Winemaker Marc Scalzo prizes texture in white wines, and works like a demon to build mouth feel without sacrificing varietal integrity and freshness. He picks arneis the moment the flavour kicks in, while retaining tangy lemon-like acidity. A lovely lees-accented texture is built through plenty of lees stirring. Lively lemon zest, pink grapefruit and fresh […]
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Throw out the boxes, this wine flies in the face of every generalisation going. Who would have expected Rutherglen to conjure decent merlot in the challengingly cold and wet 2011 vintage, from vines that Simon Killeen himself describes as “the awful clone of merlot”? At just 12% alcohol it’s a lovely, light, lunchtime red, with […]
readTempranillo excited me more than any other table wine in Rutherglen last week. No surprise that the fortified capital of Australia is turning its hand to the traditional varieties of Spain and Portugal. Campbells has had tempranillo in the ground since the 1960s, making it a pioneer of this variety in Australia. At a refreshing […]
readMore expertise is poured into this wine than you’d expect for $20. It’s picked in two passes to achieve consistency of ripeness, then wild fermented in barrels with plenty of grape solids to build impressively fine texture. It retains its clean, zesty freshness of grapefruit and lemon, crunchy pear and custard apple notes. The entire […]
readWith just a single fortified wine on its books, Rutherglen Estate is leading its region in the table wine stakes, and after tasting every single wine in the house last week, it rightfully claims a full fifty percent of the coveted places in this week’s Wine Taste Weekly. At an average price of just $16.50, […]
readBobbie Burns is Rutherglen’s most famous table wine, and one of the few readily available outside the region. Its forty-first vintage is distinctively regional and as well-priced as ever. There’s a savoury edge of freshly-tilled earth to this spicy, peppery style. An intense core of dense black plum skin and liquorice provides impressive concentration without […]
readA number of Rutherglen estates are making tricked-up marsanne with plenty of oak and lees work, and in every case I prefer the younger, fresher and cheaper entry version. All Saints cleverly puts this wine over the lees of the big boy and gives it a little time in oak, but the focus remains resolutely […]
readMarc Scalzo is representative of a new generation in Rutherglen who prize texture before robust structure, varietal expression before impact and vibrancy before spirity alcohol – a refreshing twist for a region famous for durif capable of blowing your head off! Scalzo’s Durif clocks in at a tame 13.5%, an impressive wine, but his Zin trumps […]
readWe are proud to announce The Sixth Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification to highlight the importance of New Zealand’s finest pinots. The Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification 2013 New in 2013 In 2013, The Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification highlights 120 estates, representing the top quarter of New Zealand’s 484 pinot noir […]
readIt’s clean, it’s fruity and it’s sweet, with honey, ginger and lemonade flavours. OK so it’s simple, short and one-dimensional, but, hey, you’re drinking moscato, so who’s counting? Leave it in the freezer until it resembles a slush puppy and eat it with a big straw with a spoon on the end. Why spend $20 […]
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