Moving into a touch of savory aromas, with pine, sea spray, and lime zest, the palate of the 2019 Chardonnay Seascape Vineyard is rounded up front, with more pineapple, and has a softer, more approachable texture than the Jennifer’s.

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana, from chalk soils with western-facing exposition, is the most exuberant in terms of its aromatics, with candied flowers, cherry liqueur, sweet tobacco, and graphite. The fruit fills the palate up front and through the mid-palate, with a refreshing spine of acidity and great mineral texture. The tannins are ripe and well-integrated. This is a delicious wine out of the gate and will be worth holding onto and checking in on over the next 20 years.

Sourced from the contoured quilt of estate vines, a confluence of silts, loams and ferrous outcrops. A traditional blend of the finest performing blocks and best barrels (50% new). A nose tingling with a visceral energy, such is the mineral-clad spine to this wine. Rich and powerful, to be sure, as the sweetness of shiraz and its blue-fruit aspersions meander across cabernet's bones of finely tuned tannins, dried herb and cedar-oak cladding. Yet the overall effect is one of umami warmth, savoury depth and immense potential. This is an iconic wine and deservedly so.

From the Primavera vineyard at Woori Yallock, planted in 2001 on the same red soil as Wombat Creek. Both destemmed (55%) and whole-bunch components. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. A very bright crimson purple. So pure and perfumed with briary cherries, ripe redcurrants and freshly cut roses. Poised, juicy and energetic, the wine has so much tang and crunch, you barely notice that this is also structured finishing with long, gently puckering tannins. A wine with immediate appeal, but also one that will reward at least another 7-10 years in the cellar.

The 2002 Le Desir, a blend of 53% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Malbec, is surprisingly youthful at this stage. Medium to deep garnet in color, it has singular aromas of grilled plums, chanterelles, oolong tea leaves, dried roses, laurel leaves, leather and saline. The palate is seamless and powdery, with a deep core of fruit, bright acidity and a very long, floral finish. It's very expressive and at an ideal stage for drinking, although it will continue to hold over the next decade in bottle.

The 2002 La Muse, a blend of 93% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc, has aged gracefully, with a medium garnet color and complex aromas of dried cherries, smoked meats, mushrooms, graphite, leather and soy sauce. The palate offers juicy acidity and Griotte cherry fruit, softened tannins and a layered, very expressive finish.

A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec, the 2002 La Joie is fully mature and drinking beautifully, with the alluring, savory tones of a well-aged Cabernet: dark berry fruit, shitake mushrooms, coffee grounds, graphite, leather and underbrush. The palate retains a core of dried blackcurrants, while its tannins have softened and integrated, and gentle bursts of acidity carry umami-like flavors of meat drippings, iron and soy sauce. It will continue to provide pleasure over the next decade.

Deep ruby, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Montana Vineyard offers its cassis aromas slowly, continually unfolding to accents of lavender, cured meats, chargrill, coffee and loads of savory spices. Matured 12 months in 70% new French oak, the palate is surprisingly lifted and silky, soaring with youthful fruit and spices, focused acidity and a streak of graphite driving the long finish. 1,379 cases were made. Hélène Seillan notes that the oak is sourced from about 15 different forests in France, and its singular, spicy, integrated oak is part of what makes this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon so distinctive.

The 2019 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon comes 100% from the Keyes vineyard. Deep garnet-purple in color, it prances out of the glass with showy notes of kirsch, black plum preserves, and warm cassis, plus suggestions of charcoal, roses, and forest floor. Full-bodied, the palate is completely coated with crunchy black fruits and firm, grainy tannins, finishing long, earthy, and refreshing.

The 2019 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon comes mainly from the Wallis Vineyard, located at around 1,100 feet and consisting of gravelly loam. Deep garnet-purple in color, it is fairly closed to start off, soon revealing earthy scents of truffles, crushed rocks, and forest floor over a core of cassis and blackberry preserves plus a hint of tar. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is firmly structured with ripe, grainy tannins and stunning freshness supporting the tightly wound fruit, finishing long and savory.

The 2019 Red Wine is made from 67% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 0.5% Malbec, and 0.5% Petit Verdot, with all 4 mountains in the blend. Deep garnet-purple in color, it slowly unfurls to deliver a provocative perfume of chocolate-covered cherries, rose oil, and star anise with hints of violets, fallen leaves, forest floor, and dusty soil. Full-bodied, the palate has the most beautiful, silky tannins and well-integrated freshness supporting the perfumed fruit, finishing long and mineral-laced.

The great Aussie blend, this is 52% Cabernet and 48% Shiraz. It is sourced from four discrete blocks, all planted more than half a century ago, in 1971. All are low yielding. The varieties were kept separate for fermentation. All grapes were destemmed. The Cabernet spent 15 months in fine-grained Bordeaux barrels, 60% of them new. The Shiraz went to one and two year old barrels, spending 6 months on lees. Overall, the wine saw 50% new oak. At this stage, barrel selection took place with the best blended together for this wine. Although the wine certainly climbs the heights, it is not named after any local mountains, not that there are any, but rather, after Mr Edward John Peake, who planted the first vineyard in Clarendon around 1850. Black/purple. This is deep, dark, brooding and coiled. Serious underlying power with balance, force and focus. Notes of aniseed, blackberries, dark chocolate, axle grease (in a good way) and coffee beans. Great length here with soft powdery tannins. The two grapes meld together perfectly, neither dominating, but both enhancing the other. Plush and soft and cuddly, this is a cracking red. 15 years plus if needed, but good luck keeping your hands off it for that long. Love it.

Sumptuous, lively and generous in dried herbs, allspice and forest floor, this is a memorably intense and complex coastal wine, thick in tannin and enduring structure. Red berry and citrus give it a lightness that boosts the lovely, lasting acidity.

Sourced from a propitiously sited plot within the oldest realm of 1946 plantings, all on deep sands. Destemmed to whole berries and fermented wild for 21 days on skins. Matured 11 months in older, large-format French wood and eggs. This is the benchmark of the region on many levels, made in a denser fashion, perhaps, than its siblings. Yet this vintage feels more elegant. The fruit, crunchy and of the red spectrum. The acidity, salty. The tannins, lithe and slinky with the embellishment of oak an accent of intrigue, rather than a jarring dialect. Resinous. Powerful. Yet pixelated of detail as it strides to a long finish clad with thyme, orange verbena and a whiff of cedar.

Sourced from two blocks of the Keyes Vineyard at La Jota, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain shows more caramel, barrel toast and mocha notes, derived from the choice of Demptos as the cooper. Cassis and blueberry flesh out the flavor profile of this full-bodied, rich, velvety effort. Mouth-filling and plush, it's broad and expansive in the mouth, finishing long and intricately textured.

Made mainly from WA's Gingin clone and planted in Gruyere on the same grey clay as Applejack. Whole bunches pressed into French puncheons with 20% new oak. Smells tightly wound and concentrated with aromas of ripe peach and nectarine, together with just a hint of lanolin and apple custard. Equally powerful and punchy on the palate. This has more of everything, including sprightly acid and some phenolic grip on the very long, stone-fruit pithy finish. Today, this is my pick of the 4 single-vineyard 2021 chardonnays, but who knows what will come out on top in 5 or even 10 years from now!

Purple fruit, such as ripe plums and white peaches with flowers. Medium to full body with lots of perfumed flavors and a savory finish. Powdery tannins provide roundness and beauty. Long finish. Tight at the end. Needs two or three years to soften and open.

Aromatic and complex with sweet tobacco, fresh and dried herbs and fresh flowers, as well as red fruit. Medium-to full-bodied with wonderful polish and drinkability, especially for the mountain fruit from Howell, Veeder, Diamond and Spring mountains. Elegance. A blend of 67% merlot, 20% cabernet sauvignon, 12% cabernet franc and a dash of malbec and petit verdot. Drink or hold

The essence of cabernet sauvignon on the nose with cassis and fresh flowers. Full-bodied with orange peel, blackberry, cassis and hints of rose stems. Creamy and powdery tannins. Needs time to come together. Try after 2026, but already beautiful.

The nose is of lifted blackberry and dark forest fruit on this blend, made from a combination of Napa’s mountain fruit. There are overtones of gravel, of stone, of hints of smoke. The palate is immediately concentrated, powerful and intense. This is like a primal force, bold but toned, rich but fresh. Ripe tannins coat the mouth, assert themselves while that dark fruit lingers.

A shy nose hints at dark berry and some graphite only. It is on the palate that the fine freshness, the superfine tannin, like combed, starched silk, breaks though. There is crunch, there is freshness, there is this insistent, lasting, long and pure, tart red berry fruit. This is Cab Franc the California way.

Blueberry smoothie, perfumed, slight black pepper and exotic spices, violet perfume, dried herbs, and mocha oak. Medium to full-bodied, powerful, blackcurrant, some red fruits, ferrous tannin and plenty of them, firm ‘mineral’ acidity keeps it fresh and it’s very long and powerful. Needs a fair amount of time, but a what a great Cabernet this is. So emphatic.

Always an exciting proposition. A transparent grenache of pixelated precision. As reminiscent of its nebbiolo brethren as it is of pinot. A shimmering red-fruited veil. Gritty, attenuated tannins derived from old vines (1946) and a long, gentle agitation in ceramic eggs. Here, a spontaneous ferment occurs across an astounding 170 days. Like biting into the juiciest raspberry that bridles the perfect edge of ripeness, before sucking on sandstone. Long is an understatement. This is among Australia's greatest wines from the country's finest cultivar.

Moderately light garnet color in the glass. Seductive aromas of Bing cherry, raspberry, sap and spice. Delicious, mouth filling flavors of black cherry and raspberry saturate the palate with goodness. Very polished in the mouth, with buried tannins and a vibrant acid backbone. Everything works in harmony so that the wine can be thoroughly enjoyed now. Fabulous when tasted the following day from a previously opened bottle.

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder is one of the most distinctive wines in this range from Lokoya, but it is also the most backward. Huge beams of tannin give the Veeder Cabernet energy and shape. It will be at least a few years before the fruit starts to fully emerge, so a measure of patience is essential. Iron, red plum fruit, sage, mint and white pepper lend striking brightness to this gorgeous Cabernet Sauvignon from Lokoya and winemaker Chris Carpenter.