5/11/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Gorgeous and golden, drinking in its prime. It’s a patchwork of fine boned fruit, lemon zest, mixed nuts, struck match and rolling oak. Length and breadth in the wine is great, with a little bit of butter filling it all in. Faint spice and minerals have it singing on an uptick.

4/26/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

A cracker. On night one, the crunchy cherries and crisp and clear. On night 2, they are a darker red and a bit juicier. A hint raspy, lime juice acidity, and plenty of chewy tobacco. This wine has depth and breadth wilst remaining light enough.

3/30/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Incredibly consistent. This drinks similarly to the 2022. Plush and marginal with funk on day one, making one double-take and appreciate. As it opens (and performs on night 2) it integrates and gains a textural depth.

3/17/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Cheeky Grenache of dark cherries. Well balanced and easy to drink. 91+

3/8/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Classy number from Shaw and Smith… Cherries, Strawberries, Nutmeg and other spice. A hint of game and fair acid. Some white pepper and plentiful smattering of tannin. Makes me think of Mornington Pinot for some reason… 92+

3/1/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Crisp fruit, sparkling minerality , light viscosity and texture, and maybe a hint of quartz. There is some complexity here, but very youthful obviously. Still, it’s happy drinking if you give it a night.

2/24/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Delightful little number. Lightly savoury with dry cherries, spice, wisps of tar, great line of lime acid and a quartz finish ever so faintly dusted with ashen tannins.

2/18/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Textural aromatic. A lot of grapes woven together here. Pear, citrus, almond slivers. It’s juicy. There are minerals, quartz and chalk. Hums lightly.

2/12/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Lemonzzz… dressed in pretty florals, some leesy feelings, humming and buzzing. Light licks of oil, texture, and a playful length, like you could wrap a curl of zest around your tongue. 93+

2/3/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Golden leesy goodness. Plush and textural. Very good length. Have had a number of these, and right now it is exceeding my expectation.
The wine has some stone fruit, it’s humming with vibrancy, light viscosity and butteriness. A touch a steel, a lick of integrated oak, fair acid and minerals to the finish. Faint white florals and mild bite-i-ness appear late in the drinking.
It has a quality and elegance that has superseded previous examples of this wine. I suspect this vintage is drinking optimally now, as it strikes the balance between youth and age.

1/28/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Slick little red berries, drying. Licks of aniseed. Pretty pink petals and lime acidity. This wine is incredibly moreish. There is some crunch and some gloss. A hint of smoke, cola, and plenty chewy tobaccan tannins.
Such a polished and consistent producer.

1/26/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Further developed from the last time I drank it. Fine fruited, but coming with green garden gnarl. Its quite silken, and humming with vibrancy. Yummy leesy mealiness, great acid and a minerally/quartz finish.

1/22/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Silken, so refined. Yet its also textural. Fine tropical fruits, lightly toasty palate, balanced acidity and a fair length (of minerals). 92+, maybe 93.

1/22/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Fine fruited, yet plush. White peach, green garden gnarl and faint nectarine. Mild leesy action, nice acidity, this wine is absolutely humming. Oak so fine and integrated, just a hint of toasty warmth within the cool fruit. Sparkling minerality on the finish.
94+

1/19/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Mmmm... cracking drinking right now. Textural chardonnay. White peaches, white florals, crunchy green grapes. Touches of yeast, spice and faint flint. Strong line of acidity, integrated oak and minerals. Good breadth and length.

1/15/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

A beautiful Riesling. Approachable now, even. It has a plush palate of green grapes and faint spice. Mild white florals and only a whisper of kero. It’s quite textural and has lime acid drive. Chalky and minerally on the finish.

1/7/2024 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Fine, dry, and powerful. Dry white of fine-boned fruit with plenty of drive.
There are some faint grape/grapefruit/passionfruit licks, a faint scent of crustaceans, nuts, and plenty of texture. The acid is great, the chalk and minerals playful. A pinch of yeast in there, I'm sure more is to come from this wine on night 2… It’s more silken and integrated, humming with energy. Simply epic.
95+

12/28/2023 - NickBri wrote:

Somewhat savoury and chalky… myeah

12/26/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

A consistent wine each year. Is this ‘21 or ‘22? Ohh, it’s ‘23…
Fine and approachable , good acidity and minerals/quartz to the finish.

12/23/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Crisp, on the drier side. Provencal-esq and moreish.

12/10/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Fine and dry. Quality fruit. White peaches and plenty of mealiness/leesiness. Stirring acid and textural finish. It has some elegance, but is perhaps not fully integrated. Maybe best in a couple more years…

12/3/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. Executed to drink like Beaujolais. Savoury crunchy cherries and some Campari action. Decent acid and plenty of light and mild tobaccan tannins.
Great for spring/summer drinking. Can be served with a slight chill if necessary.
91+

11/26/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

This is a great quaffer. More savoury than sweet, there is plenty of crunchy cherry, dry spice, fair acid and layered tannin.
The blend is mentioned as Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Barbera and Cabernet.
It’s a cheap and cheerful alternative to the Benevelli Langhi.

11/9/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Fine-boned and frisky. Fine fruited, green garden gnarl, lively spice, faint lees-i-ness, great acidity and a steely, chalky and minerally finish.
Its fruit profile might still be fine, but the wine's structure is plush, with its length very good. Still plenty of time to run on this baby.
Its a serious wine that is well integrated. 93+

11/4/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Such striking acidity, softens slightly on night 2. Fruit is fine boned, lightest lick of apricot? There is some iron, stone and kerosene. A long-termer.

10/12/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Light and juicy red fruit, silky and well-equipped with lime acid. Faint hints of tomato for some savouriness. It still has that vibrancy found in the 2019, and the tannins are delightful and chewy. A great wine for the price.

10/7/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Fruit from Moppa. Drinks rustic. Dry and sweet licks. Looks inky, but it’s drying fruit with dry spice, maybe a hint of milk chocolate and plentiful smooth tobaccan tannins. A smidge Rockford-esq.

9/29/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

What a cracker. Crunchy green apples that make you pucker. Lemon licks, and sparkling minerality that comes in river stone, chalk and quartz (didn’t realise those things could sparkle like that..). Add slate to the mix when drinking on night 2.
It has such drive. There’s no mistaking the confidence in this wine. There’s texture too. Some integrity to back it up.

9/23/2023 - NickBri wrote:

Very nice weight for cabernet. It was hard to pick the region. Red fruits and dark fruit and little licks of eucalypt. Tomato bush is about the place. Fair acid and tannin.

9/23/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Fine little red berries. Dry spice, mixed pepper and good acid. Fine dusty ashen tannins. A well balanced and pretty wine.

9/17/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Fine-boned stone fruit, yeast, sweet licks, a saline lick, good acid and spicy oak. Minerally-quartz on the finish, which is fair.
A Consistent producer.

9/16/2023 - NickBri wrote:

Showing more age than would be expected. Its a lovely colour of bricky red, and a pretty nose. Well integrated and elegant.

9/16/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

From the lovely island of fire and earth, it's a lovely-weighted wine transcending Pinot, Grenache and Nebbiolo. Drying red berries, salt, pepper and spice, a dusting of dry earth and some tar. Hints of pink rose petals, aniseed and great acid. Good length courtesy of fine moreish tannin.

9/16/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Very honeyed and spice-racked. Some toastiness and only mild viscosity. Crunchy green apples and complexity. Picked it as a Chardonnay at first...

9/16/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Another cracking Head delivery. The spectrum of juicy little berries, though they're a bit dusty. Plenty of dry spice, and maybe a hint of meat fat that is more prominent on night 2. Faint earthiness, great acid and plentiful fine ashen tannins. Throw in a bit of quartz for good measure.

8/13/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Crunchy cherries, liquorice, herbs and dry spice, fair acid and tannin that is soft and plentiful. Its a yum wine. Glad to see it still performs after I've missed a few vintages from Marco

8/6/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Plush melon fruit complimented with light spice and striking acidity. Faint florals.
Light salts and plentiful minerals.
Viscosity is more from fruit than kero/oil action, currently.
If you don’t have a beer to enjoy after a warm day’s graft, this is a good alternative.

7/7/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Impressed with this. Crunchy dark red cherries, musk, and plenty of tannins. Some aniseed and tobacco as the wine opens. It is juice and jelly.
This is a wine balanced sweet/savoury. Great length and breadth. Raw yet polished. Great complexity.
It becomes lighter and drier on night 2, moving the needle a little from McLaren Vale to something
more Head-esq. Pink rose petals added to the mix.

7/3/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

I've drunk a dozen of these since release. The characters found in the wine are consistent across every bottle, with glacial evolution over time (how good for a $35 South Aussie!).
I've been a long-time fan of Head Grenache. This release demonstrates dark cherries, aniseed, some savouriness, great acid, malt and a finish that is plentiful with light and ashen tannin.
So moorish, with sweet and bitter licks to a balanced palate.

6/23/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Such a consistent producer. The 2012 might’ve been the first vintage of this that I’ve tried. I’ve had others in the range, but am always most impressed when I drink this one for some reason.
Light fruit, mixed berries sting in the sun. Herbal, with some spice, and some cherry crunch.
Soft liquorice licks linger. Good acid and plentiful soft tannin weights the tongue.
Good length and breadth. Can forego smoking a cigar when drinking this.

6/10/2023 - NickBri wrote:

Balanced, sweet and savoury. Drying strawberries and licks of cream. Strong in acid, it has dry green herbs and spice. Some minerals to a fair finish.

6/4/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Golden orange on appearance. Tinned fruit on nose. Mandarin/Tangerine and green grapes on the palate. Somewhat textural, a bit of oil, light salt, minerals and chalk. It’s vibrant and just as good on night 2 as night 1. Upgraded the rating from 91 to 92 because of it’s ongoing unfurling.

6/3/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Savoury and a smidgen gamey. This is a gutsy Pinot. Quite herbal, white peppered and plenty of spice. Acid is good and there is more than enough dark dusty tannin.
This wine ebbs and flows between Pinot and Cabernet-esq characters … but don’t let that description put you off, it’s a wine with a point of difference.
There are faint pink rose petals for fragrance.
A very likeable scruff of an SA Pinot!

5/27/2023 - NickBri wrote:

Pop and pour. This affordable drop is near end of life. Nice weight, it’s all tomato bush and herbs. A bit if Italy in the Hills. Fading pepper and spice. The acid is still there, and wispy tannins to the finish. Air is its enemy, however.

5/25/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

A Magnum drunk over 5 nights. Still burning. Raspberries and cream. Liquorice, pepper and spice. Acid still good and tannins are ash soft. Yum.

5/22/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

The red fruit and viognier vibrancy whet your palate. There is meat, earth, iron, malt and a whole lot else going on. Clonakilla still make one of the best SV. Mixed pepper, lime acidity and faint and fine tannin to the finish.
Still has some time on its side.

5/22/2023 - NickBri wrote:

Mount Pleasant in style, but for some reason found this a little underwhelming in the tasting lineup.
It has the red fruit, pinch of white pepper, striking acidity and Hunter earth, but maybe just lacking some of the vibrancy or x-factor. Mt Pleasant can drink fine young, and their quality is obvious with some age, so maybe this is in a dumb spell.

5/22/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Golden orange in colour. Mild tropical sweetness on the nose. There is much complexity and texture on the palate. Peach, tropical fruits/melons, and raspberry. A bit of shortbread and mild acidity in a wine that is not too thick in sweetness. It does run long.

5/22/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Obvious quality and recognisable. Didn’t take long to guess this in a blind tasting.
Fine and juicy little berries of quality. Vibrant and brooding at the same time. Tomato leaves and chocolate. This wine is complete across the palate. Licks of sweet oak and good acidity. Pepper with plenty of sugar and spice, with fine tannin to finish.
More time is needed to soften the winds edges. Looking forward to that.93+

5/22/2023 - NickBri Likes this wine:

Tomato bush and tobacco. I’ve had this vintage half a dozen times and it never fails to satisfy.
Juicy little red berries with some black and blue fruit thrown in. It has licks of herbs, sugar, spice and other things nice. Good thwack of acidity still, and fine ashen tannin. Only a hint of mint, though others at the tasting found mint more than I did. Perhaps it blows off with time in the glass/decanter. Anyway, speaking of time, this wine is becoming more textural. 93+