Wine Reviews

The 2021 Sophia comprises 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Franc and is aromatically thrilling. A completely different beast to the 2020 Sophia, this is balanced, fresh, detailed, precise and elegant. It retains the aromatic garden mint and herbal characters that underpin the purple fruit, but it does it with a finesse and purpose that is most impressive. You get raw cocoa, raspberry, licorice, graphite, blueberries. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

Sophia is the Merlot-dominant blend that includes varying proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, depending on the season. In 2020, the wine comprises 60% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc and 19% Cabernet Sauvignon. On the nose, the 2020 Sophia is laden with garden mint, mulberry coulis, red apple skins, poached rhubarb and a hint of arnica root. In the mouth, the wine is textural, plush and full. It has a mulch, green, garden-derived character that works in tandem with the tannins. It’s an elegant, engaging and enveloping wine.

There’s an unmistakably minty, dried herbal edge, which, when combined with leafy black currant and fleshy plum, makes for an evocative, winter-warming aroma profile. There’s stuffing to the palate, the plummy fruit, graphite and spiced tannins fill the mouth, yet it manages a light breezy feel, too, thanks to a cool edge of acidity

There’s an unmistakably minty, dried herbal edge, which, when combined with leafy black currant and fleshy plum, makes for an evocative, winter-warming aroma profile. There’s stuffing to the palate, the plummy fruit, graphite and spiced tannins fill the mouth, yet it manages a light breezy feel, too, thanks to a cool edge of acidity.