4/23/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A nose of smoky mineral, yellow fruits and spearmint. Great palate shape. Unctuous through the mid and seriously saline at the back end. Balanced and delicious.

4/22/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Nice colour and very pretty nose. Violets, smoky minerals and briary red fruits. Good depth of flavour on the palate. Full and fruity, with some savoury nuance. Balanced and very tasty.

4/22/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A light and fruit driven style of pinot. Strawberry and raspberry fruits. Some aniseed spice. Cut by crunchy acidity. Nice balance and quite delicious.

4/22/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A nice, dry and neutral white, with echoes of rockmelon and citrus fruit. Good texture. Fresh and invigorating. easy going and sealed with screwcap.

4/22/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Drinking beautifully. Still plenty of cassis fruit. A suggestion of tobacco, capsicum and mint. Direct and contained. Lovely balance. Clean but savoury on the finish and still some chew.

4/22/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A wonderful nose of smoked meats, Hoisin, earth and dried flowers. The plate is so silky, yet has great presence. It builds and fans out. Everything is in the right place and we caught this one very close to its apogee.

4/21/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A nose of ripe berry and black cherry fruits. Plenty of spice here and some dark chocolate and licorice. Fruits sweet and luscious through its core. A kiss of minerally acidity to the tail.

4/21/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A perfumed and pure nose of cassis, blackberry and pipe tobacco. The palate is seamless. It has aq glossy feel and good fruit intensity. It is youthful, yet nuanced and the long finish is carried by perfectly ripe tannins.

4/20/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

In fabulous condition. Pours out with a green tinge. There's some truffled honey, custard apple and bitter citrus. It has nice shape and some smoky mineral notes. The finish is not long, but is fresh and vital. A pleasant surprise.

4/20/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Remarkably healthy colour. The nose has some white mushroom development, along with fresh lemon and smoky mineral. The palate is fresh and linear and has plenty of salt and grapefruit cut. It is not deep or long, but thoroughly engaging and refreshing.

4/19/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

This is a beautiful wine, of balance, savoury nuance and pure cherry fruit. It has some earth and wild herbs and perfect ripeness. Tannins have just the right amount of chew and support and acidity is fresh and minerally. Each sip invites another and there are subtle florals that come to the fore with air.

4/18/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Started off showing a fair bit of sous bois and earth. It breathes up nicely and becomes more nuanced. Cherry fruit intensifies at its core. There's a cool, stoniness lurking. It is mid-weight but has decent intensity. It is quite linear and finishes with plenty of savoury and spice nuance.

4/18/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Very fresh under Diam. The fruit aromas and flavours are ripe, with notes of peach and mango. There's a flinty/stony note too. It has some honeysuckle and is full and creamy. Acidity is modest but the wine is fresh.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A beautiful clean spirit cuts black fruits. It has florals and licorice notes and is complex and engaging. It is concentrated yet light on its feet and finishes with freshness and persistence. Still very young.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

From a magnum donated from the Yquem cellars. Complex aromatics of ripe peach, apricot, grilled mango and vanilla. So luscious and layered, with incredible fruit sweetness. Fabulous intensity and engages with every sip. For all its sweetness it finishes so clean and bright and has such great presence.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Both bottles were marked by too much brett. Fruit flavours were sweet and slightly roasty. It had some boot polish volatility and gravelly tannins.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Bottles donated from the Lafite Rothschild cellar. Seriously good! The nose draws you in with such pure cassis fruit, violet florals and lead pencil. Luscious fruits surround the high tensile, graphite spine. It is rich and voluminous yet so focused and detailed. It is fresh, youthful and has terrific length.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

From a magnum donated from the Latour cellars. This was really good, outperforming the vintage. Some lead pencil and cassis smells. It had meat and earth complexity. It was glossy in the mouth, with lovely balance and smooth tannins. It finished with bright acid tang and length to burn.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Cassis and tobacco with some sweet spice. Mid-weight and beautifully balanced. Fresh and minty closure.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A magnum from the Yalumba museum cellar. Quite leathery on the nose. Some plum and violets too. It is sweet, opulent and deep, and has something agricultural that just distracts a little.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A touch of volatility gives the nose punch and lift. There are ripe berry fruits and sweet vanillin spice. It is very complex and intense. Tannins are quite round yet supportive. It has great presence and persistence.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Bottles from the Yalumba museum cellar. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had this legendary wine several times, but not for a long time. It is still powering on, with the purest core of intense cassis fruit. It has some tar and bitter chocolate and purple flower notes. It is supple and succulent, deep and long. Acid balance is perfect, and it is such a vital wine.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A magnum donated from the Antinori cellars. This was still very fresh and dense. Beautiful cherry fruit. Some pipe tobacco and earth. Complex and detailed and very long. Superb!

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

From the Yalumba museum cellar and re-corked at the Penfolds clinic in 2016. An engaging nose of seaweed, cedar, mint, and leather. There’s light meatiness to the flavour profile and some chocolate and a sprig of mint. Structural elements have all but folded neatly into the wine. A lovely drink.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A very good wine from a very difficult vintage. This is 60% Cabernet and 40% Shiraz from the Barossa. It has some truffle and cedar along with Indian spice notes. There’s gentle vinous sweetness and bitter fruit freshness. It is balanced and energetic.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Some berry fruits. Elegant and fine. There’s tobacco and earth development. It is relatively lean through the mid-palate and finishes with tart berry crunch.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Delicious raspberry and blackberry fruits. A sprig of mint and some milk chocolate development. Tannins have softened but bright acidity gives the wine focus and energy. Nice balance and very tasty at this juncture.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

This was like a vinous mint slice. It had beautiful cassis fruit as well. It is a glossy wine, of character and polish. Tannins are ripe and it has plenty of drive.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A magnum donated from the Guigal cellars. Fruit came off La Pòmmiere, the first vineyard Etienne worked at the age of 14. The wine spent 36 months in two new oak barrels. It has never been commercially released and is offered at charity auctions to raise funds for good causes. The wine is inky and powerful. There are black fruits a plenty and a strong ironstone character. It has light florals and some wood spice. It is deep and chewy, finishing with chalky grip and possessing incredible length of flavour.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A touch of animale to the nose along with plenty of earth. There are bacon fat notes and some wild herbs and other plant matter. It has berry fruit sweetness and wonderful presence and volume. It is rich and layered and the long finish is supported by sinewy tannins.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Bottles donated from the Henschke cellars. Complex aromatics of wild sage and other herbs, smoke, cassis, blueberry and violets. The palate is supple and accessible, yet so deep and detailed. It has wonderful texture and build and the finish fans out and closes with fruit and menthol.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Remarkably youthful and purple of colour. Quite a smoky nose, with some tar and menthol too. There are luscious, dark fruits at its core and some earthy nuance at the extremities. The finish is chewy and there’s bright acidity.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Perfectly ripe and juicy blood plum fruit. It is loaded with spice and has excellent fruit intensity. Tannins are ripe and the wine has a creamy feel. Length is imposing.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Bottles from the Yalumba museum cellar. Gently fading. Plenty of beef stock and Hoisin. Elegant and lacy. Sweet and vinous. Some earth, rose petals and spice. Builds slowly and is still engaging and ethereal.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

From bottles out of the Yalumba museum cellar. The first bottle was brilliant, the second was even better. Still almost primary, with its core of intense cherry fruit. There’s sandalwood, aniseed, Hoisin and rose petals with air. It is velvety but oh so powerful and balance is exquisite. The finish drives on and expands. Quite simply, one of the greatest wines ever made.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

From a magnum donated from the Dujac cellars. This was in terrific nick. A beautiful nose of red and black fruits, sandalwood and dried flowers. There is a wealth of fruit here, slowly emerging from behind the wine’s ample structure. It was a wine of exquisite perfume and still had plenty of grip from its tea leaf-like tannins.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Sourced from the Europvin library, this looked like it had been re-corked at some stage. It was simply wonderful. It had an incredible perfume of violets, pine needles, lavender, raspberry and spiced plum. It was full and rich and layered. There was a gentle meatiness and the wine possessed real latent power. It had so much volume and was silky and expansive.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

The first vintage for Yalumba off this special plot planted in 1889. A whiff of smoke and plenty of intense raspberry fruit. There’s a hint of menthol too. It is deep, rich and powerful and is still very fresh.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

In a nice place right now. Generous of red berry fruits. Some licorice and spice too. Full and fleshy, very ripe. Some pepper and grip to the finish.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Ripe raisin fruits, chocolate and pepper. Rich, heady and powerful. Good depth and structure.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

From a magnum donated from the Bonneau du Martray cellars. There’s a touch of honey development to the aroma. It has ripe peach and citrus fruit flavours. Theer’s some flesh and decent mineral cut. It is linear and very long.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Richly fruited. White peach and apricot on the nose and in the mouth. Loads of spice and plenty of mineral. Creamy and layered, explosive and deep. There’s some flint to the incredibly long finish.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A magnum donated from the Giaconda cellars. This was right in the zone. There’s some custard apple here and pure white peach. It has a suggestion of candied peel and plenty of spice. Great shape and texture and outstanding persistence.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

An intriguing nose of lantana, ripe orchard fruits and pepper. The palate has a touch of the exotic, but is still fresh and vital.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A magnum donated from the Müller cellars. This is the first vintage from which Müller released some magnums and man was this good. It has notes of custard apple, citrus blossom, smoky mineral, slate and lime brulee. It is so deep and unctuous, with almost painful intensity. It drives through the palate and powers on and on.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A magnum from the Yalumba museum. A fresh nose of lemon and lime and slate. There’s just a hint of toasty development. Great intensity and vibrancy in the mouth. Rich and detailed. A finish that is energetic and long. In the perfect place.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

A punchy nose of smoky mineral, apples and citrus. There’s a fruit sweet core and great acid cut. Beautiful balance and silky of texture. Residual sugar is around 8g/l and alcohol 13%.

4/17/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Recently arrived from Pol Roger’s cellars. Disgorged in 2013. The was simply magnificent. There was a saline seaspray note along with heady orchard fruits and a suggestion of marmalade. It has plenty of spice and brioche. It was full and textural, with wonderful shape and volume. It had such great acid drive and a finish that was chalky and so long. There’s still a light prickle from remaining bubbles.

4/16/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Some lemon notes, along with cut pear, peach and chamomile. It is ripe of fruit and cut by minerally acidity. It has good flesh and flavour intensity.

4/16/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

The nose is all strawberries and black earth. It has some plant matter too. The palate is crunchy, with tart red fruits. It has mineral detail and good cut to the finish. There's a gentle meatiness running through the wine.