We pause this update on coronavirus for one moment to talk about Pinot Noir. It's easy to get gloomy at the moment. Actually, gloom is the default setting when all the …
It feels a little dirty to be writing about wine right now. Or maybe it's a sense of futility - I'm that guy talking about wine while sitting on one …
I'm in cleanup mode at the moment, sifting through the (physical) sample pile and my (digital) notes to tidy things up Kondo-style. While it's cathartic to delete some half-baked stories written …
Following closely on the Top 20 Chardonnay comes the Top 20 Shiraz of February 2020. For this lineup I dug deeper into the sample pile, searching - perhaps blindly - for …
Chardonnay, like it or not, is still the most important white grape in the country, making up over 45% of all white grapes crushed, and 20% of total grapes crushed, …
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 …
Would you take a look at all those shiny medal stickers on the label of this Robert Stein Dry Riesling 2019? Reminds of some of the Tyrrell's Vat 1 releases (like …
The 2017 Giant Steps wines are magnificent. Pinot, Chardonnay, Gamay et al. All in ‘best ever’ territory. I haven’t liked the riper ‘18s as much, but hot dog this Giant …
I miss eating at restaurants. Ever since our small child came along the ritual of going 'out' to dinner and lingering over a bottle or two (after a warmup beer or …
You need to be drinking more German wines. For so long now, Germany has been known for Riesling. Riesling (50% of world production) and Henkell Trocken. But here's one country - …
Meta: An abstraction from a well-known concept It's easy to get jaded about Shiraz, and particularly Barossa Shiraz, when you're exposed to a lot of it. The singularity of 'plums, alcohol, …
Served alongside the Petaluma at the Tiers 40th celebrations I wrote about yesterday (and the Montrachet) comes another for the year's heavy-hitters file - the Armand Rousseau Ruchottes-Chambertin Clos des …
'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 …
If ever I needed a reminder of how bloody big and variable Australia really is, then it came on Saturday morning's flight. Flying out of Sydney and it's hard to miss …
If you have just $50 to spend on a bottle of sparkling, then spend it on one of the glorious Adelaide Hills wines I talked about on Monday. But if you're …
As it says on the tin, here are ten of the best Shiraz to pass the tasting bench this October. A special note to the breadth of Hunter Shiraz from …
Always a pleasure to check in one of the benchmarks of Australian wine and the Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2018 is a beauty. This was only a very quick taste as …
Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon. The icon. A blue-chip Australian red with a history of glory spanning back decades to the beginning of Margaret River wine. Or at least that's the pitch. …
Oakridge 864 Funder & Diamond Chardonnay 2017 The Oakridge 864 Funder & Diamond Chardonnay 2017 was announced as the winner of the James Halliday Chardonnay Challenge last week, and by sheer …
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.