Hordes of people at my wine courses are rediscovering chardonnay because, in their words, it doesn’t taste like chardonnay. At least not like the flabby abominations that turned them off! With a high proportion of cool, Upper Yarra fruit, this mineral, textured style is converting them back. $20 at 1st.
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Margaret River SBS has come of age, shrugging off her girly giggles and slipping into something much more sophisticated. A touch of barrel work (just a small percentage here) adds texture and seamlessness to tightly restrained grapefruit, lemon and guava flavours. Jaw-dropping. $19 at 1st Choice.
readSweet rieslings are the undiscovered gems of the apple isle. Not any more! This is a versatile dessert wine because it hasn’t been ripened until it turns to jam! This makes it fresher and more tangy than most botrytis styles, full of crunchy apple and zesty citrus fruit, perfect with fruit-based desserts.
readFootloose and oak-free, such feisty expression is a tough find at this price. A grenache syrah cinsault blend from Coteaux du Tricastin (the northernmost appellation of France’s southern Rhône), laced with pepper and spice, crunchy black plums, dark berries, finely textured tannins and tangy acidity.
readAt under $10 a crack ($8.45 at Dan’s and $10 at 1st this week) there’s no chardonnay anywhere on planet earth that comes close! Learning from the wizardry of four De B chardonnays above it, Windy is an elegant, mineral-driven style with purity of white peach, lemon zest and even a touch of lees complexity.
readThis Portuguese-inspired rosé crashed into my world on a picnic bench in the middle of a vineyard in Orange. Next time you’re feeling international on a picnic bench, here’s your companion! Gorgeous delicacy of strawberries & cream, lightly textural, subtly sweet; a multitalented crowd-thriller!
read2002 is a staggeringly, breathtakingly sublime Dom. At once ultra-honed, chiselled, tense and linear and simultaneously expansive, powerful and fine-tuned, culminating in a cascade of minerality. Find the love of your dreams and propose to her (or him) with this bottle. $189 at Dan Murphy’s, $200 at 1st Choice.
readI am often asked about truly – truly – great Burgundy at prices that are vaguely conceivable. Here we go! From a legendary domaine and Burgundy’s largest monopole (vineyard under single ownership), this is a wine of outstanding fruit profile, firm but silky tannins and vibrant, crunchy acidity.
readWelcome to the new Chablis. The first vintage from young maker Patrick Piuze sets the pace for a more detailed take on Chablis terroir, and Fourchaume is his most compelling expression. From a tiny pocket of 48 year old vines, it’s brilliantly chalky, beautifully textural and unerringly persistent.
readA medium sweet wine of a kind never before seen from riesling legend Crawford River. Fruit left on the vines until after Easter developed glorious flavours of starfruit, orange, apple, nutmeg and clove. Like all great sweet wines, refreshingly zesty acidity leads ahead of honeyed sweetness.
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