With the elegance, acid backbone and energy of the 2009 Hunter season on full display, this is one Graveyard that you should leave undisturbed for many years yet. Excellent fine-boned poise and stature, wonderfully fine-grained tannin texture, exotically lifted floral complexity, tremendous line and length, unashamedly restrained. $115 at Kemeny’s.
read1999 is maturing slower and more assuredly than any other Vat 1 to hit the re-release queue in years. It’s still a youthful green hue, disclosing nuances of lime, pepper, spice and peppermint. Pure, driven and seamless. Cross your fingers for a good cork. $75 at Dan Murphy’s.
readIn years to come we’ll debate which was the winner of ‘08 and ‘09 Margaret River. The true winner: anyone who lined their cellar with either! Leston in ‘09 is textbook MRCS: capsicum, tobacco leaf, red- and blackcurrants, tomato leaf, sage, cedar and finely ground, dusty tannins. $33 at Dan’s.
readWild yeast barrel fermentation is the best thing to happen to sauvignon blanc recently, but Adelaide Hills legend Geoff Weaver has been on to it for seven years now. Gorgeous texture and life, with minerality to boot, and a seamless flow of hazelnut cream over vibrant lemon and lime zest.
readUlithorne’s talented Rose Kentish trucked her family from McLaren Vale to Provence (France) for nine months to make this wine. Dedicated or what? Classic, pale, subtle, dry, textural, tangy, persistent pomegranate, strawberry hull and guava. It doesn’t demand a strong chill.
readMuscat is the most decadent way to finish a winter night and I’ve just discovered that in Coonawarra they start with it, too! Campbell’s effortlessly meets both briefs, thanks to its freshness of apricot and marmalade, countered by richness of coffee and honey. $15 at Dan Murphy’s.
readThe full monty of premium chardonnay craftsmanship: Upper Yarra fruit, hand harvested, barrel fermented on full solids and stirred on lees for eleven months. To put it another way, all the clever tricks and TLC of the talented Franco d’Anna at a fraction of its true value.
readSteve Webber and Leanne De Bortoli have been flitting around Sardinia, sloshing refreshingly zesty and delightfully textural mediterranean whites. They’ve returned to make a gorgeous rendition of their own, a wine of understated sophistication (much like Leanne, really).
readNo one anticipated a Hoddles Creek second label – it’s first label was already cheaper than everyone else’s second! Shock, horror, here it is, dry grown on twelve year old vines, hand picked, oaked, what a stunner! Light-bodied, elegant, silky and – yes – persistent!
readFrank Potts is Bleasdale’s most refined and aristocratic character, and in 2005 he looked particularly distinguished. Three years later, Frank makes an unlikely comeback, in a new suit, at half the price, having attained that magic moment of maturity when youthful violets, crunchy mulberries, blackcurrants and dark chocolate become sweet leather, freshly tilled earth and […]
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