2020 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
A Southern Rhone style blend (with an Iberian inflection) of
65/10/10/5/5/5% Mourvedre/Cinsaut/Carignan/Grenache/Morrastel/Counoise. Excellent ! For Rhone lovers, I dare you to place this in a line up of Vacqueyras, Gigondas, or Cairanne and differentiate what's what ! Smoked meats, camphor, and succulent red fruits, doused in thyme and lavender, to the extent that there is no extraneous sweetness. A wine made by somebody who has worked in bastions of quality, intuitively dabbing, appropriating and melding these righteous varieties with structure over fruit in mind. Excellent wine at a ridiculous price.
Atypically Australian in the most beautiful way.
96/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [March 2023]
2020 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Rouge
There is a drive here to make herb-doused wines that glimpse fruit, as opposed to being saturated with it. Unpatriotic, in the most refreshing sense. Made by a dude who has worked in the Rhone or Provence, surely.
Akin to the great many wines of the Alpilles, France, that meld Cabernet with Syrah, challenging the notion that such a blend is an Aussie original. This is delicious. Smoked meat, sapid sour cherry, dried thyme, lavender, rosemary, sage and a smear of olive encased in the most effortless savoury guise. Mercifully, no eucalyptus. Rhone a l'Australienne.
This would be very hard to discern in a blind line up of Provencale greats.
95/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [March 2023]
2020 Thomas St Vincent Deuxieme
A thoroughly fidelitious Southern Rhone blend, rather than any effete GSM
branding of 55/20/10/10/5% Grenache/Mourvedre/Syrah/Cinsaut/Counoise.
Hand harvested, and fermented wild with portions of whole bunches included. Oxidative, with a whiff of aldehyde, punctuating red cherry, sour orange zest, dried thyme, and a little leaf.
A savoury wine with loads of personality.
89/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [March 2023]
2021 Thomas St Vincent Provencale Rose'
45/25/25/5% Mourvedre/Cinsaut/Grenache/Syrah. This hits the right colour zone, unravelling across tangy rails to riff on rosehip, musk stick, tangerine, and dried herb. Nicely saline, extremely dry and long, with pulse and nice weight. As restrained as this is, it is far from anodyne or flavourless. Good drinking rose'. Drink through 2022.
90/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [November 2021]
2021 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Blanc
75/15/10% Viognier/Marsanne/Roussanne. I like this, as it billows across the palate with a saline, full weighted self-assuredness. Textural, multi-layered and versatile, speaking more of the Southern Rhone than most. Super savoury sans any obvious fruit references. A wine to feel, put with food and simply let be. Far more reliant on phenolics than acidity. Dried hay, quince, lemon balm, orange bitters. This will age nicely across the mid term.
Drink now to 2027.
93/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [November 2021]
2019 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
A Mourvedre dominated blend inspired by the wilds of the Southern Rhone. More accurately, around Bandol. Australian sweetness of fruit mopped up by the ferrous, tobacco doused leathery tannins of the grape. Meat stock, pepper, clove, lapsang, tamarind, sandalwood, and an attractive smokiness. A lovely point to be released, with the whiff of time encroaching in the best sense. Delicious ! As with all these wines, I'd like the acidity to be more in tune with the rugged intuitions of the blend.This said, immensely satisfying.
95/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [November 2021]
2016 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Rouge
Blueberry and bitumen,plum and cloves, graphite too, florals, dry liquorice. It's a bit too boozy but weight, complexity and x-factor are most definitely on its side. This is a pretty classy red. It delivers fruit and it promotes savouriness. It's a hot black road of a wine and it takes you places. Tannin is webbed and fine. And for all its might and warmth it remains fresh. It's been deftly made, if not deftly picked.
93/100 - Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front [August 2019]
2016 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
Sturdy, clean, characterful and warm. It feels both meticulous and hefty. Musk sticks, chalk, dark berries, asphalt and a rusty earthen character. Dry red soil with lolly powder sprinkled over. Alcohol intrudes or plays a key role but otherwise it's exemplary. Drink 2020 - 2030.
92/100 - Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front [August 2019]
2016 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
This deeply coloured blend is nigh on identical to its '17 sibling, but the wine is massively different, the fruit deep, rich and assertive. It has some newer oak, and this will join hands with the fruit through the next decade.
Drink now - 2036.
95/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2017 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Rouge
The winemaking varies somewhat from year to year, but is fundamentally the same. Gary Thomas finds most of his wines from this vintage lack concentration and complexity. I'm sitting on the fence - points for elegance.
Drink now - 2027.
92/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2017 Thomas St Vincent Meridionale
Excellent colour. It's lighter than the '18s and shows most on the mid palate with bright, small berry fruits before a savoury finish. Drink now - 2027.
95/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2017 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
Gary Thomas is a hard task master when he comments that in this cooler year the wine lacks concentration and complexity. Elegance is a word that might be equally applicable. Either way, the wine will grow another leg over the next 3 - 5 years. Drink now - 2027.
94/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2018 Thomas St Vincent Provencale Rose'
The pale salmon colour gives no warning of the power and grip of the wine, nor of the war dance between the fruit components on the one hand and savoury earthy notes on the other. Extremely aromatic.
Drink now - 2021.
95/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2019 Thomas St Vincent Provencale Rose'
A blend of Mourvedre, Grenache, Cinsaut and Counoise. Pale pink.
It's a pretty wine. With rose petals, crab apple and bath powder aromas.
It offers all sorts of flavours, with fruit skins as important as fruit flesh.
Drink now - 2021.
94/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [August 2020]
2018 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Rouge
A well balanced outcome for the vintage. 90% Syrah and 10% Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon matured in used oak. A relaxed and elegant wine, fresh and generous.
Drink now - 2028.
94/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [August 2020]
2018 Thomas St Vincent Meridionale 70% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre,
10% Syrah, 5% Cinsaut. Ripe fruit is the driver of complexity.
Thomas St Vincent sees a better balanced year of acid/tannin/alcohol/fruit weight. But maybe there's something in the bouquet that detracts.
Drink now - 2026.
89/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [August 2020]
2018 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
Red and purple fruits open proceedings and the complex blend
(Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Counoise, Morrastel-aka Graciano)
flows well across the palate, the fruit gently but insistently dominant, savoury notes in the background important for texture.
Drink now - 2033
93/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [August 2020]
A Southern Rhone style blend (with an Iberian inflection) of
65/10/10/5/5/5% Mourvedre/Cinsaut/Carignan/Grenache/Morrastel/Counoise. Excellent ! For Rhone lovers, I dare you to place this in a line up of Vacqueyras, Gigondas, or Cairanne and differentiate what's what ! Smoked meats, camphor, and succulent red fruits, doused in thyme and lavender, to the extent that there is no extraneous sweetness. A wine made by somebody who has worked in bastions of quality, intuitively dabbing, appropriating and melding these righteous varieties with structure over fruit in mind. Excellent wine at a ridiculous price.
Atypically Australian in the most beautiful way.
96/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [March 2023]
2020 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Rouge
There is a drive here to make herb-doused wines that glimpse fruit, as opposed to being saturated with it. Unpatriotic, in the most refreshing sense. Made by a dude who has worked in the Rhone or Provence, surely.
Akin to the great many wines of the Alpilles, France, that meld Cabernet with Syrah, challenging the notion that such a blend is an Aussie original. This is delicious. Smoked meat, sapid sour cherry, dried thyme, lavender, rosemary, sage and a smear of olive encased in the most effortless savoury guise. Mercifully, no eucalyptus. Rhone a l'Australienne.
This would be very hard to discern in a blind line up of Provencale greats.
95/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [March 2023]
2020 Thomas St Vincent Deuxieme
A thoroughly fidelitious Southern Rhone blend, rather than any effete GSM
branding of 55/20/10/10/5% Grenache/Mourvedre/Syrah/Cinsaut/Counoise.
Hand harvested, and fermented wild with portions of whole bunches included. Oxidative, with a whiff of aldehyde, punctuating red cherry, sour orange zest, dried thyme, and a little leaf.
A savoury wine with loads of personality.
89/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [March 2023]
2021 Thomas St Vincent Provencale Rose'
45/25/25/5% Mourvedre/Cinsaut/Grenache/Syrah. This hits the right colour zone, unravelling across tangy rails to riff on rosehip, musk stick, tangerine, and dried herb. Nicely saline, extremely dry and long, with pulse and nice weight. As restrained as this is, it is far from anodyne or flavourless. Good drinking rose'. Drink through 2022.
90/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [November 2021]
2021 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Blanc
75/15/10% Viognier/Marsanne/Roussanne. I like this, as it billows across the palate with a saline, full weighted self-assuredness. Textural, multi-layered and versatile, speaking more of the Southern Rhone than most. Super savoury sans any obvious fruit references. A wine to feel, put with food and simply let be. Far more reliant on phenolics than acidity. Dried hay, quince, lemon balm, orange bitters. This will age nicely across the mid term.
Drink now to 2027.
93/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [November 2021]
2019 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
A Mourvedre dominated blend inspired by the wilds of the Southern Rhone. More accurately, around Bandol. Australian sweetness of fruit mopped up by the ferrous, tobacco doused leathery tannins of the grape. Meat stock, pepper, clove, lapsang, tamarind, sandalwood, and an attractive smokiness. A lovely point to be released, with the whiff of time encroaching in the best sense. Delicious ! As with all these wines, I'd like the acidity to be more in tune with the rugged intuitions of the blend.This said, immensely satisfying.
95/100 - Ned Goodwin MW - The Wine Companion [November 2021]
2016 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Rouge
Blueberry and bitumen,plum and cloves, graphite too, florals, dry liquorice. It's a bit too boozy but weight, complexity and x-factor are most definitely on its side. This is a pretty classy red. It delivers fruit and it promotes savouriness. It's a hot black road of a wine and it takes you places. Tannin is webbed and fine. And for all its might and warmth it remains fresh. It's been deftly made, if not deftly picked.
93/100 - Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front [August 2019]
2016 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
Sturdy, clean, characterful and warm. It feels both meticulous and hefty. Musk sticks, chalk, dark berries, asphalt and a rusty earthen character. Dry red soil with lolly powder sprinkled over. Alcohol intrudes or plays a key role but otherwise it's exemplary. Drink 2020 - 2030.
92/100 - Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front [August 2019]
2016 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
This deeply coloured blend is nigh on identical to its '17 sibling, but the wine is massively different, the fruit deep, rich and assertive. It has some newer oak, and this will join hands with the fruit through the next decade.
Drink now - 2036.
95/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2017 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Rouge
The winemaking varies somewhat from year to year, but is fundamentally the same. Gary Thomas finds most of his wines from this vintage lack concentration and complexity. I'm sitting on the fence - points for elegance.
Drink now - 2027.
92/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2017 Thomas St Vincent Meridionale
Excellent colour. It's lighter than the '18s and shows most on the mid palate with bright, small berry fruits before a savoury finish. Drink now - 2027.
95/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2017 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
Gary Thomas is a hard task master when he comments that in this cooler year the wine lacks concentration and complexity. Elegance is a word that might be equally applicable. Either way, the wine will grow another leg over the next 3 - 5 years. Drink now - 2027.
94/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2018 Thomas St Vincent Provencale Rose'
The pale salmon colour gives no warning of the power and grip of the wine, nor of the war dance between the fruit components on the one hand and savoury earthy notes on the other. Extremely aromatic.
Drink now - 2021.
95/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [February 2020]
2019 Thomas St Vincent Provencale Rose'
A blend of Mourvedre, Grenache, Cinsaut and Counoise. Pale pink.
It's a pretty wine. With rose petals, crab apple and bath powder aromas.
It offers all sorts of flavours, with fruit skins as important as fruit flesh.
Drink now - 2021.
94/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [August 2020]
2018 Thomas St Vincent Septentrionale Rouge
A well balanced outcome for the vintage. 90% Syrah and 10% Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon matured in used oak. A relaxed and elegant wine, fresh and generous.
Drink now - 2028.
94/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [August 2020]
2018 Thomas St Vincent Meridionale 70% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre,
10% Syrah, 5% Cinsaut. Ripe fruit is the driver of complexity.
Thomas St Vincent sees a better balanced year of acid/tannin/alcohol/fruit weight. But maybe there's something in the bouquet that detracts.
Drink now - 2026.
89/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [August 2020]
2018 Thomas St Vincent Provencale
Red and purple fruits open proceedings and the complex blend
(Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Counoise, Morrastel-aka Graciano)
flows well across the palate, the fruit gently but insistently dominant, savoury notes in the background important for texture.
Drink now - 2033
93/100 - James Halliday - The Wine Companion [August 2020]