96 POINTS
Sam Kim - Wine Orbit
The wine boasts a beautifully complex and enticing bouquet, featuring notes of dark plum, olive, warm mushroom, cured meat, and hazelnut, along with rich floral scents. On the palate, it is concentrated and succulent, enhanced by a fleshy texture and layers of polished tannins. The finish is impressively long and satisfying. This wine strikes a balance between grace and robustness, offering a sense of opulence.
96 POINTS
Sam Kim - Wine Orbit
Stylish and seductive, the wine shows dark cherry, olive, game, warm spice, rich floral, and fine oak aromas. The wonderfully weighted palate displays a silky texture, a fleshy mouthfeel, and finely integrated tannins, making it beautifully structured and harmonious with a persistent, satisfying finish. A gorgeous rendition combining fruit purity and enticing complexity.
95 POINTS
Russ Gallagher - Vino Masters
Brilliant cherry red in colour. The aromatics are lifted and precise, showing fresh plum and cherry fruit with a fine graphite edge. There is immediate clarity and energy on the nose. The palate is luxurious yet vibrant, delivering crunchy red forest berries, subtle stalky characters and faint herbal edges, layered with darker red fruit depth. A compelling yin and yang emerges, where tangy acidity is beautifully balanced by clove spice, whole-bunch influence and hints of green bean complexity. The wine carries excellent intensity and drive, finishing mouthwatering, long and precise. A super-enchanting Pinot Noir from one of South Australia’s most highly regarded winemaking families. Energetic and deeply expressive Pinot Noir.
94 POINTS
Tony Love - Winepilot
One of four Pinot Noir variations in the Riposte portfolio, this is a pure crimson berried delight with a dash of flint and floral to the nose, unmistakably varietal, juicy, with a light pepper to the spice feels and a soft touch of almost sticky tannins in the finish. A wine with uninterrupted and focused Pinot clarity, nose to tail.
94 POINTS
Ray Jordan - Winepilot
En Garde translates from French as “on guard”. Despite its delicately coloured and perfumed onset, it is indeed ready to defend itself from a thirsty attack, with attractive preserved strawberry and raspberry notes, then descending into the realm of poppy seed, red liquorice, and a lovely spiciness of star anise and pink peppercorn. It sits comfortably between a tonic, herbal character and red fruit compote, with spice intermingling throughout, resulting in a finely poised Pinot with a silky tannic structure and more than decent presence, finishing fruity, juicy and focused. A lovely Pinot from the Hills indeed.
94 POINTS
Ray Jordan - Winepilot
Another top-notch wine from this Adelaide Hills producer. It’s light-bodied, but there is excellent fruit presentation with a slightly sour cherry, mushroomy combination working brilliantly on the nose. The concentration and intensity of the palate totally belies its lighter body and drives with tremendous purpose through to a long finish. Excellent structure, with the fine integration of tannin and oak supporting some quite delicious fruit flavours. There’s a suppleness here, but there’s also a core of strength.
93 POINTS
Tom Kline - Winepilot
Autumn leaves, rhubarb, damp earth and a weave of raspberry lift gently from the glass, with brown spice — clove and subtle cardamom — adding complexity. Red currant and dark cherry deepen the fruit drive, while an emergent red rose florality brings prettiness and lift. Cool and quiet in its presence, yet beguiling. That quiet poise carries through to the palate, where a soft, silky texture wraps around a core of dark cherry, cranberry, plum, clove and forest floor. The tannins are tight, fine and firm — a lovely corset around the fruit — funnelling to solid length with acid surging through the back palate. A wine that starts quietly and finds its voice with air.
93 POINTS
Shanteh Wale - Winepilot
Raspberries clinging to the bush, thorny rose stems and cranberries. Some sumac spice leads to a wild thrill of crunchy acidity and powdery tannins. There is a silken-like texture that weaves the forged berries across the palate. Some iron and bloody meat savouriness too. This will leave you with the underbrush of autumn leaves and a waterfall cascade of thirst quenching sips. This has the structure to cellar for another 5 years but drink it now and pair with blush lamb loin and Abequina olives and capers.
