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Malbec

I saw tis a few years ago and in the ensuing years it has developed rather well to be drinking right in its sweet spot now. Blackberry fruit, chocolate and ripe plums all feature in a deep palate intensity. Delivers with medium weight striking a neat oak and tannin balance.

Frankland River

Shiraz

This is the pinnacle of Cherubino's range of shiraz or syrah. Comes off the Riversdale vineyard from Block 7 which is made up of a variety of different clones. Interestingly, after hand picking and sorting, 30% whole clusters were added to bring out more of the spicy fragrances. It was matured in a mix of French oak, foudre, and puncheons...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is a generous, full, powerful chardonnay from this warm year. It was handpicked, whole bunch pressed, then wild fermented in oak before a further 10 months maturation. The nose shows those distinctive lemon meringue, stone fruit, and citrus notes, while the palate delivers more chalky lemon curd flavours. Striking. A perfect balance of oak and fruit.

Margaret River

Rose

A dry, savoury, but still quite textured wine made from tempranillo and cabernet. Had a brief period in larger oak. Colour is a pale pink. The nose is a burst of red berry and redcurrant. The palate is crisp, light-bodied, but with good intensity and flavour. An excellent all-purpose rosé. Ideal for summer drinking.

Margaret River

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

They don't come more classic than this. It's a semillon sauvignon blanc blend exhibiting the lovely, generous flavours of the 2025 vintage. Loads of tropical, punchy stone fruit and zesty lemon essence combine into a thoroughly appealing current-drinking blend. The palate feel is exquisite and the flavour lingers. Great example of the style.

Margaret River

Sparkling

A natural fermented sparkling wine using wild yeasts with no additions. The fermentation just happened and the result is a lightly fizzy wine ideal for drinking over the next 12 months. It was made with sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc and shiraz o give it the pink colour. Don't worry about the cloudiness. It's all part of it. Nice wine.

Frankland River

Red Blend

Can’t remember a better example of this wine. It’s a mataro grenache and shiraz blend from the Riversdale Vineyard in Frankland River in this wonderful vintage. A deep mass of dark fruit explodes from the glass. Spicy plum, dark chocolate and dark cherry aromas invade the senses. A rich vein of fruit cascades across the palate. It’s juicy and plush...

Great Southern

Red Blend

A blend of syrah, mataro and grenache from the Riversdale Vineyard in Frankland River. Interesting that the syrah includes a couple of Rhone clones, 877 and 470, which are starting to have a significant impact on WA syrahs. Perfumed exotic notes of spices and red fruit. The palate is medium weight, elegant and seamlessly refined. Love the chewy fine grained...

Great Southern

White Varietal

There's not much of this variety in Australia so it's nice to see something like this one pop up. It has a slight spiciness which shows on the nose but the palate is rich in stone fruit and creamy, nutty characters. A little contribution from oak maturation is evident on the palate. Nice fine acidity adds a final flourish.

Pemberton

White Blend

A classic grape variety mostly found in Piedmont in Italy. Has a racy acidity but richer textural palate notes. It's generous and in this case some older oak has been used to help in the formation of a well-shaped palate. I've tasted this over two years now and the extra year is starting to make quite an impact.

Margaret River

Malbec

This small batch production is always one of my favourites. It's made in traditional fashion with open fermentation and hand plunging which suits the soft red fruits. The palate is medium bodied but with beautiful blackberry and subtle blue fruits with a trace of mulberry. Such a vibrant and vital wine ideal in the short term but with some ageing...

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

Chardonnay

A most approachable blend of sauvignon blanc, semillon and chardonnay with just a light touch of oak to brings some palate complexity. The name is reference to winemaker Cath Oates close encounter with a Great White. It's an appealing with excellent flavour and a defining acidity to sustain the finish.

Perth Hills

Red Blend

The warm vintage has suited this style of vintage fortified wine. It's about 76% touriga, with a balance of shiraz, durif, and cabernet. It was made in the typical vintage style, and was bottled just six months after the initial maturation. And the result is a wine that retains its vibrancy and energy, but with the boost, of brandy spirit,...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

It was a challenging year, yet this wine has emerged rather beautifully. There was no MJW made this year, so some pretty high-quality fruit that would have gone there has come into this excellent wine. It is 90% Gingin with a little of the clone 76. The new oak contribution has also been reduced, and it only spends a few...

Western Australia

Malbec

Malbec is an ideal variety for this soft and approachable early drinking red. The red fruits of plum and rhubarb emerge on the nose, while the palate is plump and fleshy with just enough tannin and a little oak to balance and support. Scrumptious wine for drinking over the next few years.

Great Southern

Chardonnay

Over recent years, this high-class chardonnay has been elevated into the top tier of West Australian chardonnays. It comes from a single vineyard in Denmark where the family home is located. I'd have to say this is certainly one of the best. There's a subtle combination of struck-match complexity, vibrant lime, grapefruit-like notes, and a little rich butterscotch. The palate...

Margaret River

Grenache

A modern expression of grenache, medium weight but with good structure and fruit intensity. Made with 30% whole bunch and partial carbonic maceration, it shows a delightful fruit lift. Aged for nine months in amphora, a nod to ancient Rome, it delivers bright red apple, rose petal, and raspberry, all in elegant restraint. The palate is seamless and integrated, with...

Margaret River

Grenache

The palest of pale onion-skin copper tones. This rosé has been tweaked slightly to create something special. After hand harvesting and whole-bunch pressing, which gives it structure, it went into old French oak puncheons for fermentation and a further three months’ maturation. This adds both texture and aromatic complexity. Aromas of orange skin and cumquat with a light red apple...

Frankland River

Red Blend

An engaging combination of mataro, grenache and shiraz working in perfect harmony. Lovely red-fruit notes with a slightly ferrous edge on the nose. It's a wine that seems to have been fine-tuned over the years. And the result is a wine of impeccable poise and balance, with beautifully integrated fruit that is allowed to fully express itself. Some dry, savoury...

Margaret River

Chardonnay

Continues the generous style that has been part of the Cape Grace DNA. It's wild fermented and gets about 40% new oak which this season needed to strike the right balance. Nectarine and edgier cumquat emerge over aromas of quince paste and crème brulee on the nose. The palate is layered and textured with great depth of flavour that carries...

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

This warmish year has certainly produced fruit of terrific intensity and weight. In this case, the sauvignon blanc was sourced out of Karridale, well to the south of Margaret River, and was wild fermented in French barriques with lees stirring and 10 months of maturation. A slightly nutty oak influence is subordinated into the fruit, and so it never dominates....

Frankland River

Grenache

Delightfully fragrant, perfumed grenache that delivers medium weight but generous fruit intensity. Nice red fruits on the nose, some rose petal and a trace of lavender. The palate is more medium-bodied, beautifully smooth and supple, with this lovely raspberry fruit character dominant. So beautifully bright and vibrant, with a lively, long and focused finish.

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

A distinctive style that Woody Nook has championed for some years. Barrel fermented with wild yeast in second use French oak with monthly lees stirring over seven months maturation. Brings that textural feel into play but retains the essential crisp acidity of the sauvignon blanc. Love the bright minerally and slightly chalky feel which promotes a linear palate.

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is a tiny production wine, but it's great to see Cape Grace putting their energies into producing something special. It was wild fermented into 50% new oak, and although there's been minimal intervention, it shows tremendous complexity. It has a minerally, gun-flinty edge to the grapefruit and slightly cashew-like characters. The texture is quite creamy, but there's a nice...

Frankland River

Grenache

Nice to have this wine back in town after an absence in 2021. The power and concentration of the vineyard and the style is immediately evident. The intensity strikes immediately on the nose, while once the wine starts to roll across your palate you know you in a head zone of great power. It was a warm and concentrated vintage....

Margaret River

Chardonnay

This is a wine that captures the precision and elegance of a vintage that produced wines combining delicacy with power. Whole bunch pressing and wild fermentation, followed by eight months in French oak barriques, have contributed to a complex and layered palate. On the nose, there are lively, slightly lemon-scented, minerally, lemon curd characters. The palate shows deep intensity, with...

Margaret River

Malbec

I've always liked these malbecs from Cape Grace. And this is a small-production wine of low-yielding vines, made in a traditional way, but then aged in 50% new French oak. The oak in no way intrudes and allows the fruit, with its blue and black fruit characters and a little mulberry, to fully express itself. There's a bright red-fruit lift,...

Frankland River

Grenache

Year in and year out, this has to be one of my go-to grenaches from Western Australia. It just never disappoints, and this one is another ripper. Beautiful rose-petal, red-berry and slightly juby nuances on the nose. And a bright-as-a-button palate that elevates with abundant red fruits. A slightly ferrous minerality for complexity and a beautiful, textured, slightly grainy mouthfeel....

Margaret River

Sauvignon Blanc

Here’s a punchy sauvignon blanc that delivers plenty. On the nose, you get a real hit of apple and tropical fruits, with, of course, a fairly typical citrusy character. Then the palate has surprising texture but retains a crunchiness thanks to that lively acid and slight chalkiness. Racy, long and an excellent current-drinking wine.

Great Southern

Grenache

Just love the expression in this exceptional grenache from Frankland River. This really is an exquisite example of this variety from a very good year. Soft and supple with delightfully lifted palate weight. Has a purity, brightness and lightness of touch as the fruit floats effortlessly across the palate. Aromatic and fragrant. I defy you to put this one down,...

Margaret River

Petit Verdot

This is a mighty good example of a varietal made from a variety that is generally used as a blending option with cabernet. The colour is deep and glowing red and crimson, while the nose exhibits an earthy black fruit combination. The palate shows a firm core of grainy tannins and neat oak, of which 20% was new. It's smooth...

Swan Valley

Muscat

This luscious, fabulous muscat from the Swan Valley remains a work in progress, in that when the vintage is right it is blended back into the older wine that dates back over many years. This is as good a blend as I have tasted. Raisiny, caramel, dark toffee, spice and dark chocolate. The colour is even starting to develop a...

Margaret River

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

Here’s a neat little SSB blend delivering vibrant, zippy fruit characters throughout. Tropical fruit and citrus combination on the nose. Then a palate showing some nice fruit sweetness and tropical character, but with a clean, defining acidity. Nice current-drinking wine.

Margaret River

Malbec

One of an increasing number of straight malbecs emerging from the State's cellars. This soft and generously presented malbec brimming with all those plush red fruits and rhubarb delivers plenty. A spicy licorice edge adds complexity to the finish. A beautiful example of this often-underrated variety.

Great Southern

Grenache

This is a blend of counoise, mataro, shiraz and grenache. It's a balanced and poised blend and offers great drinking over the next few years. It's a wine I prefer to drink when those vibrant bouncy fruit flavours are dominant. The cournoise seems to add a slight peppery crisp acidity to elevate the other varieties. It's an important contribution.

Frankland River

Grenache

Grenache. Frankland River. It just makes so much sense. And here is another example of how this variety is thriving in the southern region. This is in the medium-bodied zone and is simply bursting with bright red floral fruits—initially on the nose and then into that medium-bodied, refined, silky-smooth palate that captures this variety and this region so perfectly. Really...

Frankland River

Red Blend

This is a juicy and delicious blend of mataro, grenache, and shiraz. So, it's your classic GSM blend, and it comes from Frankland River. Medium-bodied and loaded with bright red fruits, showing a mix of redcurrant, mulberry, a little cranberry, and some nice spices and dried herbs. The palate is just so appealing, with its vibrant, high-energy red fruits bursting...

Great Southern

Riesling

Okay, the interesting thing is that some of this was barrel fermented in French oak and after that it just did its thing with little added. So the wine has life and texture. Love the mouth feel which has a textural feel while retaining the bright spicy lightly citrus tang. Very long finish.

Frankland River

Grenache

Of the three Farvie releases from the searing hot 2024, this is the wine that just gets the edge. The colour is quite brilliant. It was picked on March 1 as distinct from the end of April in more normal years. Aromas have that distinctive ironstone character, which is regional and vineyard. The palate is quite tight and firmish, but...