Q: You have $50 to spend on sparkling wine. Do you: a) Buy a bottle of discounted, ‘big house’ NV Champagne? b) Spend the dollars on a premium, likely vintage Australian sparkling? It’s …
Louis Pommery England Brut NV You want a good news story from climate change? The warmer summers are helping make English wine much more viable. Of course that's not going to help …
Leclerc Briant Millesime 2007 Here's a prime example of a good Champagne that could be sublime, but just lacks some vitality. Disgorged in December 2015 and I wonder if sitting around …
Welcome to tranche 2 of the #MonthofAndrew wines. I probably haven't hit the cellar as hard this birthday with the imminent baby arrival (just over two weeks until due date), but …
Daosa Natural Reserve NV Enter the new sparkling wine from Xavier Bizot and Lucy Croser. While I'm not sure about the 'Natural Reserve' tagline - it feels more like a stab at …
Terre à Terre Rosè 2017 Sparkling wine without the bubbles. That's the mode here, with this Piccadilly Valley pink from Xavier Bizot & Lucy Croser. A blend of 56% Pinot Noir …
Mitchell Harris Sabre Rosè 2012 I still haven't been to the Mitchell Harris bar/cellar door in Ballarat and I need to go. There are many places I need to go really, …
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 …
Oh yes, this is a big edition! As the name suggests, these are the 34 wines that almost made the Australian Wine Review top grade (of 17/20 or 90/100+) this month. Some …
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 …
I'm more in the Krug camp than Dom Perignon (give me richness any day). But still, I wasn't going to turn down a glass of the Dom Perignon P2 1998 when …
I've been engrossed in moving house this month so less wine than usual. Will be rectifying that this week. Eden Road The Long Road Canberra Pinot Gris 2016 A 'ramato' style skin contact …
Taste Champagne Prestige Masterclass Tyson Stelzer's Taste Champagne tastings kicked off in Sydney today, with a large contingent of Champagne producers opening their wares at Sydney's Four Seasons Hotel (Melbourne and Brisbane are …
Curiously, I had just one glass of fizz on NYE, even though 3 bottles of Krug were in the fridge. New Years Eve does that sometimes... Anyway, for this fizz roundup I …
Sabre by Mitchell Harris 2011 Happy (Australian) Mother's Day! This fizz from Mitchell Harris went down quite well today, though my Mum still thinks most Aussie bubbles are inferior to Champagne. Such …
Heemskerk Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2009 (Tasmania) 12%, cork, $60 This comes in one of the most eye-catching bottles around. What do you think - brilliance or novelty (especially given that it looks …
Mitchell Harris Sabre 2010 (Macedon and Pyrenees, Vic) 12.5%, Diam, $40 A more delicate and demure wine compared to the 2008, again spending 2 years on lees before disgorgement Oct 13. A blend …
Yellowglen Exceptional Vintage XV Piccadilly Valley 2002 (Piccadilly Valley, Adelaide Hills, SA) 12%, Cork, $49.99 Source: Sample www.yellowglen.com A rather more evolved beast than its younger brother, I applaud the winemaking merit here, though …
Talking 'interesting wines' on the Food in Focus radio show It can seem a bit silly sometimes to single-out wines that could be called 'interesting', purely as it's such a subjective …
Yellowglen Exceptional Vintage XV Piccadilly Valley 2004 (Piccadilly Valley, Adelaide Hills, SA)12%, Cork, $49.95Source: Samplewww.yellowglen.com Welcome back Yellowglen. After nigh on a decade in the premium wine wilderness, Yellowglen has reentered 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, so a liquor shop seemed like fun. Needless to say, I discovered wine, and my life evolved with a unique dual focus - wine and environment.
Twenty years later and I spend my days wearing many (wine) hats, mostly as a writer, presenter and marketer.
I now judge at wine shows around the world, sit on the Australian Wine List of the Year awards panel and was once a Wine Journalism Young Gun (but baby that was years ago).
Currently, I write features for a variety of publications including National Liquor News, Gourmet Traveller WINE and the RAS, plus I'm a former Lifestyle FOOD channel wine expert.
In 2019 and 2020 I was voted in the Top 30 Best Wine Critics in The World, and in my spare time, I'm a sucker for punishment and run trail ultra marathons, much to the delight of my long-suffering family. Read more about me here or get in touch to book your next wine event with me here