Varietal winners
EACH YEAR, JAMES HALLIDAY AWARDS THE WINES HE DEEMS THE BEST EXAMPLES OF THEIR VARIETY. HERE ARE THIS YEAR’S WINNERS.
SPARKLING 2004 House of Arras EJ Carr Late Disgorged
Well done for putting this price on it. What 15yo Australian table wine at the peak of its powers could offer as much complexity and perfection as this? The balance is perfect. 12.5% alc. 99 points
RRP $200
RIESLING
2006 Crawford River Reserve Riesling
The grapes come from a small number of specific rows on a gravelly ridge in the vineyard. The perfume of the bouquet is bewitching, more in common with the ’18 than the ’12 Museum Release, causing me to return again and again to explore the highways and byways of its flower and talc before moving to the fast-flowing imperious palate. Its throne is the welded acidity and citrus fruit. I had to bow to its demand and swallow all I put in my mouth. 13% alc. 98 points
RRP $100 / 2031
SEMILLON
2013 Brokenwood ILR Reserve Semillon
Graveyard’s sister. Released when it is at least 5yo and, like Graveyard, not produced every year. This is a very youthful version, still on the path towards maturity, but all the better for that. It is pliable, has succulent lanolin and Meyer lemon flavours; the acidity, perfect. 11% alc. 97 points
RRP $95 / 2025
CHARDONNAY
2017 Moss Wood Chardonnay
It only takes a millisecond to know you are in the presence of vinous royalty. This is a truly beautiful chardonnay, seamless perfection from the first sip. You know there has to be quality oak somewhere in the wine and know that all the analytical numbers will be a Bo Derek 10. It is liquid gold. 13.5% alc. 99 points
RRP $73 / 2032
SAUVIGNON BLANC 2017 Flowstone Queen of the Earth Sauvignon Blanc
Fermented in equal parts new and used barriques, with full mlf, before a further 18 months of ageing in the same vessels imparting a key lime zing to the aroma and a finely tuned meld of match-strike flint. Lemon curd, white peach and grapefruit pulp purr along finely tuned mineral cylinders. This is exceptional, with winemaking à point. A challenge to differentiate between top white Burgundy and the stamp of a regional superstar! 12.8% alc.
96 points (Ned Goodwin)
RRP $55 / 2027
SEMILLON SAUVIGNON BLENDS 2016 Stella Bella Suckfizzle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
A 90/10% blend; small batches handled separately. Free-run sauvignon blanc, 50% new French oak, 30% second fill, 20% third fill, matured for 14 months. Consistently one of the most opulent SBS wines on the market. Released with several years bottle age. A truly wonderful wine, ever determined to follow its own course. 13.1% alc. 97 points
RRP $40 / 2026
OTHER WHITE WINES & BLENDS
2012 Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne
Brilliant gleaming straw-green; marsanne isn’t an aromatic variety (nor is semillon), so even when 6yo, don’t expect too much on the bouquet. Conversely, expect more, much more on the electrically charged palate. It is beautifully balanced, honeysuckle, lime, lemon, honey and ginger playing within a near-invisible net of acidity. 11% alc. 97 points
RRP $46 / 2030
PINOT NOIR
2017 Mount Mary Yarra Valley Pinot Noir
Glorious colour. The bouquet has the complexity you expect from a 20+yo Burgundy with aromas of field and forest floor. The palate is utterly exceptional with perfect balance and length. The multitude of flavours swirl and dance – red tree fruits, red cherry foremost, plums close behind, thence to field and forest floor, capturing wild raspberry and strawberry. Sam Middleton thinks this will be one of the all-time greats of Mount Mary and I’m sure he is right. 13.3% alc. 99 points
RRP $150 / 2037
SHIRAZ AND/OR GRENACHE 2016 Yangarra Estate Vineyard
High Sands McLaren Vale Grenache
This is the king of Australian grenache and not to be undertaken lightly. Deep, although clear, in colour, it has a rainbow of flavours, its deep roots probing the soil nearby for sustenance that will provide tannins and all things needed for the grapes to reveal the magic evolution of the red flowers and spices of this wine. Wine Companion 2020 Wine of the Year. 14.5% alc. 98 points
RRP $150 / 2036
SHIRAZ
2017 John Duval Entity Shiraz
From old vines in 5 districts. Fermented with submerged cap, matured in French hogsheads (32% new) for 15 months. Complex and rich from the first whiff through to the aftertaste, not wasting a single berry in this great vintage. So much power, such elegance. 14% alc. 99 points
RRP $50 / 2047
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2016 Deep Woods Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Matured for 18 months in new and used French oak. Excellent colour. The wine has a fragrant dark berry bouquet; the palate, sheer perfection. So well balanced it seems suspended in the air: cassis fruit supported by feather-light tannins, oak an absorbed spectator. This is a beautiful wine. 14% alc. 99 points
RRP $70 / 2036
CABERNET & FAMILY
2017 Cullen Diana Madeline
The colour is faultless, as is the wine. It has waves of complexity, like one of Margaret River’s surf breaks, changing shape as the luxuriant cassis swells on the mid-palate, then finishes with ripe, textured tannins as the wave goes on to crash on the shore. The overall ripeness is perfection.
13% alc. 99 points
RRP $129 / 2042
SWEET VARIETAL
2016 Crawford River Wines Nektar
A year of great concentration, the botrytised portion of the grapes picked at 21 degrees baume, some hand-picked to shallow bins and stomped for an overnight cold soak, combined the next morning with whole-bunch fruit, racking/cold settling before very slow fermentation for months. A very beautiful wine, intensely fruity, intensely structured and exceptionally long. Its clean, fresh aftertaste is remarkable. 12% alc. 97 points
RRP $55 / 2036
FORTIFIED 1919 Seppeltsfield 100 Year Old Para Liqueur
Impenetrable colour, viscosity, searing intensity, endless finish... every spice known to humankind, bitter dark chocolate, burnt toffee, incisive acidity, rancio, supreme balance, aromas that not only remain in the glass, but intensify, celestial anaesthesia. It is the only wine I give 100 points to.
100 points
RRP $700/100ml