Somewhere near the Seaview end of McLaren Vale's Chapel Hill Road, a perfunctory passerine perched her pincers astride a pair of power poles and saw herself alit. Down she went amongst the dry grown branches of an old Grenache vineyard, setting the valuable veterans ablaze. The scorched site eventually came to the attention of a winemaking trio, the Messrs Leske, Tynan & Cooke, Masters of Wine and a venerable vintner, all driven by a consuming passion to make greater Grenache. Thistledown vintage very small amounts of the most extraordinary Grenache. Beautifully detailed and conspicuously elegant, their floral bouquets and graceful finish emulate the aromatic lift and peacock's tail of a prettily perfumed Pinot Noir. Magnificent to savour as a captivating aperitif, a bliss..
Polly & the pyre to paradise»
Great wines from the Great Southern, the nether southwest rump of the continent, which yields the most astonishing quality vintages, both red and white. Castelli are a family of renewable power engineers, who are at their happiest picking grapes off vines. Boutique and very hands on, their efforts have been rewarded by prestigious international accolades, including Royal Perth Trophy for Best Chardonnay, San Francisco and International Wine Challenge Gold for Cabernet Sauvignon, Sydney Blue Gold for Shiraz. Defined by weighty palates, edifying complexity and statuesque grace, the entire range of Castelli represent an inspiring opportunity for immersion into the chiselled and strapping, stately Great Southern styling...
Wonderfully winsome whiffs from the west»
Rich, ripe dark berry fruit complemented by layers of spice, dried herbs and chocolate. Penny's Hill was declared Australia's Best Boutique Wine in 2006 and Australia's Best Boutique Shiraz in 2007... More»
White stone fruit flavours and savoury, toasted nuts complexity around a solid core of fruit, the oak is beautifully handled. M3 Chardonnay is sourced exclusively from a single site, the Shaw+Smith M3 property at Woodside, named after the three partners... More»
The palate is mouth filling with rich satsuma plums and blackberry fruits, dark chocolate and aniseed. From time to time, Wirra Wirra produces wines from very small parcels of extremely intense, high quality fruit... More»
Fresh and ripe crushed strawberries and red cherries contribute to fruit depth and length. Mrs Wigley was a particular pussycat who was born at the neighbouring Petrucci residence... More»
A multi layered palate of wild piquant raspberries, red licorice wick and frais de bois, dark anise tannins and sasafras oak in support of the textural, weight of fruit. Dan Buckle and Aaron Drummond are Mornington born and bred... More»
Kooyong Estate only make limited editions from tiny blocks of vine, a hectare or less, which yield deeply personal wines, highly eloquent of their terroir, aspect and clime. There are the pebbled ironstone soils of Farrago, which create an uncannily Burgundesque style of Chardonnay, redolent of grapefruits, mealy bran and wet flint. The precious half hectare at Faultline articulates the savouryness of seaweed and struck match. The sheltered lee of Haven Block encourages the grapes to bloom with chewy red jube characters. The windswept parcel at Meres infuses wonderfully perfumed rhubarb and ribena notes into a velvetine tannin structure. All are equally remarkable for their individuality, they speak of little places, husbanded to artisanal winemaking practices, the most wonderful expressions of Mornington...
Venerable vintages from the most precious parcels»
There are four tiny patches of vine at Scotchman's Hill, which have been mollycoddled by Robin Brockett, since the start of his tenure as chief winemaker in the 1980s. Excruciatingly limited after a strict pruning and rigorous sorting of fruit, they each yield a mere hundred cases of wine. Brockett has set aside the precious harvests of these superior blocks for his own label, a personal project to hand craft the finest of vintage, an exclusive range of the Bellarine's most elite single vineyard efforts. So besotted is Brockett by the spectacular quality of fruit from these four regal parcels, he has imported two 800 Litre Tuscan vinification Amphora from the Brunello commune of Montalcino. Whole bunches and wild ferments in the like of ancient clay urns, hand plunged in the old world way, appreciatively unfiltered for a..
Brockett begets the best of bellarine»