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Announcing Wine Guns for Hire – The Wine Industry Jobs Market

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Discovering the Ageability of Semillon

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Wild Times on the River of Riesling

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Australia’s Top 100 Places for Wine Fun in 2021

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Australia’s Best Syrah

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Under the Vinfluence

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We Want to Find New Voices in Wine

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Wines We Love

Wines We love

2021 Swinney Riesling

Frankland River

A lemon-scented nose accented with white flowers and talc ushering in a linear and mineral palate of great precision but also gentle texture.

Wines We love

2020 Giant Steps ‘Ocarina’

Yarra Valley

A mélange of all the Giant Steps sites fermented in clay eggs, then sealed for maturation, this has all the Giant Steps chardonnay character and precision with a chalky mineral overlay that adds complexity to nose and palate.

Wines We love

2021 Latta ‘Presence’

Pyrenees

This early release wine from Owen Latta captures a fragrant but complexly spicy side to the grape, with amaro/vermouth seasoning the wild red fruits, while a meshing of cool tannins and zippy acidity gives this real pep.

Wines We love

2020 Hither & Yon Aglianico Rosé

McLaren Vale

Made from the great southern Italian grape Aglianico, this copper-coloured rosé is laced with wild red berries, tart apple and orange peel, finishing dry, savoury and moreish.

Wines We love

2021 Spinifex Rosé

Barossa

A riot of wild red berries accented with earthy complexity, this is at once bright, juicy and forward while having gently earthy mineral notes, textural across the palate but decidedly dry.

Wines We love

2020 Hither & Yon Petit Blanc

McLaren Vale

This has some classic floral and talc notes of the variety, but it’s uber-fresh and savoury, light-bodied, tangy and built for thirst-slaking refreshment.

Wines We love

Gralyn ‘Artizan’ Rare Muscat

Margaret River

A decadent glass of fortified, rippling with raisin, fig, date and coffee notes, this is rich and unctuous, but with the fortifying alcohol lifting the sweetness, leaving endless layers of flavour to linger on the palate.

Wines We love

2020 Lethbridge ‘Vero’ Tempranillo

Geelong

A departure from the rich styles of tempranillo so often made, this emphasises red fruits and white pepper spice on a midweight frame with grippy tannins and rugged regional mineral notes to close.

Wines We love

2020 Spinifex ‘Garçon’ Grenache

Barossa Valley

Sourced from three sites, with vines from 55 to 90 years old, Pete Schell crafts the fruit into a democratically priced everyday wine that over delivers in a major way. Crushed red berries and cherries, spices and florals leading to a palate shot through with rocky and earthy minerality, the balance impeccable.

Wines We love

2021 Rieslingfreak No.4 Riesling

Eden Valley

John Hughes’ mastery of the riesling grape has already been amply proven, but in the superb 2021 vintage that dial’s been turned up to new limits. This is an intense play of jasmine and lime, effusive but not overly exotic, with tension and effortless balance through a long finish underlining its pedigree.

Wines We love

2011 Ben Haines ‘Flowers’ Flor Marsanne

Yarra Valley

A decade in barrel, first under flor yeast, then on ullage (an oxidative environment), it’s fair to say this is a unique wine for this country. This bristles with briny Sherry notes, roasted nuts and linseed, an explosion of orange-skinned citrus and spice riding the uber-dry and saline palate.

Wines We love

2020 Spinifex ‘Esprit’

Barossa Valley

Built from mataro, grenache and cinsault, this illustrates what makes blends so compelling – each component pooling into the gaps left by the others, leaving a seamless whole, laced with ripe red fruits, spice and floral notes, the palate supple, with fine grip and natural freshness.

Wines We love

2015 Kangarilla Road ‘The Veil’

McLaren Vale

Savagnin under flor yeast, in the style of the wines from France’s Jura region. This vintage is a stunningly bright affair, layered with waxy, briny umami notes and shot through with citric freshness, whipcrack dry and moreish.

Wines We love

2020 Taschini Pinot Gris Graciano Sangiovese

Limestone Coast

This juicy light red is a riot of super-bright red fruits and florals, with a pleasing grip that adds even more refreshment value to the zippy acidity. Drink chilled.

Wines We love

2018 Fighting Gully Road Petit Manseng

Beechworth

An expressive nose of dried mango and orchard fruits leads to a palate rich with sugar and intensity buoyed and lightened by vigorous acidity and a gentle grip.

Wines We love

2019 Cullen ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ Rosé

Margaret River

This rosé is an expression of all the red varieties in the Cullen vineyard viewed through a deep pink lens. Fragrant, spicy and herbal, with a plump of richness cleaned up with a gentle grip working in concert with the acidity.

Wines We love

2019 JC’s Own ‘Angaston Foothills’ Grenache

Barossa Valley

From 150-year-old vines, this is fermented all as whole bunches, resulting in a wine laced with evocative spice, orange peel and floral notes to accent the darkly mineral fruit expression.

Wines We love

2021 Alkina Kin Semillon

Barossa Valley

Under Alkina’s exploratory Kin label, this is all old vine semillon, planted in the 1950s, with a whisper of skin contact bringing out some dried ginger and a pleasing drying pucker to the floral, lemon-scented fruit.

Wines We love

2021 Edenflo ‘Lemon Krush’

Eden Valley

With semillon taking the lead, the 2021 ‘Lemon Krush’ is an essay in citrus, from a lemon-scented fragrance to the refreshingly drying pucker of lemon barley water gifted by Wardlaw’s masterly hand with skin contact.

Wines We love

2020 Edenflo ‘Fresh Prince’

Eden Valley

The ‘Fresh Prince’ marshals a quartet of red varieties with decent crossover on a Venn diagram but are rarely all seen together, offering a fragrantly floral and spicy nose, with earthy notes, red and dark fruits and a palate of chewy, grapey tannins and fresh zip.

Wines We love

2019 Place of Changing Winds Marsanne

Heathcote

A textural, flavour-intense but light-footed wine, this is loaded with orchard fruits, smoky minerals and waxy notes.

Wines We love

2019 La Violetta ‘Penury’ Pinot Noir

Manjimup

Earthy and mineral, bristling with spice, dried flowers and sour cherries, this is supple and savoury in equal measure – an utterly distinctive expression.

Wines We love

2019 Swinney Syrah

Frankland River

A tangle of wild berries, spice and minerals are supported by assertive tannins that are a distinctive signature of the Swinney vineyard site.

Wines We love

2020 Chalmers ‘Dott’ Ribolla Gialla

Heathcote

Picked ultra-fresh, this rendition of the great Friulian grape is alive with citrus, apple and herb flavours borne along an electric rail of acidity.

Wines We love

2019 The Other Wine Co Grenache

McLaren Vale

Red fruits matched with spicy, earthy complexity – easy to love, but with detail for those that care to look.

Wines We love

2019 Place of Changing Winds Syrah

Heathcote

This is bursting with spice and wild fruits, with an underlying signature of regional minerality.

Wines We love

2019 Yangarra ‘Roux Beauté’ Roussanne

McLaren Vale

Layers of citrus, spice and orchard fruit, overlaid with chalky, savoury accents.

Wines We love

2018 Chalmers ‘Dott.’ Schioppettino

Heathcote

A riot of spice, wild berries and floral notes on a slippery but taut midweight frame.

Wines We love

2021 La Violetta ‘Patio’ Pét-Nat

Geographe

A joyous mix of muscat and riesling, full of pink grapefruit and rosewater with softly textured generosity matched with exuberant freshness.

Wines We love

2019 Shaw + Smith ‘Lenswood’ Chardonnay

Adelaide Hills

An Adelaide Hills pioneer at the top of their game. Intense stone fruit, complex smoky barrel notes and minerals take the lead.

Wines We love

2019 Yangarra ‘Ovitelli’ Grenache

McLaren Vale

A great example of why grenache is so hot right now. Savoury, aromatic, refined and with a commanding web of tannin, this is compelling stuff.

Wines We love

2019 Bertrand Bespoke ‘Field Blend’

Bendigo

A field blend leaning on Rhône white varieties, this is all barrel fermented, then raised on lees to build texture and harmonise the varieties into a seamless whole of orchard fruits, granitic minerals and nutty winemaking notes.

Wines We love

2019 Yarra Yering ‘New Territories’

Yarra Valley

An exercise in spice and leathery savouriness, buoyed by plump red fruits, which are clutched firmly by assertive grapey tannins through the finish.

Wines We love

2019 Lino Ramble ‘Solitaire’ Grillo

McLaren Vale

One of very few wines made from grillo in the country, this is loaded with orchard fruits and a sea spray tang, with texture and bright freshness defining the palate.

Wines We love

2020 Koerner ‘Rolle’ Gullyview Vineyard Vermentino

Clare Valley

Subtle orchard fruits and dryly savoury. Light on its feet, with a fine, lightly textural and grippy feel.

Wines We love

Crittenden Estate ‘Macvin’ Savagnin NV

Mornington Peninsula

Sweet, but cut through with salted nut and smoky notes, and alcohol spirit lending it shape and line. Crittenden Estate’s take on the Macvin of France’s Jura region, with flor-aged savagnin combined with unfermented new-vintage juice, then fortified.

Wines We love

2016 Crittenden Estate ‘Cri de Coeur’ Savagnin

Mornington Peninsula

Matured under flor yeast, this is a Mornington Peninsula version of Vin Jaune, loaded with preserved lemon and nutty sherry-like notes, with explosive power and a dryly saline umami carry.

Wines We love

Nadeson Collis ‘Coda’ Sparkling NV

Henty

A unique sparkling wine drawn solely from a solera started in 2003 – think artisan Champagne, shot through with nutty sherry-like notes, but built on fruit intensity.

Wines We love

2020 Maison Lapalus ‘Upwelling’ Mourvèdre

Heathcote

Light and bright, this is a pure riot of berries and grapey scents, with a fine freshness and gentle spritz – take it as it comes, or chill it down.

Wines We love

2020 Bertrand Bespoke ‘L’Ecume du Jour’

Heathcote

A red-fruited rosé pét-nat, bright and crunchy with a chalky, dry and ultra-refreshing palate.

Wines We love

2018 Cobaw Ridge Chardonnay

Macedon Ranges

Flinty, white peach and lemon curd, gently textural – this has all the trappings of complex chardonnay, with generosity of flavour and winemaking detail perfectly poised and pitched.

Wines We love

2018 Ocean Eight ‘Verve’ Chardonnay

Mornington Peninsula

This is laden with stone fruit and grapefruit notes, with textural flex on the palate that is straightened by trademark freshness.

Wines We love

2020 Smallfry ‘Electrik Violet’

Barossa Valley

Juicy and dark, but floral and bright at the same time, this is red wine built for drinking not sipping.

Wines We love

2019 Cullen ‘Amber’

Margaret River

Vanya Cullen’s ‘Supernatural’ journey into skin-contact whites continues, with the 2019 ‘Amber’ a spicy, fragrant and gently grippy expression of sauvignon blanc.

Wines We love

2020 Brash Higgins ‘FRNC’

McLaren Vale

Supple and silky, this is a seductively delicious take on cabernet franc by Brad Hickey.

Wines We love

2019 Arfion ‘Willowlake Vineyard’ Pinot Noir

Yarra Valley

From the Yarra Valley’s legendary Willowlake Vineyard, and the equally legendary Dave Mackintosh, this is a pinot noir of real detail and depth, but you can also ignore all that and just focus on its charming drinkability.

Wines We love

2020 Hither & Yon Carignan

McLaren Vale

Carignan usually gets lost in blends, but a wine like this makes you wonder why – packed with spice and dark-fruited flavour, this finishes ultra-fresh and racy.

Wines We love

2019 Coriole Montepulciano

McLaren Vale

Lesser known Italian varieties are muscling into the limelight right now, and this wine captures why. Packed full of flavour, this has grip and race to keep things fresh – killer with spicy salami pizza.

Wines We love

2017 The Wine Farm Gewürztraminer

Gippsland

A flavour bomb of classic gewürz, with Turkish delight, talc and lychees, but with a dry zip to the palate that keeps it super fresh and vibrant.

Wines We love

2019 Arfion ‘Full Moon Vineyard’ Chardonnay

Yarra Valley

Perfectly pitched chardonnay from Dave Mackintosh, with flavour and elegance in equal measure.

Wines We love

2019 Giaconda ‘Amphora’ Roussanne

Beechworth

A ‘naturally’ styled skin-contact white from a Beechworth master better known for classic styles.

Wines We love

2018 Giaconda ‘Estate Vineyard’ Chardonnay

Beechworth

One of the greats in top form – complex, smoky and nutty, this is chardonnay on a grand and impressive scale.

Wines We love

2019 Dilworth & Allain ‘Cope-Williams Vineyard’ Chardonnay

Macedon Ranges

A savoury, textured and mineral chardonnay from 2020’s Young Gun of Wine.

Wines We love

2020 Brave New Wine ‘Gewurlitzer’

Great Southern

Cloudy, wildly aromatic and delightfully left-of-centre orange wine – just what you expect from Yoko and Andries Mostert.

Wines We love

2020 Dune ‘Bonaire’ Rosé

McLaren Vale

A classic dry rosé of bright and pure red fruits, but also with a bit more substance and grip – it doesn’t need food, but it’s built with it in mind.

Wines We love

2019 Cullen ‘Mangan East Block’

Margaret River

A Malbec-dominant red from the Mangan Vineyard, across the road from Cullen’s home site, this is brim full of spice and dark fruits with a refined finish – it makes a pretty compelling case for the grape.

Wines We love

2018 Grenache Wizardry Grenache

Heathcote

A new wine from a new endeavour led by De Bortoli’s ever-restless Steve Webber, this is an earthy, mineral grenache coloured by the ancient soils of Heathcote.

Wines We love

2019 Gatch Wine & Little Bang Brewing Co. ‘Nero Nouveau’

Riverland

Such a new Australian perspective on Sicily’s most important red grape. Light, vibrant, cherry scented and detailed, pitched to take a chill, or not – this is required drinking.

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Wine Guns For Hire

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Deep Dive

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    Australia’s Best Syrah

    Shiraz is inarguably Australia’s key red variety, with a style built on fruit depth and concentration. The ‘brand shiraz’ monolith sparked a counter movement in the early 2000s that favoured elegance and perfume, and one that branded itself with the French name for the grape: syrah. Today, Australian syrah is a category in its own right, and an exciting one at that.

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Vineyard Profiles

The Top 50 Finalists in the Inaugural Vineyard of the Year Awards

The top 50 finalists have been selected based on the pursuit of fruit and wine quality, vine health, innovation, and sustainability – encompassing environmental, social and economic sustainability.

“By focusing on the vineyards, on the places where wine comes from, and on the practices of sustainable grape growing, these awards can help recalibrate how we think about wine, shifting our perception of it from a liquid commodity in a glass to a cultural product of the country it’s from,” said awards panellist Max Allen.

“It was thrilling to visit each of these vineyards, albeit vicariously,” continued Allen, “and learn about all the hard work going into looking after the land, nurturing the health of the vines, and – most importantly – continually improving wine quality.”

See the list here

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    Announcing Wine Guns for Hire – The Wine Industry Jobs Market

    Wine Guns for Hire is the place for seasoned professionals and new talent to take their next professional step in the wine industry. There are all manner of jobs at businesses along the supply chain, from growing grapes and making wine to servicing and supplying wine businesses, from selling and serving bottles to those whose job it is to talk about wine, as well as those business roles behind the business, such as IT, accounting and design, etc.

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    Discovering the Ageability of Semillon

    We followed Charlotte Hardy of Charlotte Dalton Wines for a day, at her new base in Port Elliott, to make a video that touches on her approach to semillon and chat about where she sees the variety in South Australia.

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    Wild Times on the River of Riesling

    In this third instalment of a seven-part series produced in collaboration with Vintage Cellars – 70 years of supporting wine in Australia – we look at Australian wine in the 1960s, at the influence of technology, the birth of iconic styles and the personalities that shaped that most pivotal decade.

  • Regions

    Honouring the Land – Defining our Subregions

    Australia has plenty of wine history, and we arguably have the most precious resource of old and ancient vines in the world, but we’re still a young wine country by European standards. Many of our revered wine regions took shape relatively recently. Describing our key wine regions in broad brushstrokes is a starting point, but one of the most critical ongoing projects is defining and mapping the finer detail, uncovering subregional nuances and drilling down on the detail that makes our wine country special. We catch up with Vanya Cullen to discuss her challenge of establishing Wilyabrup as an official subregion of Margaret River.

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    Tasmania’s Top 5 Places for Wine Fun in 2021

    With its gentle autumn days and mild summers, Tasmania is the perfect locale for cool-climate winemaking, and that is now matched with wine-focused venues that are the envy of the mainland. The island may be small, but its bar and restaurant scene certainly isn’t. The Wineslinger 2021 list of Australia’s top places for wine fun is here, with Tasmania’s Top 5 a neat snapshot of why the island state is such a wine lover’s paradise.

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“If we went back 10 years, the relationship between sugar and acidity would be a lot more obvious – all over the shop. There’d be sugar here, acid there, and things would not be anywhere near as in balance as a lot of the wines we saw today.”
Patrick Walsh, Director and Owner Cellarhand Wine Wholesalers, at our Deep Dive into Textural Riesling. Read the full article here.

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