On Thursday, a squad of Hunter Valley winemakers came to Sydney to show off some new releases at the new Brix Distillery. While I couldn't hang around and drink beer with the lads, they had in …
Tapanappa Tiers 1.5m Chardonnay 2017 Another great Tapanappa Chardonnay. Sourced from a block of close-planted vines planted in 2003 on the Tiers property, this is quite a contrast to the more linear Tiers (which still has …
Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay 2016 Richer vintage for the classic Shaw + Smith M3 style but it doesn’t lose shape. Lemon butter and apple juice meets toasty oak, the finish still shaped by grapefruit but …
Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2017 This is the effectively the 3rd wine in the Tapanappa Chardonnay range but it's hardly a 3rd wine in quality. Actually, it’s a surprisingly ripe style with a whisper of honeycomb and …
Wirra Wirra The 12th Man Chardonnay 2017 Wirra Wirra's Adelaide Hills Chardonnay always packs in some class, with layers of flavour. This '17 vintage feels like a work in progress, but the elements are there. At …
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 …
Umbra Method Ancestral 2014 Here's a peek into the world of Australian sparkling wine beyond methodé traditionelle. Made by Mark Matthews at Caledonia Australis in Gippsland, this 100% sparkling Chardonnay based fizz is nothing if not interesting. …
Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2017 Yes, this is an excellent vintage of Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay. I almost finished a bottle as a solo drinker last week, even with other wines to choose from. It's a delight. 2017 was …
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 …
From Shaw + Smith's prospective project to consistent quality wine in the space of just a few vintages - the Tolpuddle Vineyard has come a long long way. The Chardonnay, in particular, is so very good every …
Bellvale Athena’s Vineyard Chardonnay 2015 From the Ellis families dry-grown Gippsland family vineyard. There's an intensity here that you often see in dry-grown vineyards - like the grapes hit another gear in the flavour-per-berry stakes. For …
Tucks Ridge now has new owners, with Montalto taking over. This Tucks Ridge Turramurra Chardonnay 2016 is one of the single vineyard releases from Tucks, from the Tuerong/Dromana area. There's a fullness and a broad edge …
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.