I’ve often said that good Pinot isn’t cheap and that cheap Pinot isn’t good, but having recently tried the Nanny Goat Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012, I might have to modify my mantra! At only $25 a bottle, I wasn’t expecting anything above average, but the Nanny Goat certainly delivers well above its very reasonable price…
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Mention McLaren Vale reds and the Pavlov Dog in me begins to salivate at the expectation of juicy ripe red berries, bold fruit and a lingering sweetness at the back. So, you can imagine my surprise when I ripped the Stelvin from a bottle of the Rosemount Estate GSM 2012 and found it nothing like…
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I’m the first to admit that I was probably a little judgmental, but I’d always thought that any creator of Certified Organic and preservative free wines would have dreadlocked hair, red beaded necklaces and have a proclivity to wear ripped T-shirts with five-leafed clover emblazoned across the front, and tie themselves to trees as the…
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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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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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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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When West Australian wines grace my table it’s normally the Margaret River Cabernet that grabs the attention of my tastebuds but having recently tried the Shelton “Calem Blue” Shiraz 2012, I think I might have to broaden my horizons! The Calem Blue sits at the budget end of the spectrum but shows the ripeness of…
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While the McLaren Vale in South Australia is best known for its ripe spicy berry Shiraz, some vintages from the region also produce very good whites, and 2012 was definitely one of those years. The beauty of the McLaren Vale is that when Mother Nature is kind to the vignerons, you don’t have to pay…
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