I have never been able to taste Penfolds' original Bin 60A from the 1962 vintage. The wine was never commercially released, but won many awards and by many wine critics is described as Australia's greatest wine. The Bin 60A label has only been used one more time, for a wine from the 2004 vintage, which showed similar characteristics to 1962. I tasted the 2004 Penfolds Bin 60A a few days ago. The wine is the same blend of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (56%)  and Barossa Shiraz (44%). I start by saying this wine bowled me over from the get go. Perfumed forest aromas rise from the gl ..read more

 Bekkers is a boutique producer with a focus on the northern, hilly parts of McLaren Vale, and a meticulous focus on Shiraz and Grenache. Toby Bekkers operates at the premium end of the market. The 2018 Bekkers Syrah delivers layers of fruit on the palate, blackberry and forest berries. There are also tobacco notes and licorice. The wine is focused and intense, without being overbearing. It is quite savoury on the back palate, a really interesting wine. There is good energy, before firm tannins lead to a medium plus finish. The wine is quite balanced, and I would happily drink more tha ..read more

 I think of O'Leary Walker in a similar way in which Bin 389 is described as baby Grange. To me, O'Leary Walker is the baby Riesling to Grosset's Rieslings. Both produce Polish Hill and Watervale Rieslings. Grosset Rieslings show this purity of fruit and great drive. O'Leary Walker is similar, just not quite as much, and at a much lower price. The 2023 O'Leary Walker Polish Hill Riesling delivers the typical lemon and lime flavours of Clare Valley. It is perhaps not as focused and precise as the Grosset equivalent, but it comes close. The wine is very energetic on the palate. It is line ..read more

 Every now and then, I try a new Italian variety from the hundreds on offer. This 2022 Bisci Verdicchio from the Marche region turns out to be quite interesting. Bisci wines are organic, the grapes harvested from high altitude vineyards.  The 2022 Bisci Verdicchio is matured in concrete tanks and left on lees for eight months. The wine has a pale golden colour and is quite aromatic on the nose, with white flower notes. On the palate, peach and melon flavours add to the moderate citrus. The key to this wine is its texture. The wine is quite full in the mouth, flavoursome, yet dry ..read more

 It has been a long while since I had a Petaluma bottle. This is strange, given it is such an iconic label. And I never had an Evans Vineyard wine. So I was looking forward to this 2016 Petaluma Evans Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot.  The wine is concentrated on the palate, with blackcurrent and mocca flavours delivering a predominantly savoury sensation in the mouth. The Merlot component is weaved well into the Cabernet Sauvignon, thereby avoiding the typical mid palate hole of a pure Cabernet Sauvignon. The tannins are dry and firm. This wine is about structure. I wish it was ..read more

If you have the Fogarty Wine Group as an owner, and Julian Langworthy as the talented wine maker, it is no surprise that Deep Woods made a lot of gains, and is now regarded as one of the top wineries in Western Australia. This can really be put to the test with their entry level Chardonnay, in this case the 2022 Deep Woods Hillside Chardonnay. The fruit comes from a number of vineyards, mostly at somewhat higher elevation. Despite being an entry wine, the wine sees some new oak and is made in a modern style, with indigenous yeast used for wild fermentation and minimal fining. The wine has a ..read more

 Doug's vineyard is at the outskirts of the little town Ramsey, in Macedon. I previously reviewed Cooper's other Macedon Pinot Noir from the Ray-Monde vineyard, and waxed lyrically about it. I will not do it quite so much about this wine, the 2019 Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir. The wine spent one year in oak, before transferred to stainless steel for four months, still on lees. No fining nor filtration, and low alcohol at 12%, similar to its brother.  Red and black cherry fruit with good intensity feature on the palate. Savoury and herbal notes are there as well and deli ..read more

New Zealand Chardonnay is nothing like Australian Chardonnay. A closer comparison could be made with Napa Valley, although this is hard as well, as there are so many different styles in both regions. In general,  premium New Zealand Chardonnay is often quite rich (get away from the Sauvignon Blanc image?), and flavours are often stone fruit based as opposed to the citrus profile of the majority of Australian Chardonnay. The other day, I tasted four interesting examples.     The first wine was the 2021 Tony Bish Skeetfield Chardonnay from Hawkes Bay. Tony Bish is a leading ..read more

 It is refreshing (no pun) to sometimes step out of your comfort zone, the field of the known, and try something new. It sharpens the senses. I visited Georgia last year, the cradle of winemaking, and was particularly impressed by this small avant-garde winery; organic, white wine on lees, nothing added, no fining no filtration, maturing in underground terracotta, of course; avant-garde for us, but traditional for them. A wine I found from them in Australia was this 2021 Pheasant's Tears Goruli Mtsvane. Comments about the grape variety are very contradictory, so I won't dwell on it here ..read more

 Virginia Willcock, the long standing winemaker of Vasse Felix, has been in the top echelon of Australian winemaking for quite some time. She has raised the quality of every wine in the portfolio year after year. This has recently been recognized by Wine Spectator, when the 2021 Vasse Felix Filius Cabernet Sauvignon has been named the second best value wine in the world of last year. This Cabernet, which has some Malbec blended into it to fill out the mid palate, gets the royal treatment, and this for $25-30 per bottle; wild yeast fermentation and 11 months maturation in French oak barrel ..read more