“Gee that’s nice, what is it” – the first words spoken by the lady of the house as she took her first sip of the glass I poured then handed to her after a Saturday afternoon of chores being diligently completed. “Grüner Veltliner”, I said. “Never heard of it”, the reply without lifting her gaze…
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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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Refresh, reinvent and reinvigorate are terms often thrown around by marketeers and business consultants and we well know that the alcohol sector is not immune from their self-proclaimed wisdom. It may be a statement of the obvious, but it’s probably fair to say that these days, consumers are looking to try something new and different…
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The rise of Asian fusion style restaurants and our penchant for dishes with a hint of spice has seemingly caught Australian winemakers a little by surprise; is it just me, or is there a dearth of wine lists with a wide selection of whites with a hint of aromatic sweetness about them? And in fairness,…
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Marsanne is a troublesome white wine varietal that originated in the Northern Rhone region of France and has challenged winemakers and their viticultural practices for centuries. Notoriously difficult to grow, it struggles in heat or freezing conditions and it is susceptible to a wide range of vineyard diseases. Depending on the conditions and terroir, it…
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One of Australia’s most underrated white wine grapes must surely be the Portuguese import, Verdelho. It’s a style which for some reason is mainly used for blending in dry white blends, such as Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. But with the intensity of flavour and the delicious overtones of lime and honeysuckle, I reckon it’s an…
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The cool climate, dry autumns and elevated vineyards in Orange, New South Wales, make it an ideal environment for growing Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, but it may be the Alsatian inspired Pinot Gris grape that puts it front and centre of the viticultural map. In the United States, Pinot Gris is now the second biggest…
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Chardonnay may still be the world’s biggest selling white wine varietal, but at least in the United States, the star of Pinot Gris is well and truly on the rise – so much so that it’s now comfortably the second biggest selling white wine in that country. Amongst Australian wine consumers the style lags well…
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The simple tricks of clever winemakers can create mouth-watering styles of wine that often defy their traditional characters. And there aren’t too many better examples of uncomplicated viticultural stratagem paying handsome dividends in the bottle, than the Deviation Road Pinot Gris 2014. Winemakers, Hamish and Kate Laurie, realised that Pinot Gris can be tightly wound…
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If you’re a devotee to the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc style but feel like being a tad adventurous, why not take a punt next time you’re at the bottle shop and look for something from the Pouilly-Fumé region instead. The Upper Loire Valley in central France has two pre-eminent wine production regions, Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre. And…
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