Red wines

Scotchmans Hill Pinot Noir

Geelong, Victoria, Australia 2020

A pioneer of Geelong’s Bellarine Peninsula since setting up in the region in 1979, and with a first vintage in 1982, Scotchmans Hill has taken advantage of the cool maritime climate to become one of Australia’s leading Pinot producers, earning a spot on James Halliday’s list of Top 100 Australian Wineries in the process.

And there’s another Top 100 position for this “superb” Pinot Noir, which features 15% whole bunch and which is aged for 12 months in a mix of new to four-year-old French oak barriques.

“There’s a very attractive savoury, mushroomy quality to the nose here that will certainly appeal to Burgundy lovers,” the judges said.

“And that dovetails beautifully with the red fruit – raspberry and cherry and sappy tannins.”

Cachet Wine

RRP £26.99

ABV 14.5%

Wills Domain Paladin Hill Matrix

Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia 2021

Food and wine are throughly intertwined at Margaret River’s Wills Domain, which is home to both a Halliday 5 Red Star winery and a multiaward-winning restaurant.

The Paladin Hill Matrix, which the producer recommends having with roasted Châteaubriand with mushroom jus and pommes puree, is a Cabernet blend from the Wills Domain vineyard in Yallingup. Matured in barrel then left for a further 18 months before being blended, filtered, and bottled, it offers “dark fruits and vanilla crumble”, the judges said.

“Beautifully balanced, lovely tannins. Butter, vanilla, toast, cinnamon, brambles, green pepper and a hint of liquorice.”

Propeller

RRP £48 ABV 14.5%

Ventisquero Wine Estates Obliqua

Apalta, Colchagua, Chile 2019

One of Chile’s most adventurous producers, Ventisquero has been at the forefront of making a genuinely fine wine from Carmenère, with Obliqua being sourced from vines planted by the company in 2001.

The vines occupy a special plot, which is planted at 453m above sea level on deep red clay and a high content of colluvial stones and surrounded by two large ravines in the company’s vineyard in Apalta, Colchagua.

Aged for 22 months in a mix of fine-grained, second-use 300-litre French oak barrels and foudres, it is a “very serious but beautifully made and elegant red”, the judges said.

“Rich black berries on the nose. Velvety , silky balanced. Long fruit. Subtle oak.”

North South Wines

RRP £44.99 ABV 14%

Undurraga Cabernet Franc TH

Maipo, Chile 2020

Cabernet Franc is emerging as a star grape variety on both sides of the Andes, with this example from the enterprising Undurraga, among the best of the new Chilean breed.

It’s the fruit of Undurraga winemaker Rafael Urrejola’s long and detailed research into Chile’s varied terroirs, which have informed a number of minimal-intervention wines presented under the company’s TH, or Terroir Hunter, label.

Here 15% Merlot joins the 85% Cabernet Franc from a vineyard specifically planted for the range at Catemito in Maipo.

“A Cabernet Franc of intensity and depth, in a Right Bank Bordeaux stylee,” the Top 100 judges said.

“Lots of dark fruit and a bit of pencil shaving, oak and some freshness. Good work!”

Hallgarten & Novum Wines

RRP £22.99 ABV 13.5%