This fun little Spaniard strikes a refreshing harmony between vibrant, fragrant citrus fruits and a softly textural mouthfeel akin to grapefruit pith. It’s a harmonious and appealing blend led by fifty percent verdejo, a little more than previous vintages, injecting more lime zest, gooseberry and guava aromatics. Forty percent macabeo helps build texture, while a […]

read

I was privileged to taste the new vintage of Australia’s number one selling Spanish red wine on the day of its release in Melbourne this week. It was immediately obvious why it’s so popular, striking an even balance between primary berry fruits, dried herb complexity, finely textured tannins and high cocoa dark chocolate. Thirty percent […]

read

Looking for a new house red for BBQ quaffing? A brand new musketeer has joined Elefante’s popular bargain duo, and it’s set to create quite a stir after landing in Australia for the first time just this week, not least because it’s about to hit the streets at $10. The big news is that it’s […]

read

‘La Senda de los Elefante’ means ‘The way of the elephant,’ apparently a reference to the way one walks after a tapas bar crawl. This brand new release is just the thing to drink along the way, a 100% verdejo from Rueda, and a celebration of the crisp, aromatic spiciness typical of this grape. It’s […]

read

It’s not often that the premium version of a wine brand sells for $15 (WineStar and North Sydney Cellars) but the extra $5 on the baby elefante is well spent here. For this, you get a 100% tempranillo, half aged in barrels, pepped up with a dash of declassified Rioja. This equates to layers of […]

read

From frontignac vines older than I am, this is a moscato with a dose of sophistication. Grapey, green appley, clean and fresh, it’s more about crisp fruit and less about sweetness, honey or ginger, making for a particularly refreshing and lively moscato. Crunchy fruit and creamy bubbles lend an air of elegance, preserved impeccably under […]

read

Brown Brothers’ entry Prosecco is beautifully made and perpetually discounted, but for an extra $5 you can trade up to the vintage-dated deluxe model. From the best parcels of Brown Brothers’ single vineyard King Valley site, thrust 485m into the heavens, this is a primary, crunchy, clean and fruity style. Its crisp nashi pear, grapefruit […]

read

A miniscule production of just a couple of hundred cases from a single, low yielding, dry-grown, eighty-year-old Barossa vineyard yields a mataro of vibrant fruit expression, alive with rhubarb, berry compote and notes of bouquet garni. Tannins are fine and supple, and dark chocolate oak notes from large barrels are well integrated behind a fruit-driven […]

read

There’s something of an all-star cast behind this tiny production Yarra pinot, made by Mac Forbes from a blend across his more southerly Yarra sites, to a blend for Aria sommelier Matt Dunne, orchestrated by label inventor extraordinaire Nicholas Crampton. Four tonnes of grapes and two barrels later, the three found themselves with a well-balanced […]

read

Elegance is the hardest yet most critical character to achieve in sparkling wine, and it was my belief that the natural intensity of the Orange region did not lend itself to sparkling wines of subtle grace – an opinion that was dashed when Printhie winemaker Drew Tuckwell showed me a sneak preview of his brand […]

read