It's been fascinating to watch the revival of the big Burgundian negociants. Historically, names like Faiveley, Chanson and Louis Jadot have been treated with a certain disdain here in Australia, tagged as 'just negociant wines'. That's likely …
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 this collection - opened at …
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 …
With the official Graham HQ Chief Chardonnay Drinker 34 weeks pregnant, I'm not opening up as much Chardonnay as normal (outside of tasting lineups). The flip side is that I'm probably drinking more beer than ever …
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 …
Firstly, apologies for the little number of recent posts. More beaching, less writing for me this Christmas (not a bad thing at all). Today, I'm too sunburnt for the beach, so instead I'm attacking the …
Christmas is my favourite time of year. The smell of gardenias. The sun. The green grass. The promise of holidays. It's so good. This time of year is also perfect for opening lots of wines. I …
I'm still working out what to drink on Christmas day. I've got most of the usual boxes ticked - Primo Joseph sparkling red, '12 Giaconda Chardonnay maybe and a stray bottle of Pra Monte Grande that …
On Thursday, a squad of Hunter Valley winemakers came to Sydney to show off some new releases at the new Brix Distillery. While I couldn't hang around and drink beer with the lads, they had in …
Tapanappa Tiers 1.5m Chardonnay 2017 Another great Tapanappa Chardonnay. Sourced from a block of close-planted vines planted in 2003 on the Tiers property, this is quite a contrast to the more linear Tiers (which still has …
Just three and a half years ago I stood at the side of nearly century-old Grenache vineyard in the Barossa shaking my head. There we were, Marco Cirillo and I, gazing at a plot of ancient …
Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2016 Outside of Tassie, if there is one cool climate wine region in Australia that shows the most latent promise it is the Macedon Ranges. I had dinner with a few Macedon …
Sailor Seeks Horse Pinot Noir 2016 Here's a label on the rise. Gilli and Paul Lipscombe's Sailor Seeks Horse continues to produce beautiful Tasmanian wines from a rehabilitated 'renovators delight' vineyard in the Huon Valley. This …
Terre à Terre Crayères Vineyard Reserve 2015 For the past few vintages, the Terre à Terre label of Xavier Bizot and wife Lucy Croser has been inching towards a truly game-changing wine. Something that will put …
Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2017 Yes, this is an excellent vintage of Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay. I almost finished a bottle as a solo drinker last week, even with other wines to choose from. It's a delight. 2017 was …
From Shaw + Smith's prospective project to consistent quality wine in the space of just a few vintages - the Tolpuddle Vineyard has come a long long way. The Chardonnay, in particular, is so very good every …
This is Part 2 of the Coleraine vertical described here. Actually, while Coleraine had top billing at the tasting, the vertical of Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah was probably even more intriguing. Le Sol first surged …
Usually, verticals have a purpose. An excuse for the winery to show off a wine, launch a new one, or just to remind everyone how good something used to be. But sometimes, a vertical has …
There isn't much that Stepen Pannell - aka S.C. Pannell - hasn't done. Here's a winemaker that has won a Jimmy Watson Trophy (twice if you count Hardys). Worked for a big company and then gone …
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.