Ignore the name, this is the ultimate Aussie wine, packed with all the rich, authentic tastes of Langhorne Creek, eucalypt included! A core of sweet, ripe blackcurrant fruit and mint is beautifully offset by dark chocolate oak and carried long into the finish by firm, fine tannins. It’s the perfect BBQ quaffer and will live […]
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This is not only the finest Y Series Viognier ever made, it is the greatest viognier with a street price under $10 that I have tasted from anywhere in the world. Ever. Is this thanks to a freak cool season or to Yalumba’s viognier genius permeating ever lower in its portfolio with each passing vintage? […]
readShort of it’s time-stopping flagship Claire (read on!), this is O’Leary’s top Clare shiraz. It’s a perennial bargain, perpetually discounted below $20 ($18 at WineStar and Dan’s this week). This is a particularly flattering vintage, showcasing the glossy blueberries and blackberries of Clare with a little under one-third McLaren Vale shiraz to rev it up. […]
readThis is the kind of wine that turns white wine fanatics to the dark side. Its bright crimson hue and enticing flavours of redskins and raspberries have them begging for more, while a dried herb overtone and fine tannin structure keep the seasoned drinkers happy. From a single estate vineyard at Oakbank, made like proper […]
readEvery winemaking trick in the sauvignon book has been thrown at this wine, and a few more besides. Wild fermented on its skins in French oak (and some Italian Acacia, too), long ageing on lees and partial malolactic fermentation. If you’re still with me, it’s for you! Cool season acidity meets a profoundly textural and […]
readFrom two of the oldest vineyards in the volcanic outcrop of Great Southern’s Porongurups, this is one of Howard Park’s most exciting rieslings yet. Tapping deep into this terroir, these vines extract fine, chalky minerality, restrained kaffir lime and lemon fruit while maintaining exact line and persistent length. $23 at Templestowe.
readAnother definitive red to raise the profile of any Australia Day BBQ! An impressively balanced vintage for Directors’ Cut, parading the black plum and blackberry glossiness of Langhorne with the savoury intrigue of black olives and the finely structured tannin support of new French oak. The result is seamless and intense, with considerable fruit energy […]
readHigh in the Upper Yarra, Gembrook maintains its lofty position among Australia’s finest sauvignons, if not proven in its detailed complexity on release, then certainly in its enduring energy to outlive virtually all others. The secret is a tightly strung backbone of honed acidity, providing linearity and finesse to its layered complexity of gooseberry pie, […]
readI am hopelessly besotted with the classic, fine-strung purity that so many Clare rieslings have achieved in 2011, and here is another! A wine of great fruit concentration and structure, built around a core of intense lemon and lime zest, with notes of red apple and quince. It builds incrementally in the mouth, to great […]
readThere are very few wines with a street price under $10 for which I can hand-on-heart recommend any vintage in the past five years. YSV is a serious blend that captures the spicy allure of peppery shiraz in all of its juicy stewed rhubarb and satsuma plum glory. Viognier adds the faintest lift of violet […]
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