The Wine Front – Rose oil and sappy perfume, juicy sweet and sour cherry, autumnal stuff, spice. Medium bodied, spiced cherry and plum, firm acidity, sappy flavours, a bit savoury, length good too, mulchy and pert.

James Halliday – Hand-picked, wild yeast, 7 days cold soak, open-fermented, 5 days post-ferment maceration, matured in French oak (20% new) for 11 months, not fined or filtered. Good hue, clear purple-crimson; has a tangy brightness to the cherry-accented fruit flavours, the palate long and particularly well balanced; a juicy, fresh finish, oak no more than a whisper.

James Halliday – A selection of the best estate-grown chardonnay, with only 400 dozen made, winemaking much the same as its junior sibling. While retaining freshness and precision, the fruit here is more juicy and polished, not quite as angular.

The Wine Front – It’s its usual savoury self. This wine is noted for its white pepper notes and they are on clear display here, though not to the extent they sometimes are. Garden herb/bunch notes, black pepper, a walk through a garden, a cool succulence. Tannin is fine, assertive and peppery at once. Hold tight here; this wine needs a couple of years to find its feet.

James Halliday – Oak rears at first but it soon settles into fine drinking form. Stone fruit, custard apple and cream caramel characters burst confidently through the palate and on to the finish.

The Wine Front – This opens taut, savoury and complex but as it breathes the fruit seems sweeter and fuller. It seems serious and stern at first; generous to the point of deliciousness in time. That said, a healthy amount of spice and twig-like notes remain heightened throughout and its tannin never really lets go of the reins. In short, it’s a joyous Pinot Noir with substance. It works now and it will also work if you wait.

James Halliday – No details about this wine but it shouts of an abundance of whole-bunch characters exacerbating the meaty reduction and yet, it’s also compelling. Spiced red cherries, twiggy and sappy with crunchy acidity backed up by textural, lightly sandy tannins. - Jane Faulkner

The Wine Front – Plum, cherry, stalky (in a positive sense) with a lick of baking spice oak, and something of a woodsy/undergrowth thing. It’s medium-bodied, but intense in flavour, a little smoky/toasty oak in with ripe red fruit, firm grainy tannin grip, with a spicy and gently sappy/stalky finish of excellent length. Quite bold, and maybe the oak is a little too assertive as a young wine, but really very good.

James Suckling – This winery has been through corporate grappling to offer a good reason to return to the wines, which have long been regional stalwarts. Red cherries, dill and mescal derived from whole-bunch fermentation. Herbal potpourri, rhubarb and sweetness across a medium-bodied palate. A little too sweet, but that is often the challenge of New World pinot here and elsewhere. A lovely pinot.

James Suckling – Stonier is a strong chardonnay house. Here, an example why. Scents of white peaches and nectarines are carried to impressive length by a touch of salty, oyster shell freshness. Cashew notes and generosity at the core. The harmony between extract and acidity is impressive. The feel is considerably brisker than the medium-bodied palate conveys, suggesting that this wine should age well across the mid-term.

Huon Hooke – Smoky, butter-shortbread and Weetbix aromas, the palate tense and dry/savoury, with subtle grip and the line and length are good. A little lean and tense, but attractive flavour, finished with lively lemony acidity that lingers on. This has potential to improve with more time.

The Wine Front – This is a very good release and a very pleasing bottle of Pinot Noir. Strawberry, red cherry, spice, a gentle sappiness. It’s medium-bodied, bright and juicy, but has good concentration of flavour, a little blood orange tang, with a finish of good length and fine-grained tannin grip. Very nice. It’s 92 or 93 points. Either way, it’s a charming wine.

James Halliday – How lovely to taste this knowing Stonier is back on track with new owners who love the place and a winemaker, as in Justin Purser, keen to ensure a tradition of making distinctive, high-quality wines can now continue unabated. No better way than to start with a lovely pinot sourced from grower vineyards. Upfront cherries and pips, lightly spiced with blood orange and zest with wafts of forest floor and savoury oak. Sweet fruit, supple tannins and uplifting acidity glide across the palate. It tastes so good.

James Suckling – Sappy, mid-weighted pinot noir. Lipstick-smudge, sticky tannins compress a densely packed mid-palate, medium of body and far from heavy. Yet the aromatic spectrum is largely of a medicinal red-fruited spectrum, singed with orange-zest sourness, conferring length and verve. This is a very good proprietary expression, brimming with flavor and a modicum of class.

The Wine Front – "A compote of strawberries, crushed bitter herbs, pomegranate and orange zest. It’s a satisfying medium-bodied red wine. It has that pretty edge of red fruit and the umami side of decaying leaves. It’s mandarin peel, light liquorice and cherry in the aftertaste. The flavour lingers but the tension eases, leaving a touch of warming cinnamon on the gums. Very approachable and easy to like, no less." - Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front

The Wine Front – “Strong release. Both woodsy spice and oak notes aplenty but with the fruit to support it. Back cherries, strawberries, toast and coffee grounds, with cedar and dried herb notes over the top. Both inherently complex and inherently bold, even at 12.6% alc. Savoury to the point of bitter, but not. Firm-ish. It’s not for drinking now; it’s built to be matured.” - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front "Complex foresty, earthy, leaf-litter aromas and flavou

James Halliday – “The most structured offering in the Quealy stable – the tannins are textural with seemingly more fruit weight. It still has the vivacity of the ’21 vintage, yet incorporates hints of sweet and tart rhubarb, dark cherries, mocha and dried herbs plus cedar oak flavour. The palate doesn’t quite flesh out, even if it is medium bodied, as the acidity is keeping everything reined in, bar the slightly bitter, charred radicchio character on the finish, which adds to the mouthfeel and pleasure of drinking." - Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion 2024

The Wine Front – “This is a beauty. Sweet fruited and sweet spiced. Strawberries and ash, twigs and leaves, all the components teaming as one. There’s excellent linger to this release, excellent finesse. It’s not necessarily a powerful pinot noir, but it has long fingers. It’s (very) good now and it will mature well. This is my favourite of the 2021 releases; it’s all charm.” - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

James Halliday – “Don’t bother cellaring this. It’ll be fine if you do so in the short-term, yet this is ready now. A gorgeous combo of florals and spice, red cherries and raspberries, chinotto and blood orange. Lighter framed with soft, silky tannins and a refreshment throughout.” - Jane Faulkner, The Wine Companion

James Halliday – "First day open, very good. The next day, whoa, even better. So decant, please. It’s super funky with fine flinty sulphides and a crunchy, minerally sensation across the palate. Citrus and white stone fruit, lightly spiced, creamy lees yet so moreish and savoury. Compelling and stylish." - Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)