If you ask the Adelaide Hills locals, they’ll likely tell you that the local Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are the best varietals produced in their region. After all, it’s been producers like Martin Shaw of Shaw and Smith who have made Adelaide Hills Sauvies Australia’s answer to the ever-popular Marlborough versions. And it’s Ashton…
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I’ve always loved wines with personalities, and perhaps more so, when personalities love wine. So, when former Australian cricket captain Allan Border shared both a bottle of the wine and his story behind the Sanguine Estate Maiden Tonne shiraz, I was hooked (pardon the cricket pun). As the man once known as ‘Captain Grumpy’ explains,…
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Sustainability is seemingly the catch cry of the younger generation, so I shouldn’t be surprised that in recent years, there appears to have been a resurgence of interest in organic wines. And it isn’t just Generation Z who eschew “adulterated” varieties; I recently had a professional colleague unashamedly describe her preference as “small batch, low…
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Whether you’re trawling the shelves at your local bottle shop or working your way through the lista dei vini at an Italian restaurant, selecting a wine from the country shaped like a boot can be a confusing (if not intimidating) experience. Leaving aside the barrier of language, Italian wines are regulated by a complex set…
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Just as the pendulum swings, consumer’s palates oscillate from grape to grape and style to style. Sometimes, it’s seasonal, but other times it’s just that a change is as good as a holiday. The phenomenon is nothing new – we’ve seen the waxing and waning of the passion fruit flavoured sparkling wines of the 1970’s…
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When friends come over for dinner, what do you serve first, the expensive hero wine or the cheaper support act? It’s an age-old dilemma when you’re serving two bottles of red with the main meal on Saturday night. Is it better to warm up the palate with the cheapie and impress with the expensive wine,…
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Whether we care to admit it or not, the Australian mainland doesn’t have too many wine-producing regions that are ideally suited to making the Burgundian classic Pinot Noir. After all, it’s a finicky grape that is highly susceptible to rot and disease and doesn’t do well in warm or wet climates. For this reason, many…
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For a country that produces over 45 million hectolitres of wine each year, we don’t really see a lot of Italian wine in Australia. Perhaps that’s because we’re a parochial bunch – as over 80% of wine consumed by Australians is Aussie made. Italy is still the world’s biggest wine-producing nation with daylight – to…
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Perhaps more polarising than Kyle Sandilands, Riesling is one of those grapes that most people either love or hate; rarely is there a middle ground. I’ve heard friends say they wouldn’t ruin their risotto by pouring in a cup of Riesling, but others vow that it’s the word they instinctively scan for when handed a…
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In an industry dominated by the corporates, there are hundreds, if not thousands of small winemakers across Australia seeking to establish their brands and carve out a living. Most are dreaming of hitting the oenological paydirt that will establish them both reputationally and financially for life. But as in elite sports, it’s often the “one-percenters”…
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