I always find it fascinating when a brand gets a PR agency. While previously it would just be a winemaker reaching out to say 'want to try my wines?', now …
I wasn't drinking when I opened this Bicknell FC Applecross Pinot Noir 2018 and regretted it. This sort of seduction, this effortless Pinot style is what I want to be …
This Tokar Estate Chardonnay 2019 is a superb rendition of what affordable, classy Yarra Chardonnay can taste like. I'm on the record already about my appreciation for the Tokar recent releases, …
All of Matt East's Rouleur wines are so crisp and refined - more about subtlety than anything outrageous. It works, especially in his super takes on McLaren Vale reds. This …
The top dog Pinot for Oakridge and it's another lovely, ripe, open-hearted wine. This Oakridge 864 Henk Pinot Noir 2019 is a very likeable Yarra Pinot too. The Henk Vineyard is …
I feel like a broken record banging out about how good the recent Tokar Estate releases have been. But you can mark down this Tokar Estate Coldstream Vineyard Chardonnay 2019 …
The tricky, low-yielding 2020 Yarra vintage (low yields, uneven flowering, plenty of rain events, warmer then cooler, with smoke and fire threatening) is writ large in this Mandala Pinot Noir …
Something beyond fruit, oak and tannin. That's what makes Pinot great. Especially if it's Burgundy, which is the king/queen/choose your figurehead of complex red wine. This De Bortoli Riorret Lusatia …
The style of these Sunshine Creek wines is constantly evolving. Indeed this Sunshine Creek Pinot Noir 2018 is the most delicate yet. Red fruited and quite fragrant this vintage - lean …
Not all wines can be great. Plenty are just ok drinks. And some are just bad. Here is a selection of wines that almost made it in May and June 2021. We're …
14% alcohol. It's a mark in the sand. One of those (unconscious) ripeness expectations, where anything north of 14% is going to have ripe fruit (in table wine) with minimal …
De Bortoli goes large on Yarra Cabernet. Or at least that's my expectation when the wide-shouldered bottle of 2019 De Bortoli Melba Amphora lands on the doorstep. But the Clos Apalta/90s Tintara …
Always a pleasure to have more drinkable Pinot Noir pass the desk, and these three have all been delicious. I didn't try them together but would be a fascinating exercise …
Cabernet is probably the least appreciated grape in the Graham household, even though I have a cellar full of Margaret River, Coonawarra & Hawke's Bay reds. Cab's unpopularity is purely a …
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 the environment.
Twenty one years later and I spend my days wearing many (wine) hats, mostly as a writer, presenter and marketer. and judge at wine shows around the world...Read more