JM 1ST APPROACH

This wine is made from Shiraz selected from four vineyards in the Hilltops district around Young on the South Western Slopes of New South Wales. 2010 was the year the drought broke. The rain started on Christmas day 2009 and fell on a number of occasions through summer and early autumn. The water was a blessing for thirsty vines, but choosing picking dates became a race against the weather. As it turned out, the last of the Hilltops fruit came in just before the heavens opened. The grapes were in excellent condition.

True to form the 2010 Hilltops shows deep colour and a vibrant aroma of dark cherries, blackcurrants, summer herbs and spice. The palate is warm and inviting with plenty of crunchy tannin. Drink over five to ten years. - Tim Kirk

'By daylight the finest wine to appear under this label, this very harmonious and unusually fragrant shiraz has a heady, floral bouquet of sweet small berries, cherries and restrained, fine-grained oak lifted by alluring hints of spice and black tea leaves....Long and supple. It's smooth, gentle and very fine-grained, delivering a charmingly willowy presence of vibrant black, blue and red fruits supported by bony tannins, finishing savoury and slightly meaty, with exemplary freshness and persistence.' 95 points - Jeremy Oliver, The Australian Wine Annual 2012

'Crimson. Sweet and direct nose. I thought at first I was going to encounter yet another cookie cutter vibrant Aussie Shiraz but it's much more complex on the palate. Real grunt and earthiness. From a cooler year when the drought broke.' - Jancis Robinson, October 13, 2011

'There's a dash of Viognier in this classic Aussie Shiraz...which here seems to give some extra aromatic lift to what is a fabulously pure black-fruited beauty. Dense and powerful but vivid and full of life.' - The Observer Magazine (UK), David Williams, September 25, 2011

'A cooler year and this is a fabulous celebration of spice. Lovely life, lift and texture to its cinnamon-edged succulent black cherry and berry fruit with liquorice. A cool clay tang lends texture and bottom to the long finish. Terrific.' - Sarah Ahmed, The Wine Detective, September 12, 2011

'Full red-purple, not star-bright; the bouquet is complex, with warm spices threaded through dark cherry and blackberry fruit, the medium- to full-bodied palate with ripe fruit complemented by firm tannins and quality oak. Picked just before heavy rain.' 94 points James Halliday

'This has trademark jube fruits in abundance: nice , ripe cassis and blackberry, some plums too, a little toasty oak, pepper and liquorice. The palate's lithe, bright and medium-weight - good balance here in 2010 -showing composed, darkfruited style, with vibrant freshness through the finish. 93 points - Nick Stock, The Age/SMH Good Wine Guide 2012