Grenache is one of the most exciting varieties in the country. Australia is blessed with a wondrous resource of old vine Grenache and it's only in the last decade or …
Entry level Yarra Cabernet from Soumah and it's an easy drink. Proudly leafy, yet not unripe at all. it's light, lithe, tannic and well made, the alcohol a little noticeable, …
No. No, I can't see the joy in this Dead Arm. Conceptually, it's easy to appreciate the appeal of a handpicked, basket-pressed, foot trodden, super-premium McLaren Vale Shiraz in this mode. …
Last week it was the excellent Eldorado Road Chardonnay, now comes the Eldorado Road Quasimodo Nero d’Avola Durif Shiraz 2017 and it's a winner. This is a lot of wine for …
From the Millon Wines stable, though I've never seen a bottle of this Clare’s Secret Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 locally. Export special? Inspired by Lasingham Bin 56, this is chunky, rustic …
According to this benchmark New York Times article, our music tastes are set in our teens. For men, it means your favourite song is likely to have been released when …
Most wines that pass the desk at Graham HQ are like commercial white bread. Occasionally tasty, but mostly generic and predictable. This Chalmers Appassimento 2017, instead, is the weird revivalist …
It's not Rioja, but this Juniper Estate Small Batch Tempranillo 2017 nails the berry-laden varietal mode. As much Margaret River as it is Tempranillo really, with juicy dark berries, the mouth …
Reserve - aka more. With this Pike & Joyce W.J.J. Reserve Pinot Noir 2018 it means more oak, more power, more tannins. But more doesn't quite mean more drinking satisfaction …
We love Grenache Shiraz blends at Graham HQ. It's a formula that satisfies often and typically at affordable prices, this quintet of Shiraz/Grenache-based blends can be evidence. They're not superstars, …
Hunter Valley Pinot Noir - aka the missing component that has helped make some of the most famous Australian wines of all, the Maurice O'Shea era Mount Pleasant reds. As a …
It feels a little dirty to be writing about wine right now. Or maybe it's a sense of futility - I'm that guy talking about wine while sitting on one …
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 …
Following closely on the Top 20 Chardonnay comes the Top 20 Shiraz of February 2020. For this lineup I dug deeper into the sample pile, searching - perhaps blindly - for …
Chardonnay, like it or not, is still the most important white grape in the country, making up over 45% of all white grapes crushed, and 20% of total grapes crushed, …
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 …
Line 'em up, these two full bodied reds pack in an awful lot of flavour for $30 or less. Strictly speaking these aren't quite what I'd go for on a …
Sunshine Creek is Yarra based, and this Sunshine Creek Heathcote Shiraz 2017 is an outlier in the range. It's always ripe, in the mid 2000s Jasper Hill mode, but typically …
S.C. Pannell Grenache Shiraz Touriga 2017Known as ‘the purple one’ at cellar door, this is composed of old vine Grenache from Seaview cofermented with Shiraz from Steve’s Koomilya Vineyard. Includes …
Petaluma, the forgotten icon. Once, a long time ago, Petaluma sat right at the pointy end of quality Australian wine. Driven by the relentlessness of Brian Croser, Petaluma had a reputation …
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, 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.
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.