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Fuller bodied here with intense floral and fruit notes - it's almost perfumery. Definitely none of that brett character, but in that sense it's also less complex (which is to be expected considering this is only aged for 3 years) and powerful. We definitely saw florals here that we weren't getting before, so that was a delightful surprise - super aromatic on the nose, as well as being all round juicy and plush. It'll be interesting to see how this develops - I actually think this is a pretty sol...(Read More)

This was a tad bit muted on the nose, it wasn't giving the big plumes of dark fruit and earthiness we saw in past vintage. But thankfully it's more than made up for it on the palate which was vibrant and energetic, and at the same time had much richness and depth, certainly more muscular even if it does at times feel alittle bulky. Love that intensity with that hit of spice, but I do wish it opened up more on the nose and showed somemore structure and detail on the palate.

Definitely a bigger fruit focus here - it's noticeably richer and fuller on the palate, and with that much more depth as well. Here it leans darker and alittle more towards raisin-ed fruits, and so it's not as fresh or juicy. In place of that is more body and density, with more velvety silkiness and a more muscular structure. There's also not much of the barnyard brett quality here as well. This was for me the top vintage of the pick today! Really lovely, elegant and beautiful fruit forward bold...(Read More)

This is definitely more juicy, plusher and fresher. It's really approachable and an easy, tasty drink. I do think it might've sacrificed some complexity and detail for more vibrance, which is probably the result of using more Merlot. I do like how there's still a prominent earthiness that doesn't go away. I feel like this is a good drinking point and would appeal to most. This was my second pick of the lot today - it's fresh, juicy, really approachable, and still keeps that earthiness.

It's noticeably darker here, richer and more aromatic - it's rather bountiful and bold, with the body being that much fuller than the 1995. It's got more energy on the body as well, although we're not quite at the point of calling it intense. The finish takes a more sour turn with heaps more acidity. That said, I would've liked to see more structure here to keep up with that richer body. Whilst the 1996 is less distinctive than the 1995, which really turned on the barnyard notes, I would say i...(Read More)

The brett (or Brettanomyces, a yeast that tends to come up in red wines and gives a very distinctive funky barnyard flavour that is divisive - some like it, others don't; I certainly love it) notes here are really dominant especially on the nose. It leads with lots of that barnyard funkiness that always strikes me as being very raw and rustic, it showing so much power here too! It wasn't particularly overwhelming even if it was dominant on the nose - very lovely and aromatic, quite frankly. The...(Read More)