Today is Seminar 2 of the 2019 Negociants Working With Wine Program; a biennial wine masterclass series brought to Australia by premier importer and distributor Negociants Australia. This seminar is focused …
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. …
Two very different Australian icons: 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon and 2008 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 2008 Last night was the National Liquor News tasting panel Christmas party and, as befitting …
Keeping Mum on Mumm This is a snippet from a recent column on Mumm Champagne. The language is a bit different to the rest of the articles here on the blog, …
Jim Barry: Verticals of Florita, Armagh + McRae Wood 'We made our first (Armagh) when Sam was in my underpants' That's Peter Barry, current Jim Barry Wines GM and Barry family patriarch, …
Charles Heidsieck - my new favourite NV Champagne That title is a bit of a misnomer actually. The Charles Heidsieck 'standard' NV is not actually all that new to me. Indeed, …
Quintarelli Rosso del Bepi 1999 (Veneto, Italy)15%, Cork, $270+Source: Dinner companion I tried this wine just weeks after that fateful first encounter with a Quintarelli. As a result, when this …
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 …
Mumm Cuvee LalouBlingworthy Mumm Cuvée R.Lalou 1999 (Champagne, France) Cork, $360 Source: Had a glass from someone else's bottle www.ghmumm.com Some sexy packaging on this - very classy. The fruit sourcing is high class too, …
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 …
Bollinger - a quick snapshot of the range 100 years of Bollinger Special Cuvée I like Bollinger. I like their uncompromised winemaking approach and I like their understated marketing. No flashy Moët-esque packaging …
3 faces of the Grampians With an unbroken wine history dating back to 1862, the Grampians has no shortage of vinous kudos. Yet, as a wine region it's in something of a state of …
Pol Roger Vintage 1999 (Champagne, France)$85, Cork, 12.5%Source: Retailhttp://www.polroger.com/What a dissapointment.I was (very) lucky to drink quite a bit of the 1998 vintage of this very wine, including emptying a …
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 …
Pol Roger Champagne 1999 (Champagne, France)Cork, $110The 98 version of this defied the vintage trend & produced something special. It was quite a rich, forward style, but the quality was …
Raveneau - Easily the most famous Chablis estate, with highly sought after (and hence highly priced) wines of the utmost sophistication that clearly reflect the terroir of Chablis.The Premier Cru …
From an excellent vintage in Margaret River, this probably should have come up better than it did.This has been stored from release in my previous natural cellar - dark, free …
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, so a liquor shop seemed like fun. Needless to say, I discovered wine, and my life evolved with a unique dual focus - wine and environment.
Twenty years later and I spend my days wearing many (wine) hats, mostly as a writer, presenter and marketer.
I now judge at wine shows around the world, sit on the Australian Wine List of the Year awards panel and was once a Wine Journalism Young Gun (but baby that was years ago).
Currently, I write features for a variety of publications including National Liquor News, Gourmet Traveller WINE and the RAS, plus I'm a former Lifestyle FOOD channel wine expert.
In 2019 and 2020 I was voted in the Top 30 Best Wine Critics in The World, and in my spare time, I'm a sucker for punishment and run trail ultra marathons, much to the delight of my long-suffering family. Read more about me here or get in touch to book your next wine event with me here