Château Musar Rouge
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste Pauillac
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste produce some of the best value wines in the Pauillac region, if not simply some of the best quality in general. Cabernet based reds are their staple and generally produce wines of a robust and masculine nature. In recent years the wines are close to rivalling the famed Pichons .
Château Troplong-Mondot St-émilion
On the rise and rise, Chateau Troplong-Mondot is increasingly considered a peer amongst the 1er Grand Cru Classe producers and perseveres with its lavish, luscious, strking wine styles. The wine is produced by Christine Valette in collusion with famed winemaking consultant Michel Rolland, who has been working with the estate since the 1980s, explaining some of the density and power now found in the wine. This 2010 iteration is 90% Merlot and finishes with a balance of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernt Franc. Consider the wine full-flavoured, dense and rich, but with a grace that belies its 15% alcohol
Château Léoville-Poyferré St-Julien
Chateau Leoville-Poyferre''s reputation as a 2nd growth of note has been buoyed by the engagement of renowned consultant winemaker Michel Rolland, whose work has been an influence at the estate since the mid 1990s. Prior, the reputation had struggled until the 1970s and the arrival of Didier Cuvelier, whose labour has helped create a greater reputation, more befitting the Leoville name. The wine has increasingly become one of the finest modern examples of St-Julien, with a move towards later harvests, fuller body, deeper concentration and exceptional length of flavour. 2010 reinforces that Chateau Leoville-Poyferre is a St-Julien wine to relish and cellar for up to and beyond another 30-plus years.
Château Clinet Pomerol
Château Clinet is a rising star in the small Right Bank region of Pomerol. With its gravely soil mixed with sand, Château Clinet has gradually increased the Merlot component of the wine to produce a voluptuous, smooth and yet still complex red wine that is both pleasing upon release and turns into a read star with a few years in the cellar.
Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte Pessac-Léognan
An upswing in quality over the past decade or so, has resurrected Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte's position amongst Bordeaux Chateau. New ownership breathed life into exceptionally positioned vineyards, now farmed with less chemicals, with a more sympatico approach in winery. Famed winemaking consultant Michel Rolland is an additional feather in Smith-Haut-Lafitte's cap, enhancing the wines concentration, power and depth, while maintaining a finesse. Though full-bodied, the wine from 2010 will be approachable a little earlier than most other fine Bordeaux, with more moderate tannin - that being said, it's life will stretch several decades too.
Clos Saint Jean Chateauneuf-du-Pape La Combe Des Fous
Tenuta Luce Luce
Château Duhart-Milon Pauillac
Left in a sorry state by the previous owners, in 1962 the Rothschilds of Lafite took over the property and begun to reconstruct the vineyard which was planted mostly to Petit Verdot. 4 decades later and the wines of Château Duhart-Milon are now showing the flavour and concentration you expect from such a site in Pauillac.
Yarra Yering Dry Red No 2
From some of the earliest plantings of Shiraz in the Yarra Valley with vines dating back to 1969. Shiraz (96%) co-fermented with small parcels of Viognier, Marsanne and Mataro aged 12 to 18 months in 50% new French oak barrels produces a wine that is perfumed and feminine with the tannins and acidity as integral to the wine as the fruit. Proven to age for 25+ years, Yarra Yering Dry Red No 2 was the first Cote Rotie style blend made in Australia
