Beechworth Wine Estates

4.5 Star Winery Rating – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2021

Chardonnay 2017

Executive summary is that you should go out and buy this wine. The quality is excellent, the price a steal, the future about as assured as can be. It boasts both a luxurious richness and sizzling length. It tastes of stone fruit, nougat, pebbles and citrus, the latter cutting long through the finish. Beechworth is such blessed chardonnay terrain. Rating 92 Campbell Mattinson Australian Wine Companion 2020

Barbera 2017

Significant step up from the ’16 release. It’s only light to medium-weight but it has presence and conviction. Cherry-berry flavours, sweet spices, dried herbs and raisins. It will be best consumed young but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t drink well over the coming handful of years. Rating 92 Campbell Mattinson Australian Wine Companion 2020

Merlot Reserve 2014

You can see why it was decided to accord this wine Reserve status: it has effortless communication of cassis, mulberry and plum within a fine gauze of tannins, cut by notes of briar, oak a bystander. Rating 92 James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

Tempranillo Graciano 2016

80/20% blend with a small percent of whole bunches in the tempranillo ferment. Two weeks on skins before going into old oak. Good colour, lively aroma, buoyant palate. Deliciousness writ large. Redcurrant jelly, violets, meaty spice, anise. It rocks, it rolls, it rumbles with twiggy tannin. No need to wait; this is a ripping drink right now. Rating 91 James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

 

Cofield

4 Star Winery Rating – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2021

Prosecco NV

This hits the spot with its attractive baked apple and spiced pear flavours from Alpine Valleys fruit. Bright lemony acidity all fresh and lively then finishes crisp and dry. Rating 91 James Halliday Wine Companion 2021

Rose 2019

Pastel pink with a copper hue; zesty with a mainstay of tangy red fruit and flicker of spice. It’s racy across the palate thanks to lemony acidity hurtling towards the finishing line. Rating 90 James Halliday Wine Companion 2021

Sangiovese 2018

A hint of cherries and pips with tangy acidity give this the varietal stamp. It opens up to reveal some squishy ripe fruit, tannins with some give and a neat savouriness to the finish. Easy drinking. Rating 90 James Halliday Wine Companion 2021

Shiraz 2017

It’s fresh, it’s juicy and it offers plenty of flavour without being weighty. The palate is surprisingly taut. You’ll find plums and spiced cherries, some sweet and savoury cedary oak and a freshness to the finish. Rating 90 James Halliday Wine Companion 2021

Muscat NV

The complexity of flavours, and the very good texture, suggest this wine is on the border of classic, the next level of quality. Plum/raisin cake, lusciously spiced and layered; the acidity that is an essential part of the style, and is here, freshening the finish and aftertaste. Bargain price. Rating 94 James Halliday Wine Companion 2020

 

Gallagher Wines

4 Star Winery Rating – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2020

Merlot 2017

Medium-weight red with blackberry, leather, dried herb and dark chocolate flavours running through the palate. It’s soft through the palate but talks tougher on the finish; with food you’d hardly notice the mood change. Rating 88 Campbell Mattinson Australian Wine Companion 2020

Shiraz 2017

There a dry and slightly gamey note to the finish here, which is distracting, but it’s otherwise flashed with flavour of the black cherry-and-black pepper kind. Indeed in most respects it’s balanced, well flavour and enjoyable. Rating 88 James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2020

 

Gipsie Jack

4 Star Winery Rating – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2019

Dolcetto 2016

Meaning ‘sweet little one’ in Italian, physiologically dolcetto boasts an array of pulpy purple fruit allusions, moderate acidity and firm tannins. This is no exception, with the extraction a point, making for a gluggable, eminently enjoyable wine that holds plenty of food-pairing cards up its sleeve. Needs time for the oak tannins to integrate. Rating 91 James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

Dolcetto Rose 2017

Endeavours to harness the herbal edged refreshment factor of contemporary rose styles, with some candied red fruits and grapey torrefacted aromas. Plenty of flavour and crunch, finishing with some fruit sweetness. Rating 88 James Halliday Wine Companion 2018

Malbec 2016

Prime turf for malbec, Langhorne Creek is producing some beauties and this is no exception. Violet aromas segue to a juicy, fulsome palate of abundant blue and dark fruit allusions given tension and further complexity by a hint of reductive smokiness. Malbec’s corpulence absorbs the oak and pH handling better, perhaps, than the other ‘alternative’ varieties in the range. Rating 93 James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

Lagrein 2016

Langhorne Creek is a hotbed of experimentation with newer grape varieties to these shores, particularly Italian culitvars such as this. Delicious scents of blueberry, dried herb and red and black plum leap from the glass. The palate is firm and dutifully extracted, imparting a sinuous weave of tannin to complement gentle oak and a spurt of obtuse acidity. Rating 92 James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

 

Happs

5 Red Star Winery Rating – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2021

Chardonnay 2017

Full of upfront flavour but elegant and restrained to close. White peach and pear flavours come happily married to cedar wood and clotted cream. It’s a wine of power and style already but its best days are a couple of years hence. Rating 92 Campbell Mattinson Australian Wine Companion 2020

 

Hirsch Hill Estate

4 Star Winery Rating – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2019

Chardonnay 2015

From a single vineyard block, whole-bunch pressed, 50% free-run juice, fermented in French oak (30% new), matured on lees for 9 months. A standout bargain Yarra Valley chardonnay. It’s supremely elegant, perfectly balanced and unhesitatingly asserts its sense of place. The flowery, aromatic bouquet, very long palate and its freshness and purity of grapefruit acidity are faultless. Rating 95 James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

Hand-picked, crushed and destemmed, open-fermented, pumped over twice daily, matured in French hogsheads (30% new) for 18 months. Bright crimson-purple; classic cool grown cabernet at a bargain basement price – almost defies imagination. Blackcurrant, black olive tapenade and dried herbs are the dominant players along with dour cabernet tannins. Needs, and will repay, patience. Rating 90 James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

Shiraz 2015

Estate-grown. The aromas and flavours are from left field, and not easy to do a forensic examination. Both the palate and bouquet have a savoury character with notes of earth, black olive, dark plum fruits and high-toned spices. Rolled into one stream, they are very attractive. I’m intrigued. Rating 93 James Halliday Wine Companion 2019

 

Kosciuszko

4 Star Winery Rating – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2021

Chardonnay 2018

Real tension and purity on the nose. Really rather beautiful. Lovely satiny texture and great, exciting play between the fruit and acidity. I’d love to taste this blind alongside a fine Puligny. Some slight chewiness on the end suggests a long life. A wine with a beginning, middle and end. Rating 17.5/20, Financial Times (of London) and jancisrobinson.com, Jancis Robinson, 2020

Lovely, pale-yellow colour. The nose is complex: toasty oak and roasted nuts, minerals and the faintest tease of lemon pith. Caramel oak. It’s fresh enough, and offers serious value. Rating 91/100, Silver Ribbon, Top Value, Nick Butler, The Real Review (AUS), 2020

3 Stars, Bronze Medal Winestate Magazine, May/June 2020

Sangiovese 2015

Handpicked, no sorting, open-fermented with 20% whole bunch, the balance crushed and destemmed, matured for 10 months in French oad (20% new). Green acidity. Rating 86/100, Bronze Medal, James Halliday Wine Companion, 2021 

A lovely expression of the variety; the beautifully lifted bouquet shows dark cherry, dried herb, anise and roasted nut aromas, followed by a juicy palate that’s brightly
expressed and refreshing. It’s finely textured and lingering, elegantly framed by fine grainy tannins, making it beautifully structured and persistent. At its best: now to 2022. Rating 93/100, 5 Stars, Sam Kim, Wine Orbit (NZ), Jan 2020,

3 Stars, Bronze Medal, Winestate Magazine, May/June 2020

 

Waterton Hall

4 Star Winery Rating – James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2021

Riesling 2018 CHECK

2016 Vines planted in ’99. 389 dozen produced. It’s a searing riesling, all cut and thrust, but blossomy aromatics and a punchy aspect to its orange/citrussy flavours make you sit up and take notice. It doesn’t lack texture either. Indeed, the more you look at this wine the more impressive it seems. Rating 94 James Halliday Wine Companion 2021

2017 Shiraz

Hand-picked and sorted, open-fermented, hand-plunged, matured in French oak for 12 months. The colour is good, the bouquet perfumed and spicy, the palate challenging in this cool vintage – not needed in Tasmania. The ’16 vintage had more warmth, the wine better. Within the Tasmanian context, this has plenty of interest.

Rating 92 James Halliday Wine Companion 2020

Deepish red/purple hue. Reserved aromas of subtle spice and restrained smoky-toasty oak, the palate medium-bodied and intense, with good ripeness, richness and flesh, the acidity balanced and the tannins persuasive and fine-grained. The aftertaste is vibrant and refreshing. Rating 93 Huon Hooke The Real Review 2020