75 points
Amyndeon, Greece. 14%
Lighter colour than I expected. Perhaps the huge pretentious bottle gave me the idea it might be a bit of a blockbuster.
Prune flavours swimming in acid. It’s hard to be charitable about this wine. Hopefully it’s a bad bottle.
85 points
Tasmania, Australia. 13%
Very well made, finely judged wine. Dark fruits, restrained sweetness, nice balance. The flavour sweetness balance puts it into the very top league of Australian Pinot.
I’d give it higher points if it had greater concentration, but this is an early drinking wine. For light, or no food. A very good advertisement for Tamar Ridge’s more expensive bottlings.
91 points
Pauillac, Bordeaux, France. 13%
A fine aged claret. A green seam, somewhat vegetal rather than floral but it still sits well with the savoury ripe fruit flavours. There is a warm creaminess about this wine, the tannins are ripe but it’s classic in structure quite different from the super- ripe vintages.
I wonder how many years this has ahead of it. 10 I’d guess. Though I don’t think it will gain much.
Very very good but not the very best of 1996.
91 points
Volnay. 13.5%
A little bit of everything in lovely proportion. Very drinkable, concentrated enough to be table friendly but in no way forced/extracted. A perfect mid weight wine starting to develop some aged complexity. Reminds me somewhat of a fine mid weight Northern Rhone.
75 points
Marocco. 13%
Inoffensive. Unconcentrated, commercial but not dollied up with overripe fruit and oak.
77 points
Mt Crawford, Adelaide Hills, South Australia. 13.8%. screwcap
At 7 years old this is past its best. Lacks the vibrancy of Sangiovese. Plain ordinary wine.
89+ points
Pauillac. 13%
less developed and flavoursome than 96s, still seems to show freshly sawn oak. Needs time.
Wine Reviews & Comments 