Wine Reviews

The 2021 Sophia comprises 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Franc and is aromatically thrilling. A completely different beast to the 2020 Sophia, this is balanced, fresh, detailed, precise and elegant. It retains the aromatic garden mint and herbal characters that underpin the purple fruit, but it does it with a finesse and purpose that is most impressive. You get raw cocoa, raspberry, licorice, graphite, blueberries. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

There’s an unmistakably minty, dried herbal edge, which, when combined with leafy black currant and fleshy plum, makes for an evocative, winter-warming aroma profile. There’s stuffing to the palate, the plummy fruit, graphite and spiced tannins fill the mouth, yet it manages a light breezy feel, too, thanks to a cool edge of acidity.

There’s an unmistakably minty, dried herbal edge, which, when combined with leafy black currant and fleshy plum, makes for an evocative, winter-warming aroma profile. There’s stuffing to the palate, the plummy fruit, graphite and spiced tannins fill the mouth, yet it manages a light breezy feel, too, thanks to a cool edge of acidity

A well-made Bordeaux blend with black currant, chocolate and light coffee bean undertones. It’s medium-bodied with polish and candor showing the quality of the merlot and cabernets in the stone soils of Gimblett Gravels. Pretty now but would improve with age. Drink or hold. Screw cap.