The 2011 vintage has given birth to a wine of true cool climate credentials, more elegant and refreshing than ever. The classic, spicy, pink pepper edginess of the vintage is on full display here, with an underlying theme of tangy red cherries, finely structured texture and good persistence. If elegant pinot is your bag, you’ll […]

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There will be much rejoicing over the 2012 vintage for many years to come, and here’s some of the first proof that red grapes lapped up this idyllic season as eagerly as whites. This is a rosé of impressive balance and stylistic restraint, achieving both refreshing delicacy and characterful, flavoursome style. Notes of savoury tomato, […]

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In the talented hands of Tash Mooney, this is a beautifully defined expression of this single vineyard at Oakbank. It displays excellent fruit concentration, ripe and full, reminiscent of black plums and blackberries, layered with black pepper, liquorice straps, violets and that unmistakable mineral note of rain on granite that characterises Adelaide Hills shiraz. A […]

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I have long admired La Línea as one of Australia’s more authentic takes on tempranillo, and 2011 is a particularly flattering vintage for this wine. The cool season has coaxed out more varietal integrity than ever, in an elegant and poised demeanour of black fruits, mixed spice and classic 2011 pink pepper notes, topped off […]

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All of Barratt’s pinot noir is harvested, fermented and sent to barrel as if it’s going to be reserve wine, and it’s only a barrel selection down the track that declassifies part of the crop to this second label. From two of the Adelaide Hills’ great pinot vineyards, the result is predictably impressive, and 2009 […]

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A barrel selection of Nepenthe’s most elegant shiraz from across nine different blocks has assembled a beautifully focused, restrained and textural wine of firm, finely honed tannins. Understated plum skin and cracked pepper accents linger on a long finish. It exemplifies that elusive balance of refinement and long-ageing endurance.

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Here’s a top shelf Adelaide Hills pinot at the same price as most other regions sell their second label – and that’s worthy of celebrating! There’s a gentle interplay of fruit and structure here, with elegant red berry and cherry fruits, sarsaparilla and dried herbs, underlain with tannins that are fine and supportive, yet with […]

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This wine is a delightful juxtaposition between the gorgeously pure fruit of a warm site in a warm vintage in a cool region, and the profoundly mineral, textural, granite-like tannin structure that defines this special vineyard. A wine of outstanding length and refinement, with fragrant notes of lifted violets, pure red cherries, plums and blackberries. […]

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This is a tactical wine that we all need to keep on hand in our sparkling arsenal, an impeccably crafted Adelaide Hills style that ducks strategically under the price of any champagne worth drinking. There’s impressive drive of taut, lemon juice acidity derived from high altitude Piccadilly Valley vines, offset beautifully with the subtle spice […]

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Gathering 2009 is one of the most intellectual sauvignon semillon blends you will encounter this year. It’s at the same time challenging and engaging, with profoundly exotic allusions. But for all of its frivolity and complexity, it’s taut and tense, agile and edgy, pulling into a disciplined, focused and disarmingly honed finish, defined by monumental […]

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