Australia’s more than 2,400 vignerons make a greater diversity and higher quality wine than ever before in a wine history dating from the first fleet. My top-15 therefore represents a wide range of Australian styles from seven distinct regions in four states, plus five multi-region blends, including one bubbly. Completing the lineup are two imports … Continue reading Top 15 wines under $15
Coldstream Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2014 Yarra Valley, Victoria $52.25–$60 Gold medal winner, National Wine Show of Australia. Coldstream Reserve impressed at the National Wine Show. A few days later, in a line up of Coldstream Hills chardonnays dating back to the 1988 vintage, the 2014 Reserve stood out for the volume of aroma and powerful … Continue reading Wine review – gold medal and trophy winners from Australia’s National Wine Show
By New Year 2015 Canberra’s widely scattered vineyards, ranging in altitude from around 550 metres to 860 metres, held big, healthy crops. Vignerons crossed their fingers, hoping for the weather to hold. And it did, despite rain, warm weather and subsequent threat of bunch rot for a brief period in January. From budburst in spring … Continue reading Canberra wine 2015 – a great vintage and a sense of adventure
Bremerton Special Release Langhorne Creek Mourvedre 2013 $24 Sisters Rebecca and Lucy Willson make and market a range of mainstream wines as well as little gems like this mourvedre. The variety, originally from France’s Rhone Valley, generally appears as the minor partner in blends with shiraz and grenache. However, several producers, including the Willsons, make … Continue reading Wine review – Bremerton, Tar and Roses, West Cape Howe
Bitter Phew, 137 Oxford Street, Paddington Late on a warm, sunny Sydney day, my beer scout, Mr Malty, marched me up Oxford Street to the remarkable Bitter Phew bar. We strode up the narrow, dark staircase at number 137 and into the homely watering hole, lit gently by oblique winter sun slanting through open windows. … Continue reading Mr Malty’s favourite Phew
Jim Barry Veto Riesling 2015 Lodge Hill vineyard, Clare Valley, South Australia $35 Peter Barry and sons Tom and Sam put a bit of the mongrel into their new riesling. It zigs away from Australia’s traditional pure, delicate, lime-like style towards greater ripeness, with notably more body, grip and texture. Later harvesting, partial barrel fermentation … Continue reading Aussie wine reviews – seven varieties, six regions, four states
Brangayne of Orange Riesling 2014 $22 The Hoskins family owns two vineyards at Orange: the Brangayne vineyard (elevation 960 to 1,000 metres); and the slightly less cool Ynys Witrin vineyard (860 to 880 metres). Riesling, from the lower site, was harvested in the cool of a late March night and trucked about 200 kilometres north-east … Continue reading Wine review – Brangayne, Clonakilla and Tim Adams
Pipers Brook Riesling 2014 $34 Pipers Brook vineyard, Tasmania Tasmania may well become Australia’s premier riesling-growing region, upstaging the variety’s traditional heartland of the Clare and Eden Valleys, South Australia. OK, let’s include comparative newcomers, Canberra District and Great Southern, Western Australia, too. For Tasmania, the question remains whether the whole island gets in on … Continue reading Wine review – Pipers Brook, Bremerton, Golden Ball, Mount Horrocks, Cross Stitch and Mad Fish
Evans and Tate Metricup Road Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2013 $17.10–$24 Evans and Tate – founded in 1974 at Metricup Road, Margaret River – now belongs to Griffith-based McWilliams Wines, giving the brand much-needed stability and distribution. The wine’s prime focus is on the dazzling fresh fruit flavours of semillon and sauvignon blanc. In … Continue reading Wine review – Evans and Tate, Heartland, and Voyager Estate
Heartland Langhorne Creek Dolcetto and Lagrein 2013 $20–$22 Heartland produces a unique blend of dolcetto – an inky deep, low-acid, aromatic Piedmontese red variety – and lagrein, a sometimes rustic, grippy variety from the Alto Adige region, in Italy’s north-east. Winemaker Ben Glaetzer says he captures dolcetto’s fresh, floral notes by fermenting and maturing it … Continue reading Wine review – Heartland, Clonakilla and Chalmers