Superb NZ Chardonnay, with great clarity, plenty of smoke, meal, and sulfate complexity. Very refined and classy, and it was certainly not embarrassed by being served next to a 1999 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne.

Stunning Corton - fabulous presence, intense core of fruit, and focus. Gorgeous flavours. Paired with the outstanding Vidals Legacy 2011, this really showed its class, and also demonstrated the benchmark that many new world Chardonnay producers strive to emulate, in terms of playing with surface characters...

Excellent cool ciimate Aussie Chardonnay, that has plenty of creamy oak, mealy complexity, and sulfate manipulation. More worked and complex than the Penfolds Bin 321 2014, drunk at the same time.

Tasted next to the 2011 McWilliams Tumbarumba Chardonnay, this came across as more cool climate in startle, with very little reliance on surface manipulation (unlike the McWilliams). Beautiful clean fruit, lovely purity, supple texture, nice balance. Very fine wine, that was a step down from the Vidals/Corton Charlemagne in the flight before.

Drunk at the Ad Hoc Christmas dinner. Delicious,open and mature. Clearly porty, and slightly unfocused, due to the vintage characteristics. Supple, and good presence. Drunk by itself, this would be a most enjoyable drop, but it had the misfortune of being served next to the Ornellaia 2001...

Beautiful Bordeaux lookalike. Harmonious, very Cabernet, textbook structure, fabulous breed, length, and layered complexity. A wine that absolutely delivers, and lives up to its reputation.

Classic old-school Aussie Shiraz. Soft, developed, intense, sweet, creamy oak. Lacks the intensity of the First Drop The Crewm 2006, and the pure class of the Grange 1986 served a4 the same time.

New wave Aussie Shiraz. Extremely dense fruit, liquor-like Shiraz fruit, intense palate power, opulent mouthfeel. The high (15%) alcohol is completely subsumed into the luscious fruit. Not even close to full maturity. From a fruit perspective, this wine showed very similarly to the Harlan 2003, but the Harlan was that much more structured and intense. From a drinking point of view, both wines felt a little tiring at the moment, but neither wine is anywhere close to their full apogee of development. 90+

At the Ad Hoc Christmas dinner at Noble Rot. Tasted in a (too large) flight of four big reds, this (alongside the Yalumba Octavius 1996) were the wines that had achieved maturity, with the Grange achieving a beautiful sense of transformation. This is certainly a great Grange, with an almost claret-like sense of poise and elegance. The texture is very much that of the classic Aussie old-school American Oak softy, but with a touch of VA, and an impressive bottle age complexity. I would regard this wine as being open and ready for business, but there is clearly no rush, and I would bet that this wine (if stored well) will amply repay cellaring. 96+

Totally un-evolved at the moment. Masses of dense Cabernet fruit, huge tannic structure, volatile aspects, huge presence, with a massive finish, that certainly errs towards alcoholic heat. Tasted in a flight that included the First Drop Shiraz, this had a similar ripe profile, but with considerably more intense tannins. One taster thought the Harlan had a significant amount of boiled cabbage/sulphur taint on the nose, but I imagine he was picking top on the VA and perhaps some of the oak handling - the wine was in perfect condition, just currently disappointing.

Scoring the wine is challenging, as in some ways it is simply not very much fun, but the concentration and obvious fruit quality must be respected, even if not enjoyed... Ultimately. I think the wine is outstanding, but totally outclassed by the Grange 1986 drunk at the same time (as the Grange is clearly fully mature). Sharing a similar worry about Harlan wines - will they ever evolve in our lifetimes??? 91+++++????, but I could see people rating this lower....

Very rich, sweet, warm, low acid, and filled with botrytis. Not an ideal match for the Chocolate Mousse served with it, but this is a gorgeous wine that certainly represents the vintage.