Pizzini holds life membership to the most reliable grigios under $20 club. A low alcohol style that celebrates the zippy acid line of the heights of the King Valley, this is a true grigio style, and 2012 is one of its great renditions. It’s zesty and lively, with lemon and nashi pear fruit lingering on […]
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This wine plays a star role at many of my corporate events and masterclasses because it effortlessly communicates the shape and style of Piedmont (northern Italy) without an assault of tannins or a daunting price tag. Instead, it’s lively and fruit-driven, dancing with violet perfume, red cherry and blackberry fruit, notes of liquorice and a […]
readInsightful Cloudy Bay winemaker Nick Lane admits that Marlborough has fruit in spades, so his challenge is to create tension in this wine. He’s nailed it here more confidently than I remember in Pelorus, uniting the layered, biscuity complexity of a little old barrel fermentation, up to two years on lees and a deep resource […]
readWith a name that any cartoon superhero would be proud of, Zamberlan is an impacting McLaren Vale cabernet that this year could confidently masquerade for something at a significantly higher price. The recipe here is unusual, because newly fermented cabernet is passed over the skins of Moda (its big brother) to “juice it up”. 2010 […]
readI’m told the great value Armchair Critic wines went gangbusters after I announced them to the world, way back in Wine Taste Weekly Edition 18. There’s now an all-new big brother in the family, and it’s set to cause an equal stir. This is a tightly coiled Heathcote wine of considerable class and long-ageing potential. […]
readVoyager Chardonnay is a legend of the west, a perpetual benchmark at the more affordable end of Margaret River’s flagships. This is a brilliant vintage that unites laser-focused white peach, lemon and fig fruit with a lifted air of white floral blossoms. It’s delightfully restrained and elegant, yet at the same time concealing a core […]
readTe Koko is on a steep trajectory of ascent, finer, more harmonious and more expressive than ever, yet it’s the tiny details that have made the difference. The core of its personality remains untouched, but, in the words of maker Nick Lane, it’s been pared back in palate gregariousness. He says taking it from ten […]
readPinot noir has found a new lease on life at Cloudy Bay. Maker Nick Lane reckons not one of the 2002 pinot batches he tasted on his second day here would make it into the blend today. It’s a new world now, with new vineyards, new clones, older vines, a little whole bunch (less than […]
readCapturing restraint and deep wells of mineral texture in the midst of Margaret River intensity takes consummate skill, and Voyager has nailed it in this wine like never before. The more elegant Clone 95 is the ingredient, producing delightfully honed and focused white peach, grapefruit pulp and lemon zest flavours, with a restraint and delicate […]
readThere is an impeccably defined focus to this wine that not only looks more restrained than many from this vintage, but it also appears exceptionally youthful as one of Margaret River’s later released flagships. A brilliant bouquet of crunchy blackcurrants, graphite, tobacco and cedar introduces an impeccably and confidently structured palate, scaffolded around a rigid […]
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