Top 200 wines of 2024, part eight, 96 point wines, second tranche, 19-14

Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz 1993, #19, from the Eden Valley in the Mount Lofty Ranges east of the Barossa Valley, showed spectacularly well in May, with tertiary notes of earth and saddle leather, together with trademark mint and eucalyptus and gorgeously vibrant plummy fruit. It was harmonious and layered, with a beautiful texture and a wonderful finish. While it is entering the last few years of its drinking window, this was a sensational showing from this South Australian icon. 

The Ch. Haut-Brion 1988 (#18) and Chateau Lafite 1988 (#17) were served at the same dinner, which was structured around the magnum of Lafite. The Haut-Brion, out of a normal bottle, was fully resolved and harmonious...and just glorious. Mellow and low key it had beautiful finesse with earthy tertiary tobacco notes to the fore. A joy and a really classy bottle of Haut Brion, right in the sweet spot.  In magnum format the Lafite 1988 is imperious. As is often the case with Lafite, it is not a showy wine and was slow out of the blocks … but it grew and built over the evening, eventually to another celestial level. It had ash notes and an alluring tobacco leafiness with refreshing green overtones, but as always it is on the mid palate where this wine excels. It still has a pleasing grippiness and an austere note to whisper to you that you don’t need to rush to drink any remaining bottles (or magnums, if you are so lucky). 

The Barolo Castelletto 2020, #16, from Monforte d’Alba is a recent - and most welcome - addition to the Burlotto portfolio, and was the runaway star at our November Barolo lunch, packed with many big name producers. It has a bright ruby translucent hue, with a mesmerising perfumed nose of wild strawberries, flowers, sage and other herbs, and pine; it is pure and weightless and nuanced. Another extraordinarily precocious and triumphant wine from the Burlotto 'modern, modern' school of winemaking. 

Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot 2006, #15, was spellbinding from start to finish with dazzling notes of violets, olives, pepper, smoke and game. It was thrillingly edgy and a tad volatile, which reinforced the sense of high drama. A wine characterised by its raciness and electric tension through the mid-plate to the finish. 

Cappellano Barolo Pie Franco 2007, #14, needs a lot of air and a big glass to express itself, otherwise you will miss out. While the Pie Rupestris is characterised by its richness and power, Pie Franco is more defined by its refinement, elegance, nuance and its bewitching, salamander-like persona. It has a riveting pure, fresh, expressive bouquet with bright red fruits, balsamico, and bracing blood orange acidity, and is alternatively spicey, minerally and earthy. It is hard to pin down and is constantly changing in the glass and all the while remains ethereal and weightless. It is mysterious and endlessly complex as it weaves its wares.