New World Wines

Continuum, owned by Tim Mondavi, is an impressive vineyard at the top of Pritchard Hill. The 2019 is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Cabernet Franc, 7% Petit Verdot and 6% Merlot and is aged in two-thirds new French oak, with the balance in second or third-use barrels and a single concrete amphora. There's a distinct sage note that is a hallmark of Continuum, with lifted violet notes and rich black cherries. The texture is plush and silky but there's a stoniness that brings freshness at the finish.

A blend of 70% Syrah, 12% Grenache, 10% Carignan, and 8% Cinsault, this is a brilliant Mediterranean red from a master winemaker. Hints of wild herbs and plenty of red fruit, there are saline tannins here, and a really lifted, elegant quality to the fruit.

From a 19 year old vineyard on the iron-rich soils around Malmesbury, the Iron Syrah has a breadth on the palate that’s not found on the other wines, and is stunningly aromatic.

RunRig has a fragrant, soft profile, with fine tannins and an ethereal poise, despite some serious power and concentration. This is all grown on the western ridge of the Barossa Valley. It's a blend of six vineyards, including what is likely the oldest Shiraz in the world. There's 25km between the vineyard sites, creating plenty of complexity in the fruit. It finishes saline and mineral, long and fresh.

The RWT is a supercharged example of Barossa Shiraz: it’s broad and intense with massive volume. This is unashamed, yet perfumed, too. There’s some violets but it’s quite earthy and scorched ground takes over on the back palate. With impressive depth and intensity and a really driven and cool finish, it’s a super-impressive wine.

From the same vineyard on the far west coast of the cape as Eben Sadie’s Skerpioen. This Palomino is savoury, fresh, and beautifully balanced. It’s a curious, long-lived white that’s seriously impressive.

The Schist Syrah comes from the couple’s Roundstone property, allowing full control of the farming. These 21 year old vines give a structured, peppery expression of Syrah. The berries here are 25% smaller than the Granite, and that gives this incredible texture and power.

This Tinta Barocca, meanwhile, is a real labour of love. She loves the grape variety, and this comes from three different, old vine sources: one in Bot Rivier, one in Stellenbosch, and then a parcel on the same farm on the Paardeberg as the other two wines. This is a bottling that benefits from a couple of years in bottle: with that it develops wonderful smoky notes, and hints of blood orange.

The 2019 from the much-loved Spottswoode estate is gorgeous, with fragrant bramble and black cherry with sweet spice, earthy notes and cedar. It's marries the generosity and warmth that comes naturally to Napa Cabernet with Spottswoode's textbook grace and charm. It's a medium-weight, elegant Napa Cabernet, harking back decades. These age beautifully, but the supple tannins, balance and refreshing style you'd be forgiven for failing to resist now.

Pure, juicy apple fruit and a creamy texture, with light mealy notes. There are plenty of flinty, reductive notes with bright acidity keeping it fresh and zippy.

Agricola is the brainchild of Callum Powell, the son of Torbreck founder Dave Powell, who worked in the Northern Rhône with Jean-Louis Chave before striking out on his own. There's a clear nod to the Northern Rhône here. Its 'low hi', hands off winemaking, and all that, combined with some excellent vineyard sources, makes Callum's wines some of the most exciting we've found in South Australia. The Flaxman Shiraz is from the Eden Valley and is sourced from two vineyards; the 100+ year old Powell family vineyard, and a neighbouring steep slope. This is a medium-weight, elegant Shiraz. It's fresh and saline, with black olive and black pepper in amongst fresh red and black fruit. Callum uses very little new oak, and coming in at below 12% alcohol it's a truly unique, and incredibly impressive, example of Eden Valley Shiraz.

St Henri's signature is its maturation in large format old French oak. As a result, there's a freshness and purity of fruit that sings through. It's elegant and supple, showing some of the warm character of the 2020 vintage with ripe blackberry and damson. There's aniseed, clove and spicy cured meat complexity on the nose and palate, and lots of concentration from the low-yielding vintage conditions.

2019 has brought a more 'classic' expression of Grange, with dense black cherry and blackberry, and notes of tar, coffee, coconut and licorice. It's unsurprisingly tightly wound now, with lots of tannin, toasty oak, and a ripe, juicy core. This vintage is 97% Shiraz and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Praus is biodynamically farmed Voor Paardeberg Shiraz, with a little Pinotage from Darling in the blend. It’s juicy and and utterly delicious; the perfect wine to enjoy in big bottle format.

A serious Cinsault from a vineyard planted on the Paardeberg in 1954. This has notes of liquorice, rose petal, and lifted strawberry fruit. And it will age brilliantly, too. Powdery tannins complete the picture. You can almost taste the soil here. Brilliant.

Brazen is a blend of Fernao Pires - from 37 year old vineyards in the Swartland - alongside amphora-aged Palomino from a 47 year old vineyard in Piekenierskloof, and Grenache Blanc from the Voor Paardeberg. It’s a savoury, textured, vibrant white, with a mineral finish that lasts for minutes.

The 2019 Syrah from Boekenhoutskloof comes from the Goldmine property, planted on brown schist, and Porseleinberg, on blue schist. The resulting wine is wonderfully perfumed - like great Côte-Rôtie - but with a touch of added ripeness. There’s dark berry fruit and a hint of tapenade, and then silky tannins that last an age. This is an astonishingly good Syrah from the team at Boekenhoutskloof.

The 2019 Family Vineyards Pinot Noir is a stunning wine, that’s all about floral aromatics and focussed energy. It comes from four separate parcels on the estate, and shows incredible balance, purity of fruit, and savoury length. A brilliant Pinot Noir: the best value we know?

From a single parcel high up on the Helderberg, this is cool and fresh, with lots of lemon oil focus. An outstanding Chardonnay.

A blend of grapes from Greyton and Cape South Coast. Lovely energy here, with fynbos and tapenade notes, and then a core of dark fruit. Very nicely done.

Now owned by the same team as Penfolds, Beaulieu Vineyards is famous for being one of the first Napa Cabernets back in the 1930s, located on the main highway nearby Opus One and the Robert Mondavi Winery. This 2019 vintage is beautifully rich and spicy, with graphite notes and very ultra-fine tannins. An absolutely classic Napa Cabernet.

From the original Rhone Ranger John Alban comes this benchmark Viognier. John fell in love with Viognier after a glass of Condrieu and he was likely the first person to bring the grape to California vineyards, at a time when there was only 50 acres planted globally. The wine is full of musky, heady, stone fruit aromas with an oily rich texture.

Founded in 1889, Mayacamas is one of the most iconic properties in California. With vineyards planted 1,800 to 2,400 feet above sea-level, this has some rugged, mountain, wild herb character alongside ripe blackcurrant and plum. A timeless style of Napa Cabernet that more than matches up to the best of the old world, this has character, charm and savoury elegance.

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 is a blend from Coonawarra, Barossa Valley and Wrattonbully and is matured for 16 months in new American oak hogsheads. Coonawarra is becoming more and more of the signature here, giving lots of fresh cassis and refreshing herbal character. It's built to age, with a firm structure but a lot of complex flavour to match, and it should soften into a brilliant 707 given the long, cool, even growing season in 2021.

This is the top wine from the historic Wirra Wirra winery, one of the pioneers in McLaren Vale. Chook Block is from a single biodynamically farmed vineyard plot and is only released in the top vintages. There's lots of complex, ripe fruit here with red and black cherry, raspberry, cassis and mulberry, covered in dark chocolate and spice. There's more leathery notes as the palate continues, and iron-filing-like mineral notes. There's plenty of oak character and bold structure around the core of dense fruit. Long and concentrated on the finish.

The 2020 Trust your gut is absolutely gorgeous. Floral, perfumed and wonderfully lifted, there's a core of grapefruit and elderflower, as well as greengage and yellow plum, and then leesy complexity on the palate. There's such drive on the finish, from the Paardeberg fruit, and then a peacock's tail of flavours emerges. Remarkable, and for this price a must-buy.

Aasvoel is Verdelho, from a single plot in Stellenbosch, that Pieter’s always desperate to get his hands on. So much so, that he feels like a vulture - Aasvoel in Afrikaans - waiting to pick over the vineyard. It's a textured, mouth filling white, but with loads of focussed energy.

From two vineyards on Craig & Anne’s estate, the 2019 Main Road and Dignity features incredible depth of fruit, with beautiful blackcurrant, red currant, graphite and cedar notes. The finish is mineral and long, and the potential for ageing is spectacular. Yet again, this is a star of the cape. Don’t miss this.

Grenache led, with 38%, there’s also 36% Syrah, 10% Cinsaut, 9% Carignan, 7% Pinotage. It smells beautiful, with lots of pepper and fynbos and rooibos tea: a real South African red. So much tension on the finish. A real beauty.

Fresh red and black berry fruit with black cherry and tons of development already in the form of roasted hazlenut, truddle, espresso, earth and tobacco. Fine, ripe tannins are densely packed and create a rich feel on the palate. Lisa Perotti-Brown, writing in the Wine Advocate, awards (96-98) points for this "beautiful" wine.