream, yet also full of oyster shell, fennel, pineapple and aniseed. There was a touch of wet dog to the wine combined with great minerality which led many of us to the Loire. But this was classic, elegant, fresh, super fine Grand Cru Chablis at its best and developed wonderfully in the glass. (94/100 GS)



The first three reds revealed a Rhoney theme but with a few twists. First up was Neal Martin’s amazing Jaboulet Cornas 1972 that showed a bouquet of rich brûlée oranges, savoury cured meats, and cherry confit. Rich and textural, this beautifully lifted wine sang a wonderful melody, and while mature, was thoroughly enchanting. So typical of the Northern Rhone, almost all at the table plumped for Hermitage or even perhaps a great vintage of Crozes-Hermitage. La Chapelle was even mentioned. But Cornas it was. I would have expected a little more blood and iron for a Cornas but perhaps the Jaboulet personality was shinning through more than the appellation’s terroir. A real treat. (93+/100 GS)



The wine that followed was younger and required a bit more thought. Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin 2000. Very complex Mourvèdre dominated wine (60%) loaded with black berry and bramble fruits with saddle leather, cured meats, liquorice, tar and sweet earthy black fruit notes. Dense and concentrated, this was a delicious grand vin wine almost certainly drunk too young. Give this classic another decade at least. (96+/100 GS)


So we were well and truly treading a Rhone path, when the next red from Alex Lake had us all a bit fooled. A Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz 2002 was not to my memory picked out as New World by anyone. Smoky lifted nose with granite dust, aniseed root, and earthy black berries, this was a very compact, focused wine with plenty of tension, crisp acids, and a subtle, restrained, savoury boxwood and pepper corn spice finish. A very smart wine that along with the Mullineux reds, is one of the few new world Syrahs / Shirazes Keith openly admits to drinking! Nice to taste this wine again with more age, but still a long life ahead of it. (95/100 GS)


The next pair of reds charmed some more than others, but as a devout Italian fine wine lover, the next two reds had me weak at the knees, (or was that the previous 10 bottles?). An utterly sublime Soldera Case Basse Brunello di Montalcino 1999 was bursting with sweet cherry blossom perfume, savoury earthy notes, saddle leather and wet tobacco, gun smoke, and graphite. Plenty of energy, this really was a superb, seductive hedonistic red full of character. (96+/100 GS)


To partner the Soldera was another real rarity ~ a Valdicava Madonna Del Piano Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 1990. Not a wine you come across very often anymore, this wine had all the archetypal power and prowess Valdicava’s Riserva’s are so famous for, except this one was finally giving an impression that despite being beautifully fresh and vital, it was approaching peek drinkability after 27 years! Dark and smoky, dense and dusty, it was quite saline, tight and precise, with pithy caramelised cherry fruits, grilled herbs, leather, graphite, aniseed and meaty savoury bramble berry depth. Very fine acids and also a touch of VA just to add more lift and complexity. The Riserva can be a hard wine to understand in its youth, or when James Suckling scores them 100 points, like with the 2010. But after tasting a maturing vintage like this, a lot of puzzle pieces fall into place. (96+/100 GS)


At this point, we were all amazed that no Burgundy or Bordeaux had featured in the flights yet! But the next wine broke the drought. A most majestic Chateau Cheval Blanc 1985 from St Emilion. This was a real treat and must be one of my favourite vintages of Cheval Blanc. Loaded with black berry fruits, gun powder, briary, and aniseed notes, it was also so vibrant, energetic and packed full of saline cassis, a touch of ink, leafy spice, sandalwood and buttered brown toast. Drinking in the perfect harmonious mid point between youth and maturity. For me, a top right bank Bordeaux ready to drink does not get much better than this. (98/100 GS) 


The last red was possibly another late addition, hence it was not included in the Rhone flight. But in many ways, it received more deserving attention being served in isolation. A contender for wine of the lunch, the Les Cailloux Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvée Centenaire 1990 from Lucien & Andre Brunel was indeed profound. A solid 100 pointer on the Wine Advocate scale, Robert Parker once described this wine as one of the greatest vintages ever made at the estate. This bottle was deliciously saline, rich, intense and dense but never tipping over to heavy in anyway. Sleek, crystalline, and supremely elegantly textured, this wine is still so youthful, fresh and perfumed, showing its true class. A really profound wine. (98/100 GS)



To accompany a most delicious cheese dessert course, two sublime sweet wines were served. The iconic Mullineux Olerasay No.1 Chenin Blanc NV made from a Solera system. The word that encapsulates this wine is effortless harmony. It is neither too sweet nor too unctuous, merely finely balanced and beautifully intense. A lot of effort goes into making straw wines of this quality, and this blend deserves a big score if for no other reason, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Amazing wine. (98/100 GS)



Before we could cross our T’s and dot our I’s, we were treated to another profound dessert wine ~ the Reinhold Heart Ohligsberger 2010 Mosel Eiswein. After a long afternoon of intense, thought provoking fine wines, nothing could possibly refresh the senses better than a delicious, vibrant glass of rapier fresh Eiswein. Packed full of lemon and lime cordial notes, white peaches, and sweet yellow grapefruit, the acidity balanced the sugar brilliantly and was the perfect ending to a fascinating afternoon of fine wine and of course exceptional Michelin starred food.



Bon voyage Keith, I am sure most of us will still be talking about many of these wines by the time you return in 6 months time.