Usually, verticals have a purpose. An excuse for the winery to show off a wine, launch a new one, or just to remind everyone how good something used to be. But sometimes, a vertical has …
Chateau Petit Village 1998 I want to love Pomerol more. I like Merlot, and there's something noble about the singular focus of the region on Merlot dominant styles. Yet the inconsistency of this appellation is frustrating …
I'm more in the Krug camp than Dom Perignon (give me richness any day). But still, I wasn't going to turn down a glass of the Dom Perignon P2 1998 when winemaker Vincent Chaperon came to …
Lindemans St George Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 I imagine there's still loads of '98 reds sitting out there dormant in wine cellar land; everyone convinced that the wines will live forever. This St George definitely could. That …
100 years of Henschke Mt Edelstone - The Century tasting'2012 has been a year of milestones for us here at Henschke. Not only have we celebrated the 50th vintage of the Hill of Grace with …
Orlando St Hugo 1998 (Coonawarra, SA) 13%, Cork Source: Dinner guest www.orlandowines.com I must admit to not being the biggest fan of St Hugo, preferring the charms of Wynns Black Label over it. That's largely because it has always …
Dom Oenothèque – the best from ‘the library’ Superb packaing on this special Dom. Have your platinum Amex at the ready sir (I wrote this article a little over a year ago now for Lattè Life Magazine. …
Champagne: 30 tasted I was struggling for inspiration tonight and so, instead of just writing something half-heartedly, decided to attack the pile of papers here on my 'work desk'. Whilst the tidying, rearranging and such didn't …
Old Maurice would be proud... A mini Hunter Shiraz vertical I'm a little tardy in writing up these notes, but the following Hunter Shiraz vertical was held in Sydney a few months back. As you can see …
Premium Shiraz Night June 2010 63 Wyns Hermitage. Amazing. As ever I'm playing catchup at the moment, discovering random forgotten tasting notes in equally random places. These notes have been sitting in paper form for some 10 …
More old goodies: 98 Petit Cheval, 90 Montrose, 83 Unico + more.... As mentioned here, I've been helping to 'drink out a cellar' recently, a task that is - given the wines involved - something of …
Coonawarra Roadshow 2010 - quick snapshot I was particularly slack at this years Coonawarra Roadshow (an annual Coonawarra fest that moves around Australia, spreading the word on all things Coonawarra wine, via some old school mega tastings), …
I've been a bit slack in transcribing my notes from the messy scribbles of my wine wankerish notepad into electronic form, so this is the first of a few compilations to come.Enjoyed over a degustation …
Tasted recently over dinner at Rubyo's in Newtown (Sydney), this vertical tasting reminded, quite simply, why this wine is considered to be one of Australia's best (and we didn't even get started on the more …
Meerea Park Alexander Munro Cellar Release Shiraz 1998 (Hunter, NSW) $100, Cork, 13.5%Winery WebsiteThis was released as a 10 yr old wine last year and the 99 is the current release. It's another smart move …
Chapel Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 (Mclaren Vale/Coonawarra)Cork, $20ish at releaseThis comes from my less than perfect old cellar (underneath my parents house), so I always open these with a sense of trepidation, hoping that tonight …
St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 1998 (Barossa, SA) .Cork, $25 on releaseI swear this wine is released much earlier these days, as this would have been current vintage no more than 6 yrs ago (and the …
Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay 2001 (Margaret River, WA)Cork, $7oish on releaseAn icon wine from a top MR vintage this is in need of some serious time in the cellar. The colour is glowing …
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.
Almost 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.