Intricate craftsmanship is on display here, upholding a fragrant delicacy of wonderfully aromatic jasmine, guava and pink grapefruit long into the finish. A gracefully poised palate is built around taut lemon zest fruit, zippy acidity and gravel-infused texture, reinforced by a one-fifth portion of barrel fermentation. A wine of considerable persistence, textural presence and energetic […]

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Marlborough is coming of age when it comes to chardonnay and pinot noir, and names like Envoy are leading the way. Envoy sauvignon has clearly been assembled with the craftsmanship of Envoy chardonnay and pinot – a level of focus often missing in Marlborough sauvignon. Oak fermented and aged for nine months on lees, there’s […]

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Pegasus bay moulds sauvignon into a completely different shape to anything else in New Zealand. This is a gloriously luscious, fleshy, concentrated wine that overlays a taut, lemon zest backbone with notes of ripe apricot and peach. A frangipane fragrance and notes of exotic spice provide layers of intrigue to a poached pear undercurrent. Wild […]

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The great name of St Hugo has embraced Barossa GSM for the first time, and it’s a worthy newcomer to the family. Fruit purity is the theme here, embracing a fragrance of lifted rose petals, Turkish delight and violets, with the classic grenache fruit profile of raspberries and strawberries. The supportive structure and black cherries […]

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While this wine’s predecessor, Richelieu 2006, hailed from Bob McLean’s block high atop Mengler Hill, the glorious grenache vintage of 2009 permitted a very different story to unfold. Sourced from dry grown bush vines in a core block for Melton’s Nine Popes Blend on the Barossa Valley floor, this is the quintessential Barossa grenache. It […]

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I go to great lengths to give red wines of greatness every chance to reveal themselves: double decanting, an assessment on the spot, a retaste half a day later and again the following day. On opening, this mataro shiraz blend showcased polished black fruits within a rustic, brittle tannin exoskeleton of firm, mouth-filling, earthy mataro […]

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Small volume, artisan-crafted reds rarely come as affordable or as readily available as this. A beautifully restrained, honed and textured finish is the trademark of each of Tash Mooney’s wines, here bringing control and definition to generous, up-front blackberry and blackcurrant fruit. There’s an air of lifted violet perfume and an undercurrent of tempranillo’s savoury […]

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Charlie Melton introduced me to the new vintage of ROV on his fabled veranda last month by saying, “If we had a year that we wanted to show people as the archetypal ROV, 2012 would be that year. We would love to make it this way every year, in colour, aromatics and structure. It’s a […]

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With the 2010 reds not yet unleashed, Moppa was the highlight of my recent pilgrimage to Rockford. Ben has built a real freshness into this style, and it’s impressively backward after four years under cork. Well-defined black fruits and cola meet a peppery, spicy and edgy red fruits demeanour, with lingering raspberry fruit persistence, medium-bodied […]

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There’s not a ripple or crease to delineate each of the varieties in this consummately crafted blend of mataro, shiraz, grenache and cinsault. The florals and spices on display here are exotic and captivating: dried flowers, red cherries, greengage plums, mixed spice and pepper. The delight of the bouquet flows all the way through the […]

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