Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvnigon 2015

Despite being nine years old, this classic Margaret River Cabernet still shows purple and red-violet hues. Made entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon and aged for 21 months in 40% new oak, it has a modern and lively character that will surely capture your interest.

The wine displays excellent Cabernet fruit, with hints of mint and earthiness and no noticeable old tertiary tones such as leather and green liquorice. The 2015 vintage is one of the good ones, with even ripeness, offering generous fruit with plenty of purple and ripe dark fruit. The blackcurrant fruit tightens nicely on the palate with grainy oak and grippy tannins, leading to a long finish. It has an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 13.5%.

It has received high and consistent scores from 94 to 95. For instance, Wine Spectator (WS) scored 95, describing the wine's flavours as warm and plump, with tannins and a palpable bristle of energy. The luscious blackberry fruit floods the palate with a crunchy acidity that keeps the wine bright and zesty. Despite spending 22 months in French oak, the barrel influence is apparent only in its textural harmony and structural completion, indicating that the wine is set for long ageing.

Christina Pickard of Wine Enthusiast (WE) awarded it 94 points, commenting that this vintage is an elegant and fruit-forward bottling with plenty of life from one of Margaret River's best-known wineries. The nose is a bouquet of red berries, backed by the regional secondary characters of eucalyptus, cigar box, olive brine, and cedar. The palate is voluptuous, with juicy fruit and spice buoyed by lifted acidity and wrapped gently in savoury, textural tannins. It is recommended to be enjoyed from now until 2030.

James Halliday also awarded it 94 points, writing that it has a good show of cedar wood, blackcurrant, mulberry, and bay leaf-like flavour. The wine is medium in weight and well-balanced overall, instilling a sense of reassurance and confidence that it will mature well into the medium term and beyond.

Vinous gave it 94 points, raving about its shimmering violet, ripe dark berries, cured tobacco, and candied flowers on the nose, plus a toasty oak nuance that builds in the glass. Sappy and penetrating on the palate, it offers intense cherry vanilla and black currant flavours accented by a peppery note. It is also concentrated but lithe, showing an impressive finishing power that will surely intrigue you.

Chateau Latour CArnet 2015 Re-visited(4th Growth)

I recently re-tasted CHATEAU LA TOUR CARNET 2015, which continues to impress. This deep ruby wine offers a delightful bouquet of fresh blueberries, cherries, and plums after being in the bottle for an hour. The palate is a harmonious blend of fresh and robust flavours, with a strong expression of Cabernet fruit on a well-structured base. The ample and fine tannins, Merlot fruit's generosity, and the length driven by excellent acidity contribute to its depth. The finish, with its impressive size, offers a delightful mix of liquorice, coffee cream, oak, and vanilla. This wine is a product and an experience built to last and improve over time.

The Tasting Team highly rates CHATEAU LA TOUR CARNET 2015, with ratings of JS93, NM 91-93, and DECANTER 90. This vintage is reasonably priced and benefits from a dynamic international distribution. It surpasses the 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011 vintages, and the stock available in Bordeaux is notably limited. However, despite these unique selling points, the 2015 vintage is not fetching a decent price according to supply and demand principles, as with its other wines.

Unfortunately, this Magrez-4th Growth-Left Bank wine is undervalued in the Hong Kong market due to aggressive importing and price slashing, leading to oversaturation and an undervalued market. This situation is disappointing for a wine of this calibre due to the current market conditions.

Despite the challenges, it's important to remember that it's not the end of the world. Prioritizing consumer choice in the market is always valuable. While we may be small wine companies, we should strive for excellence, even in challenging market conditions.

Guidalberto 2015 Revisited

We did the consecutive vintages of 2013, 2014 and 2015 because these wines of Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto from Sassicaia are market-proven. Vintage 2013, a benchmark year for the winery, is, of course, darn good; 2014 was a challenging year and tasted unique; this 2015 is as good either because this is a delicious second wine from an excellent vintage (slight rain, then hot sum, breezy; Jancis Robinson and Decanter).

With soft, plump tannins, this 2015 Guialberto exhibits fruit freshness (plum and black cherry fruit). Tobacco and cedar notes lead onto a subtle, tapering finish. Compared to the more challenging 2014 vintage, which gives soft, supple tannin structures and an excellent balance of acidity and freshness. Guidalberto 2015 naturally shows a more complex and intense structure when compared. Nonetheless, we find that vintage 2105 cannot measure up to the performance of the 2013 vintage at this point of observation. While more reviews and tasting are expected for the 2015 vintage, Decanter has already been awarded a score of 91(and the first wine, Sassicaia 2015, got RP93), and we hope this second wine fetches a higher score months down the road. Despite significant Merlot, the ABV is just 13.5%. This 2015 gives pleasant drinking now and charges only a tiny fraction of the First Wine Price.     

The 2015 harvest began with Merlot during the first week of September and continued with Cabernet Sauvignon from late September to late October. The hand-picked grapes arrived in the cellar healthy, crunchy, uniformly ripe with a spicy aroma of Winemaking. The very gentle crushing and de-stemming of the clusters of grapes is followed by fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats (between 30° - 31° C. This process uses the vineyard's native yeast). The skins lasted 9 to 12 days for Cabernet Sauvignon. Pump-overs of the musts and délestages followed it to soften the wine. Secondary fermentation (Malolactic fermentation) also occurs in stainless steel vats. Following the malolactic fermentation, the wine was aged 15 months in French and partially American oak barrels. It releases on the market after an additional few months. The vineyards, with their strong presence of limestone and relatively rich in clay, contribute to the wine's unique flavour profile. They are between 100 and 300 meters above sea level, facing south/southwest.

The scores are impressive; the comments are positive. For example, 95 Decanter Review Date: 03/2023, on which Decanter believed that "the grapes were of an excellent quality, perfectly ripened, pretty cool and crisp, giving wines with great structure and elegant, soft tannins.' This 2015 Guidalberto, served from magnum in which the wine tends to age more slowly than in the bottle, was just beautiful and one of the stars of the tasting for me. The wine is deeply coloured with intense, ripe, aromatic black cherry and blackcurrant aromas and flavours. Very bright and vivid, the wine opens gently on the palate with super-fine tannins and mouthwatering freshness. A lovely example of the vintage! 94

94 James Suckling, Review Date: 10/2017, who commented THE Fantastic fruit on the nose, with currant, apricot, and orange aromas that follow through to the whole body. Extremely fine tannins and a bright finish. This is a tight yet generous red with so much going on. It's the best ever.

93 Wine Enthusiast Review Date: 03/2018, on which commendation regarding very fresh redcurrants, blue flowers, cedar, and a hint of pine forest are some of the aromas of this fragrant red. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the bright, savoury palate doles out juicy raspberry, red cherry, tobacco and white pepper alongside fine-grained tannins. At the same time, a liquorice note graces the close.

92 Wine & Spirits Review Date: 04/2018 said this wine is fresh. Layers of relaxed mineral tannins infuse the wine with energy, guiding its flavours of plum, raspberry, and black currant as they flesh out to reveal notes of anise, tobacco, and green peppercorn. The flavours feel precise and tightly meshed, with plenty of freshness to merit ageing, but it's delicious now if decanted alongside seared steak.