New World Wines

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.

Arguably the longest consecutively-produced single vineyard wine in Australia, Mt Edelstone was planted in 1912. It now represents incredible value in Henschke's portfolio. Made entirely from Shiraz vines that average over 100 years old, the 2017 expression is full of ripe blackcurrant, spiced plum and fine pepper. There's a distinct sage leaf aroma and a little creaminess on the nose from oak ageing. This vintage is beautifully fresh, energetic, with clean fresh fruit flavours and long, fine tannins.

From the Voor Paardeberg, this is a complex and well-balanced Grenache Blanc. It has notes of yellow fruit and plenty of spice and herbal notes. In no way overblown, this is a masterclass in balance from Marelise.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Intensely perfumed with pure aromas of raspberry, black cherry and red cherry. Light mineral hints of reduction on the nose, and a firm structure at this young age. Incredible concentration and intensity for its modest 11% alcohol.

The first single vineyard they made was the Skaliekop, from a vineyard planted in 1985 on the Paardebosch farm. This vineyard is an anomaly: an island of schist on the normally granite Paardeberg. Indeed, the name means hill of Shale, and this gives a mineral, reserved character to the wine. This has notes of fennel and lime blossom, and the potential here is outstanding.

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.

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.