The 2021 La Muse is a blend of 90% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Malbec. Deep garnet-purple colored, it pops from the glass with notes of kirsch, fresh black and red plums, and wild blueberries, leading to suggestions of crushed rocks, star anise, and lilacs. The medium to full-bodied palate shimmers with vibrant, intense red, black, and blue fruit flavors, supported by firm, rounded tannins and bold tension, finishing long with a red berry lift. Alluring to drink now, allow it another 4-5 years in bottle for that next-level experience and then drink it over the next 20 years+

Deep, bright, youthful purple-red colour with a sweet blackberry pastille, mixed spice and almost jammy raspberry coulis flavours. The wine is very full bodied and concentrated, dense and massive, with amazing depth of flavour and serious tannins adding great authority to the structure, which will ensure it ages superbly. This is a most impressive grenache. Long term.

Planted in 1987 in Gladysdale at 400m by the trailblazing Ray Guerin for Hardys and purchased by Giant Steps in 2022. This is its first wine from the vineyard. And what a wine it is! A brilliant and pure scented bouquet of nashi, pink grapefruit, crushed rock, sea spray and honeysuckle. There's a hint of fresh honeycomb, too. Incisive, pure and chalky on the palate, this concentrated yet light on its feet wine is reminiscent of good Corton-Charlemagne. That it will age gracefully is a given.

High Sands is always a landmark wine, a site-reflective icon of peerless husbandry and elaboration, but it can be imposing, needing time and reflection. This is different, though, finely tuned, lucid, silky and sophisticated, and feeling even more expressive of place. A great, cool vintage, yes, with both depth and levity, but Pete Fraser’s quarter turns of the screw are also palpable. Fruits are red and black, ripe but with some tart wild tension, dusted in heady Baharat spicing, the heartbeat of old-vine power pulsing insistently within. Flavour descriptors feel ineffectual, though. It’s the sheer graceful power of the thing that’s so beguiling, as it noiselessly swoops in, catching you in the updraft of its immense wingspan. By any measure, this is a great wine.

100% destemmed and fermented in 1800 Litre stone amphorae on skins for 5 months. Matured for a further 15 months in said amphorae. If you take all the exquisite aromas of your favourite cool climate light to medium bodied red wine, you'll most likely find most of them here. Wild strawberries, juicy mulberry, blood plums and red cherry. There is raw coffee bean, cocoa pods, rosemary flowers and lilac. Shiso leaf and gentian root. A silk sheet of dry tannins and astute acidity. A millpond of mouth watering moreishness. This is the next level Australian grenache, it's delicate and powerful, seductive and confident. It’s drinking like a dream! Serve with crispy salt and pepper whole quail and check you are still breathing, cause you might just be in heaven.

The single-varietal 2021 Cabernet Franc is deep garnet-purple in color. It springs from the glass with notes of Morello cherries, redcurrant jelly, and black raspberries leading to underlying notes of dried mint, rose oil, and pencil shavings. The medium to full-bodied palate is energetic, with great tension and ripe grainy tannins supporting the vibrant fruit, finishing long and minerally.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the single-varietal 2021 Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon needs a lot of shaking and swirling to coax out notes of tar, black pepper, and black truffle before breaking through to a core of blackcurrant pastilles, baked plums, and boysenberry preserves plus a hint of hoisin. The full-bodied palate delivers impressive tension, with a rock-solid frame of ripe grainy tannins and powerful black fruits, finishing long and spicy.

The 2021 W S Keyes Merlot comes from the 1986 plantings up at Keyes and is composed of 78% Merlot and 22% Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep garnet-purple in color, it explodes from the glass with a mushroom cloud of fruitcake, plum preserves, and baked blackberries plus suggestions of Indian spices, forest floor, and sandalwood with a touch of mint tea. The full-bodied palate bursts with bold black fruit and exotic spice layers supported by velvety tannins and just enough freshness, finishing with epic length and fragrance.

The 2021 W S Keyes Chardonnay was all barrel fermented and spent 24 months on lees. It shimmies out of the glass with notes of lime blossom, fresh ginger, and Bosc pears followed by an undercurrent of white peaches and yuzu plus a hint of struck flint. The medium-bodied palate is racy and minerally, with vibrant citrus and pear-inspired flavors and a satiny texture, finishing long and chalky. Wow!

The 2022 Upper Barn Chardonnay bursts with bold notions of lemon-laced creme caramel, ripe pineapple, and juicy pears plus suggestions of candied ginger, wet pebbles, and wild sage. The full-bodied palate is rich and satiny, with amazing tension and loads of spicy sparks lifting the tropical and orchard fruit flavors to a very long finish on this fabulous wine. Part of the vineyard is planted to 1982 Old Wente clone vines on AXR rootstock. 411 cases were made.

The single-varietal 2019 Christopher's Cabernet Sauvignon is deep garnet-purple in color. After a swirl or two, notes of crushed blackberries and black cherries strut from the glass, with nuances of violets, graphite, and licorice in the undercurrent. The medium to full-bodied palate is tightly wound with a shimmery kind of energy, featuring super-ripe, fine-grained tannins and beautiful freshness, finishing long and minerally. This is impressive! 536 cases were made.

The 2022 Seascape Vineyard Chardonnay needs a fair bit of swirling to unlock notes of lemon tart, guava, and key lime pie leading to hints of brine, fresh ginger, and yuzu zest. The medium to full-bodied palate is electric, featuring intense citrus and mineral layers with a silky texture, finishing with epic length. This should age amazingly! This wine was barrel fermented and aged in French oak. Native strains were used for alcoholic and malolactic fermentation and the wine is unfined and unfiltered. Seascape Vineyard is located on a 1,000-foot-high panoramic ridgetop west of the town of Occidental, overlooking Bodega Bay and the Pacific Ocean. It was planted to the Spring Mountain Chardonnay clonal selection in the mid-1980s.

Medium ruby-red with a bright purple tone. Raspberry, Turkish Delight and Chinese fivespice aromatics. Palate is seamless and silken: red fruits, exotic spices, dry earth and rose petals all flow across the palate, all entwined with a fine net of acidity and tannin that lifts and drives it. The never-ending finish is a chorus of fruit and spice with the finest grained but persistent tannins ensuring you keep returning to admire it.

Concentrated black fruits, kirsch and damson, this is pristine yet exuberant, full of life and pleasure, majoring on expresso, mocha, damson, cassis, cocoa bean and softer waves of rose petals and iris. Just seven vineyards provide the fruit source in this vintage, with over half located on Spring Mountain. Even 24 hours on it is very clearly still structured in its tannis architecture, suggesting you have years ahead for enjoying the wine. 100% French oak, 93% new. Christopher Carpenter winemaker, bottled unfiltered and unfined.

Just a beautiful wine, this is filled with silky smooth tannins, sage, fennel, chocolate, liquorice, bright blueberry and damson fruits, slate tannins and a juicy signoff. One of the standouts of the vertical, from a vintage that was balanced and steady, allowing for full ripeness without excessive heat spikes. Harvest 23 September to 30 September to 30 October. Throwing some deposit at this point, make sure you carafe. Christopher Carpenter winemaker, bottled unfiltered and unfined. All estate vineyard grapes, from six vineyard sites, dominant Mount Veeder.

The 2019 ‘Le Desir’ combines Cabernet Franc (83%) with the remainder Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. This shows beautiful red rose petals on the nose with suggestions of baking spices, anise and Turkish coffee. The palate is deep and heady with incredible intensity and a hedonistic bent. This is a total stunner. Drink 2025-2050.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain District is another incredible effort, revealing a dense purple hue and a kaleidoscope-like array of cassis, violets, spring flowers, and tobacco leaf, as well as full-bodied richness and ripe, velvety tannins. It has perfectly integrated oak, tannins, and acidity, flawless balance, and the class to benefit from 4-5 years in the cellar and evolve for 25-30 years.

Another prime example of the genius of Chris Carpenter, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain reveals a deep, saturated purple hue as well as textbook Howell Mountain black fruits, scorched earth, savory herbs, bay leaf, and dark chocolate. It's a powerful, structured, full-bodied Cabernet offering remarkable purity as well as overall balance and equilibrium. Hide bottles for 4-5 years (if not longer) and enjoy over the following 25-30 years.

Another incredibly concentrated, focused, insanely impressive wine in the lineup is the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain, which offers a powerful nose of darker currants, scorched earth, graphite, and savory herb aromas and flavors. This full-bodied, dense, concentrated, powerful, inward beauty needs 4-6 years in the cellar but will age forever.

The 2021 Red Wine is mostly Merlot yet includes a splash of other Bordeaux varieties. It's a fleshy, full-bodied, concentrated Merlot yet nevertheless has remarkable purity and elegance, with ultra-fine tannins. Ripe black cherries, chocolate, leafy herbs, and tobacco notes give this an almost Pomerol-like style, and while it's just about impossible to resist today, I see no reason it shouldn't evolve for 20+ years if well stored.

The 2021 Cabernet Franc is a more elegant, almost Old World style expression of this incredible variety, and it's every bit as impressive as the Red Blend. Coming from Spring and Diamond Mountain sites, it has a gorgeous array of red, blue, and black fruits with some classic Cabernet Franc orange blossom, black tea, and floral nuances. This medium to full-bodied, ultra-pure, seamless, incredibly elegant 2021 can be drunk today or cellared for two decades.

Black berry, black olive, violet, iron, and bark aromas. Full-bodied with a solid center palate of fruit and tannins. Flavorful finish. Love the flavors and length. A blend of 78% merlot and 22% cabernet sauvignon. 323 cases produced. Try after 2027.

Black currant, dried flower, fresh lavender, lead pencil, mint, thyme, and pine cone aromas. Pine needle. Full-bodied with firm and chewy tannins that run the length of the wine but also have a softness to them. Pure merlot. 191 cases produced. Give this five or six years to come together but a star in the making.

Black currant, violet, subtle grape skin, violet and mountain flower aromas. Medium to full body, with super polished tannins that are finely velvety, long and consistent. Sophisticated and complex. Made from 100% cabernet sauvignon.

Black currants and baking spices with sweet tobacco and violets on the nose. The palate is full-bodied with tight-grained and well-integrated tannins that melt into the wine. The pine needle, fresh earth and forest flower character comes through clearly. One for the cellar but it will be beautiful in two or three years. Made from 100% cabernet sauvignon.