I missed December's Almost Club edition (holidays), so this is a huge crop of almostness... As the name suggests, here are the wines that almost hit the mark for me in January. Some are just nice …
The premise with this collection is very very simple - I've been hitting the sample pile hard over the past week or two, and these 30 wines were not only the most quintessentially smashable Australian …
Happy New Year! I'm celebrating the start of 2019 with a little tasting note house cleaning, how about you? Actually I'm mainly at the beach. Before we crack out the towels for today, here are 15 …
I'm still working out what to drink on Christmas day. I've got most of the usual boxes ticked - Primo Joseph sparkling red, '12 Giaconda Chardonnay maybe and a stray bottle of Pra Monte Grande that …
It's been a long month here at Graham HQ, and the next few weeks promise to be just as intense. I can't wait for that glorious period in between Christmas and New Year where life …
For this week's entertainment, I thought I'd pull out all the Shiraz dominant blends that aren't your usual suspects and ended up with these six wines. Some are just slightly unconventional (like non GSM from Grant …
From near misses to faulty junk. Here is a collection of the wines that almost won me over in October 2018. A special, frustrating mention to the two Leasingham wines. I grew up worshipping the mid …
Just three and a half years ago I stood at the side of nearly century-old Grenache vineyard in the Barossa shaking my head. There we were, Marco Cirillo and I, gazing at a plot of ancient …
This edition of the Almost Club is a few days late as I was busily not doing much in Noosa (photo attached. We love Noosa). Here than are 20 wines that almost hit the mark in …
John Duval Annexus Mataro 2016 Would you believe that this is ex-Penfolds winemaker John Duval's first ever straight Mataro? Like Grenache, Barossa Mataro/Mourvedre/Monastrell/choose your name is enjoying a well earned revival and I'm all for it. This …
Brave Souls The Able Seaman GSM 2016 My pick from the Brave Souls releases. Just to recap, Brave Souls is ulia Weirich with the Sons of Eden crew making quite classic Barossan wines in good packaging …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Authenticity. It's something we need more of in the wine industry. More authenticity, less made up brands. Less mid-tier reserve wines, more genuine wine labels. More single vineyards, less South Eastern Australia. Actually, there are plenty of …
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 …
After getting stuck into Penfolds this week for a lack of authenticity in their mooted new releases, I figure it's only right today to highlight a producer that is making genuine wines. Schwarz Wine Co. is …
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.