Let's get 2023 kicked off properly, hey? Not all wines can be great. Plenty are just ‘ok drinks’, and some are just bad… Here is a collection of 23 wines that …
More and more I think of Matt Burton, of Gundog Estate, as a sort of winemaking mad professor. Hunched over a barrel, cackling wildly as he makes his latest wine …
Nailing the balance in Australian off-dry Riesling is tricky business. To put it bluntly, very few (if any) local Riesling need the sweetness, so often you just end up with …
Outside of the Shiraz Viognier, this Sapling Yard Lake George Riesling 2022 is my favourite release from Canberra newcomer Sapling Yard, and it captures the Canberra Riesling style (that I …
Another week, and another Sapling Yard red. I liked the Shiraz Viognier, and this Sapling Yard Curmudgeon Shiraz is another unforced modern Canberra Shiraz Viognier that I didn't mind. Includes 3% …
New labels are what make this wine-writing gig interesting. A new story, new characters, new wines, new takes... Wine is amazing. Anyway, this Shiraz Viognier comes from Sapling Yard, a new …
I love these tastings, The Young Guns of Wine (YGOW) is an annual awards program designed to celebrate new/young wine producers. But YGOW has now expanded beyond the awards to a …
I never miss this tasting. Every year, the Sydney Royal Wine Show throws open the doors for a trade/exhibitor tasting of all everything entered into what is one of Australia's famous, …
Welcome to 2022! Taking out the recycling over the past few days reminded me that a) I drink plenty of beer b) there were some seriously fine wines opened over the …
While Matt Burton's Gundog Shiraz range is strong, this is my favourite wine in the Canberra range - a blisteringly fresh and defined Riesling. Water clear and mighty expressive, all …
Broad vintage generalisations anywhere are fraught with danger. They're so problematic given just how much a harvest can vary from variety to variety and vineyard to vineyard. Like 2011 in …
We Happy Few is a wine project for a group of Australian veterans, with proceeds going to veteran warfare. This We Happy Few War Horse Shiraz 2017 'memorialises the ongoing …
Not all wines can be great. Plenty are just ok drinks. And some are just bad. Here is a selection of wines that almost made it in May and June 2021. We're …
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 …
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. But then, I fell in love with wine and craft beer, and it took over my life.
Twenty three years later and I spend my days wearing many beverage hats and judge at wine shows around the world...Read more