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..
Polly & the pyre to paradise»
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..
Brockett begets the best of bellarine»
Big, rich and dense with lovely fine grained tannins. Following decades of devoted viticulture, Plunkett Fowles have accumulated extensive local knowledge of soils and microclimes peculiar to the Strathbogie... More»
Lively upfront lemon zest with a slatey minerality not normally seen from this vineyard. Daniel James Wilson would write DJW rules on school book covers, desks, garden edgings and wet concrete whenever the opportunity... More»
Soft entry to the palate on a length of compote berries and dried fruit richness, supported by a veneer of oak and ripe grape tannins. Brokenwood release two editions of Pinot Noir each vintage from the eminent Indigo Vineyard at Beechworth... More»
Ripe blackberry fruit palate, currant and red cherry flavours, the savouryness of olive and tobacco. Mike Press knows about red wine, he learned his craft at Penfolds while working alongside the man who created the... More»
Palate is mid weight, yet suprisingly supple and rich. Pinot Noir is the most temperamental of wine grape varieties and remains the ultimate challenge for many makers... More»
A superb balance of fruit freshness, blackberries and spiced plum, cocoa and carob notes over a length of firm but silky tannins which are recognizably Taltarn. A Victorian flagship effort in the uniquely Australian experience of icon Shiraz Cabernet wines... More»
Greg Melick embarked on the prodigal road to gambling and booze as a mere teenager, after winning the daily double at Werribee and spending the lot on good red wine. He ultimately returned to the straight and narrow, achieving the rank of ADF Major General, Senior Law Counsel, Master Wine Judge and Officer of Australia AO. Melick now grows his own, he remains besotted with les grands vignobles de Bourgogne, the illustrious Pinot Noir of Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune. There are few places in the world, more akin to the 1er Grand Cru style of Pinot Noir, than the temperate pastures along Tasmania's River Derwent. It was here in 2002, amongst the woodland idylls of the apple isle, that Melick established Pressing Matters, a meagre four hectares of superior European clones Pinot Noir. Mr Melick has come full..
Pressing matters in pinot noir»
Established 1968 by Word War II flyer Egerton E.S Dennis, on ninety acres of McLaren Flat along the prestigious winegrowing terroirs at Kangarillla Road, the Dennis family pioneered the production of Mead alongside colleague and enthusiast John Maxwell. Dennis initially sold his harvests to some of Australia's most eminent brands before founding his own label in 1971,with the object of converting the high quality fruit into pure, estate made wines. Since establishment, Dennis Wines have collected hundreds of medals at national and international wine shows, twice claiming the revered Bushing King awards for best wine at the McLaren Vale Winemakers Exhibition. A quiet achiever of bespoke old vine Shiraz with a scanty production of 5000 dozen annually, be the one & only enthusiast on your block this week to own..
Dennis of kangarilla road»