Following on from my post about 2015 vintage generalisations, here is a roundup of a swag of 2015 reds from Victoria and South Australia that have passed the desk recently. Mornington and Yarra the winners here, …
Q: Have you noticed any trends among the wines this year? A: 'The quality of the 2015 vintage in South Australia and Victoria'. That's James Halliday, talking trends in an article on the Wine Companion website. …
Here's a producer that consistently overperforms in the value stakes. Sons of Eden is the brand of ex-Pinnacle Drinks/Dorrien Estate winemaker Corey Ryan and noted grapegrower and viticulturist Simon Cowham (ex-Yalumba) - two well-known figures in …
Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir 2015 The push towards more elegance in the Shaw + Smith Pinot continues. This, arguably, goes a fraction too far in the early picking stakes, but only just. Making elegant Pinot in …
Sidewood Mappinga Adelaide Hills Fume Blanc 2015 I've got the whole range of Sidewood Mappinga releases on the bench at the moment, promising much. This Adelaide Hills producer has been scooping the pool of late, headlined …
Jacobs Creek Barossa Signature Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Jacobs Creek; ever the value champions. This style will always be a natural winner for JC, and often better than the equivalent Shiraz. Jubey and juicy blackberry fruit here with …
Bremerton Langhorne Creek Malbec 2015 You know exactly what you're going to get from Bremerton, and that's flavour. This Langhorne Creek winery makes typically well-priced wines of weight and power, even if more grace would be …
Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay 2015 Know what makes this exceptional Chardonnay great? Fantastic attention to detail. It starts with the written tasting notes accompanied my sample bottle. Two sheets of succinct words, printed on shiny, heavy stock, with …
Best's Bin 0 Great Western Shiraz 2015 One of the most attractive things about the classical Best's Great Western red wine style is the texture. That glossy, plum essence roundness seems to come without the cost …
De Fermo Pecorino d'Abruzzo Superiore 2015 This trip was the first time that I've been to the Abruzzo and what a joy it proved to be. The mountains, in particular, seem wilder and more contrasting than …
Balgownie Black Label Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2015 Discovered in the back of the tasting pile. Always smartly priced Pinot this, and no different in 2015. A light wine, but not in the underpowered way. Just mid-weight …
Even Keel Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2015 Even Keel is the second label of Mornington producer Polperro, which apparently has cellar door yoga classes. Diverse. Sam Coverdale's wines are pretty handy too. Wild fermented, and bottled without …
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.
More than fifteen years later and I currently spend my days wearing many (wine) hats, mostly as a writer, presenter and marketer.
While wearing my writer hat I contribute to the likes of The Retiree; Gourmet Traveller WINE, National Liquor News and the RAS plus I'm a Lifestyle FOOD channel wine expert.
Crowned the 2009/10 WCA Wine Journalism 'Young Gun', in my spare time I'm a wine judge and recently graduated with a Masters in Wine Technology & Viticulture from Melbourne University.
This site (Australian Wine Review or ozwinereview for short) is dedicated to talking about wine, beer and other good things. Largely focused on Australian wine, but with a healthy dose of tasty vino from NZ, France, Italy, Spain.. oh hell, if it's good, I'm in.
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Also check out my other project, Sydney's best wine tasting business The Tasting Glass.