Tag: Australia

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Two buck Chuck, or worth every buck?

School holidays. Gotta love the break from routine and the chance to travel, relax or just bond with your kids. But we all know that the gap between school terms isn’t all beer and skittles. After all, the traffic can be horrendous, the house looks like a warzone, and all too often “those” relatives want to come and stay.

Jack Harrison Shiraz

2016 Brockenchack Jack Harrison Shiraz

I’ve often heard self-deprecating winemakers profess that 90% of the quality of a wine is derived from what happens in the vineyard. Having recently sampled the Brockenchack Jack Harrison 2016 Shiraz ($60), and with all due respect to the winemaker, Shaun Kalleske, I suspect they might be right! After another ideal growing season in the…
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Castle Rock Pinot Noir - Travis Schultz Wine Review

Castle Rock Estate Pinot Noir 2018

When we think of pinot noir, I suspect that most of us drift towards wines from Burgundy in France, Oregon in the USA or Central Otago in New Zealand’s southern isle, but there are a number of Australian districts that are producing stunning examples of the style and creating what is almost a cult following…
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Robert Stein Dry Riesling Travis Schultz Wine Review

Robert Stein 2019 Dry Riesling

If you’ve ever been to a wine appreciation night or wine club meeting, you’d be well familiar with the “blind wine” or “wine options” challenges that entertain, beguile and often confuse those sampling the vino on offer. These games, in which a bottle of wine is wrapped in alfoil to conceal its identity and then…
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he Lane 19th Meeting Cabernet Sauvignon

The Lane 19th Meeting Cabernet

When our Easter long weekend trip to the Adelaide Hills had to be cancelled due to a global pandemic, so too were my plans to write up an array of the best wineries from the region – places like Bird in Hand, Nepenthe and Shaw and Smith. The anticipation of the Hills’s best chardonnays, sauvignon…
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ldridge Estate 2015 Chardonnay

Eldridge Estate Chardonnay

The Mornington Peninsula was once a fertile agricultural and grazing region, but in more recent years has become a playground for Melbourne’s bizzoids and socialites. It’s as picturesque as it is conveniently located – being only an hour and a half from the city centre. There are literally hundreds of boutique wineries on the promontory…
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Travis Wine Review 2018 Scorpo Aubaine Chardonnay

Scorpo Chardonnay

For as long as I can remember, Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula has been revered for its stunning coastline, pristine beaches, rugged clifftops and golf courses – but not least of all, its pinot noir. If you’re a lover of wine, the district would be well and truly on your radar when searching for an affordable alternative…
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Taylors Jaraman Range

No one wants to pay more than they need to but the bitterness of poor quality lingers well after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. In these troubled economic times, most of us are constantly on the hunt for value; that Goldilocks balance that’s “just right” in the tension between quality and price. After…
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Unico Zelo Fiano

If my recent straw poll of white wine drinkers is any guide, so-called Savolanche – Australia’s fascination with sauvignon blanc from the Marlborough region in the north of the Shaky-Isles – seems to have finally begun to decline. And that would be to the collective sigh of hundreds, if not thousands, of winemakers around the…
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Sinapius 2017 La Clairiére Pinot Noir

In a modern world in which economies of scale, efficiency in production, and maximisation of yield are so often the underlying aims of the corporate wineries, it’s refreshing to hear stories of success amongst the smaller scale battlers like Vaughn Dell and Linda Morice of Sinapius. They’re a bold new breed of winemaker who defy…
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