In what has become a semi-annual event, I ventured out into the Armageddon-esque sideways rain on Saturday to taste the trophy winners (and more) from the Sydney International Wine Competition. You're …
Torzi Matthews Schist Rock Shiraz 2018 The second label to the glorious '18 Frost Dodger and is basically the non dried fruit portion and aged in ex-Frost Dodger barrels. What a $25 …
Not all wines can be great. Plenty are just ok drinks. And some are just bad. Here’s a selection of wines that almost made it in October 2019. I like plenty …
Torzi Matthews Frost Dodger Shiraz 2018 Yesterday I was banging on about how I prefer drinking Chardonnay over Shiraz, but here's an exception. An Eden Valley Shiraz from Dom Torzi that …
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 - …
Not all wines can be great. Plenty are just ok drinks. And some are just bad… Here’s a selection of wines that almost made it in July 2019. I like plenty …
Brothers at War I’m Always Right Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 Another well-weighted release from the Wardlaw brothers. From a vineyard at 390m outside of Eden Valley. it’s a really quite …
Brothers at War The Old Man Eden Valley Syrah 2017 Another well balanced release from Angus & Sam Wardlaw and well priced. This is sourced from their Pendee Farm vineyard just …
Tim Smith Eden Valley Viognier 2018 Easily one of the best Viognier in the country, although it's a shallow pool as so many producers get the V-weed so wrong. What I …
Not all wines can be great. In fact plenty are just ok drinks. And some are just bad... Here's a selection of wines that didn't quite excite me in May. Several …
It's new release season in the wine industry, which means that I came home to a small mountain of samples to pickup from the post office. But this is new …
I'm finally getting back into some sort of normal programming this week, or whatever that means when you're a new parent. The little one is sleeping, but the days now …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, 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.
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.