Latest reviews

Swan Valley

Verdelho

These old vines were planted in the Swan Valley in the nineteenth century and are among the oldest producing the State. Not the varietal punch of previous vintages but instead there is a fine minerally linear feel, still with palate depth and intensity. Has a zingy mouthfeel with a minerally citrus tang adding to the long finish. Give a bit...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

In a hot year like ’24 it is very useful to have access to your own vineyard south of Margaret River at Karridale. A small part of this was fermented in new French oak and it becomes immediately apparent on the nose. It adds a nutty complexity to the primary punchy fruit aromas and then into the palate where it...

Swan Valley

White Blend

This is a very tidy white from verdelho and sauvignon blanc showing excellent fruit intensity from what was a challenging very hot vintage. It shows what can be achieved. It has a refreshing tang and vibrant fruitiness lifted with a minerally acidity. Okay, not the raw punching power of previous years but still offering plenty.

Margaret River

Shiraz

You’re getting a decent bang for your buck with this excellent value red wine. Red fruits with a subtle spicy aromatic which probably stems from a small portion of viognier. Palate is firm with a fleshy cloak of fruit supported by a little new French oak. Plenty of ripe fruits on the palate with a mix of blackberry and dark...

Margaret River

Viogner

Xanadu Vinework viognier 2023 ($30) No mistaking the distinctive aromas of apricot and ginger with a little musk stick all pointing to a clear statement that this is viognier. Palate is typically spicy and zesty with a trace of lychee and peachy melon. It’s a more restrained version and ideal for drinking early. Score: 90/100 Cellar: 3 years

Margaret River

Malbec

A tiny production malbec from this vineyard that is definitely worth getting your hands on. Well trying to anyway. The colour initially is brilliant and bright with a bursting pulse of red and light crimson. Love the mix of red and black fruits on the nose with a floral dark chocolate infusion. Then the palate. It’s seamlessly structured with super...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

The cooler vintage has contributed to a wine of style and elegance, yet still displaying the essential varietal blackcurrant and light bay leaf characters. A little graphite minerality emerges on the nose. The palate is so well balanced with chalky tannins complementing the mix of black olive and blackcurrant fruit flavours. Nice subtle use of oak.

Geographe

Tempranillo

Take me back to Spain. Okay not all the way back but there is a lot to like about this interpretation of the famous Spanish variety. Bursts of red fruit with raspberry and cherry sprinkled with spices. The palate is soft and quite supple but with enough tannin and light oak to provide the structure and direction. A super food...

Margaret River

Rose

Super light bodied rose perfect for summer drinking. The colour is typically pale pinkie orange peel. The aromas show a slightly savoury red currant character. Then the palate delivers with a slightly textural feel but still with a racy zingy energy. Good to go right now.

Western Australia

Chardonnay

This is such a good wine for this price. It’s unashamedly value for money with a load of ripe stone fruit and a little citrus creating a distinctly varietal aroma and a generous though still controlled palate. Nails it for style and value.

Western Australia

Chardonnay

A fleshier and most appealing value for money chardonnay. Aromas of stone fruit with a mealy and slightly lemon curd influence. Then the palate delivers with impeccable and balance. Edgy grapefruit cuts into the ripe stone fruit to deliver a well-weighted palate. Nice saline minerality on the finish.

Margaret River

Chenin Blanc

So many good chenin blancs emerging these days. Here is a lighter and less obviously fruity style, but one that is eminently drinkable and refreshing. Has a tighter apple and melon character with a splash of citrus. Keen and linear palate with a racy crisp finish.

Margaret River

White Varietal

A fine and quite delicate style that has emerged from the heat of the 24 summer. Certainly, shows the resilience of the variety. A burst of apple and pear with a citrus edge open proceedings. The palate is keen and crisp with a slightly textured feel. Nice wine for immediate drinking.

Margaret River

White Blend

A pure and delightful expression of this great value for money and highly drinkable style from Margaret River. Loaded with a tropical fruit and a lightly herbaceous combination of fruits. Has a clean and crisp zingy finish. Ready for current drinking.

Margaret River

Xanadu Vinework semillon 2023 ($30) This is made into a keen crisp style with every effort to retain its vibrant lively lemony fruit characters. The nose shows that distinctive lemon scent of semillon with just a trace f riper stone fruit in the background. Tea ate beautifully weighted with a fine acid sustaining a lingering finish. Ideal for drinking in...

Margaret River

White Blend

This is a really well made 75/25 blend in this super season for white varieties. A 22% portion was wild fermented in new French oak and there was regular lees stirring of all components over three months. Nice lemony aromas with a faint hint of gooseberry. The palate is textured and intensely flavoured with the oak neatly weighted in support....

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

An impressive cabernet sauvignon from a season which produced wines of power and volume with a firm structure. This is all of that. The typical blackcurrant aromas are augmented with sweet plummy nuances. The palate is tightly framed with firm tannins and a decent oak influence from the 40% new French oak contribution. The colour is bright and almost luminous....

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Wow, this is a mighty good wine for $40. There is real class here from whichever way you look at it. The aromas are a minerally sea spray and light citrus experience that are so engaging. The energy and bright chalky acidity is a feature which is a result of no malolactic fermentation. But the texture has been built in...

Pemberton

Pinot Noir

Smooth, effortless, stylish and seamless. There just some of the obvious observations in this excellent pinot noir. Opens with a burst of cherry and sweet raspberry cut with a little spice and slightly edgier cranberry juice. The palate is light bodied but with a firm structural core supporting the fine and quite pretty fruit. Persistent and focussed through to the...

Pemberton

Riesling

The little extra time in bottle really has this Pemberton riesling humming. Starting to merge the original lemony citrus florals with new and emerging notes of light toast. There’s delightful floral minerality adding to the complexity with a fine lingering finish. I think I would prefer to drink this while the primary fruit characters are just seeing the first hint...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

This comes from the outstanding 2020 vintage. It was small but super concentrated with powerful fruit intensity. Brilliant light red and crimson colour shimmers in the glass. The nose in in that red fruit zone with a redcurrant and understated blackcurrant with a little glazed cherry The palate is more in the medium bodied zone, but the power of the...

Margaret River

Malbec

A super year for malbec in Margaret River and this translates into an excellent example of the variety. It’s largely malbec but there are small contributions from cabernet and petit verdot adding colour and structure. Neatly integrated with bright red fruits dominant. Has all the raspberry and spicy chocolate characters you expect. Supported by a chalky tannin profile. Excellent wine.

Margaret River

Cabernet Blend

An appealing medium bodied blend of dominant cabernet with merlot and petit verdot bringing their influences to the mid palate. Has a lifted aroma of blackcurrant and typical bay leaf on the nose with the faintest thread of graphite. The palate is focused and controlled with firmish fine tannins and a little oak holding the line through to a nice...

Margaret River

Rose

A neat little blend of cabernet and merlot capturing the light berry characters of strawberry and red currant with a slightly spicy note. It’s a fragrant opening that works through into a light dry palate. Has a slightly savoury and chalky mouth feel which offsets the fruit characters rather well.

Great Southern

Pinot Noir

One of the very best wines yet from Castelli, showcasing fruit from the Denmark vineyard. This gets a bit of hands-on treatment, with hand picking, whole bunch fermentation and a little carbonic maceration before barrel fermentation. It brings the wine to life with an energy and drive. It’s medium bodied and within that controlled framework there is power and a...

Great Southern

Pinot Noir

A thoroughly brilliant and bright pinot from Castelli’s home block near Denmark. The aromas are pure joy with notes of cherry and spicy strawberry. A subtle earthy nuance adds to the complex opening. Then the light to medium bodied palate captures so much of the ethereal fruit characters of the variety in this season. Minerally and slightly chalky tannins with...

Great Southern

Chardonnay

Seems to mark a style shift for what has been a very good wine from the start. This is a more precise and delicately structured chardonnay but still with an intensity and drive. It’s a combination of Gingin and Burgundian clones. Dominant white peach and slightly mealy character on the nose. Subtle toasty influences on a fine and lingering minerally...

Great Southern

Riesling

A more restrained riesling than previous years but it has managed to capture the citrussy florals of this variety sourced from Mount Barker, the Porongurup and Denmark. It’s a precise and linear wine with a slightly spicy regional character. Nice wine in the shorter term.

Great Southern

Chardonnay

The fruit for this excellent chardonnay comes from various vineyards in the Great Southern in what was a superb year. It’s a fine and delicately structured wine with terrific flavour intensity throughout. Notes of typical floral white peach, minerals and a trace of popcorn character all captured in the opening. The palate is finely balanced with texture and intensity. A...

Pemberton

Chardonnay

The beauty and pristine nature of this great vintage shine through in this thoroughly beautiful chardonnay. On the nose aromas of nectarine and peach merge with a splash of citrus and a layer of meal. Richer notes of crème brulee and lightly roasted cashew emerge from somewhere deep in the palate. It’s a finer style yet there is sustained persistence...

Pemberton

Pinot Noir

So, here’s the thing. The ’20 Tete was the wine Bill Pannell was waiting for most of his life. It was a wonderful wine. But the ’21 comes along and delivers a wine of equal class and refinement, but in a slightly prettier more seductive and alluring form, a product of this cooler year. Complex weave of aromas with a...

Frankland River

Syrah

This excellent syrah includes the newly introduced clones 470 and 171, which contribute to a new level of complexity. It’s been made with a light winemaker’s touch and only a tiny amount of new French oak to spice things up. There is structure here diving deep into the medium bodied highly perfumed and supple fruit characters. Spices and a little...

Frankland River

Mourvèdre

Yet another remarkable Rhone variety expressed perfectly from Frankland River. The aim appears to have been to present this as true a reflection of the vineyard as possible. It’s from bush vines and then a combination of whole bunches to build structure, wild fermentation to build texture and then finishing off for 11 months on lees in older French oak....

Frankland River

Riesling

The heat in Frankland tested every bit of viticultural expertise to achieve quality fruit. This one has emerged in good shape. It comes from the distinctive Powderbark vineyard with the lemon zest characters well to the fore. It’s a lightly fragrant and nicely defined riesling with length and precision.

Frankland River

Grenache

The pretty much perfect season in Frankland River has resulted in some of the best grenache yet released from this region. This is certainly a case in point. Yes, it’s soft and supple with plush red fruits and florals, but there is a more serious structure and purpose through the middle palate. Radiates brightness from its deep crimson red hues...

Frankland River

Mourvèdre

This marvellous rose makes a compelling statement of what modern rose is all about. Has a pale copper and onion skin colour. Then the aromas are a delightful red berry fragrance with light dried herbs and a tweak regional ferrous character. The light bodied palate has a spicy and faint strawberry nuance with just a little Turkish delight. Smooth and...

Margaret River

Cabernet Blend

Has been one of the standout performers in this tasting over many years. From the super 23 vintage, this is a perfectly presented blend with loads of medium bodied sweet fruit balanced with a sliver of oak and a fine gentle tannin influence.

Margaret River

Cabernet Blend

Wow. You won’t be able to put this one down. Exotic perfumes of bright red berries with a little minerally earthy nuance before the final lift of violet showing the subtle influence of a small amount of cabernet franc. The palate is pure indulgence with supple fruit wrapped around a fine thread of tannin and a gentle touch of oak....

Margaret River

Chardonnay

The crystalline purity and balance of the ’23 vintage has been brilliantly captured in this super chardonnay from Jeremy Gordon. Intense aromas of grapefruit and lemon curd with a savoury saline combination. The palate delivers with deep concentration and precision that extends to an endlessly long finish with a final savoury flourish. The maturation on lees with regular stirring has...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

A bright and lively chardonnay displaying some most attractive melon and citrus aromas with a floral lift. The palate is precise yet flavoursome. And sitting behind that fruit is the impact of wild fermentation and six months in oak. So even at this budget end there is plenty of thought that’s gone into creating a great value drink.