WA Wine Review 2027

Frankland River

Shiraz

This is such a good wine for the price. In fact, it's a good wine for any price, quite frankly. Sourced from Frankland River, which makes sense for this variety and is just loaded with bright, plummy mulberry, spicy characters. A little liqueur cherry for further complexity. And then the palate is soft and plush with a velvety integration of...

Margaret River

Malbec

Well, who doesn't love malbec? You've got to. And this one is a beauty. The warmer year certainly produced fruit of real opulence and density but at the same time there's a subtlety about it. The aromas of mulberry, rhubarb, plum and a little light leaf are evident from the start. The palate, though, is where this little guy sings...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is the pinnacle of the Amelia Park chardonnay. This one was whole bunch pressed and wild fermented in the larger format puncheons. So, it's a wine that has been allowed to express the beautiful fruit characters that came from the early picking in this warm year. Aromas of nougat and butterscotch with a little cut pear. And then a...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is such a beautifully textured and presented chardonnay from a season that produced both opulence and a degree of delicacy. Aromas of white peach and butterscotch although restrained a little citrus and a subtle spiciness. The palate is rich and textured with layered complexity. Delivering with a burst of stone fruit but balanced by a fine, precise linear acidity....

Blackwood Valley

Cabernet Blend

A supple, gentle, easy-drinking red wine capturing this lovely vintage and all its fruitful glories. A little mix of blackcurrant and dark fruitcake with some nice savoury spices. Medium-bodied and juicy, with vibrant red fruits, supported by some fine tannins and just a subtle persuasion of oak. Neatly presented wine.

Blackwood Valley

Red Blend

Needless to say, a very young and vibrant blend of these two varieties. viognier has added an attractive spicy, gingery lift to the rich but medium-weight plummy flavours and aromas. Deliciously seamless, with a plummy black cherry flavour combination and very subtle, fine chalky tannins adding some support. Great current drinking.

Blackwood Valley

Chardonnay

This wine is just starting to show some nice, subtle developed characters, but it's still largely a vibrant, fresh, fruit-driven wine. Aromas of cut pear and grapefruit with a little lemony zip. The palate is developing a subtle nutty influence that works neatly with the vibrant white fruits. Excellent wine for drinking over the next couple of years.

Blackwood Valley

Sauvignon Blanc

This Blackwood Valley vineyard produces really exciting, vibrant, punchy, aromatic whites, and this is a classic example. Bursting with lemon zest and floral, tropical notes on the nose, with a touch of cut pear. The palate is zippy, with beautiful, racy, lifted acidity driving through to a long finish. A perfect summer drink.

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

A wonderfully expressive and quite pretty cabernet from this outstanding Margaret River vintage. The nose releases seductive aromas of black currant, violet and bay leaf, and a little oyster shell minerality. The palate is intense but delivered with an elegant medium weight that captures the vintage so beautifully. Loads of red berries, some lightly cedary oak, chalky tannins. All combining...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

When these cabernets can be released with a little bit of extra time in bottle, they really do start to show their stuff. This one was from the very early COVID vintage of 2020. It's a powerful wine, but it's also a most elegant and refined cabernet. Aromas of black currant, oyster shell, a little bay leaf, and dark plum....

Margaret River

Malbec

There are some excellent malbecs being produced in this state. This wine was treated quite gently in the winery with open-top ferments, hand plunging, and very gentle pressing into barriques, where it spent about 14 months. It's brilliant and bright in colour, lovely red crimson hues. And then a spanking palate bursting with vibrant red fruits and supported with slightly...

Margaret River

Red Blend

Interesting thing is that many of these '21 vintage wines are only just starting to hit their straps. Took a little while to emerge from a closed cocoon of fruit and structural influence, but this wine's come together really neatly. The intensity of the black currant, leafy cabernet is evident immediately, but then the other influences add a lift of...

Margaret River

Semillon

This is another style that Grace Farm elevates from the stock standard. Semillon is such a beautiful variety, and when it gets just a little oak influence from the, in this case, four months in seasoned French oak, it really does elevate it into another zone. Slightly lemony, nutty characters on the nose. And then a palate which displays good...

Margaret River

White Blend

A wine that reflects the consistently good fruit being sourced off this vineyard. In this case, it has a small amount of barrel fermentation in new French oak, and that's immediately apparent on the nose with that slightly nutty, tropical fruit emerging. The palate is quite superb. It's textured and rich in flavour but delivers with a deft lightness of...

Margaret River

Rose

Beautiful pale salmon pink colour. This grenache-shiraz blend of rosé has been a consistent winner for Grace Farm, and in this case, the vintage is reflected in the bottle. Delicious succulent fruit, nice floral lift, a little red berry, and it all comes together with a crisp, fine acidity. Particularly like the textural palate feel. Very nice wine.

Pemberton

Red Blend

Here is a sort of left bank, right bank combination. Seamlessly structured and intense red blend that captures what Pemberton can do when the season is right. Aromas of light cedar, some dark black fruits, a little perfumed lift. There's a subtle, earthy, gamey character lurking that adds so much complexity to the primary fruits. It's a wine that exhibits...

Pemberton

Shiraz

With a strong focus on chardonnay and pinot noir, some of the other excellent wines within the portfolio can be overlooked, and this is one of them. This is shiraz co-fermented with a small amount of malbec and viognier. Has a bright and lustrous colour, palish red with a little crimson hue. Nose is bright red fruits with a raspberry,...

Pemberton

Pinot Noir

This is the best of the best from the Pannells and a wonderful testament to the endless pursuit of great pinot in Australia. In fact, great pinot anywhere. It's a wine that combines all the essential elements of pinot. It's elegant, it's refined, yet ultimately it is still powerful and defined. Red fruits and earthy characters on the nose, a...

Pemberton

Pinot Noir

In many ways, the recipe is about the same as for chardonnay, with French oak barriques, 25% new and 10 months' maturation. The key with this wine is it's made from 11 selected clones, nine of which are from Dijon. It's a marvellous example of pinots that the panels are producing these days. Savoury, chalky, faintly mushroom characters on the...

Pemberton

Chardonnay

This is a single-vineyard chardonnay, dry-grown, cane-pruned, handpicked. But the key element is it's made of four Dijon clones. And that seems to have clearly impacted its detail and structure. It was aged in French oak barriques, of which 25% was new, for about 10 months. The aromas are more in the savoury spectrum with a slightly chalky, limestone-like character...

Pemberton

White Blend

This is consistently one of my favourite SBS releases each year. Interesting thing is that it's made up of three clones of sauvignon blanc, which have been co-fermented with about 15% semillon. The beauty and power of the '26 vintage is clearly on show here. It's a wine of intense fruit aromatics with some nice spicy citrus savoury elements. The...

Swan Valley

Shiraz

A rich, succulent, generous, full-bodied shiraz. Loaded with all manner of red berry and dark plum, syrupy chocolate, and a little vanilla essence. Palate is soft and quite supple with gentle, understated tannins, and supported with some fine-grained, almost powdery oak. Drinking so beautifully now, but it has the structure and the fruit intensity to handle further cellaring.

Margaret River

Red Varietal

A rich, opulent, dark-fruited, plush example of this Sicilian variety that certainly seems ideally suited to the warmer climes in Western Australia. This one is medium-bodied, but crammed with a dark cherry, plummy, dark chocolate combination showing on the nose and then revealing more on the palate. Lovely, smooth, delicious current drinking.

Margaret River

Chardonnay

I guess you're going okay when you can get a neat little Margaret River chardonnay at this price. But then they always over-deliver from Paul Conti. A little time in oak through the fermentation process and then further time with maturation. It's been designed as a fresh, fruity, current-drinking style with those abundant melony, stone fruit flavours and that subtle...

Swan Valley

Chenin Blanc

This wine comes from the Carabooda Block, just north of Perth. It's a site that's consistently produced some excellent fruit, and this chenin is another cracker. Oodles of tropical, citrusy aromas on the nose. And then a succulent, crisp palate showing a little of the melony, stone fruit, citrus combination you might expect. Clean, refreshing acidity sustains a long finish....

Swan Valley

Chenin Blanc

Gee, this is a good example of the sparkling chenins being made in Western Australia these days. It's made using the traditional méthode champenoise, with early picking that accentuates the natural acidity, and then time on lees to build a creamy complexity. Has a lovely fruity aromatic. And then a palate that is quite soft and fluffy, but with tremendous...

Swan Valley

Petit Verdot

Petit verdot likes a little warmth, so the Swan Valley is ideally suited to it. But this slightly cooler year just toned things down a bit and it's produced an absolutely exquisite example of what the Swan Valley can do. Lifted floral perfume notes with red berry and lightly cedary oak and then a palate that is rich and generous,...

Swan Valley

Red Blend

A really interesting combination in that it's a blending of two varieties which are more bit players when married with cabernet predominantly. But a coolish, long ripening period in the Swan Valley has suited this wine absolutely perfectly. Beautiful black fruits on the nose. A little nuanced red fruit from the malbec and the darker fruits of the petit verdot....

Pemberton

Cabernet Sauvignon

Comes from Kosovich's Pemberton Vineyard, which he planted quite a few years ago now. The season was nigh on perfect. The aromas are lifted florals of red berry, blackcurrant, a little liqueur cherry. And then the palate is generous, medium-bodied, with succulent, juicy fruit characters. Buoyant with succulent red berries. Tannins show a fine chalky thread, and the oak is...

Swan Valley

Chenin Blanc

If you want to understand all the fuss about older chenin blanc from the Swan Valley, then stick your nose in this. Wonderfully exotic aromas of butterscotch, toast, marmalade. All things that come with ageing of this wonderful grape variety. The palate has a delightful purity about it, while the natural fruit is balanced by some quite distinct secondary aged...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

A supreme and stunning wine under this Legacy Series from Cullen. After crushing to clay amphora, the fruit was left on skins for 13 days before pressing to biodynamic barrels for four months. There were no additions, so this is a pure and expressive example of vineyard and region. Exquisite perfume combinations of violets and red fruits. And then a...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This Legacy Series has produced some quite wonderful wines, and this is yet another stunning example. In line with the biodynamic principles of Cullen, it was picked on a flower day and new moon in February. The bunches went into a clay amphora lined with beeswax for two days before pressing, and then it was transferred to a biodynamic flower...

Margaret River

Cabernet Blend

The colour is quite brilliant and bright. The nose shows a more fragrant red-fruit character with that oyster-shell character. This is 65% cabernet, 28% merlot and the balance malbec, petit verdot and cabernet franc. Beautifully balanced and poised, with bright red fruit on the palate. Still has the vineyard chalky, saline character there, with a slightly mineral lift. This is...

Margaret River

Cabernet Sauvignon

This is classically defined southern Margaret River cabernet. It’s linear and slightly angular, with structure and poise. It’s mostly cabernet, with tiny contributions from merlot and petit verdot. There’s a leafy aromatic with bay leaf and oyster-shell characters. The colour is quite brilliant and bright. The palate has a chalky oyster-shell combination contributing to its structure and poise. Has the...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is a single pick from a single block. What a marvellous statement of Margaret River chardonnay. Has had nine months in oak, of which 40% was new, including some Burgundian puncheons. It has such a lovely texture and mouthfeel, which comes from the six months on lees. This is all Gingin clone and has had no malolactic fermentation. It...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is from clone 76. It’s a generous wine of concentration and palate weight. Strikes with a nice waxy, savoury aromatic that is immediately complex. The palate has an almost dry-as-chips, savoury, chalky character. It is linear and yet powerfully intense, with a very precise, keen finish. Has a nice mineral character.

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is quite a different expression of Margaret River chardonnay, primarily due to the use of clone 95. It has a distinctive biscuit and water-cracker character on the nose, especially. The palate is dry and savoury, with a high degree of tension giving focus and precision through to the finish. Nice chalky characters. This has had about 40% malolactic fermentation,...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is the first release of this wine. It’s from the Gingin clone off some heavier soil, and it produces generous, rich and ripe fruit. It has a nice creamy savouriness, with a combination of ripeness and crisper acidity. The palate displays a savoury, textural character with that distinctive saline character. Had nine months in oak, which underpins the fruit...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Immediately strikes with an intense purity and strong savoury, saline-like character. Had about 13 months on lees in a mix of oak, of which 25% was new. It’s a powerful statement with a distinct vineyard character. Balanced with tremendous fruit power, though slightly restrained and controlled through to a long finish. This is all from the Gingin clone, and it...

Margaret River

Chenin Blanc

This is a highly intense and powerful statement of the variety. Had 50% in old oak puncheons and the remainder in a concrete fermenter. It’s created a wine of depth and power that captures the 2025 vintage. It has a nice savoury and slightly saline influence on the lightly tropical and stone-fruit characters. It gets about nine months on lees,...