TOP 100 WINES 2023 - AUSTRALIA

jamessuckling.com | December 2023

Ned Goodwin MW

“At its most rudimentary level, wine sustains us. At the Top 100 level, however, excellence is determined by those wines that announce themselves with a thunderclap of amazement before a lightning strike of such beauty that it is almost ineffable. In essence, these are wines that wow us because they ask us how a seemingly simple sum of place, grape and craft can render such profundity.

Assembling the Top 100 wines is a forensic process. It requires debate, provocation, arguments and fisticuffs, largely with oneself! As much as looking at scores across the last year of tasting – which serve more as a guideline than last word – along with retasting and reshuffling, the process is one of ascertaining which wines are stamped resolutely with that inimitable zip code, or sense of place, that is so crucial when sorting the wheat from the chaff.” (Excerpt from Ned Goodwin’s introduction).

#6
2020 ALKINA POLYGON NO. 3 GRENACHE - 97 points
A Polygon is a stringently defined plot, based on soil mapping and geology. Here, the magical mesh of limestone and schist, dating from the 1950's. Among the finest iterations of straight grenache in the world. Irrefutably. Tastes akin to top-drawer Burgundy, much like Rayas, with a similar Mediterranean jive of sweet fruit. Mid-weighted of touch, with a veil of chiffon tannins enveloping clove, white pepper, Seville orange, tamarind and kirsch. Ineffable really, so good is it. The feeling, ethereal, nervous and jittery; graceful and optimistic, such is the beauty on show. This could easily be nudged one more point upwards. Drink or hold.

#17
2020 ALKINA POLYGON NO. 5 GRENACHE - 96 points
This polygon, or micro-plot, is defined by fractured schist and clay. Planted in the mid 1950's. Richer and more lateral than the Polygon 3 sibling, yet still mid-weighted of feel with impressive glide and levity. Molten raspberry bon bon, dried thyme, lavender, anise and smear of black olive tapenade across the lustrous, somewhat sooty finish. The end is long and bolshy, driven by the force of explosive fruit, rather than the tannic compression, mineral-coaxed detail and scintillating freshness of the 3. A brilliant wine, all the same. Drink or hold.