Long-ageing Penfolds engineering at a price for the masses! I introduced KH76 to my mates after it won a trophy in my Great Australian Red comp last year and they’ve been eager to find it ever since. A cage of fine tannins encase pure black fruits and pepper. $17 at WineStar and myCellars this week.
readEvery time Steve Webber and Leanne DeBortoli return from a jaunt to France, their wines take on a little more Euro nuance. Detail and subtlety are always the hallmarks, captured impeccably by Rococo’s textural citrus. It’s as sophisticated as its baroque label – a monumental statement at $17 (WineStar).
readSteingarten is an institution and my cellar is loaded with two decades of it because it ages like your favourite antique and it’s dirt cheap. Another megavintage, nervy, spiney, scintillating and desperately long, long, long. $25 at Kemeny’s.
readOf the fifty year history of Signature in a monumental vertical recently, 2006 was my wine of the day. Low alcohol coaxes out elegant perfume, glittering spice and textural pepper. Mega potential. Pity about the tree bark. $37 at Dan Murphy’s.
readKevin Judd put NZ on the wine map with Cloudy Bay 25 years ago, and blow me down if he isn’t doing it again with Greywacke (‘Greywacky’). The most exciting Kiwi sauv this year, desperately honed, rippling with minerality, belying its age, its oak & – dare I say – the exuberance of its region.
readAdiós dried out, crusty Rioja! Hola tangy, vibrant black cherries, bitter dark chocolate and textural tannins! Restrained concentration, back-seat oak, enticing, but don’t rush. 100% glorious estate fruit. Carlos Martinez is working overtime in the vines to usher in the new Rioja. Bienvenida!
readMy goodness, Pizzini is flying so high this year it’s about to plough into the Victorian Alps! The aromatics going on here are mesmerising – strawberry, bouquet garni and a wisp of hearth. Gorgeous, light and textural; think ballerina, not biggest loser.
readPerfume and structure, sensitivity and backbone, enigmatic, articulate, fragile, daredevil. Does pinot noir tells us more about Jeffrey Grosset than riesling ever could? The new vintage speaks in hushed tones but it has much to reveal.
readSlender, sexy bottle, stunning wine from the instant they halved the sugar a few years back. Love love! Fresh as. More perfume than ground floor at Myer. When it’s time to talk Turkey, it’s $16 at myCellars.
readWinter’s coming – time to sink yourself into a big, fat, plush velvet sofa of Barossa plum juice! This is comfort wine of the highest order and it will leave you feeling snuggly and warm in a nanosecond. $17 at Dan Murphy’s.
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