Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Joyous Festivus (take your pick of chosen intro). This has been a very weird Christmas for us. Here, situated in the only part of Australia in lockdown, Christmas …
Shout it from the rooftops - Eldorado Road, as a label, should be much more famous. The wines are too interesting, too keen, too complex to be 'just another Victorian …
Here are 24 tasty white and pink wines for your immediate drinking pleasure. Wines that, to my tastes at least, are in the prime of their lives and should be consumed …
Sure, Shiraz gets all the attention, but for my money, Australia's most consistently drinkable premium variety is Chardonnay. That's simply a result of style. So much top tier Australian Shiraz - …
Firstly, apologies for the little number of recent posts. More beaching, less writing for me this Christmas (not a bad thing at all). Today, I'm too sunburnt for the beach, …
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. …
I first tasted the Virago wines back in 2015, describing it as a 'label to watch'. After retasting the range now in 2018, I'm noting that down as a great call …
Each year Voyager Estate do a masterclass that is not to be missed. Pitting their own Cabernet and Chardonnay against the very best in a blind tasting, it's one of …
Forgive the clickbait title, but that was how the 'Yves Cuilleron vs Australia' tasting I went to today was pitched. This event, organised by the local Cuilleron distributors, saw 4 of …
Xanadu Reserve Margaret River Chardonnay 2014 Xanadu's run of great Chardonnay continues. This is superb modern Margaret River Chardonnay, of the type that makes people wax lyrical about Chardonnay from the …
The Story Grampians Shiraz 2014 Rory Lane's latest Shiraz and it's a beauty - if in need of another 2 years minimum to show it's best. Sourced from three Grampians Shiraz …
Warner Vineyard 'The Rest' Beechworth Chardonnay 2013 The Warner Vineyard Roussanne blend looked great when I tried it a month or so back, and this Chardonnay looked even better again. Well …
Vignerons Schmölzer & Brown Pret-a-Rosé 2016 Mark my words, this will be the summer of rosé. The stats back up that observation, with a recent ALSA/IRI report suggesting the pink wine category …
Now here's something worth tracking down. The Warner Vineyard is considered to be one of Beechworth's finest plots, made famous by Giaconda (via the Warner Vineyard Shiraz), with fruit also going …
On the back of a week of Victorian Shiraz (including top wines from Lethbridge and Willow Creek), I thought it only natural that we carry on the theme this week, …
James & Co. Beechworth Sangiovese 2013 An ambitious new Sangiovese from Rutherglen winemaker Ricky James. Caramel and sweet vanilla on the nose - almost milky oak. Underneath there's a lovely leathery Sangio …
A new star producer from Beechworth : Domenica & Two Cells I was wandering around the huge 3 Winos tasting today and spotted a name that rang a bell in the …
Voyager Estate Masterclass As The Great Man himself noted in an article over the weekend (here), there are few wineries out there that do an annual benchmark tasting as well as Voyager. Sure …
The second label of Giaconda, The 'McClay Road' range was first introduced with the smoky 2003 vintage, which was entirely declassified. This pair comes off the Warner Block (Shiraz) & …
These two were consumed at a Parisian themed degustation at Mrs Top (Cremorne, Sydney) - a lovely little French restaurant that serves real French food with no BYO charge.Domaine Leflaive …
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 environment.
Twenty years later and I spend my days wearing many (wine) hats, mostly as a writer, presenter and marketer.
I now judge at wine shows around the world, sit on the Australian Wine List of the Year awards panel and was once a Wine Journalism Young Gun (but baby that was years ago).
Currently, I write features for a variety of publications including National Liquor News, Gourmet Traveller WINE and the RAS, plus I'm a former Lifestyle FOOD channel wine expert.
In 2019 and 2020 I was voted in the Top 30 Best Wine Critics in The World, and in my spare time, I'm a sucker for punishment and run trail ultra marathons, much to the delight of my long-suffering family. Read more about me here or get in touch to book your next wine event with me here