I love textured white wines. Alsace field blends? Gimme. Barrel fermented Margaret River Sauv? Yes please. But every year, the 'textural white' segment disappoints. I get that it's a balancing act to …
It's been a rough week or so at Graham HQ, as a sniffly 5 month old meant little sleep and not enough wine... So let's keep this tight. As the name …
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 …
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 …
A wine to remind that not all Australian Merlot need be boring. Ruckus Estate/Merite Wines are pushing the Q45 clone and giving the grape the love it deserves. This Ruckus …
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 …
For the final post in my 'wines that moved me in April' series comes this final collection - that I'm calling the 'better reds that aren't Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz or …
Following on from my Cabernet compilation on Monday, let me introduce you to the Shiraz/Syrah selection. Twenty of the better Shiraz to pass the desk in April, all in one handy …
As close followers would have noticed, I've been on a mission this month, trying to get the sample pile back into shape. Now we're nearing the end of April and I'm …
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 …
There is no reason why this tasting should be so bad. Yet every year I line up a collection of textural white wines and every year it's disappointing. Except that this …
Two years ago Xavier Bizot of Terre à Terre held a tasting comparing a selection of the 'old world' of the new world. A group of wines that you'd call …
It feels like I've had a lot of premium Cabernet over the past few weeks, especially after the Voyager extravaganza and the Margaret River 50th Anniversary tastings. But no point in …
Australia, your 2013 birth year wine is ready (but can we make it Sunday every day)! What makes this duo so birth-year-wine-worthy is the structure. Wines explicitly built for ageing, with the eyes …
Working With Wine Highlights: Sweet Wines Flight 1 It seems like the second half of 2016 has passed by in a flash. Year. Gone. It's only now, however, that I'm finally in …
Can Cabernet Franc 'make it' in Australia? Long considered just a blending grape, I talked up the future of Orange's Cab Franc just the other week, and this new Terre à …
Cape Jaffa En Soleil Wrattonbully Pinot Gris 2015 The fruit here comes from the Koch family's organic vineyard at Wrattonbully. There is so much promise with the fruit sourcing and intentions …
I've been lucky to see the wines of Xavier Bizot and Lucy Croser's Terre à Terre project since the very beginning, snagging a taste of the inaugural Sauv Blanc even …
I'm in a benchmarking mood today, and Sauvignon Blanc is in the tasting headlights. The focus for this lineup was a wine that I think is amongst NZ's best 'classic' Sauvignon …
It's always fun benchmarking wines against the classics. Always. Even when the comparison 'contender' wine is shit, the tasting at least can be a good quality calibration exercise. Thankfully, 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, 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.