Gralyn Estate Artizan Rare Muscat NV
G 93
The material in this complex and rather luscious old Muscat is considerably older than we find in the Classic. The components spent many years maturing in old oak casks and, after blending, reveal a complex and alluring style. It has had extensive show success, so presumably the judges are equally enamoured. Dark mahogany in colour, the nose gives us an array of luscious notes of orange rind, plum pudding, black cherries, glacéd pineapple, honeycomb, Arabian dates, raisiny notes and chocolate. Dense, a wine of medium to good length and with a clean finish, there is certainly plenty of sweetness, but the wine is well balanced and extremely persistent. An absolute pleasure bomb. Drink now–2035 Hay Shed Hill Wines Block 2 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 G 93 The Block 2 opens with blueberries, plums, and cassis. Some dancing red cherries are dotted throughout. Fresh gravel and wet tar, sage, and a slight hint of peppy leaf. It’s open-knit with juicy acidity and fine ethereal tannins. There is real elegance and purity here. If drinking now, go for slow-cooked ragu pasta, but this will continue to age very well in a cool, dry place in your cellar. Drink now–2035 Lenton Brae In Good Hands Chenin Blanc 2024 G 93 Golden apples, frangipani flowers, and honeysuckle. The wine is full of sunshine and ripe tree fruits with a subtle pineapple and grapefruit citrus pulp. The palate surprises and delights with lemon sorbet zing running alongside a quivering crystalline minerality. This is joyous drinking and a Chenin that speaks of place, has a great amount of texture from its portion of juice matured in oak, and a finite long flavour line. Really impressive winemaking. Drink now–2029 Marri Wood Park Cabernet Sauvignon 20231 G 93 Fermented in large format and French oak barrels before being transferred to amphora and oak for a further four months with extended maceration in amphora. This is a power dart of black and blue fruits straight to your face, such is the intensity and aromatic lift. If being pummelled by Black Forest fruits isn’t for you, I call BS. Because this is energetic in its display of boysenberry and blueberry, and delivers its intensity with smothering kisses of graphite, thistle and poppy seed. It’s certainly not a wine you need to go searching for its flavour profile; tannins are fairly powdery and fine, allowing for early drinking, but it has the ability to show those earthly and turned potting soil notes with further aging. I would recommend between five and eight years. For now, change out of your good white linen, pop a smock on and embrace the Cabernet blitz. Serve with a nice scotch fillet and some roast purple taro. Drink now–2033
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The Vintage Journal – Regional Focus
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