The Top 20 Shiraz of August 2020
August 28, 2020
As the name suggests, these are the Top 20 Shiraz of August 2020. There was more Shiraz this month, there always is. But these are the wines I want to …
Review: Yalumba The Cigar Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
July 27, 2020
Second in line behind The Menzies in Yalumba's Coonawarra Cabernet hierarchy and it's a long term style. Set and forget form, with drying tannins as the centre feature. Oh and …
The Almost Club Lockdown edition: 68 wines that almost made it over the past 3 months
July 8, 2020
Not all wines can be great. Plenty are just ok drinks. And some are just bad. Here then is a selection of wines that almost made it over the past few …
Review: Kate Hill Pinot Noir 2015
July 1, 2020
A new Tasmanian name and you can feel/taste the promise. To have a wine in shape like this after five years? Attention grabbed. Sourced from a plot in the Upper Derwent, …
Review: Yalumba Tri-Centenary Grenache 2015. Just right.
July 1, 2020
What a joy these Yalumba Grenache wines are. Pure celebrations of old vines, and complemented by winemaking that is deliberately understated. Well fucking done. This Yalumba Tri-Centenary Grenache 2015 is the top …
Review: d’Arenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2015
May 4, 2020
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, …
Review: Meerea Park Terracotta Semillon 2015
April 27, 2020
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 …
The Tiers vineyard turns 40. Here is a whole lotta Chardonnay to celebrate
March 10, 2020
I'm in cleanup mode at the moment, sifting through the (physical) sample pile and my (digital) notes to tidy things up Kondo-style. While it's cathartic to delete some half-baked stories written …
Tasting the 2020 Sydney International Wine Competition trophy winners
February 11, 2020
In what has become a semi-annual event, I ventured out into the Armageddon-esque sideways rain on Saturday to taste the trophy winners (and more) from the Sydney International Wine Competition. You're …
Glorious Germans: A celebration of VDP with much great Riesling
December 4, 2019
You need to be drinking more German wines. For so long now, Germany has been known for Riesling. Riesling (50% of world production) and Henkell Trocken. But here's one country - …
10 of the best cellaring reds to pass the desk this November – feat. Oakridge, Craggy Range, Eldorado Road etc
November 19, 2019
This is just a taste of the finest big reds that passed the desk this November. Background notes in italics. Oakridge Original Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 Spends 3 weeks on skins post …
Why drink industrial NV Champagne when you have Adelaide Hills sparkling like this?
November 4, 2019
Q: You have $50 to spend on sparkling wine. Do you: a) Buy a bottle of discounted, ‘big house’ NV Champagne? b) Spend the dollars on a premium, likely vintage Australian sparkling? It’s …
11-44 of October 2019’s best Shiraz
October 22, 2019
Why stop at just 10 great Shiraz for the month? Here is the follow on list of the best 11-34 Shiraz to pass the desk in October 2019. Terre à Terre …
Top 10 Shiraz of October 2019 – Thomas Wines, Balgownie, Shaw + Smith et al.
October 21, 2019
As it says on the tin, here are ten of the best Shiraz to pass the tasting bench this October. A special note to the breadth of Hunter Shiraz from …
The Masterson masterstroke? An inside look at the new $2,000 Peter Lehmann megawine
September 30, 2019
'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 …
16 top Victorian Pinot Noir to pass the desk this month
September 16, 2019
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 …
The dreaded textural whites roundup delivers 13 standouts from Alkoomi, Juniper Estate, Oakridge et al.
August 28, 2019
I love textured white wines. Alsace field blends? Gimme. Barrel fermented Margaret River Sauv? Yes please. But every year, the 'textural white' segment disappoints. I get that it's a balancing act to …
14 of the best Cabernet based reds this August: Feat. Oates Ends, Voyager, Levantine Hill & more
August 15, 2019
It's been a rough week or so at Graham HQ, as a sniffly 5 month old meant little sleep and not enough wine... So let's keep this tight. As the name …
Big ambitions delivered with the Levantine Hill Colleen’s Paddock Pinot Noir 2015
August 2, 2019
Levantine Hill Colleen’s Paddock Pinot Noir 2015 Levantine Hill is the ultra-ambitious Yarra Valley winery of Melbourne property developer Elias Jreissati. Or at least that's what Google tells me. In the …
Almost Club July 2019 Edition: 23 wines that almost made it this month
July 29, 2019
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 July 2019. I like plenty …
About me – Andrew Graham
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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
