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 the most quintessentially smashable Australian …
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 …
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 …
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 it justified? And indeed do …
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 great wines in the next …
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 Australia. Actually, there are plenty of …
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 'rarefied air' of record breaking …
I know that plenty of people dislike these larger roundup style posts, but following on from my list of the Chardonnay hits of the summer, it seems only natural that I present 10 of the …
The title is pretty explanatory - here are 24 Chardies that hit the mark over the past few weeks, plus a few that almost made it but fell short. The Hits Bay of Fires Chardonnay 2016 What a …
As you can see the volume of posts has dropped off a bit lately as I'm still not feeling great. My ankle issues turned out to be an arthritis flare up, and the last few …
This is the year to be getting into (or back into) Australian Riesling. I hate broad vintage generalisations in Australia (which is too massive and varied for any sort of generalisation to hold), but for many …
Here's a selection of wines that were almost great. Some are just good, solid wines that are occasionally unready, through to slightly underwhelming/unexciting, and rounded out with a few wines that miss the mark completely. Why post …
Did you get a long weekend last week? I joined in the throng of people making their way northwards in search of sunshine, landing in Noosa (along with half of Victoria's winemakers apparently) for a …
From the dozen or so wines I've tried, I'm delighted to pronounce that 2017 is a great vintage for South Australian Riesling. Ultra late, cool and sometimes damp, it was a season just made for sprightly …
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 Yves Cuilleron's finest wines up …
Here's a producer that consistently overperforms in the value stakes. Sons of Eden is the brand of ex-Pinnacle Drinks/Dorrien Estate winemaker Corey Ryan and noted grapegrower and viticulturist Simon Cowham (ex-Yalumba) - two well-known figures in …
Premium cask wine - sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? But it's a concept that one producer, Tote Wines, are trying to breathe life into, releasing a duo of premium 1.5 litre cask wines that are …
A few of the wines to have passed the tasting bench this month that didn't quite make it onto the full site. La Bise Adelaide Hills Pinot Gris 2016 From the Kozned Vineyard in Gumeracha. Light pear …
It's that time again - time to roundup a selection of wines that didn't quite make it onto the site. Some because of time and space, others because they failed the grade, this January 2017 …
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.