Wine Region: Western Australia

(2022) Semillon just in the majority here at 52%, the 30-year-old vineyards planted on gravel over limestone at just 4 - 6 kilometres from the coast. Relatively subtle given the Semillon dominance, a touch of elderflower and gooseberry, but lemon and a delicate buttery nuance just discernable. In the mouth really dry and salty/savoury, the fruit very cool and clean, a mouth-watering style with a bit of strictness and stony dryness.

(2022) Vineyards here are 20 kilometres from the coast and 20 years old. Sauvignon makes up 84% of the blend, partial fermentation in barrel, and partially with wild yeast. 24% of the wine also spends some several months on the lees in oak barrels. There's a little sprinkle of crushed oatmeal over vivacious Sauvignon aromas, hinting at tropical but with plenty of citrus too. There's more of the vegetal/herbaceous character coming through on the palate. Tangy, textured and balanced.

(2022) From two vineyard areas, Wallcliffe at 15km from the coast, and Wilyabrup at 4km from the coast. Vines are up to 37 years old, planted on decomposed granit, 83% Sauvignon. 100% fermented in French oak: 15% in new barriques, 85% on larger, older puncheons. Here we are in to much more pungent, vivacious Sauvignin characters, lots of elderflower thiols, the oak barely discernable as a little nutty breadth beneath. The palate is delicious, it has the raciness and punch, and plenty of lime-fresh acidity, but it has texture and creaminess too. No UK listing for this wine at time of review.

(2022) A wine I scored 95/100 when tasted 18 months ago, this was fermented in new French oak barriques with regular lees stirring, followed by 11 months in barrel. It comes from the original 1970s plantings, on gravel over clay soils. It's a riper, bigger style that nods towards the golden Chardonnay era but pulls up way, way short: there's a hint of minty character, but a balancing whisper of flint, and a more tropical fruit quality. Super ripe and sweet fruit on the palate, nectarine and a fat, juicy lemon, an underpinning of nutty oak, but again the acidity streaks through in a classic Old World/New World fusion style.

(2022) This is the GinGin clone with its famous 'hen and chick' grape size variance, very popular in Western Australia in particular, grown on gravel over clay in a vineyard planted in 1985. It was wild fermented in French oak of various formats and spent over nine months in barrel. Very little malolactic or lees stirring. A little more flint here, but also that wild ferment adds a little sauvage quality, a light earthiness and yeasty and much more flinty aspect. Again on the palate this sparks into life, a vivid citrus punch to both fruit and acidity, sherbet-bright over the peachier tones and subtle Brazil nut butteriness. Big salty lick of minerality in the finish. Note: Yapp Bros is currently retailing the Forest Hill wines but is not showing the Block 8 cuvée at time of review.

(2022) 27-year-old vines on top soil over a bed of gravel, extending to clay. 94% is Cabernet Sauvignon, with 4% Malbec and 2% Cabernet Franc. A small proportion was wild fermented and the wine stayed in barrel for fully 20 months, all new French Oak. The oldest wine in this small selection, showing minimal colour development. Lots and lots of graphite and cigar-box, a very firm and taut blackcurrant fruit, again those small herbaceous notes adding interest. In a similar vein to the Cape Mentelle, the sweet ripeness of fruit striking the palate is surprising, a mouth-filling succulence, but very classy and elegant support from tight, creamy oak tannins, keen and slightly saline acidity, and a long and very pure finish of spice, fruit and freshening acidity.

(2022) Free draining soils with high ironstone gravel content were planted 17-47 yearsa ago with Cabernet Sauvignon (90%), plus 5% each of Petit Verdot and Merlot.  The wines were matured for 18 months in selected barriques (mainly French with a tiny amount of Hungarian wood), of which about 58% were new. Just beginning to show some colour development on the rim, this has a graphite steeliness to the aromas, the fruit taut and black, a hint of leafiness and mint. On the palate there is copious sweet black fruit; there's a ripe confiture character, plenty of upfront approachability, but the savoury aspects of tight barrel aromas, fine and sandy tannins, and cherry-pit acidity balance very nicely.

(2022) Biodynamically farmed on tiny, gravelly block planted in 1999. It is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon pressed to French oak barriques, 40% of which were new, for 16 months before bottling. A little development of colour here, and tapenade aromas, earthy and deep with black fruit, but cedary and savoury rather than brightly fruity. Creamy textured, the fruit does come through with mid-palate sweetness, then that restrained, coffee and sweet leathery spice dominates. Balanced and has real gastronomic appeal.

(2022) The blend includes Petit Verdot 8% and Malbec 2%, 20 - 40 years old grown on well-drained gravel loam soils. A small proportion saw carbonic maceration, and the wine was aged in French oak barriques (44% new) for 18 months. A year since I last tasted this, and the impression is much the same: lifted and fragrent, the olive/tapenade hint of the herbal adds a smoky savouriness to the sweet and solid black fruit. On the palate a tongue-coating raft of thick black fruit and creamy tannin, smokier barrel components combining with brighter cherry acid for a long, fruit and acid-driven finish.

(2022) Vines here were planted in 1978 amd 1995, 94% Cabernet and the balance Merlot, planted on free-draining gravel over clay. The wine was in French oak barrels for 17 months, 50% new. A year older than the Xanadu Black label also tasted, and visible softer and lighter on the rim. Lovely nose, a hint of briar and herbs over ripe and succulent black fruit. Tiny lift of menthol. Sweet and plush fruit on the palate, a thick blackcurrant ripeness, but the creamy and toasty oak underpinning is offset by firm, fine tannin and juicy acidity for a very satisfying and balanced wine.