I haven't been tasting as much this week after Miss 2 brought home a virus from daycare and took out the whole house like a rogue wave at a Nippers …
During long runs, when my internal monologue is the main thing to keep me company, I wonder about questions liks this. Why do people fawn over aged reds, when there is …
This Clover Hill Cuvée Exceptonelle Brut Rosé 2015 is really well done Australian fizz. Not as glorious as the non rosé bubbles, perhaps, but still very good. Importantly, it's tight and …
This is where I was for the past week: Well, not right there, but just a few clicks off to the right on the beautiful NSW South Coast. Would you look …
Serious Yarra fizz is this Oakridge Local Vineyard Series Blanc de Blancs 2015. Spends 52 months on lees, the juice wild fermented in tank and cask. Classy, full-tilt, table-wine-with-bubbles style (which …
I wish these Zema wines were just a little less overt. More elegance, tone down the oak and alcohol. This Zema Estate Family Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, for instance, is …
Fun fact: Shiraz makes up over 25% of all winegrapes crushed in Australia, and South Australia has the largest vineyard area with 76,292ha (Wine Australia figures 19/20). But what I want …
Solid Sicilian Nero is this Fuedo Arancio Riserva 2015. Tarry, yet comfortably mid-weight, Sicilian Nero with this concentrated black core. It's like dried blackcurrants and it helps the mid palate …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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, …
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 the environment.
Twenty one years later and I spend my days wearing many (wine) hats, mostly as a writer, presenter and marketer. and judge at wine shows around the world...Read more