According to this benchmark New York Times article, our music tastes are set in our teens. For men, it means your favourite song is likely to have been released when …
Opawa is Nautilus' more affordable range and this Marlborough rosé is normally a highlight. I don't see the same glory in '19. Pink fruit starts things well, but palate is …
Silkwood's wines have taken big leaps in recent vintages but there remains stumbles. This Pemberton Chardonnay has ripe fruit but a lumpy middle, the flavours end up tinny and a …
You know what I like best about Yangarra's wines? The neck tags that the samples land with. There's no bullshit tasting notes (who cares), no marketing guff. Just facts. And …
Why would you blend Viognier with Shiraz in McLaren Vale? It's not like the Mistral-chilled hillsides of the northern Rhone, where you need the Viognier to add flesh to bony, …
It's always a surprise to see generosity in taut, early picked Hunter Valley Semillon. It shouldn't be that way. The best wines are often ferociously acidic drinks for later. The …
Most wines that pass the desk at Graham HQ are like commercial white bread. Occasionally tasty, but mostly generic and predictable. This Chalmers Appassimento 2017, instead, is the weird revivalist …
Chalk this Gundog Estate The Chase Semillon 2019 as another winner. I can't keep up with how big Gundog's d'Arenberg-esque sized range is now (let alone all the Canberra and …
It's not Rioja, but this Juniper Estate Small Batch Tempranillo 2017 nails the berry-laden varietal mode. As much Margaret River as it is Tempranillo really, with juicy dark berries, the mouth …
The recent Camp Viejo releases are actually pretty good, the style getting a welcome polish. But this Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva 2014 is lack a bad flashback. Rustic, ferrous and …
Shout it from the rooftops - Eldorado Road, as a label, should be much more famous. The wines are too interesting, too keen, too complex to be 'just another Victorian …
I don't get it. This Hill Smith Estate Eden Valley Chardonnay 2018 is wild fermented Eden Valley Chardonnay that spends 6 months in barrel. Clearly the aim is delicacy but …
I know I am definitely drinking more during lockdown, as the days seem to blur into a continuous, 'what day is it?' week. It's like holidays, but I've got too …
Pretty much what you want in a northern Italian Grigio. Ripe pear juice balanced out by acidity. Has a slightly fatty mid palate, but good tang here. Chalky, grippy phenolics …
Pyrazine drenched Tassie Sauv from Dalrymple. Very much aimed at the Marlborough style, with big, gooseberry and passionfruit aromatics in an overt, 'look at me' style. I get the intention, …
Hunter Valley Semillon, but in a Riesling bottle. Blasphemous, maybe, but do you really care? Will it stop you from buying this Meerea Park Terracotta Semillon 2015? My take - I …
Finally, a serious Australian rosé worth your time. The Freeman family have enviable plantings of Rondinella at their Prunevale vineyard and it's a grape that seems well suited to textural …
Reserve - aka more. With this Pike & Joyce W.J.J. Reserve Pinot Noir 2018 it means more oak, more power, more tannins. But more doesn't quite mean more drinking satisfaction …
Martin Shaw & Michael Hill-Smith’s Pinot has had a constant evolution, the style evolving from a robust, dry reddish Pinot to now more medium bodied and with a fruit source …
A confession - I've never been to Kangaroo Island. It's the only Australian wine GI I've not visited. The outlier. And with wines like this Juxtaposed Boomstick Tempranillo 2018, it's …
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.