If the ball-tearing, over-oaked, overdone and texturally repugnant malolactic style of Chardonnay bring a smile to your face and a tittle to your taste buds, then the Heemskerk Coal River Chardonnay 2012 is not the wine for you. But if you’re the discerning type of sophisticated white wine drinker who prefers the more refined and…
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I have to admit to being somewhat of a novice when it comes to South African wines, but having discovered the Diemersfontein Pinotage 2012, I’d be happy to become a more regular oenological tourist to their viticultural shores. The Pinotage grape is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault and has become somewhat of a…
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Having a bottle of the PHI Lusatia Park Pinot Noir 2011 fall into my hands courtesy of winning a bet with a mate (thanks Bloodlines), it was always going to have a certain sweetness on the palate. But who could have guessed that such a highly perfumed nose could have carried such rose petal prettiness…
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It may just be a conversation starter, but if I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked, “So, what’s your favourite wine”, I’d almost be able to give up my day job! And while it’s a little unfair to compare premium and pricey collectible wines to their commercially produced cousins which sell at…
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I’d never heard of Billy Goat Hill let alone their wines until I recently acquiesced to a glass of red with my lunch on a domestic Virgin flight to Sydney. The name may sound like something out of a Norwegian fairy-tale, but the lesson I received in geography was well worth the adventure! The Billy…
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I am not sure whether it’s for the preservation of a wine’s integrity, it’s marketability or just plain elitism, but in the Australian wine industry, it’s relatively rare for a winemaker to blend grapes of the same style from different territories. But the aversion to regional blending might be a thing of the past given…
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There’s no better place to source Cabernet than in Western Australia’s Margaret River region and you’ll have to search high and low to find a more approachable example than the 2010 Killerby Cabernet Sauvignon. I can’t help but enjoy the slightly dusty mintiness that hits you on the nose, but it’s the full-bodied blackcurrants and…
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Maverick Wines are probably best known for their winemaker, Ron Brown, and his elegant Barossa Valley Shiraz, but you know the winery is genuinely “five star” when the “house white” is as good as the 2011 Maverick Breechens. Squarely aimed at the “everyday tipple” end of the market, the Breechens is a white blend primarily…
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Buying wine at the value end of the spectrum can be a little hit and miss, but you can vastly improve your prospects of scoring runs by buying a type of wine that is the strength of its region of origin. Like the Valley of the Giants Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2013. It’s an example of…
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While I’ve never been a disciple to the sweet and floral style of white wine, I admit that everything has its place. And while I would never countenance serving Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc as a table wine with anything I’d personally prepared, there are times when an aromatic white wine with high residual sugar is the…
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