Wine Reviews

Adversity is a label from vintner Russell Bevan. The 2022 Catastrophe is a bold, robust, and powerful wine, showing more structure than one might expect from a vintage marked by intense heat over Labor Day weekend. Yet here, the tannins are suave and polished, supported by fresh graphite minerality and a core of blackberry and black cherry fruit laced with sweet Asian spices—very much in line with Bevan’s The Twin Cabernet from the same year. Full-bodied, it offers a creamy fruit center and finishes long, with a full-bodied, chocolaty, cedarwood-spiced finish.

Adversity is a label from Russell Bevan and Heidi Bevan. Those familiar with Bevan’s style know to expect wines that are big, bold, powerful, and lush, and in 2022, The Twin delivers just that. It builds in the glass with inky dark berry fruit and rich, toasty oak spice, joined by a pop of cinnamon and hoisin. On the palate, the wine gains intensity, revealing a chocolaty tannin richness before finishing with notes of wet slate, graphite, and loamy earth. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster—peaks and dips of richness balanced by a freshness factor that sneaks in on the finish. Quite a feat in the context of the challenging 2022 heat-driven vintage. Best enjoyed now and over the next five years.

Big, bold, dynamic notes of wet slate and dark chocolate cedar. Plum skin tannins offer a pathway to its sturdy dark berry character.

Cherries soaked in tobacco adhere to tooth-grabbing, dry tannins. Broad notes of graphite and cedar lend depth to ripe plum and espresso. The wine possesses notable backbone.

Lemon toffee and melon are lifted by a salty start. Acidity is present with a spiced sandalwood, baked apple finish.

Awash in blue, black and red fruits, this is chewy and dynamic with waves of generosity that spread throughout the tongue like a cresting surf line. Cherry cola and milk chocolate and raspberry fuse into a satisfaction that is sophisticated and refined. The tannins are strong without being overbearing – a joy.

There are the tell-tale notes of Chardonnay’s usual suspects of vanilla and baking spices including cardamom and clove alongside a pinch of white pepper. There is a rippling effect that unveils a lifted and lithe richness. This is a multi-dimensional, full-bodied and athletic wine that rewards time in the glass.

The endless summer beams through the glass. Fresh yuzu and melon are bedfellows with golden sultanas and crisp gala apple skins. This is the kind of wine that could fully satisfy from the bouquet alone. The palate does not disappoint with pulsing tropical fruit and lively acidity and a pronounced zippy quality.