The 2005 La Joie is rocking, and if La Muse was closed and dominated by tannin at my tasting, the La Joie was strutting its considerable potential. A blend of 66.1% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12.7% Merlot, and 12.3% Cabernet Franc as well as some Petit Verdot and Malbec, this is a wine with a dense ruby/purple color, a glorious nose of lead pencil shavings intermixed with cedar wood, black currant liqueur, espresso roast, and chocolate. It also possesses huge amounts of fruit and tannins. The tannins are elevated, but the wine is so enormously endowed, I don’t think there’s a doubt that it will come together brilliantly, as everything seems to be in proper proportion. This a colossal/compelling proprietary red wine that should be at its prime in about 2015 and last for 30+ years.

The 2015 Le Désir brings together striking aromatic lift from the Cabernet Franc with the dark, sumptuous fruit of the year. Chocolate, mocha, plum, licorice, crème de cassis and pencil shavings add striking aromatic nuance. This is a dazzling wine from the Seillan family.

A barrel sample, the 2016 Hartford Court Chardonnay Seascape Vineyard has a ripe apple, warm peach and green mango-scented nose with hints of yuzu zest, honeysuckle, crushed rocks and powdered ginger. Medium to full-bodied, the palate reveals fantastically intense, tightly wound citrus and perfumed stone fruit flavors with a very racy backbone and epically long, mineral-laced finish.

The 2013 Le Désir is a 2,500-case blend of 61% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec. It exhibits nearly surreal notes of blueberry liqueur, black raspberries, graphite, vanilla and spring flowers. Deep, dense and velvety textured, it combines great intellectual interest with sensational hedonism in a full-bodied, voluptuously textured style. All three 2013s appear to have incredible potential. I look forward to tasting them out of bottle.

The 2013 La Muse (a 3,800-case blend of 89% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 3% Malbec) boasts an inky, opaque purple color as well as abundant aromas of pen ink, chocolate, mocha, black cherry jam, mulberries and a touch of oak. Opulent and full-bodied with terrific acidity and richness as well as a 50-second finish, this is the most forward of the three 2013 cuvées. It should drink well for 25-35 years. All three 2013s appear to have incredible potential. I look forward to tasting them out of bottle.

Made from a blend of 65% Cabernet Franc, 25% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Malbec, the 2012 Le Desir should turn out to be one of the most explosively fragrant wines in this portfolio (primarily because of the significant Cabernet Franc in the blend). A sensational black/purple color is followed by gorgeous aromas of blueberries, black raspberries, lead pencil shavings, incense and camphor. With excellent concentration, a full-bodied mouthfeel and an amazingly long finish, it should be cellared for 5-7 years, and drunk over the following three decades.

The 2012 La Muse, a blend of 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec from Bennett Valley, Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill and Knights Valley, reveals wonderful sucrosity along with a sexy, up-front perfume of plums, graphite, licorice, Christmas fruitcake, kirsch, black currants and blackberries. This big, full-bodied, opulently-styled wine will probably be the easiest to drink early on, although it certainly needs at least 5 years in the bottle to reach its peak. It should keep for 25+ years.

The 2013 La Joie (4,400 cases produced) is composed of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. Aromas of forest floor, camphor, graphite, blackcurrants, coffee beans and spice box emerge from this wine. With full body, great purity and depth, a multidimensional mouthfeel and a finish that lasts nearly a minute, this sensational wine possesses terrific delineation and focus. It should drink well for 3-4 decades. All three 2013s appear to have incredible potential. I look forward to tasting them out of bottle.

As for the 2015 Chardonnay Far Coast Vineyard, this is also from a very cold site, this one north of Fort Ross on the Sonoma coastline. The wine offers oyster shell minerality (or wet gravel), some pineapple, mango and nectarine, beautifully focused, full-bodied flavors, and a burgeoning complexity that is impressive on its own. Drink it over the next 10-12 years.

Dark, bright, youthful ruby. Ineffable aromas and flavors of dark berries, black cherry, minerals and brown spices. Suave and wonderfully silky, communicating an impression of power with finesse. Like Le Désir, this is not overly sweet but boasts a wonderfully fine-grained texture and outstanding inner-mouth lift. The juicy, very slowly mounting finish features serious but seamless, pliant tannins and outstanding length, with a late suggestion of licorice.

A different blend this year of 31/28/22/19% grenache gris/grenache blanc / clairette / roussanne. Some batches were direct pressed, others saw up to four months on skins, with all fermentation and maturation in ceramic eggs. This hits different to prior releases, recognisable but just a little dialled up. A little whiff of measured reduction gives an appealing slatey, matchstick note floating like smoke over the golden apple, citron, pineapple quince and Meyer lemon fruit. It’s sunny in a way, an orchard bursting with life, but the textural tension, the layers of phenolic detail and the subtly integrated baking spices take away any notion of this being in any way simple. Rather it is calmly, coolly complex. And it gets better with air – significantly enhanced on day two

From 1962-planted vines on brown clay loam with shattered siltstone; destemmed, crushed and fermented in 1800L cocciopesto amphorae, with four months' skin contact. There’s always a little more flesh to the Hickinbotham bottling, with the fruits a deep red, yet it has an overwhelmingly savoury fruit profile. That said, elegance is a byword for the whole grenache suite, with transparency, fine detail and natural tannin complexity constants. Deep red and black cherry, dark rose, some faint blue fruit/floral cues, Baharat, a very fine anise note, along with amaro herbs and warm earth, all so finely wrought. Tannins are so elegant yet insistent, and the accord with acidity make this dangerously drinkable now; though, given the wine holds up for several days, the future is assured. Marcus Ellis Published 20 July 2026

The 2022 La Muse is a blend of 90% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Malbec,
opening with cigar box, leather, black plum, tobacco, and hints of blueberry.
Full-bodied yet surprisingly weightless, it combines refreshing acidity, ripe
tannins, and red apple seed notes on the palate. The tannins have a slight
chalkiness typical of some 2022s, though they remain beautifully integrated.
There’s even a touch of transparency in the glass. Drink 2026-2046.

A blend of all the single-vineyard wines. 40% whole bunches. A medium, bright crimson red. A beautifully fragrant wine with its aromas of perfectly ripened strawberry, black raspberry, rose, lavender and cinnamon stick. Unfurls on the medium-bodied, textured and mouth-filling palate. The tannins are succulent and you barely notice the whole bunches. A step up on last year's Circle of Fifths and a wine that will still be looking good a decade from now.

A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, the 2022 La Joie is a chiseled, muscular wine. Brooding Cabernet character leads the charge. Intensely structured and drenched in minerality, the 2022 unfurls slowly and confidently, gradually revealing itself with shades of crushed rocks, graphite, espresso, sage, tar and black cherry fruit. Today, La Joie is a very reticent, inward-leaning wine that shows a mere glimpse of what’s to come—a seriously complex offering for the most patient among you.

A highlight in the range, the 2022 Pinot Noir Dropstone is bright ruby and focused, with minimal oak and a fruit-driven character. Notes of pomegranate, crushed stones, and darker fruit are followed by a linear and refreshing red with coiled tannins, a Nebbiolo-like structure, and citrusy lift. Drink 2025-2040.

The vineyard yielded five barrels of chardonnay this year. “It could not have been a more different vintage (to the 2023)”, according to winemaker Mel Chester.

I loved the 2023 release but this 2024 version is dramatically different and, yet still, dramatically good. The 2023 release was piercing but there’s a delicacy to this wine. Bacon, wax, oyster shell, white peach and salted citrus, with almond paste as the lightest of infusions. This is such a complete wine. If you thought that Bastard Hill was exciting as a concept, this is Bastard Hill as exciting in the glass. It’s the elegance of Australian chardonnay at a high point. It has the flavour and the texture and the focus and all those things. But it’s a wine with a vibe and a lilt and a loveliness that runs the length of it.

The 2024 vintage of Giant Steps single vineyard wines is formally released on August 11, 2025. This 2024 release is from both the north and south slopes of the vineyard; 2023 was from the north side of the vineyard only. This year it cropped at 1.8 tonne per hectare.

This is pretty as a picture. Blue and red berries, slips of spice, smoked cedar tucked in; it’s Pinot Noir in naked form, the bones clear but so too the flesh. This result is exquisite. It glides slowly through the start and then gradually, like a river through the rapids, increases its speed to the rush of an exaggeratedly long finish. This Pinot Noir is minerally, almost gravelly. It has flesh and perfume. It delves into secret herbs and spices territory. It’s a wine in perfect form. The tautness, the perfume, the flesh; everything is elite.

Moving back to the Russian River Valley, the 2023 Pinot Noir Jennifer's Vineyard is a medium ruby color and is more expressive, primary, and floral in this vintage, with notes of mixed berries, crushed roses, and sweet herbs. The palate reveals more tension and brightness and is more approachable and open than the nose suggests, with bright acidity, well-defined tannins, and hints of citrus and dried herbs on the finish. I would give this one another year to allow its more savory and layered depth to unfold. Drink 2026-2046.

Only three barrels of this maiden vintage Fijnbosch were produced. The aromatics reveal a deliciously attractive tangy, sweet and sour white and yellow citrus fruits that are firmly under-pinned by a seriously taut minerality. But the concentration with beautiful precision on the palate is phenomenal, combining intensity of fruit with harmonious balance and textural elegance. Such class and pedigree on display here that leverages the finest qualities of higher altitude cool climate Chardonnay.

Total 130 x 12 cases made from a blend of all Chardonnay blocks on the Fijnbosch farm. Mostly sold cellar door, this wine showcases the property and its true terroir of Tukulu and Hutton soils with a sandstone overlay. The aromatics show beautiful lemon oil, sweet herbs, waxy Granny Smith apples and grapefruit confit notes with underlying savoury, leesy nuances. Plush, textural, and mouth-wateringly tangy, this wine shows punchy intensity, a piercing depth but also the most seductive, harmonious balance. Wow, what a wine!

The 2021 La Muse is composed of 90% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec, and the wine was matured for 16 months in 95% new French oak. Although it’s youthfully shy on the nose, it can’t hide its jewel-like quality and offers bright flashes of violet, cast iron, cassis, dark plums and blackcurrant bud. The palate is surprisingly light on its feet, its concentrated flavors supported by lacy tannins and bright bursts of acidity. Pure and plush, it opens dramatically over several days and will be very long lived in the cellar. 2,500 cases produced.

The 2021 Le Désir is composed of 87% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot and 3% Malbec—Pierre Seillan says it’s the highest percentage of Cabernet Franc this blend has ever incorporated. Matured for 16 months in 95% new French oak, it has an opaque ruby color and very slowly unfolding scents of chocolate-covered blueberries, cast iron, violet, bay leaves and cardamom. The full-bodied palate features transparent, alluringly herbal flavors. It’s structured by clay-textured tannins and bright acidity, and it has a very long, spicy finish. It transforms dramatically over several days and will be epically long lived in the cellar. 2,500 cases produced.

Darker red, blue, and black fruits, sappy spring flowers, graphite, and chalky minerality all define the 2021 Cabernet Franc Howell Mountain, a medium to full-bodied, ultra-pure, fine, graceful Cabernet Franc with tons to love.

The 2021 Ovitelli Grenache is sourced from Block 30—
a two-hectare adjacent to the High Sands block,
planted in 1946. Sorted on the fancy sorting table at
Yangarra and fully destemmed, it fermented in
ceramic egg and spent 133 days on the skins. It
matured exclusively in ceramic egg (13 months'
elevage, no pressings in the final wine), so we know
the texture and structure inherent in this glass is
vineyard- and berry-derived rather than from the
vessel. Already, we are in cool territory. On the nose,
there is fresh tobacco leaf, graphite, raspberry leaf,
lavender, turmeric/saffron, matcha, licorice and a hint
of dehydrated orange peel (moving onto the
negroni/Camari end of the spectrum here). In the
mouth, the tannins are super fine, milled into
compressed powder that plumes through the fruit, like
blood in the water. This is mineral, detailed, exciting,
febrile, ethereal and lacy, even. Wowee. Strong
statement about McLaren Vale Grenache here. 14.5%
alcohol, sealed under screw cap.