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“The new Didier Dagueneau? That’s easy; it’s his son, Benjamin. But Benjamin has a soul brother, Jonathan Pabiot. Together – well, each at his own ...

Like most of his peers, 2022 delivered outstanding fruit quality for Downer, only in much smaller quantities than he would like (averaged out at a low four tonnes per acre). By comparison, Downer tells us there’s an immediate approachability compared with the austere wines of 2021, more genial structures and early gratification. In sum, vintage 2022 at Murdoch Hill = don’t hesitate.

Yuza Whisky is extremely rare an available only as part of our allocation program. Yuza Distillery was recommended to us by none other than the pinnacle of Japanese craft Whisky, Chichibu Distillery. This meticulous new project was established in 2018 and to date has released just two single malts (The First Edition has already picked up Gold at the San Francisco International Spirits Challenge) and is well on the way to becoming one of the country’s newest cult distilleries. 

Last year we introduced you to Midnight Mixers, our own range of world-class craft tonics and mixers designed to enhance quality artisanal spirits and to hit the mark on environmental responsibility and local relevance. Now we welcome Midnight Mixers’ Amber Tonic, a tonic water where all the character and the quinine come directly from the highest quality cinchona bark we can source (exclusive to Midnight Mixers). 

Twenty-nineteen will go down in the books as one of the great years for Albino Rocca’s suite of Barbaresco. But at this address the entire portfolio is laced with quality. There is no dead weight as the old-school merchants might like to say—nor should there be. Rocca’s first-rate holdings are impeccably managed, and you get the impression that the family are really turning the screw, eking out any and every ounce of purity and finesse wherever and whenever they can find it.

A low-yielding, intensely flavoured vintage like 2022 can “easily throw your balances out of whack”, so eternal equity-seeker Barney adopted a more subtle approach, which included a reduction in the whole bunch component in the Merricks Pinot Noir and a slight decrease in time in oak for the Chardonnays. Despite the lack of bottles, today we offer a pitch-perfect release, perhaps one of the very finest, from a wine grower who goes from strength to strength. As such, our standard Garagiste advice applies: do not hesitate.

the UK’s Académie du Vin Library has appointed Ex Vinum as its exclusive partner in Australia. In a nutshell, Académie du Vin is a boutique publishing house dedicated to issuing the finest wine writing of the past, present and future. It was established in 2018 by wine industry legend Steven Spurrier and wine-focussed publisher Simon McMurtrie, and takes its name from Spurrier’s famous Paris wine school of the 1970s.

Last year we promised you a set of single-vineyard Pyramid Valley wines drawn from some of the most respected old-vine vineyards in Waipara, and today we deliver. According to Smith, North Canterbury has always had the right conditions for world class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. “We love the rawness and genuine coolness of North Canterbury; the slopes, the limestone and rocks, the mountain backdrop. And now more than ever, the passion of the local winemakers and growers (and vineyards now getting some age on them) push the boundaries.”

Off the bat, we’re delighted to offer a new parcel of righteous Gaillac. The latest release notes are a mere scroll away for those familiar with this pioneering organic grower. For curious souls, we also include an account of the domaine and the history of the region with which it is so closely entwined. Welcome to Mauzac country.

Today we offer a set of perfumed, lacy and smoky-mineral Mencías (and a Trousseau) alongside a brace of Galicia’s most limpid, crystalline whites from a producer whose wines go toe-to-toe with the most authentic wines of western Europe.

New Releases from Adelina, Bannockburn, Blind Corner, Bondar, Laughing Jack, Murdoch Hill, Quealy & Spinifex

For those who have been working with the Boulay wines for some time, 2021 marks a return to the more classic, restrained, crystalline Boulay expressions, similar in style to the brilliant 2014s. The single-site wines from La Grande Côte, Le Cul de Beaujeu, La Côte, and Chavignol’s mineral generator par excellence, Les Monts-Damnés, are stellar; pristine and lucid, bustling with pulpy white fruit, racy citrus, mineral energy and rocky textures. Brace your palates, friends. And finally, we offer Boulay’s most extraordinary (and rare) wine, La Comtesse, from 2020.