Stockist/Retailer: greatwine.co.uk

(2024) It's always interesting if a wine has a particular human story behind it, and this one certainly has. Winemaker Marty Edwards spent two decades with a larger wine company before being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2012, whilst still barely 40 years of age. So he quit the job, and after life-changing Deep Brain Stimulation surgery in 2018, felt well enough to establish Silver Lining Wines, where profits go to support Parkinson's research and charities in Australia. The wine displays its cooler-climate credentials coming from vineyards at altitude in the Adelaide Hills. Whole berries were fermented with natural yeasts and foot trodden, then matured in new and used French oak barriques for 10 months. It has game, olives and plenty of pepper on the nose, a certain roughening tannin adding a welcome chewiness to plush, mouth-filling black fruit. Spicy, well-balanced and satisfying stuff. Watch the video for more information.

(2024) Made exclusively with free run juice, this comes from a very cool vintage and despite a touch of residual sugar (4.4g/l) it is a zingingly fresh, mouth-watering dry wine. Citrus and white flowers dominate the nose, zesty and floral. In the mouth that squeeze of lemon juice freshness really bursts onto the palate, and this appears to be bone dry, the acidity and linear quality of the fruit deliciously energising.

(2023) The blend is Tempranillo (80%) and Garnacha (20%), the wine fermented with indigenous yeasts. There's a painstaking elevage, with long maceration then gentle pressing into a combination of second use, 225-litre French oak barrels and new Hungarian oak casks. After 16 months the wine remains in concrete vats for a further 22 months. Exquisite nose; so refined with pencil-shaving nuances and old polished wood, a wreath of gentle smoke and a deep seam of black fruits. In the mouth the tannins here have been burnished to a firm, but elegant sheen and the acidity and crisp nature of the blackcurranty fruit gives this liveliness and sophistication. This one is approachable now with food, but will cellar for 10 years easily. Beautifully composed. Multibuy price £99.

(2023) From a single vineyard at 650m elevation this is an ultra-selection of the best fruit, fermented with indigenous yeasts. It spent 14 months in 500-litre French oak barrels, before finishing in concrete vats for a further eight months. There's a real buoyancy about this aromatically, with potpourri florals and spices running into zippy red fruit, the oak much less imposing than in the Mirto for example. In the mouth there is a creamy gloss of polished oak, and it's a wine in a very sprightly style; it's not without concentration and a residual whack of tannin and oak spice underpinning, but the acidity is crisp and the fruit stays in that red spectrum. Multibuy price £99.

(2023) A biodynamic wine from vines planted in 1958 in Ribera del Duero's 'golden mile' (home to Vega-Sicilia, etc.). Fermentation was in new French-oak casks, where it aged for 22 months and rested a further 10 months after bottling. There's a definite smokiness and sense of polish to the aromatics here, but quite tightly wound and not too expressive at this stage. It's a big, structured and powerful wine, the tannins and dry extract coating the mouth with an inky, dark layer. Slightly ungiving at present, there are just hints of sweet, ripe fruit notes, but plenty of biting damson-skin dry acidity also adds to a bittersweet and quite chewy character. Another that I would want to decant or cellar in the hope it would ease out slightly. Multibuy £67.50.

(2023) Sparkling Albarino is still something of a rarity, but this is a fine example that suggests we should see more. Bone dry with its zero dosage, there's an oyster shell character on the nose, apple and a little hint of nuttiness. The palate has searing acidity, again the saline character unmissable. A little ripeness to the mid-palate fruit hints at peach. Most enjoyable. Multibuy price £26.55.

(2023) a project begun in 1999 to bottle an expression of Tempranillo from a single, high-altitude vineyard of 85 year-old vines. Matured for 24 months in 100% French oak barrels. Very dark and dense, the sonorous nose beguils with violet and kirsch lift over very classy French oak. Fabulous nose as exotic spices and tobacco join the plush black fruit the lies beneath, with a wisp of smokiness. The oak is possibly a little too toasty and charry at present, suggesting this needs time to me, because beneath, all of that structure and fruit concentration is there. Elegant cherry-bright acids and slick tannins do balance in a wine that is hedonistic, without going OTT. I'd approach again after decanting or more ageing - or with a chunk of serious protein. Multibuy price £42.75.

(2023) Second tasting of this in fairly quick succession. 100% high altitude Garnacha made in a combination of concrete tanks, amphorae and 600-litre French oak barrels, blended and aged a further eight months in 225-litre French casks. This expresses a svelte, floral-touched creaminess on the nose. Really quite a pretty red wine, the creamy but subtle oak not masking the buoyant red and black fruit flavours. Nicely balanced, the finish has smooth tannins and a good level of acidity, just a little coffee and spice, and balsamic edge, all showing through, perhaps even a little more chocolaty plushness than on my previous tasting.  

(2023) An organic certified Ribera del Duero. 100% Tempranillo from a vineyard planted in 1963, it was fermented with indigenous yeast and spent 20 months in French oak barrels, 1/3 new. Dark and glossy in colour, the nose is deply hued too, with plum and clove, liquorice and spicy fruitcake aromas. In the mouth it is a powerful, full-bodied wine with fairly massive tannins and dry extract, despite five years of softening time. This is a wine with some elegance too, that is just beginning to show through, a vinous, cherry and briar note in there beneath all that extract. I'd decant or give this another few years when it might well merit a point or two more. Multibuy £24.75, but note price and stockist is for the 2017 vintage at time of review.  

(2023) An unusual high-end Verdejo, given eight months of lees ageing in barrel. A buttery, golden-tinged wine, the almond and creaminess of the lees tames the sometimes over-exuberant aromatics of the variety. In the mouth some of that vivacious character comes through, but again this is a dry, mineral- and fruit skins-driven style that is more serious than many, finishing with real grip - a touch of tannin and good acid grip. Multibuy price £15.97.