James Halliday – Best Coonawarra Cabernet, 96 Points - James Halliday’s Cabernet Challenge 2023

James Suckling – 97 Points - "Incredibly elegant and delicate with tons of floral aromas, the lime usually associated with this appellation way in the background on the front-palate, then growing in intensity as the wine flows gracefully over the palate. Wonderful textural complexity. Very polished acidity drives the brilliant and very long finish." - James Suckling

James Halliday – "A classic high-quality Margaret River cabernet from an extremely good vintage, with more depth to rounded, fleshy fruit and quality oak than is usual with this wine. It's estate grown, and the vines decades old. It exudes cassis and has an excellent ripe tannin structure. 14% alc. Screwcap. Drink by: 2035"

Wine Enthusiast – 96 Points - "Many Marlborough sauvignon blancs are made to a familiar formula; lean and green and refreshing with bright acid. This new release from Dog Point offers something just a little bit different. Certified organic, it has a little more mouthfeel, a tad more palate interest, than many of its contemporaries, while retaining its aromatic appeal. This has vibrancy, allied to some interesting palate complexity thanks to wild yeast fermentation and some whole bunch elements; a wine that demands to matched with seafood, perhaps some mussels or cockles. It is bright and lively with fresh citrus and nectarine notes. Punchy, taut and intense with well-judged acid, faint smoky hints and immediate appeal. Well worth seeking out. 96 points from me." (Winsor Dobbin, Wine of the Week)

James Halliday – Giant Steps has its fruit sourcing, and minimalist winemaking, down to a fine art. It has an exotic, warm, spice-filled bouquet with musk and strawberry cream flavours. Makes it seem easy. It's not." 96 Points, Halliday Wine Companion.

James Halliday –

James Halliday – WVR 603 K. The Koerner G6 Block stood out when the time came to bottle the main release, so this small parcel was retained and released separately. Add another 3+ years and you’ll have something to celebrate for your wisdom.

James Suckling – This aged-release 2015 has developed toasty lemon and lime-peel aromas, as well as a vividly fresh palate that has teflon-like restraint and purity. A late developer, this has scintillating length and drive. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

World Wine – Youthful and vibrant with layered aromatics of stone fruit, baking spices, and a chalky nuance. Palate is poised with great length, vanilla, hazelnut and cream, very fine texture and minerality. Seamless, elegant and mouth-watering. - 98 points + Double Gold medal at the 2021 New Zealand International Wine Show.

James Halliday – Grenache Bush vines planted in 1946 on a deep sandy dune. Hand-picked and sorted, with 50% whole berries for a wild ferment. Perfumed rose petals and wild strawberries, the palate bursts with energy and drive, all in a red spectrum.

James Suckling – A beautiful opening act from a splendid source of quality McLaren Vale grenache. Notes of dried rose petals, spruce and kirsch. A little hard, rustic and ferrous at the end, although nothing a stiff decant or a short stint in the cellar can’t remedy. From biodynamically grown grapes.

The Wine Front – Cape gooseberry, guava, cream, spice, cut grass and snow pea. Medium-bodied, grapefruit segments, a little thistle and spice, glossy with a firm cut of juicy acidity and subtle flinty texture, aniseed and perfume, pineapple and creamed rice richness, with a pithy finish of excellent length. It has bite, zest and tang, glide and viscosity, and well, it’s Cape Crest writ large. Excellent.

Huon Hooke – Light, bright colour; intense nutty, spicy, balsamic bouquet with dried flowers and assorted spices galore, the palate tremendously intense and powerful, loaded with a myriad flavours and a multi-layered reosnance that lingers ion and on. A profound wine that exists on a higher level than most sauvignon blanc.

World Wine – 98 points + Gold - Adelaide Wine Show

Huon Hooke – "Taut, intense and complex chardonnay with nectarine, ripe peach, mineral/oyster shell, nutty yeast lees and subtle spicy oak flavours. Very appealing now but with a promising future. Clearly a great vintage." - Bob Campbell (The Real Review)

James Halliday – "The ancient (1847 planted) vines provided the backbone of this ultra-elegant, medium-bodied, French-oaked shiraz. Its perfect texture and balance." - 98 Points - Halliday Top 100 Wines of 2023 (The Australian Newspaper, November 2023)

Decanter – 2021 Vintage Award - Gold Medal Winner

Huon Hooke – "A stunning chardonnay" - Huon Hooke, 97pts

James Halliday – "The second release of the MMAD Vineyard label, and off its 1939 planted Blewitt Springs vineyard. About 15% whole bunches, fermented in wood and steel, maturation in concrete and large old French oak. Unlike the 2022 shiraz, this takes time to emerge from the glass. It’s all there, though. There’s a brooding quality at present, with nori, iodine and ferrous notes filtering up through dark red cherry, plum, raspberry and sultry florals. Some spicy, musky characters emerge with air. Tannin is a meaningful factor, a pleasingly natural grape-derived affair, rugged but never rustic. A seriously compelling wine, and further proof of how thrilling McLaren Vale grenache is right now, for both its quality and the unparalleled diversity in top-flight expressions." - Marcus Ellis (Halliday Wine Companion)

Huon Hooke – Deep, bright red-purple colour with dominant nutmeg-spice aromas, and a full-bodied, firm palate that seems tight and a little unresolved at this stage. It's firm and deep, and looks to have more to reveal if given time. Certainly the concentration and palate length are very promising. A serious grenache!

The Wine Front – If you’re lucky, and most of us aren’t, there comes a time in your life when it all comes together. I suspect that’s what’s happened with this Blewitt Springs vineyard, planted in the middle of the Second World War, and the collection of wine people behind MMAD, all of whom have weathered a lot of summers in a lot of places in the pursuit of wine excellence. This wine tastes of a lot of right decisions, and of a lot of time spent in the journey to them. It has texture, balance, flavour and all that, but as my mum would say, ‘any dumb bunny can do that’. More importantly, what this wine has is all the nods and winks. I once wrote, a long time ago, of a moment where union legend David Campese ran straight through a bunch of defenders without breaking stride, or altering course. He did something, something that couldn’t be seen, and made the impossible look effortless. So too here. It has degrees of silk, fruit enough, a spinnaker on the finish, a volume of nuance. If there was such a thing for single vineyard, vintage, Aussie shiraz, this wine would be classified as first growth.

James Halliday – "This is a seriously impressive release, showcasing winemaker Adam Wadewitz’s learnings from the first vintage and the bounty of full viticultural control. The old-vine fruit could easily handle about one-third whole bunch, a Wadewitz favourite. And that impact is profoundly positive, weaving in spicy, smoky notes and complexing tannins to provide exceptional tension without greenness. Red and blue fruits, violet and dusky red florals, coal dust, anise, cacao and roasted coffee bean. Intensity on the palate at moderate alcohol and no heavy mid-palate sweetness nor new oak. Rather, it is poised throughout, with fruit intensity seamlessly meshed into a silky, supple but aptly assertive structure, a ferrous nori/ kelp mineral note underpinning. For a site purchased prizing grenache, this is a revelation." - Marcus Ellis (Halliday Wine Companion)

James Suckling – Vivid aromas of crushed blackberries, cloves, iodine and dried kelp, lifted by a potpourri of purple flowers. Dense, compact and detailed, with tannic precision. This is a full-bodied wine, yet it is the intricacy of the structure that draw me back to the glass. Long, beautiful and destined for excellent drinking across the mid-term.

Huon Hooke – Very complex Rhône-ish meaty/spicy bouquet of formidable charm and detail. Theres a nicely judged touch of reduction in there, and the wine is fleshy and sumptuous on the palate, smooth textured and glossy, with a lingering aftertaste packed with supple, polished tannins that are in effortless support. An outstanding shiraz. The tannins are formidable and sneaky—they will ensure a long aging career. A stonking McLaren Vale regional shiraz.

James Halliday – P58 clone planted by the Farr and Weir families in ’79. Whole-bunch pressed, cold-settled, fermented and matured for 9 months in French oak (75% new), minimal batonnage and partial mlf. The most striking of all the Clyde Park Chardonnays. The intensity of the fruit has managed to make light work of the new oak without any fuss, leaving the purity and elegance of the white peach fruit to occupy centre stage with only a whisper of grapefruit in the natural acidity. Made by Matt Holmes.

World Wine – 97 Points - Jane Skilton MW

World Wine – 96 Points + Gold (Decanter World Wine Awards 2023)

James Halliday – Fabulous wine. Powerful, complex and long. Pure plum into meaty spice into forest berries into fragrant herbs. You can taste the fruit, the soil and the wood, but it all presents as one. And then there's the finish. What a finish. Structured, textural, flavoursome and long. This wine is the complete package.- Cambell Mattinson

Huon Hooke – "Medium-deep red with a good tint of purple and a discreet bouquet of subtle spices and berry fruits, a patina of fresh-turned earth and black fruits, licorice and various spices, full-bodied in the mouth with ample tannins adding terrific structure and length. An impressively deep, concentrated and harmonious grenache with the structure to age long-term."

James Suckling – Firm and tight licorice, graphite, slate and light dried strawberry. Goes to iron. Flowers. Medium body. Creamy and fine tannins with a rather dusty finish. Fresh acidity and long and linear finish. Structured. From biodynamically grown grapes. Better after 2024, but already beautiful. - 98 Points, James Suckling

James Suckling – "A beautiful nose of sliced strawberries, crushed cherries, violets, grated nutmeg and a hint of white pepper. Some hibiscus, too. Supremely vibrant and perfumed with fine tannins that run the length of the medium-bodied palate. Textural. Ground spice and fresh fruit are intertwined, providing wonderful depth and complexity. So long as well. Seamless balance. Superb. Sustainable. Drink or hold." - 98 Points James Suckling - Wine of the Year, Top 100 NZ Wines for 2022

Huon Hooke – "Concentrated, complex pinot noir with cassis, blackberry, dark cherry, violet, wood smoke and savoury/dried herb flavours. Accessible now but with a proven history of ageing gracefully. Elegant wine with impressive power." 98 Points - (Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review)

World Wine – "This 'Sophia' has remarkable vitality and life, with vibrant primary fruit, great richness and structure. It will age 15+ years." 20/20 - Raymond Chan

Huon Hooke – "Lifted aroma with pronounced plum and floral characters. A complex array of flavours on the palate including plum, dark berry, chocolate, spice and a hint of violet. Gorgeous wine with plenty of weight, a silken texture and real energy. Will be very long-lived." 98/100 - Bob Campbell MW

James Suckling – "Redcurrant and creme de cassis aromas. Roses. So aromatic. Stones. Oyster and mussel shell. Ink pot. Lead pencil shavings. Full-bodied but very tight and focused. Linear and long with fine, powdery and chewy tannins. Crushed velvet texture. 56% cabernet sauvignon, 32% merlot, and 12% cabernet franc. More franc than normal in the blend. Terrific length. Try after 2028." - James Suckling

Huon Hooke – "A smashing cabernet blend, and a top vintage for this wine." 97 Points (Huon Hooke, The Real Review)

James Suckling – This comes from two of the best blocks of this vineyard. Blackberry, blueberry and red fruits as well as ink and meat. Fresh flowers. Savory. Medium- to full-bodied. Round yet firm tannins that are so fine and silky. Caresses your palate in every way.

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate – The 2021 Le Sol is spicy and detailed. Where the 2020 is open-weave and attractive, the 2021 is tighter, more focused and less "available" for obsessive unpicking (as I am wont to do for you, here). There's raw cocoa, blueberry, fi nely ground black pepper, orange peel, musk stick, layers of blackberry, mulberry, blood, ferrous notes and a hint of pencil shaving. This is a tightly coiled wine, one that has much unfurling to do, both in the cellar over time and in the glass today. Kaleidoscopic, savory and complex, this is another exciting wine from Craggy Range across the superstar 2020 and 2021 vintages. The exciting thing about the Le Sol is that there is SO MUCH flavor, without weight or density. It is pure concentration, but it leaves an impression of levity and litheness.

World Wine – 98 points - Huon Hooke (therealreview.com)

World Wine – 97 Points - Huon Hooke (The Real Review)

Wine Enthusiast – “Exceptional concentration…Majestic.” - Sam Kim (Wine Orbit)

Huon Hooke – "Tremendous persistence and wonderful structure. A great wine, that will richly reward long-term cellaring." - Huon Hooke (The Real Review)

The Wine Front – "Pear, lime, grapefruit, floral too, with a distinct mint/aniseed top note, backed with discreet spicy cinnamon/ginger oak. It’s fresh and lively, quite saline too, flinty and chalky, a honey ginger drink character in the mix, along with a cucumber coolness and biscuit spices, a whole lot of presence and power here, delivered in a kind of understated, but confident way. The finish is very long, and refreshing. Gee, this is good wine. It ripples through the mouth like a flat white stone pitched across a cool lake. That’s an image for you, and I’ll leave you with that." - Gary Walsh