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 …
Terre à Terre Crayères Vineyard Reserve 2015 For the past few vintages, the Terre à Terre label of Xavier Bizot and wife Lucy Croser has been inching towards a truly game-changing wine. Something that will put …
From great value quaffers to absolute train wrecks, this month's compilation of 'almost' wines is a biggun'. I'm always conscious of my prejudice against overripeness and heavy-handed oak, but I call both as symptoms of poor …
Following on from last month's focus on other reds and Shiraz, this May I'm all about red blends. It's always frustrating that we seem so singularly focused on mono-varietal wines in Australia, as it often makes for less …
Here are a few of the wines that have passed the desk this month and almost made the grade. Some weren't far off the mark, others are absolute disasters. A few big disappointments of note: The …
It feels like I've had a lot of premium Cabernet over the past few weeks, especially after the Voyager extravaganza and the Margaret River 50th Anniversary tastings. But no point in stopping now is there? This collection …
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. …
Australia, your 2013 birth year wine is ready (but can we make it Sunday every day)! What makes this duo so birth-year-wine-worthy is the structure. Wines explicitly built for ageing, with the eyes firmly fixed in a 'next …
Yalumba The Scribbler Barossa Cabernet Shiraz 2013 Yalumba are the kings of full-bodied Cab Shiraz, and this entry-level red blend of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon and 41% Shiraz offers up much of the DNA of the more …
St Hugo Cabernet Shiraz 2013 Curiously, this is a very different beast to the straight Cabernet Sauvignon. This is seriously eucalypt-y for a start. Just jumps out and tackles you. Didn't spot that in the Cab. …
Always consistent this. A blend of 51% Cabernet, 37% Shiraz, 12% Merlot that spends 18 months in oak, with 70% French and the rest American. Did I ever tell you that I once came second …
If you want an example of substance over style, look no further than these three Tahbilk reds. That may sound harsh, but I think the hearty depth of this trio is a big part of the …
Carrying on in my series of posts covering my recent visit to Orange (these ones here, here and here), today I'm looking at the wines of Brangayne, the wine business of the Hoskins family. Brangayne, the property, first came into …
What else do you on a rainy Boxing Day afternoon than get stuck into some fine Barossa wine? Christmas was a boozy affair here at Graham HQ, with my drinking highlight Primo Estate's 2013 Joseph Sparkling …
For this week's sample pile raid I've focused on premium red wines from McLaren Vale, including a whole swathe of new '13 reds. Always interesting to look at a horizontal like this. Of particular note is …
McGuigan Philosophy Cabernet Shiraz 2012 I touched recently on the scepticism that comes with a 'volume' winery launching an icon level red, and my sceptometer was in high gear when tasting this wine... Still, you can see …
It must be tough being a 'big' Australian wine brand. Locally, you're faced with an openly hostile, supermarket-dominant market where supermarkets are at war with each other and view suppliers as cannon fodder and Australian wine …
I'm fighting through one of those nasty hangovers that just attacks your stomach today, the sort of morning after where you just feel like someone has punched you in the guts. How does one slay such …
Wirra Wirra Church Block Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2013 I once came second in a Church Block blending competition, failing because I didn't add enough Merlot. Damn it. In my defence, I really thought that the Merlot was just …
Yalumba Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2012 This Yalumba Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2012 bears the signature of Robert Hill Smith, who has just stepped down as Yalumba Chief Executive. Normally Robert picks each years Signature honoree, …
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.