2018
2018
Castagna 2018 La Chiave Sangiovese Beechworth
Australian Red
Medium-deep red-purple colour accompanies a smoky, spicy and nutty profile with smoked charcuterie. The palate is finely structured and penetrating, with fine, discreet tannins that add grip. Red berries, anise, fennel, salumi, cedar and white pepper also appear with fresh acidity. The wine is Sangiovese from Beechworth and is classified as biodynamic, vegan-friendly and sustainably made.
Maritana Vineyards 2018 Moonshine Ranch Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
American Red
Bright ruby colour accompanies an elegant, perfumed Pinot Noir with a delicate profile, lively palate, creamy texture and structure. The fruit comes from Moonshine Ranch in the Russian River Valley, including Dijon 828 and UCD 04 Pommard clones. The vineyard supplied one of three single-vineyard releases from the harvest. Alcohol is 13.5 percent by volume.
Chateau Pichon Baron 2018 Les Tourelles de Longueville Pauillac
French Red
Intense ruby colour accompanies very ripe red fruit, black cherry and mild spice. The wine is silky, delicate and smooth, with fresh, harmonious tannins and a persistent finish. The blend is sixty-six percent Merlot, twenty percent Cabernet Sauvignon, eight percent Cabernet Franc and six percent Petit Verdot. Maturation lasts twelve months, using both new barrels and barrels previously used for one vintage.
Pol Roger 2018 Brut Rosé Champagne
French Sparkling
Pale salmon colour has pink hues and fine, persistent effervescence. Raspberry, redcurrant, blackcurrant, mango and papaya appear with rose and honeysuckle. The palate is mouth-filling, with length, freshness and acidity. The blend uses fifty percent Pinot Noir and thirty-five percent Chardonnay, plus fifteen percent red Pinot Noir. Fermentation is kept below eighteen degrees in stainless steel, with each variety and village separate.
Quilceda Creek 2018 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
American Red
Dark ruby in colour, with a deep core and purple reflections, this Cabernet Sauvignon offers blackberry, dark plum, crème de cassis, graphite, violets, herbs, sweet spices and mocha. Full-bodied, concentrated and fresh, the palate has a round, polished texture and layered dark fruit. Cork-sealed and from the Columbia Valley, it carries 14.8% alcohol.
Heitz Cellar 2018 Lot C-91 Cabernet Sauvignon
American Red
Cabernet Sauvignon combines fruit from Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Howell Mountain. The wine has brilliant concentration and balance, with generous tannins and balanced acidity. Black cherry, black olive, charcoal, black pepper, herbs and black fruit appear in a complex profile. Menthol, boysenberry, blackberry compote, liquorice and earth accompany a velvety feel and a long finish.
Domaine Bitouzet-Prieur 2018 Volnay Premier Cru Les Pitures
French Red
The Pinot Noir comes from a site near the Pommard border and beside Clos des Ducs. Vines span plantings from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s and cover just under one hectare. Broad, sanguine fruit is accompanied by firm, elemental structure and a sense of elegance. The wine is rich, full-bodied and powerful, with a muscular middleweight profile and a slightly warm finish.
Château Malescot Saint-Exupéry 2018 Margaux
French Red
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc form a 60/32/8 blend. The vineyard has Pyrenean gravel, ten thousand vines per hectare and an average vine age of forty-five years. Fruit is hand harvested and sorted. The wine ferments in temperature-controlled stainless steel and concrete, then spends thirteen to fifteen months in barrel, seventy percent new. Balance, depth, freshness and silky tannins appear with lightly woody, toasted notes after aeration.
Paul Hobbs 2018 Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon
American Red
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot form an 85/10/5 blend. The fruit is hand harvested at night and fermented with indigenous yeasts in small, closed stainless-steel tanks. The wine receives a five-day cold soak and thirty days of total maceration. After spontaneous malolactic fermentation in barrel, it ages twenty months in French oak, sixty-nine percent new, before unfined and unfiltered bottling. Wild blueberry, dried lavender, mocha, red currant, black fig, sage and leather meet fresh acidity, fine-grained tannins and crushed-rock minerality.
Ridolfi 2018 Brunello di Montalcino
Italian Red
Hand-harvested Sangiovese comes from the north-eastern side of Montalcino at 300 metres, where the soils contain clay, marine fossils and alberese. Fermentation uses indigenous yeasts, and skin maceration lasts forty-three days. The wine spends thirty-six months in large Slavonian oak and at least twelve months in bottle. Dark berries, cherries, violet, sweet spices and balsamic notes accompany an elegant, rich profile with salty tannins and long persistence.
Tenuta di Saragano 2018 Montefalco Rosso Riserva
Italian Red
Sangiovese forms sixty percent of the blend, with twenty percent each Merlot and Sagrantino. Ruby colour tends toward garnet, with black cherry, ripe wild berries, cedar and tobacco. The profile is soft and harmonious, with refined tannins. The twenty-five-year-old vineyard lies at 500 metres on sandstone and clay. Maturation includes French barriques, large barrels and a year in bottle in an underground cave.
Domaine du Closel 2018 La Jalousie Savennières
French White
Bright gold colour accompanies acacia, linden, citrus and mineral notes. The wine is dynamic, with fine acidity and balance. Chenin grows on schist and is picked early; the wine is dry, direct and saline. Vinification takes place in tanks, followed by maturation on fine lees without oxygen. Pounded apple, quince, acidity and salinity are also present.
Château Cabrières 2018 Châteauneuf-du-Pape
French Red
Deep ruby colour accompanies ripe dark berries, cherry and pungent flowers. A spicy element develops with air. The palate is broad and pliant, with juicy cherry cola, black raspberry and a hint of liquorice. Even tannins are present, along with a persistent finish carrying cherry and spice. The blend comprises Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault from the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation.
Domaine de l’Écu 2018 Taurus
French White
Melon de Bourgogne comes from sixty-year-old vines in a seventy-are parcel on granite and orthogneiss. Harvesting is manual. Pneumatic pressing without settling and indigenous-yeast fermentation are used. Maturation includes twelve months on lees in an underground tank and twelve months on fine lees in older Burgundy oak. Citrus, lemon, grapefruit, white flowers, dried fruit, almond and toast are present.
Domaine Guiberteau 2018 Saumur Les Chapaudaises
French Red
Blackcurrant, blackberry, leather and chalk accompany a fresh, elegant and mineral palate. Cabernet Franc comes from three parcels of old vines rooted in silt and sand over softer limestone. Cherry, lemon and stony notes add to the profile. The wine is full-bodied, intense and fleshy, with ripe, silky tannins and a long finish. Alcohol is thirteen and a half percent.
I Vigneri 2018 Vinupetra Etna Rosso
Italian Red
Pale ruby colour accompanies Mediterranean herbs, peonies, rosehip, barberry, red and black cherries. The wine is concentrated, with fine-grained, slightly drying tannins, high complexity, refreshing acidity and bright fruit. Pine tar, resin and red tea add further detail. The finish is very long. The vineyard is farmed biodynamically by hand and planted mainly to Nerello Mascalese.
Provenance Vineyards 2018 Deadeye Napa Valley Red Blend
American Red
Ripe blackcurrant, stewed blackberry, mint chocolate, charred bark and mocha accompany a full-bodied texture with round, sleek tannins. Bitter chocolate and dark berry appear on the finish. The blend combines Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. It matures for eighteen months in French, American and Hungarian oak. Fruit is sourced from vineyards across Napa Valley.
Oddero 2018 Langhe Nebbiolo
Italian Red
Ruby-red colour accompanies violets and red fruit. The Nebbiolo has tannins that recall the earth of the Langhe. Fruit comes from an east-facing two-hectare vineyard at 200 metres, planted at four thousand vines per hectare. Selected clusters ferment with about fifteen days of skin contact and complete malolactic conversion. The wine then matures in oak barrels of different sizes for twelve to eighteen months.
Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs 2018 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
American Red
Vibrant ruby colour accompanies pomegranate, Bing cherry, rhubarb, Earl Grey tea and cinnamon. Strawberry, raspberry and fennel join delicate acidity and salinity. The Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir uses about seventy-two percent estate fruit. A small portion of stems is included, and the wine spends nine months on its lees in French oak, eleven percent new. Production totalled about nineteen thousand five hundred cases.
Pierre Gaillard 2018 Saint-Joseph Blanc
French White
Yellow stone fruit, pastry and honey appear in this white. The Roussanne is round and rich, with a fresh finish. Fruit comes from granitic sand in Malleval and Chavanay, grown on south-east-facing hilltops. Grapes are hand harvested, gently pressed and settled. Barrel fermentation uses no new wood, followed by nine months on lees with stirring.
Chapel Hill 2018 The Vicar Shiraz
Australian Red
Inky black colour accompanies blackberry, plum, dark chocolate and aniseed, with wild herbs, violets, black liquorice and wild fennel. The Shiraz has succulent tannins and a long finish. Fruit is sourced from McLaren Vale. Maturation lasts twenty-one months in 300-litre French oak hogsheads, one quarter new, and the finished wine carries 14.5 percent alcohol.
LUKE 2018 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
American Red
Blackcurrant, dark cherry, pressed herbs, blackberry preserve, grilled toast and baking spice accompany a broad, dense Cabernet Sauvignon with fine-grained, layered tannins. StoneTree Vineyard supplies the fruit. The blend also includes Malbec, Petit Verdot and Merlot. Fermentation uses stainless-steel bins and barrels; half proceeds spontaneously. Twenty months in second-fill French oak follows. Coffee, dried herb and black cherry add further detail.
José Zuccardi 2018 Malbec
Argentinian Red
Blackberry, graphite, black pepper and crushed-berry notes accompany a full-bodied red with tight, focused tannins. The blend is ninety-five percent Malbec and five percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Paraje Altamira and Gualtallary in the Uco Valley. Selected clusters ferment with native yeasts in unlined concrete vessels. The wine matures for twenty-four months in 2,500-litre foudres and carries 14.5 percent alcohol.
Spottswoode 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
American White
Lemon tart, key lime pie and orange blossom sit with acacia honey, baking bread, fresh grapefruit and crushed stone. The medium-bodied white has intense citrus and mineral notes, freshness, a silken texture and a long, perfumed finish. Fruit is sourced from Napa and Sonoma counties, and fermentation uses a combination of oak, stainless steel, amphora and concrete or ceramic vessels.
Wine Art Estate 2018 Idisma Drios Xi Xinomavro
Greek Red
A deep ruby colour accompanies ripe raspberry, plum, briny black olive and sun-dried tomato. Cherry, strawberry, dried cranberry, sour-cherry jam, vanilla, cinnamon, pepper, tea and forest-floor notes add further detail. The wine is full-bodied, with acidity, robust ripe tannins and a very long finish. It spends twelve months in French oak, half of which is new, and carries 14.5 percent alcohol.
Domaine Garnier & Fils 2018 Chablis Premier Cru Mont de Milieu
French White
Water-flower fragrances include lily, water lily and arum. The palate is sapid, with a lasting iodine-like finish. Chardonnay from thirty-five-year-old vines is matured in six-hundred-litre French-oak barrels, then blended with thirty percent wine aged in stainless steel. The subsoil contains fossilized oyster shells, and the wine has a white-gold colour. Yellow-fruit and citrus flavours accompany lively freshness and a dense profile.
BACA 2018 Bleachers Rudy’s Vineyard Zinfandel
American Red
Tenuta Casenuove 2018 Chianti Classico Riserva
Italian Red
Deep, brilliant ruby in colour. The bouquet includes violet, red fruit and black fruit, with morello cherry and blueberry. The palate is full, enveloping, elegant and sinuous, with dense, silky tannins and acidity. Selected fruit spends twelve months in cement, large Slavonian-oak casks and new and used barriques, followed by twenty-four months of bottle ageing.
Silenus 2018 Chardonnay Oak Knoll District
American White
Light, bright and crisp, the white wine shows caramel, vanilla brioche and a touch of salty oak. Citrus freshness appears with hints of flint and matchstick. The Chardonnay is sourced from both Red Hen Vineyard and from Linda Vista Vineyard in Napa's Oak Knoll District. It comes from Napa, California and carries thirteen percent alcohol.
Erbaluna 2018 Barolo DOCG Organic
Italian Red
Deep ruby red shows orange highlights. Rose, violet, truffle and tobacco accompany a dry, harmonious profile that is full and velvety. Nebbiolo grows on calcareous clay with southeast exposure. The grapes are hand-picked. Vinification takes eighteen to twenty-four days, and maturation takes place for twenty-four months in large barrels. The vines stand approximately 250 to 280 metres above sea level.