JM 1ST APPROACH

Hints of licorice, dark chocolate, earth, jasmin, five spice and subtle, seasoned oak nuances. Plenty of drive across the palate with a lovely line of bright, energetic acidity that seems to wrap around the ripe, chalky fine-grained tannins and the wine drives through to a finish that is poised perfectly.

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Amazing that wines of this quality can be available for under twenty dollars. Mulberry, cherry, chocolate and vanilla with a gentle perfume of bay leaf. Ripe and fleshy with milk chocolate coated berries, round grainy tannin and lovely balance throughout. It's not exactly a wine for hedonists, but does deliver so much pleasure you can almost hear it purring. Nice.  Rated: 92 Points Alcohol: 14.5% Price: $23  Gary Walsh; The Wine Front

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How much flavour they can cram into it is quite incredible. Roasted coffee beans, Black Forest gateau and port-soaked figs - you name it, this wine has got it going on. 95 points WBM Magazine

Brown-gold; another step up in richness and lusciousness, an unctuous, essency palate with spicy plum pudding and caramel overtaking outright raisin flavours; the finish is sleek and lingering; 10-15 years barrel age. Serve chilled; 500 ml. Screwcap. 17% alc. Rating 95 James Halliday

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One taste and I was heard to utter the word: whoa....  Nobody told me there’d be wines like these – at this kind of price. Sophistication for the in-the-know masses. The pinot noir plays it straight; the chardonnay plays a more complex hand. Grapefruit, citrus, matchsticks, ginger, general leesy funk. Green melon. Effusive on the nose and lively in the mouth. Mid palate flesh and confident, frisky length. Very young, but very good.  94+ Points Winefront Campbell Mattinson

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This is big on flavour for a non-vintage Champagne, also with finesse and intensity. Gosset packs plenty into this wine with focused, fragrant red fruits. Impressive red fruit flavour, bright precise acid and a flurry of fresh strawberry to close. Gourmet Traveller Wine Dec/Jan 2010. Learn More

Decent, quaffable pinot noir for under $20? It's almost impossible to find but this terrific value import from the south of France manages it ... “the best French Pinot Noir outside of Burgundy” .... It's on the riper side of the pinot spectrum, certainly no shrinking violet, but no brash bogan either. The (French) girl next door with smoothness, dark cherry fruit flavours, hints of earthiness and plenty of length. It can be found on special for as low as $15 but the RRP is $19.  Windsor Dobbin

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First and foremost, it’s a beautiful drink ... Tastes of tar and blackcurrant, dust and dried herbs. Almost a little sappy/spicyperfumed in the mouth. . Quite gorgeous. Rated : 91 Points The Winefront Campbell Mattinson

Composure, sensitivity and balance are the keys here. It’s almost dapper actually ...  Very persuasive all up, especially at the price.  Excellent Wine Will Eat Itself

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Green pear, citrus, apricot kernel and a few dried herbs, but perhaps ‘cooly fruity’ is a good way to describe it. It’s clean and refreshing with excellent fruit purity and a little bit of ‘mineral’, perhaps there’s a touch of sweetness to round out  and balance, but feels pretty much dry and pulls that way with its gently herbal and sparkling finish. Well, maybe not ultra-complex, but so good to drink. 91 points Winefront.com.au

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Light but bright colour; how much the wine owes to winemaker Peter Schell's skills and how much to the (old) vines doesn't matter, for the wine has great vibrancy and energy to the red berry fruits of its grenache/cinsaut blend. 92 points James Halliday

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