Always a pleasure to check in one of the benchmarks of Australian wine and the Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2018 is a beauty. This was only a very quick taste as …
(This is a version of a print feature written for National Liquor News earlier in the year. It's worth reprinting here as Prosecco is at an interesting point in Australia. …
Not all wines can be great. Plenty are just ok drinks. And some are just bad. Here’s a selection of wines that almost made it in October 2019. I like plenty …
Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon. The icon. A blue-chip Australian red with a history of glory spanning back decades to the beginning of Margaret River wine. Or at least that's the pitch. …
Oakridge 864 Funder & Diamond Chardonnay 2017 The Oakridge 864 Funder & Diamond Chardonnay 2017 was announced as the winner of the James Halliday Chardonnay Challenge last week, and by sheer …
I’m on holidays at the moment, enjoying some extended beach time in sunny Noosa. In the meantime, I've found out that I'm a finalist in the BWW 2020 -Best Wine of …
'How much is it?'. Peter Lehmann winemaker Nigel Westblade chimes in. 'It's $2,000 a magnum.' Silence. Followed by the sound of furious scribbling. It's rare to completely quieten a pack of typically loud (and …
Tapanappa Definitus Pinot Noir 2017Pinot Noir is elegant and pretty, while Cabernet Sauvignon is firm and robust. Or at least that was my generalisation when first venturing into wine. Pinot makes …
Torzi Matthews 1903 Old Vines Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2017 Today is Grenache Day, and while I hate grape days (there's now a Lambrusco Day and a Carignan Day FYI), I'm a …
Stanton & Killeen Grand Muscat NV Following on from the typically delicous Campbells Muscat comes another fine release - this time from vintage fortified specialists Stanton & Killeen. With Grand Muscat you're …
Campbells Classic Rutherglen Muscat NV While the world has (slowly) caught on to the absurd quality of Rutherglen Muscat, they're still underpriced, especially at Classic level. Campbells are one of the …
Louis Pommery England Brut NV You want a good news story from climate change? The warmer summers are helping make English wine much more viable. Of course that's not going to help …
Longview Nebbiolo Saturnus 2017So much of our contemporary Nebbiolo benchmarks are based on Barolo and Barbaresco. Much like Pinot Noir to Burgundy or Assyrtiko to Santorini, this is what we …
Pikes Los Campeneros Shiraz Tempranillo 2016 Clare Valley red blend that manages to be easily delicious (much like the Tempranillo). Exuberant and bright red fruited style that doesn’t feel forced. The …
Classic Marlborough Sauv under the Nautilus 2nd label. It’s quite ripe really, loaded with passionfruit, the grassy herbaceousnsss swapped for genuine fruit. It’s correct, the acidity is soft enough, and …
This month, it's all about Pinot Noir here at Graham HQ, just because we like drinking it. And you'd have to argue that the best Pinot Noir in Australia almost …
Eldorado Road Perseverance Old Vine Shiraz 2016 'Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.' John Quincy Adams To be honest, John Quincy Adams isn't the first …
So what wines are you buying/have you been buying this month? It's been a while since I last asked this question, purely because I've been on a 'the cellar is full' …
Sholto Syrah 2017 Wine's most amazing trick is to take you back to a time and place. One sniff of this Shiraz and I'm back in my garage in 2010, crouching …
Pikes Luccio Sangiovese 2018 Honestly, there isn't much local Sangiovese that floats my boat. Pizzini, Coriole, Castagna, Greenstone... It's a small pool of talent. Which makes this Sangiovese a welcome entrant. From …
At 18 I started working in a small suburban bottleshop, largely to buy cheap beer. It was my first year of university, slogging through physics and chemistry, 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.
Twenty years later and I currently spend my days wearing many (wine) hats, mostly as a writer, presenter and marketer.
While wearing my writer cap I write features for the likes of National Liquor News, Gourmet Traveller WINE and the RAS plus I'm a Lifestyle FOOD channel wine expert. Read more about me here or get in touch to book your next wine event with me here.