I have never been able to taste Penfolds' original Bin 60A from the 1962 vintage. The wine was never commercially released, but won many awards and by many wine critics is described as Australia's greatest wine. The Bin 60A label has only been used one more time, for a wine from the 2004 vintage, which showed similar characteristics to 1962. I tasted the 2004 Penfolds Bin 60A a few days ago. The wine is the same blend of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (56%) and Barossa Shiraz (44%).
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
My second ever Australian 100 pointer
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Bekkers Syrah
Bekkers is a boutique producer with a focus on the northern, hilly parts of McLaren Vale, and a meticulous focus on Shiraz and Grenache. Toby Bekkers operates at the premium end of the market.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
O'Leary Walker Polish Hill Riesling
I think of O'Leary Walker in a similar way in which Bin 389 is described as baby Grange. To me, O'Leary Walker is the baby Riesling to Grosset's Rieslings. Both produce Polish Hill and Watervale Rieslings. Grosset Rieslings show this purity of fruit and great drive. O'Leary Walker is similar, just not quite as much, and at a much lower price.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Bisci Verdicchio
Every now and then, I try a new Italian variety from the hundreds on offer. This 2022 Bisci Verdicchio from the Marche region turns out to be quite interesting. Bisci wines are organic, the grapes harvested from high altitude vineyards.
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Petaluma Evans Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot
It has been a long while since I had a Petaluma bottle. This is strange, given it is such an iconic label. And I never had an Evans Vineyard wine. So I was looking forward to this 2016 Petaluma Evans Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot.
Monday, March 25, 2024
Deep Woods Hillside Chardonnay
If you have the Fogarty Wine Group as an owner, and Julian Langworthy as the talented wine maker, it is no surprise that Deep Woods made a lot of gains, and is now regarded as one of the top wineries in Western Australia. This can really be put to the test with their entry level Chardonnay, in this case the 2022 Deep Woods Hillside Chardonnay. The fruit comes from a number of vineyards, mostly at somewhat higher elevation. Despite being an entry wine, the wine sees some new oak and is made in a modern style, with indigenous yeast used for wild fermentation and minimal fining.
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir
Doug's vineyard is at the outskirts of the little town Ramsey, in Macedon. I previously reviewed Cooper's other Macedon Pinot Noir from the Ray-Monde vineyard, and waxed lyrically about it. I will not do it quite so much about this wine, the 2019 Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir. The wine spent one year in oak, before transferred to stainless steel for four months, still on lees. No fining nor filtration, and low alcohol at 12%, similar to its brother.
Friday, March 15, 2024
Premium New Zealand Chardonnays
Monday, March 11, 2024
A. Rodda Beechworth Chardonnay
Adrian Rodda has access to some very high quality vineyards in Victoria. The Smith vineyard in Beechworth is perhaps the best. At 550 meters of elevation, it allows for cooler climate wines, where significant diurnal variation is a major feature.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Pheasant's Tears Goruli Mtsvane
It is refreshing (no pun) to sometimes step out of your comfort zone, the field of the known, and try something new. It sharpens the senses. I visited Georgia last year, the cradle of winemaking, and was particularly impressed by this small avant-garde winery; organic, white wine on lees, nothing added, no fining no filtration, maturing in underground terracotta, of course; avant-garde for us, but traditional for them. A wine I found from them in Australia was this 2021 Pheasant's Tears Goruli Mtsvane.
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Vasse Felix Filius Cabernet Sauvignon
Virginia Willcock, the long standing winemaker of Vasse Felix, has been in the top echelon of Australian winemaking for quite some time. She has raised the quality of every wine in the portfolio year after year. This has recently been recognized by Wine Spectator, when the 2021 Vasse Felix Filius Cabernet Sauvignon has been named the second best value wine in the world of last year. This Cabernet, which has some Malbec blended into it to fill out the mid palate, gets the royal treatment, and this for $25-30 per bottle; wild yeast fermentation and 11 months maturation in French oak barrels.
Saturday, March 2, 2024
Cirillo 1850 Ancestor Grenache
I was a bit slow to post, as I was in Asia in hot weather. It was beer time. Now back to drink some great Australian wine. Cirillo claims to own the oldest Grenache vineyard in the world, and it may well be. The vines grow on deep sands on the flats of Light Pass. As other Cirillo wines are released earlier and provide cash-flow, it is great to see that the flagship Grenache is only released at 7 years of age. So the newly released wine is the 2017 Cirillo 1850 Ancestor Grenache.