Panagapka’s Pinots are never ready to drink on release, but being a startup virtual winery, he has to get these wines to market to pay the bills. The wine shows best after several hours of decanting, or better yet, a couple years of cellaring. The first aromas are of earth, sweet oak, warm cherries and forest floor. But as it opens up, it shows more ripe red fruits and less organic notes. It has a silky feel on the palate, with red fruits folding into cedar and spice. Not an overdone Pinot, but rather one that straddles the line between masculine and feminine.
Light straw in colour with an earthy, undergrowth nose of apples; medium to full-bodied, sweet apple flavour, round and full in the mouth but lacking energy to give the wine length.
Raspberry, blackberry, green herb and a note of peppery spice on the nose, with flavours of rich ripe berry, dark chocolate and contrasting dry tannins on the palate. Well-integrated fruit, chocolate, spice and drying tannins on the finish.
This mid-weight Merlot is a textbook example. A profile of plum, cherry, clove, cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla are found on the nose and the palate. The tannins are suave and the finish long, making for an elegant offering. Drink over the next 4 years.
Clear very deep blackcurrant. Medium-intensity nose of cassis, cedar and instant coffee. Fresh-tasting blackcurrant and black cherry fruit, with soft tannins on a very long finish. Feminine and classy, drink over the next couple of years.
Savoury red fruits on the nose with blackberry, spice, game and earth chiming in. It’s inviting on the palate with spiced plums, ripe cherry, good acidity and a silky-smooth finish.
Not as opulent as some previous vintages but this brooding beauty offers savoury and floral notes on the nose, opening on the palate to an elegant and seamless cornucopia of flavours: currants, cherries, plums, roasted herbs and spices with a thread of minerality. Hold for five years.