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Tim Atkin MW (93)
One of my "go to" wines when I see it on a restaurant wine list, this intensely perfumed Syrah comes from seven vineyards, mostly on schist soils. Made with 90% whole bunches, it has more tannin than you think at first, layers of spice, violet and blackberry fruit and a refreshing tang.د.إ564.00 -
Jancis Robinson (18.5)
Pale, particularly bright garnet. Light, spicy, particularly well-integrated nose. Already well developed. Sweet start and very nicely mature. Seems just right now. The opposite of heavy. Lifted, jewel-bright. Really lovely wine. Fresh, sweet with some very slight mintiness. Dry finish and it would go beautifully with food. Very long. One of my favourite wines in this collection. Is it the Cinsault I like so much?د.إ1,940.00 -
Jancis Robinson (18.5)
‘An exceptional year’, with a dry winter, fresh spring, good flowering. Mild summer with a cloudy July and August, and a hot, sunny September. Bright garnet. Pale rim. Broad and rich with a minty note. More mainstream than many in terms of its build and flavours. Still evolving but beautifully balanced. Lots of energy and transparency. No heaviness at all. Rich but lifted. Already gorgeous but there are tannins behind the exotic fruit and brilliant freshness. Still quite youthful.د.إ2,920.00 -
د.إ2,260.00 -
د.إ1,610.00 -
د.إ4,710.00
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د.إ5,605.00 -
Christian Eedes (94)
Grapes from multiple blocks on the farm, each with a slightly different soil structure but essentially granite based. Limited whole-bunch fermentation. Matured for 11 months in 228-litre barrels, 29% new. Exotic aromatics of red and black berries, orange, earth and a touch of reduction. Impressive depth of fruit, bright acidity and fine-grained, tight-knit tannins. Rich but balanced, this is Pinot at its most seductive. Alc: 14%.د.إ856.00 -
Wine Advocate (89)
The 1991 Vintage Port is flattering and precocious for its vintage. It offers generous levels of sweet black fruits, full body, a velvety, supple texture, and a fine finish. Drink it over the next 20 years.د.إ2,210.00 -
Wine Spectator (90)
This builds on your palate into super, well-constructed, balanced Port. Wonderful floral and fruit aromas, like walking into a lovely florist shop. Full in body, medium-sweet, loads of tannins and long, peppery, fruity finish. Give it time. Best after 2002. -JSد.إ1,840.00 -
Greg Sherwood MW (97-99)
This lovely signature Niepoort 2019 vintage Port apparently has higher tannins than the famed 2017, but at this youthful stage, it is hard to comprehend this with its rich, accessible, voluptuous layers of silky, juicy soft black fruits. Benchmark certainly, a notable success – absolutely. The aromatics are so much more important than the palate flavours at this early blending phase (according to Dirk) and this enticing 2019 shows attractive notes of sweet sun ripened black berry fruits, hints of creamy molasses, savoury black stewed winter orchard fruits and a dusty, stony, smoked cigars complexity. Beautifully silky, supple and textured, there is also a fine, stony, grippy mineral tannin mouthfeel that lends a wonderful frame for the juicy blue and black berry fruit finery to be displayed. Fabulously drinkable, deliciously fresh and vibrant, but eminently bold and characterful, this is certainly another very accomplished wine from the House of Niepoort. (Residual Sugar: 88 g/l RS)د.إ1,995.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
The 2021 Coche has to be one of the finest white wines from Portugal that I've tasted. It was produced with grapes grown at 600 meters in altitude, from very old vineyards with the right field blend with a majority of Rabigato but also other local varieties. It has a fine and elegant reductive character with flinty notes, hints of smoke and dry herbs. This is sharp and super tasty, with an almost salty twist in the finish. It fermented and matured in French oak barrels (mostly 228-liter ones) for one year. It's serious, nuanced, a little austere and vertical, with a dry finish, a chalky sensation and very good persistence. It has 11.8% alcohol, a pH of 3.26 and 5.8 grams of acidity. I've drunk all the vintages of Coche since the first year (2010), and this is the finest to date. Bravo. 9,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2023.د.إ2,200.00 -
د.إ957.00 -
Decanter (98)
A field blend featuring Arinto, Rabigato, Códega de Larinho, Viosinho and others, from vines at least 80 years old planted on schist at 600m in the Douro DOC. It was made (and the grapes were picked) to prioritise freshness, structure and minerality. A pioneer of Douro whites since the mid-nineties, Niepoort’s trademark precision and finesse shines, even in this century’s driest vintage. Sarah Ahmed: Toasty/charry oak and lime oil to nose and palate. Zesty, nutty with leesy complexity and hazelnutty oak. Showing lots of layers already. Nelson Guerreiro: Stone fruit, apple and pear nose with spice and a hint of vanilla. Medium bodied with a waxy side, balanced with a pleasant finish. Joanna Locke MW: Poised, with a strong seam of minerality and mouthwatering acidity. A smart wine with great potential.د.إ1,070.00 -
Whisky Base (92)
n/aد.إ9,710.00 -
Jancis Robinson (17+)
58% Chardonnay, 31% Pinot Noir, 11% Pinot Meunier. Vintages: 70% 2014, 4% 2013, 6% 2011, 9% 2010, 10% 2009, 1% 2008. Four years on lees. Disgorged May 2019. Outstanding nose, with all the bready complexity of great sparkling. Saline and zippy, with excellent apple and lemon fruit on the palate. Not at all sharp, with excellent balance and flesh on the body. Mature, mushroomy character on the finish. Expertly done. (RH)د.إ864.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (96)
The latest in an impressive run of outstanding Chardonnays from this top Elgin estate - no mean feat in a vintage where some producers struggled with fructose levels - this is bigger and bolder than the 2017 release. More Meursault than Puligny-Montrachet perhaps, with some cream and cashew notes on the palate underpinned by racy acidityد.إ1,410.00 -
Experience the unrivalled brilliance of Peter Lauer Saarfeilser GG Fass 13 2017, a prestigious wine finely crafted from 100% Riesling grapes in the revered Saar region of Germany. This exquisite single-vineyard offering from the renowned Lauer family, custodians of the art of winemaking since the 17th century, is an embodiment of impeccable quality dictated by strict German VDP classification. Aged gracefully in old, large barrels, flavour development is practiced to perfection, culminating in a wine of profound minerality, delicate fruitiness, and vivid acidity. Remarkably dry for a Saar Riesling, it exudes alluring notes of citrus, green apple, and a whisper of spice. Peter Lauer Saarfeilser GG Fass 13 2017's complexity, depth, and undeniable elegance herald a new benchmark for dry German Rieslings. An absolute gem, it stands an embodiment of the Lauer estate's dedication to tradition and finesse, enveloped in every bottle.
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Tim Atkin MW (98)
Has any brand in South Africa achieved quite so much as Porseleinberg in less than a decade? This is the best vintage yet from this steep, brutal, extreme schist-rich site and that's saying a good deal. Big, bold and intense, with incredible, almost feral intensity, incense, tar and black pepper aromas and layers of inky dark fruit. A stunning wine from a stunning site, made by a gem of a winemaker.د.إ2,625.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (100)
In the right hands, great sites produce great wines. Since its inception in 2010, Porseleinberg has been one of the Cape's most exciting reds, but nothing quite prepared me for the transcendent brilliance of this wine. In uenced by some time spent at Domaine Jamet in Côte Rôtie - particularly their use of a submerged cap during fermentation - Callie Louw has made a stunning Syrah, proving his skills as both a farmer and a winemaker. In 2018, the style has shifted, away from power and grip to something more scented and re ned. Focused, nuanced and very delicately oaked, with raspberry and wild strawberry fruit, clove and white pepper spice and textured tannins. Simply world class. 2023-35د.إ2,945.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (99)
This remarkable site has established itself as one of the world's great Syrah vineyards in less than a decade. Sourced from four blocks totally 4.5 hectares, Callie Louw's stunning red is just short of perfection this year, but is still brilliant, confirming the evolution in style of the Jamet-inspired 2018. Leafy, spicy, rose petal aromas are supported by pure red berry fruit, detailed tannins and the faintest hint of oak.د.إ3,020.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (98)
"We pick the vintage," says Callie Louw, whose 2020 Porseleinberg is the second lightest in alcohol he's ever made at 13.6%. Fermented with 100% whole bunches using the submerged cap technique that transformed the wine in 2018, this is another scented, seamless stunner from Callie Louw. Aged in large foudres and 5% concrete eggs, it's a spicy, sappy, hauntingly elegant Syrah from a brutal site, with kelp, rose petal and fynbos aromas, juicy bramble and red berry fruit, fine tannins and a wonderful sense of energy. 2024-32د.إ2,210.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (99)
Given its consistently outstanding quality, it’s easy to forget that the average age of Porseleinberg's 14 hectares of vineyards is only seven years' old. Showing what Callie Louw calls a "little more crunch" in 2021, this is a Syrah with time on its side. Wild herb aromas of sage, oregano and rosemary introduce you to a palate that's dense yet refined, with lots of whole bunch spice and structure, negligible oak influence, detailed, layered tannins, some underlying grip and layers of dark berry fruit. One of the world's great reds from a very special site. 2025-32د.إ2,570.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (99)
Produced in the teeth of what Callie Louw calls a "crazy year", with lots of winter rain and one of the hottest Januaries ever, this is the latest in a series of world-class Syrahs from the brilliant Callie Louw. Fermented and aged in foudres and 15% concrete, using the submerged cap technique that has transformed the style here, this has 95% whole bunches, fynbos and Mediterranean herb aromas, sculpted, detailed tannins and layers of plum, blackberry and raspberry and impressive freshness for a wine with a pH of 4.1. A refined wine from a brutal site.د.إ2,760.00 -
James Suckling (95)
An extremely subtle gruner veltliner with so much herbal complexity and mountain freshness. Ripe and racy, with so much mineral energy. Very long and precise finish that's neatly supported by the very fine tannins. From a high-altitude vineyard planted in 1979 with more than 100 clones. Drink or hold.د.إ1,355.00 -
Matthew Jukes (19+)
The first words I wrote in my tasting book were, ‘best Chryseia to date’. This is an incredible wine with so much character and accuracy it is impressive. I have visited this property and felt the aura emanating from these historic vineyards. This wine manages to bottle these mysterious elements allowing them to embed themselves into the intense, majestic and deeply fruited body of the two Touriga grapes. While this will be a long-lived wine, there is no doubt that it will appeal to impatient palates, too, given its tremendous and immediate appeal. I feel that this famous wine label is finally showing its full potential, and it has joined the pantheon of truly great red wine styles of the world in the 2018 vintage.د.إ1,460.00 -
Wine Advocate (97)
The 2018 Touriga Nacional was aged for 16 to 18 months, depending on which of two plots, in 90% new oak. It comes in at just 14.6% alcohol. More flavorful and aromatic than its sibling, the Touriga Franca, this is otherwise along the same lines. This Touriga Nacional maintains the Franca's mid-palate finesse, as well as the feeling it projects that it is the crushed essence of the grape. There's a little oak present, but not as much as you might think. This, too, will absorb the oak even better with a couple of years in the cellar, but the wood is very well handled. It is not really intrusive even now, and there is no "drenched in vanilla" demeanor at all. The tannins are very ripe, but with aeration this becomes much firmer on the finish, proving that it has the structure to age. Of all of Crasto's upper-level wines this report, it is probably this that most leans to hedonism, thanks to the aromatics and flavor, yet it is still very elegant and carefully crafted. It is never a sloppy fruit bomb. This succulent and enticing Touriga Nacional is impossible to resist, even today, but you will definitely be rewarded if you give it a few years of age to become more expressive. There were just 9,113 bottles produced, plus some larger format bottles.د.إ859.00 -
Vinous (97)
The 2017 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port was picked from August 21 to September 28 under perfect conditions. It has a tightly wound bouquet that requires a lot of aeration. Eventually it reveals fabulous, detailed aromas of cassis, bilberry jam, crushed stone and pressed violets, later hints of orange blossom and quince. The palate is pure class. Saturated tannins, wonderful structure but the headline is the intensity of fruit. I cannot remember a Noval with this penetration, almost overwhelming the senses as layers of effervescent black plum and cassis fruit segue into a spicy finish that fans out like there is no tomorrow. Is this the best Quinta do Noval ever?د.إ1,620.00 -
Wine Advocate (100)
The 2017 Vintage Port Nacional is a field blend, mostly Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Sousão and Tinta Roriz, aged for 18 months in old wood. It comes in at 99 grams of residual sugar and was bottled about a month before this tasting after 18 months in wooden vats. In 2016, I might've made an argument that the regular Noval was better. In this vintage, this seems to be a clear choice, granting that Ports change constantly in their youth. Its siblings at all levels in the last few vintages are very fine, but this is an indisputable benchmark that seems to better them all. Rich and vibrant, this has plenty of stuffing and flavor, more than the regular Noval. Then, it adds layer after layer of power. A couple of hours of air makes both the flavors and tannins more intense. It is simply gripping—yet also remarkably fresh. It's a great Noval, and one of the shortlist candidates for Wine of the Vintage. There were 200 cases produced.د.إ4,000.00 -
Decanter (96)
Made only in top years from the best lots, like all Noval's reds this is fermented in stainless steel then aged in French oak - in this case for 10 months in 35% new oak. Signature orange blossom riffs make for a delicate interplay of fruit and flower. A plume of fine, schistous tannins and bright acidity gently but persuasively anchor and extend its inky, perfumed black berry and plum fruits, with hints of bergamot, milk chocolate, clove, cedar and cinnamon. Very fine and such a great example of the variety, and nearly half the price of the Reserva!د.إ1,445.00
One of the best things about wine is its limitless nature. Even professionals with 30 years under their belt come across new regions and new varietals all the time – it is the passion/hobby/profession that just keeps on giving. If you have not yet experienced the profound Gruners or Rieslings from Austria, the sweet nectar that is Tokaji from Hungary, the precise and terroir driven German Rieslings with unrivalled drinkability, the wild and sometimes bloody reds of Portugal, or any other of the beauties found off the beaten track, you are in for a treat. For wine can transport you to another place and time just by popping the cork, and there is a whole world full to discover.
