Latest reviews

Frankland River

Tempranillo

Captures so much of the essential character of this Spanish variety. Comes off Frankland River bush vines and the use of a mix of new and used American and French oak has allowed it to maintain its supple smooth textural fruitiness. But there are tannins in there to add support through the middle. The use of good old-fashioned fruit stomping...

Great Southern

White Blend

The thing with traminer, is that if you overplay your hand it dominates to the detriment of other varieties. In this case the balance of the two varieties is spot on with just a little of the varietal lychee and spicy characters of the traminer lurking in the background. As it opens up some nice tropical notes emerge with a...

Swan Valley

White Varietal

The fruit comes from the Swan Valley, which in 2023 had an outstanding vintage, just perfect for these aromatic varieties. It’s a vermentino with a surprising textural feel displaying a lemon pith and subtle sea spray character. I like the slightly different take on this variety, and it offers just that little bit more interest and complexity on the palate.

Mount Barker

Cabernet Sauvignon

One of the oldest cabernet plantings in the Great Southern, having started in 1972. Nelson picks in two portions and ferments separately in amphora and barriques with about 30% new oak. He is aiming for a modern style and more refined and elegant style of cabernet. It’s bright and lively with energy bursting through it. Has a floral note with...

Great Southern

Pinot Noir

This vineyard was a great investment by Paul Nelson. It is starting to produce some really outstanding wines. This is certainly one of them. It was 20% whole bunch in fermentation and hand plunged. Had three weeks on skins and then basket pressed to a mix of new puncheons and older barriques. Has a beautiful talcy feel on the palate....

Great Southern

Chardonnay

This is a supreme example of Denmark chardonnay from this supreme vintage. Opens with a striking minerally oyster shell aroma with a slightly briny character. This comes off the Karriview vineyard which also provides fruit for the Loam. It was all handpicked and was pressed into tight grained barriques. Interestingly it is one of the few Australian chardonnays using 100%...

Great Southern

Chardonnay

This is something of a breakthrough chardonnay from Denmark. It joins some other outstanding wines being produced in this subregion, but when you take in the price Nelson is making a real statement…and why not. It comes off the Karriview vineyard and was picked from selected vines with just enough to make one barrel. Basket pressed to oak and then...

Mount Barker

Riesling

Has a distinctive lemony and slightly talcy aroma. It’s 70% Mount Barker and 30% Porongurups fruit. The Porongurup component gives it the edginess and palate tension, adding to its precision and focus. The palate has intensity and flavour with plenty of fruit depth and its slightly more generous mouth feel is a product of this very warm vintage. It’s dry...

Mount Barker

White Varietal

This is 100% Mount Barker fruit showing aromas of pear and apple with a little pastry crumble. It’s pleasing and crunchy with lift fruit intensity. Has a nice fruit texture which comes from its time on lees. Just stainless steel, but three months were spent on lees with an initial stirring regime. Love the lemony citrus tang on the finish.

Porongurup

Sauvignon Blanc

An excellent Porongurups savvy. It’s textured and flavoursome with a melon edge to the tropical fruit. Has 50% old puncheon fermentation and the rest stainless steel, which shows in the textured mouthfeel and palate structure. The approach has muted the primary punchy fruit characters creating a wine of complexity and interest. Love this wine with its aromatics and acid profile.

Porongurup

Riesling

Interesting take on riesling. It's all Porongurups and all fermented in amphora. Light pressing and wild fermentation has helped build a palate profile. It’s a sort of non-conforming wine with flavour and texture. Muted and less profound citrus aromas, but there is still a keen acidity to the finish.

Great Southern

Sauvignon Blanc

Sourced from Albany and left on skins for four days before being pressed off to a mix of 20% new oak and all the rest older oak barriques. Creates a more neutral but still flavoursome wine. Has a slightly reductive sweaty character. The fume oak influence mutes the aromatics but retains a beautiful palate feel.

Frankland River

Grenache

A lot of attention to detail in this rose. It's grenache and mourvedre from Frankland River and was all handpicked before fermentation in and maturation in concrete. It comes off the Swinney Powderbark vineyard. Love the texture and mouth feel in this. It has weight and elegance with a slightly savoury rustic character. It’s the palest of colours – onion...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Okay, so this is sauvignon blanc but a serious departure from what you generally expect of this variety. So, let’s cover the making first. Whole bunch basket pressed to a mix of oaks with 2/3 new Troncais. Right there is a significant departure. No adjustments to the juice which was wild fermented before having three months on lees and 10...

Mount Barker

Cabernet Sauvignon

Beautifully structured and powerful wine from this very early and short vintage. Perfumed blackcurrant and chalk dust over ripe dark plum. It’s an elegant wine of great structure and refinement. Strikes a great balance of fruit, oak and tannin, contributing to a precise and elegant palate feel. Aromatics are quite beautiful. This is cabernet of great style. Love the smooth...

Mount Barker

Shiraz

This was a year that produced fruit and wines of tremendous power and richness. The rich stewed fruit characters on the nose capture the vintage. It’s a combination of Wyjup and Bouverie vineyard fruit and shows a dominant blue fruit and red fruit character on the nose. Soft and supple with a seamless smooth and almost velvety palate with traces...

Mount Barker

Pinot Noir

This is a powerful wine with structure and finesse, fitting perfectly and snuggly into what we expect from pinot. It’s a combination of clones 777, 114 and 115 and there is around 20% whole bunch with 7 days cold soak. It’s largely indigenous years with a little late fermented seeding if necessary. This is a powerful wine with structure and...

Mount Barker

Chardonnay

This is all from the Wyjup vineyard and there is a mix of old and younger plantings, with about 2/3 coming from the 79 planting. It was all handpicked and whole bunch pressed to barrel with full solids. It was stirred monthly with about 40% of the oak new. Thijs is an intense and powerful wine with rich textured fruit....

Mount Barker

Riesling

This is a first-rate riesling from this special site in a special year. It is expressive, revealing on the palate early and pushing through into its sustained finish. The site is a key part of this wine. Its orientation pushes picking time up to three weeks later than other parts of the vineyard, leading to more hang time, allowing the...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

A really elegant and refined medium to full bodied cabernet. Distinctive cabernet notes flash up on the screen with deep blackcurrant, bay leaf and black olive nuances. The palate is linear with chalky angular tannins and a mix of new and used French oak in support. A little oyster shell minerality to finish.

Margaret River

Red Blend

Consistently one of the best value blended reds from Margaret River. This is medium bodied with beautiful, perfumed scents immediately attractive. The cabernet gives structure while the merlot adds softness and flesh to the middle palate. Characters of bay leaf and black olive with a neat minerality supported by fine tannins and gentle oak infusion.

Margaret River

Semillon

There are so many ways you can deal with semillon. In this case, it’s a mix of 25% new French oak and the rest in stainless steel with 8 months on lees. It’s created texture and richness while retaining the linear thread of fine acidity. Lemon scented with a slightly smoky backdrop. Has a clean and pure palate which extends...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

A wine that really makes a statement about the vintage and the now mature vineyard. It’s predominantly Gingin clone with about 5% other clones. A mix of new and use French oak of different sixes was used with wild yeast fermentation and nine months on lees. It’s textured with a lovely mix of roasted hazelnut, brioche and lemon curd laced...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is such a beautifully presented chardonnay from this excellent vintage. It’s a mix of Gingin and Dijon clones, which combines the power of Gingin with the linear penetration of Dijon. It’s a medium bodied wine but still packs plenty with notes of brioche and lemon curd with a subtle nutty influence. Minerally finish adds a nice lift.

Margaret River

White Varietal

Not a lot of this variety released in Australia, but I have to say this is certainly one of the best. It was fermented with wild yeasts which seems to have added a degree of complexity, revealed on the nose and the palate. Has a sort of apple crumble character on the nose and slightly citrussy characters on the palate....

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

A little more new oak and barrel selection has produced an exceptional wine from this cooler season in Margaret River. Aromas of red currant, dried herbs and subtle bay leaf with a seashell-like minerality. The palate is medium to full-bodied with a firm structural core of chalky tannins and fine-grained oak, Supremely balanced and poise. Will certainly come into its...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

One of the best chardonnays yet from Flowstone. This is more subtle and understated but no less intense and finely structured. Gets lightly more new oak than the standard with malolactic fermentation and an extra six months in oak. Beautiful aromas of citrus and melon zest with a little edgier lime. On the palate richer notes of brioche and mealy...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Made in a similar way to the standard savvy, but gets an extra six months in the mix of demi-muid and ceramic egg vessels. Lifted gooseberry with a pebbly vanilla bean and stone fruit combo in the nose. The palate reveals more minerally and savoury notes which complement the rich texture. Sustained acidity and a fine flinty edge completes a...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

In line with this cooler late season, this cabernet is a stylish and elegantly structured wine that strongly reflects the vintage. More medium bodied with lifted floral and dried herb notes on the nose. Lovely mix of red fruits with bay leaf and light black olive notes merging with just a faint ironstone edge. Balanced and poised.

Margaret River

Red Varietal

Comes off vines from two separate plantings. Spent 24 months in a mix of 25% new oak and older oak. It was also held in bottle an extra time to allow all the components to relax and settle. Exotic floral notes of roses and cherry fruits. The palate is soft and supple with plum and black cherry complemented with a...

Margaret River

White Varietal

This can be a polarising wine but in this case it is a beauty. Made using demi-muid and ceramic eggs for fermentation and then left for 10 months in these vessels to build texture. One of the most distinctive aromas of any white variety. Dominant lychee, lime and pear with a liberal sprinkle of spices. The palate is textured but...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is a classy chardonnay from what was a cooler season in Margaret River that produced white wines of finesse and purity. Fermented in a mix of 25% new and 75% once-used French oak before malolactic fermentation which took place over 12 months. Engaging aromas of hazelnut and stone fruits with a little lemon curd and fresh brioche. The palate...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Plenty of interesting winemaking techniques have been used to coax the best from this variety. After gentle whole bunch pressing the fermentation takes place in demi-muid oak barrels and ceramic eggs, where it is left for 12 months with occasional lees stirring to build texture. Intense aromas of lime and passionfruit on the nose with just a trace of vanilla...

Margaret River

Red Blend

A neat little blend of shiraz grenache and the white and highly aromatic viognier. The intent has been to use winemaking techniques to gently extract colour, flavour and tannins to create a soft and smooth palate. Lovely mix of plum and licorice with a slight sweet confectionery character. It’s medium bodied and so supple and seamlessly smooth. That little bit...

Margaret River

White Blend

This is an expression of field blending with pinot gris, viognier, gewurztraminer, riesling and sauvignon blanc coming together to produce a wine of depth and complexity with the high-end aromatics that you might expect with these varieties. So many subtle fruit characters emerge, but they are all overlaid with a distinct spiciness and a sustained acidity to an extended finish....

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

Oh yeah. I expected this to be good and it has delivered. I see the power and concentration of the 2018 and the elegance of the 2019 with the restraint of the 2017. Beautiful, perfumed fruit with tremendous intensity. The palate is totally seamless with a velvety feel to it. So vibrant with an energy and drive that takes it...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

A delightfully presented cabernet from this excellent vintage. Has a pretty perfumed nose of blackcurrant and leafy African violet with a trace of black olive. Seamlessly integrated oak and fine tannins gentle caress the palate. It’s poised and medium bodied with flavours of dark chocolate and black fruits rounded out with some really attractive integrated oak.

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

You’re getting some serious cabernet character in this polished wine from what was a very good vintage. Intense blackcurrant and dark plum on the nose with some subtle minerally edges. The palate is so beautifully integrated with the oak deftly supporting the concentrated and powerful fruit. The is a cabernet that could easily sell for a higher price.

Margaret River

Rose

A simple and pleasing modern style of rose. Aromas o crunchy watermelon and cranberry with a cute strawberry lift. The light bodied palate carries a nice mix of light red berry with sprinkle of dried herbs to finish.

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Here is a really impressive chardonnay offering plenty of those generous flavours but delivered with a deft touch of finesse. Aromas of white peach and grapefruit with a little brioche complexity. The palate has lots of drive with deeply flavoured fruit supported by some nice oak treatment. The lively minerally acidity sustains a long finish with a slight savoury flourish.