Bellvale Athena’s Vineyard Chardonnay 2015 From the Ellis families dry-grown Gippsland family vineyard. There's an intensity here that you often see in dry-grown vineyards - like the grapes hit another gear in the flavour-per-berry stakes. For …
Vinea Marson Col Fondo Prosecco 2015 More Col Fondo! In Australia! For the uninitiated this is Prosecco made in the traditional method, with a second fermentation in bottle but without a disgorgement. The best Italian Col …
Chapel Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 In my mind this is the archetypal McLaren Vale Cabernet. From a warm year that typically delivered ripeness and power, it's a wine of substantial flavour, oak, tannins - everything. Hearty, …
A wine to remind that not all Australian Merlot need be boring. Ruckus Estate/Merite Wines are pushing the Q45 clone and giving the grape the love it deserves. This Ruckus Estate the Q Merlot 2015 …
This is Part 2 of the Coleraine vertical described here. Actually, while Coleraine had top billing at the tasting, the vertical of Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah was probably even more intriguing. Le Sol first surged …
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 …
Wine shows cop a lot of flack. You need only read the feedback to my post on the 2018 Sydney Royal Wine Show exhibitors tasting to see that. But is it justified? And indeed do …
From solid drinks to faulty train wrecks (and everything in between), the Almost Club is for wines that didn't hit the Australian Wine Review 'recommended' mark (17/20, 90/100) in August 2018. Note that there is friendly …
After posting Wednesday's list of the 10 best Shiraz to pass the desk in August 2018 I had a closer look and realised that there is a whole lot of great wines in the next …
The title says it all, these are 10 of the best Shiraz to pass the desk this month. This isn't a comprehensive last, as I probably taste somewhere between 6000-7000 wines a year (average 16-19 wines …
What I really like, more than anything, about Yangarra is that it's a winery built around a great vineyard. That's somewhat unusual in the world of Australian wine, where typically labels come first, vines later (when …
I could almost phone in the review for this St Hugo 2015 duo. Oaky reds with warm alcohol, no shortage of (added) acidity and plenty of tannins. Job done, let's go to the pub (and drink …
It seems like a big jump to go from jewellery valuer to Barossa winemaker. But that's the route Michael Hall's life has followed. From a childhood in the UK to the 'rarefied air' of record breaking …
Oh yes, this is a big edition! As the name suggests, these are the 34 wines that almost made the Australian Wine Review top grade (of 17/20 or 90/100+) this month. Some missed the mark by a …
A self explanatory title, here are 12 of the best 12 Chardonnay to pass the desk in July 2018. If anything, this list just highlights the high standard of Chardonnay in Australia. Still our most planted white …
Sometimes, you get what you pay for. In the wine industry it doesn't happen as often as you'd like, but occasionally you pay for great wine and really get it. With these new single vineyard Shaw + …
Obviously it's July now (not June), but I did a quick trawl through the tasting book today and it revealed an interesting stat - Riesling, Chardonnay and Semillon make up the bulk of the white …
There's always questions when the founder of a famous winery leaves. Will the wine style change? Prices go up? Labels disappear? No matter how many times the new owner says that it will be 'business as …
It's almost like Spain doesn't exist. Here in Australia we bow down at the feet of the best French and Italian red wines, willingly forking out mega dollars for Burgundy and wads of cash for Barolo. …
I love it when interesting new wines from unknown wineries (to me at least) turn up at the door. It's like wine Christmas. Brackenwood is a vineyard at Kuitpo in the Adelaide Hills owned by ex-somm …
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.