Latest reviews

Pemberton

Chardonnay

Beautifully crafted chardonnay demonstrating the virtues of Pemberton as a chardonnay region. The aromas are a mix of vanilla and butterscotch with a little lemon curd complexity. Flavours are intense and concentrated but with an effortless feel about them. Slightly nutty cashew with a spicy lift emerging. Classy wine.

Western Australia

Chenin Blanc

Oh my, we’re on to something here. Chenin blanc has been a part of Houghton from 1937 when Jack Mann created the famous White Burgundy (now White Classic) from Swan Valley chenin blanc. This has been made from old vine Margaret River chenin and is a stunning expression of a variety that continues to reveal new chapters to its playbook....

Perth Hills

White Varietal

Great to see this fortified coming from Myattsfield. It's made from pedro ximenez and has been blended over several vintages. The aromas are so typical with those notes of honey and toffee with a rich caramel character. The palate is rich with a subtle honeycomb and honey with a slight spicy flair. Clean neutral spirit contributes to its fresh vibrant...

Perth Hills

Cabernet Blend

This is really quite beautiful. A partial Bordeaux blend from a warmish season although one that finished somewhat milder suiting these later ripening varieties. Blackcurrant, blackberry and dark chocolate with a slightly leafy floral perfume. The palate is plush and firm with the polished tannins and fine-grained oak holding\ a tight line through to the finish. Certainly, handle cellaring.

Perth Hills

Durif

Durif can be mighty difficult to handle, and if in the wrong hands can get away from you. This is one of the best I have tried in recent years. For a start it’s not as big but still has the persistent power. Big whack of spicy dark fruits with a dry earthy and subtle licorice infusion. Blackberry and cherry...

Perth Hills

Tempranillo

A beautiful example of a highly drinkable medium bodied wine from this famous Spanish variety. Captures the typical blackcurrant and slightly liqueur cherry characters of the variety. But then a lift of bright raspberry edges in with some nice spice. Smooth and almost velvety. Great drinking in the next few years while all those primary fruit characters are so evident.

Perth Hills

Myattsfield Vineyards shiraz 2022 ($28) This is quite a firm style which seems to mirror the warm vintage. Traditional techniques at work here with fermentation in open fermenters and pressing to a mix of older French and American oak. Dark chocolate and licorice with a dusting cocoa powder. The sweet fruits emerge as it breathes and are offset by a...

Perth Hills

Red Blend

Highly fragrant and quite beautifully perfumed aromas greet immediately on this thoroughly engaging blend. The oak influence is deliberately underplayed with fermentation in a mix of oak and ceramic egg. The combination of varieties brings a mix of dark and lifted red fruits together with that mourvedre producing a nice spicy dried herb edge on the finish.

A bright and light bodied rose offering some rather interesting nuances. It’s a combination of the spicy and slightly savoury mourvedre, the more red fruit nebbiolo and the highly fragrant viognier. Aromas of characteristic rose petal and raspberry while the palate kicks in with an apricot and red berry combination. Score: 92/100            Cellar: 2 years

Perth Hills

Chardonnay

A bit of winemaking has gone into this tidy young chardonnay. It was fermented in a combination of new French oak, ceramic egg and stainless steel and then went through a period of battonage after fermentation. It’s a light to medium bodied wine with a good textural feel carrying a mix of cashew and lemon curd with a lift of...

Perth Hills

White Varietal

Myattsfield Vineyards vermentino 2024 ($25) This has been a varietal winner since Myattsfield started releasing it a few years ago. Not as fine and linear as previous years but has nice apple crumble characters on the nose and then into the palate, which releases a slightly nutty nuance. Nice current drinking wine.

Perth Hills

White Varietal

Vermentino is a variety that certainly suits a crisper and finer aperitif style sparkling wine. Having said that, this warm year has provided good texture and palate richness while retaining that fine and delicate edge. Plenty of apple and pear with a lift of lemon rind citrus. Fine lingering palate.

Geographe

Shiraz

A wine that’s changed a little over the years, from what was a brooding high alcohol monster, into a wine that is still formidable, but with more restraint and less alcohol. The lowest yielding part of the vineyard is chosen as the base of this wine with open fermentation and hand plunging to soften and balance the tannins. The palate...

Geographe

Cabernet Sauvignon

A stylish and most elegantly refined cabernet with a distinctive varietal expression of blackcurrant and leafy plum with a little olive tapenade. The palate is vibrant and bursting with high energy fruit with that blackcurrant character evident, plus a light leafy red berry lift. A thread of chalky tannin and a sliver of fine-grained oak add their considerable support,

Geographe

Shiraz

Not surprising this is one of the best examples of this wine yet released. The vintage worked perfectly in its favour, producing fruit of medium body and loaded with deeply intense flavours striking a wonderful natural balance. It’s had a reasonable level of new oak at 55%, but the intensity and concentration of the fruit has taken it easily. Bright...

Geographe

Tempranillo

Tempranillo appears to go very well in Geographe, and these guys have been making one of the best. This is a wine of plush smooth medium bodied fruit displaying a slightly grainy gravelly textural feel. Brilliant red colour with traces of crimson. A fine chalky tannin influence and just a little oak to balance. Ideal food wine in the next...

Geographe

Cabernet Blend

A smooth and supple easy drinking blend offering plenty of soft and supple fruit supported by the firm thread of cabernet with fine tannins and a subtle lick of oak. Plenty of appealing blackcurrant and dark spicy plum characters. A wine designed for earlier drinking.

Geographe

Shiraz

A bright and lively Geographe shiraz dominated by the medium bodied perfumed succulent fruit. There is a pristine purity about it. On the nose it’s all raspberry and cherry plum with a liberal sprinkle of spices and a twist of cracked pepper. But the palate then springs to life with its high tone fruit.

Geographe

Red Blend

Such a beautiful vintage has been captured perfectly with this classic Rhone-inspired blend. It’s a medium bodied bright as a button fruit led wine of captivating brightness and vitality. The palate is a mix of blackberry and cherry with a little spicy, peppery infusion to lift. The soft and supple fruit have plenty of structural support from the chalky tannins...

Geographe

Chardonnay

A highly expressive chardonnay from this outstanding vintage. The aroma immediately makes a statement with its intense notes of struck match, lemon curd and a subtle savoury character. The palate has plenty of punch. The fruit was handpicked, whole bunch pressed to new and one-year-old French oak. There is a driving intensity about the palate which extends easily to a...

Geographe

Chardonnay

Here is a chardonnay designed for early drinking. It’s loaded with racy honeydew melon, lemon citrus and a light floral note. The palate is clean and crisp with good intensity supported and driven by a fine linear acidity. Crunchy lively finish

Geographe

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

A lighter style of SBS, but one that has excellent fruit character and intensity. Lightly herbaceous but sitting beneath is the vibrant core of tropical citrussy fruit. It’s bright and lively with a crisp long finish providing a refreshing lift.

Geographe

Tempranillo

Appealing rose from tempranillo, a variety that suits this style so well. Light lift of strawberry and cherry with a dash of spice and dusty earth. It’s light bodied but with excellent texture complemented by a fine minerally acidity through to a dry savoury finish. Excellent food wine, here.

South Australia

Shiraz Blend

This is 97% shiraz and 3% cabernet from McLaren Vale, the Barossa and Clare. The colour is typically deep and dense. It leads you into an aroma of pure intensity. Has all the things you expect. The black fruits, dark meaty charcuterie notes, smoke, blackcurrant and blackberry with masses of dark chocolate. Tannins are seamlessly woven into a powerful palate...

South Australia

Cabernet Sauvignon

One of the most individual of all Australian cabernets in that it is matured in 100% new American oak. It’s a blend of Coonawarra, Barossa, Padthaway and McLaren Vale. This is one of the best with the oak influence less profound than some previously. Loads of dark fruits merging seamlessly with cedar and black olive, with a slightly meaty gamey...

South Australia

Shiraz

This started life as a red wine trial to see how Penfolds could marry French oak with Barossa shiraz. To say it has worked is an understatement. This is a cracker. Perfumed spicy notes on the nose with a peppery fennel character. The palate is elegant, in fact as elegant and smoothly integrated as I can recall. Dark chocolate and...

South Australia

Cabernet Blend

This is a commemorative release wine that marks the 180th anniversary of the birth of Penfolds. Effectively a special bin wine similar to the Bin 620 in 1966 and the Bin 920. It’s 57 % cabernet and the remainder shiraz and looking at French oak only. All the oak is one year old to suit the weight and the style...

South Australia

Cabernet Sauvignon

This is pure essence of Coonawarra cabernet. Perfume notes of leaf and red fruits with lifted raspberry and other red fruits. On the nose traces of bay leaf, black olive tapenade and graphite emerge. On the palate red fruits with lifted black fruits and mulberry leaf reveal further nuances. A powerful yet elegantly structured with of great poise and style....

South Australia

Shiraz

The quality of the fruit for this marvelous wine that comes from the Magill Estate right in the suburbs of Adelaide was stunning. Opens with dark fruits of blackberry and plum with deeper notes of licorice and sage-bush. The seamlessly presented palate displays a mass of dark chocolate and dried herbs. Fine chalky tannins and a decent lick of French...

South Australia

Shiraz

This is sublime. It’s a 100% shiraz from the Barossa and McLaren Vale. In some years depending on vintage, it includes some cabernet but the quality this year was perfect. Elegant and stylish with the power and poise you expect of a wine that will cellar for decades. Colour is dense black with just a little red on the edges....

South Australia

Cabernet Blend

Another famous multi-regional blend from McLaren Vale, Coonawarra, the Barossa Valley, Padthaway and Wrattonbully. The colour is so deep and dark. Loads of dark plum and chocolate nuanced in the complex aromas with traces of cigar box tobacco leaf and spice. The palate is rich and densely concentrated but delivered with poise and restraint. Lifted black fruits on the palate...

South Australia

Cabernet Sauvignon

This is another multi-regional blend from vineyards in Coonawarra, Padthaway, Wrattonbully, McLaren Vale and the Barossa. This marks the continuing more to the cooler southern regions, especially in a year like 2022 which was superb down there. Aromas of floral, sage and dried herbs on the nose. The palate shows delicious, sweet ripe fruit with flavours of iron filings. I...

South Australia

Shiraz

Always a crowd pleaser and traditionally one of my personal favourites. The aromas of licorice, iron filings and other ferrous notes are typical of this Marananga subregion. The aromas show further characters of sage and dried herbs with a little gunmetal. The palate is so perfectly poised and styled with that gunmetal characters edging through it to the finish. A...

South Australia

Shiraz

This famous wine is now a multi-regional blend with fruit from McLaren vale, the Barossa, Padthaway and Wrattonbully. This is one of the best in recent years with beautiful aromas of meaty charcuterie character, merging with a little licorice and lifted aniseed. Dark plummy fruits with traces of licorice, dark chocolate and a further hint of graphite contribute to an...

South Australia

Shiraz

A powerful expression of Coonawarra in a season that finished pretty good, providing fruit of great depth and concentration, but with typical regional elegance. Shows lots more meaty shiraz characters than the previous year with a cracked black pepper influence adding further lift. The palate is quite firm with grainy chalky tannins in support. Nice leafy nuance on the finish....

South Australia

Grenache

Has become one of the favourites from the entire collection, not least because it is such brilliant value for money. Perfumes of cherry and creamy plummy roasted almond emerge immediately. The medium bodied palate is so elegant and delightfully refined. Seamless integration of French and American oak, with the small amount of new oak an important part. A most complete...

Tasmania

Pinot Noir

Fragrant and highly perfumed pinot sourced from Tasmania, marking the continuing transition to this cooler region of pinot. Early vintages were from the Adelaide Hills. It’s been Tassie for the past two or three years. Lovely lift of cherry and raspberry with fragrant strawberry nuances. Traces of dried herbs add further aromatic interest. The palate is light bodied but with...

South Australia

Grenache

A beautiful light to medium bodied grenache sourced from the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Exotic aromas of rose petal, musk stick and even a lift of confectionary Turkish Delight evident. The palate is sublime. It’s medium bodied with texture and fine chalky tannins and acidity providing definition and direction. A subtle cracked seashell character adds the final flourish. Love...

Cabernet Blend

This is a combination of 91% cabernet sauvignon and 9% cabernet franc from the Napa Valley and South Australia. It’s a wine of generosity and volume with abundant ripe fruit on the nose immediately assailing. An engaging weave of black fruits open with lifted pepper and savoury dried herbs emerging. The palate shows plenty of black fruits, dark chocolate and...

Cabernet Sauvignon

This is cabernet from the Napa Valley. It’s a brooding monster, powerfully framed and structured yet poised and polished at the same time. The aromas are more in the dried herb and sage like zone, with traces of meat and charcuterie evident. The palate is still tightly wound with a lifted red fruit and cherry cola characters. Dry and savoury...