Following on from yesterday's rosé report, today I've pulled out four of the best pink wines to pass the desk recently. Four standouts in an ocean of simple, sometimes sweet, sometimes dry, often middling wines. Actually, …
I'm in the process of collating a whole swathe of recent rosé reviews at the moment, and while it's been depressing to see the sheer volume of middling wines, the rise of the category is …
Lino Ramble Vinyl McLaren Vale Shiraz 2016 For a while there I thought that Lino Ramble was something obscure. What's a Lino Ramble? I was even pronouncing it 'Lee-no'. Turns out it's just a reference to …
Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir 2015 The push towards more elegance in the Shaw + Smith Pinot continues. This, arguably, goes a fraction too far in the early picking stakes, but only just. Making elegant Pinot in …
Neudorf Rosie's Block Chardonnay 2016 Another great release under this label from Nelson's Neudorf. Handpicked, whole bunch pressed, wild ferment in barrel, 10 months on full lees in barrel. While many Australian Chardies continue to trend leaner …
Sidewood Mappinga Adelaide Hills Fume Blanc 2015 I've got the whole range of Sidewood Mappinga releases on the bench at the moment, promising much. This Adelaide Hills producer has been scooping the pool of late, headlined …
Jacobs Creek Barossa Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Jacobs Creek; ever the value champions. This style will always be a natural winner for JC, and often better than the equivalent Shiraz. Jubey and juicy blackberry fruit here with …
Brands Laira Blockers Coonawarra Chardonnay 2016 Coonawarra - not the first place you'd go looking for premium Chardonnay. This is in an odd place too, with minimal oak, and lots of ripe peachy fruit. It's broad, …
Hither & Yon Grenache Mataro 2016 Big fan of the packaging on these Hither & Yon wines. My family are too, with the distinctive ampersand on the bottle a massive hit at Monday night family dinner …
Bremerton Langhorne Creek Malbec 2015 You know exactly what you're going to get from Bremerton, and that's flavour. This Langhorne Creek winery makes typically well-priced wines of weight and power, even if more grace would be …
Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2014 This is one of the most backward Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay releases I have had in years. Going back through my notes, it's such a contrast to view this '14 …
Jacobs Creek Barossa Signature Chardonnay 2016 A new range for Jacobs Creek that is all Barossa based. Caused some controversy with the trademark rights too. A lean-but-worked style, this smells of banana cream, the milky, leesy …
At 18 I started working in a small suburban bottleshop, largely to buy cheap beer. It was my first year of university, doing a degree that I didn't really like, and a liquor shop seemed like fun. Needless to say I discovered wine, my uni degree morphed into something completely different and wine/beer took over my life.
More than fifteen years later and I currently spend my days wearing many (wine) hats, mostly as a writer, presenter and marketer.
While wearing my writer hat I contribute to the likes of The Retiree; Gourmet Traveller WINE, National Liquor News and the RAS plus I'm a Lifestyle FOOD channel wine expert.
Crowned the 2009/10 WCA Wine Journalism 'Young Gun', in my spare time I'm a wine judge and recently graduated with a Masters in Wine Technology & Viticulture from Melbourne University.
This site (Australian Wine Review or ozwinereview for short) is dedicated to talking about wine, beer and other good things. Largely focused on Australian wine, but with a healthy dose of tasty vino from NZ, France, Italy, Spain.. oh hell, if it's good, I'm in.
Follow me also at twitter.com/ozwinereview or facebook.com/AustralianWineReview or Google+ or instagram.com/ozwinereview.
Also check out my other project, Sydney's best wine tasting business The Tasting Glass.