From Daniel and Jenni Payne's Dirt Candy label; part of the new wave of Hunter wine, complete with a suite of pet nats and such. This is an outlier too …
This is an awful lot of wine for $20. Harewood's best work is in Riesling and well-priced reds, and this Harewood Estate Shiraz Cabernet 2018 is bang on. It feels a …
Graeme's Blend is always the best Passing Cloud release. Sure, the Macedon wines have the style, but Bendigo is the beating heart (and it shows). This red aims high and almost …
Enter another satisfyingly Barossan red. This stubby bottle of Schild Estate Narrow Road Vineyard Shiraz Cabernet 2017 lobs up an unending decadence that is undeniably attractive. It's not subtle, oak plays a …
'71 Grange. '65 Lindemans Hunter Burgundy. Most of the real Maurice O'Shea wines. Penfolds Bin 60a. Australian wine legends, all of them. Old, glorious Aussie reds that, even at forty-plus years …
This is just a taste of the finest big reds that passed the desk this November. Background notes in italics. Oakridge Original Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 Spends 3 weeks on skins post …
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 …
Ubertas Shiraz Cabernet 2017 A new name for me, and plenty of promise. Ubertas is the label of the brothers Kevin and Phil Liu who bought a vineyard at Nurioopta. This …
The flagship red for Robert Stein and named after the boat that brought the Stein family to Australia in 1838. The Robert Stein Kinnear 2014 is 97% Shiraz and 3% …
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 …
Terre à Terre Wrattonbully Rouge 2015 The more approachable end of the Terre à Terre range. But it still needs more time. A blend of Shiraz/Cabernet/Cab Franc in proportions of 44/36/20. Spends …
Here are a few of the wines that have passed the desk this month and almost made the grade. Some weren't far off the mark, others are absolute disasters. A few …
I feel like I'm on an 'icon wine' streak after yesterday's Dom Perignon note. So heck, why not carry that forward. Here are two very different wines that both have Grange …
Following on from my post about 2015 vintage generalisations, here is a roundup of a swag of 2015 reds from Victoria and South Australia that have passed the desk recently. Mornington …
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 …
While I don't always share his point of view (he fired some cheap shots at me years ago and wouldn't print the replies. But that's another story), I read with …
I'm fighting through one of those nasty hangovers that just attacks your stomach today, the sort of morning after where you just feel like someone has punched you in the …
Quick under $20 red wine shootout There's too few 'good value' wines here on Australian Wine Review, a situation that needs addressing. Hence why I quickly pulled together this lineup of sub …
September Tasting Notes Roundup Some highlights (and lowlights) from the tasting bench this September, all in one easy roundup. Dal Zotto L'Immigrante Prosecco 2013 (King Valley, Vic) $36 Pure and clean - really …
Hither & Yon Shiraz Cabernet 2013 (McLaren Vale, SA) 14.9%, Screwcap, $35 This is a biggun. Big, slick and ultra ripe with much of everything - black and blue fruit, sweet vanilla oak …
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