The Other Wine Company 2024 Sangiovese

 

This bright and food friendly young sangiovese is a new addition to the Other Wine Co. portfolio. It's a thoroughly modern take on the classic Italian grape variety from the team that also produces wines under the Shaw+Smith label. This is made from grapes grown in the elevated (and cool) Mount Lofty Ranges in the Adelaide Hills. It is designed as a fresh, uncomplicated, drink-now red and delivers on all counts. There are blue fruit flavours to the fore, hints of spice and lashings of bright acidity. Fermented as a combo of whole bunches and whole berries, it spent two weeks on skins before being basket pressed to old oak and stainless steel. Fun drinking with anything from a vegetable pizza to a gourmet burger. $28. https://www.theotherwineco.com/

d'Arenberg 2019 The Ironstone Pressings

 

If you like your reds with plenty of muscle power you've come to the right place. Released at five years of age - and ready to enjoy - this is a classic big red from fourth-generation McLaren Vale masters d'Arenberg. It is a GSM with 72% grenache, 25% shiraz and a small amount of mourvedre - a regional style favourite. The wine is made old school: open fermenters, basket pressing, lees aging, and the end product is unfined and unfiltered. There is nothing subtle here. You have a wine of power and presence, 15% alcohol, with grippy tannins that demands to be matched with a rib-eye steak. $78. https://www.darenberg.com.au/ 

Hoddles Creek 2023 Junior Pinot Blanc

 

Some wines are captivating from the very first sip. This is one of those wines. Yarra Valley-based Hoddles Creek specialises in chardonnay and pinot noir, but also has several other strings to its bow, including this intriguing pinot blanc. The grape, also known as weißburgunder, is a genetic mutation of pinot noir and is widely grown in Alsace, Germany, northern Italy and in several other European countries, where it produces textural white wines. This has lots of personality. It is hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed, racked as as cloudy juice to old white casks (for texture rather than flavour), held on lees and then bottle with minimal filtration. Lively and super food-friendly. $45. https://www.hoddlescreekestate.com.au/

Crittenden 2022 Cri de Coeur Pinot Noir

Attention to detail in both the vineyard and the winery are hallmarks of the Crittenden ranges. The wines are made with regenerative farming practices and minimal intervention in the vines and thoughtfulness from winemaker Rollo Crittenden in the winery. This flagship pinot from the family-owned Mornington Peninsula producer is an absolute standout: full of depth, structure and textural interest, it finishes soft, sexy and smooth on the palate. Classic cherry and berry flavours merge with savoury/undergrowth/deli notes to deliver a complex but disarmingly easy-to-drink wine that will beguile pinotphiles. Super food friendly. 96/100 from me. $95. www.crittendenwines.com.au

Clonakilla 2023 Chardonnay

 

The Kirk family has been making outstanding wines at Murrumbateman, outside Canberra, for over half a century but also sources grapes from trusted growers outside the region, primarily from the Hilltops, outside Young, and from high-altitude Snowy Mountains. This outstanding chardonnay uses fruit from the Johansen family vineyards outside Tumbarumba, which sit around 700 to 720 metres above sea level. From the third cooler-than-average vintage in a row, this has definite cool-climate flavours; citrus and stone fruit leading the charge. There's lots of refreshment here, along with lashings of minerality. Excellent drinking. $45. https://clonakilla.com.au/

Taylors St Andrews 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon

Clare Valley-based Taylors may be best known for their several value ranges, including Promised Land, the Taylors Estate range and Jaraman, but they also produce some excellent high-end wines like The Visionary, The Legacy and this spectacularly good cabernet sauvignon, released at four years of age and ready to enjoy right now. The 2020 vintage was a difficult one in Clare, but this is a wine of classic varietal character, concentration and appeal. Maturation in fine-grained French oak barrels (30% new) for 18 months has added a veneer of soft cedar nuances. Power and delicacy in one long, but very pretty, package. $75. https://www.taylorswines.com.au/

Xanadu 2022 Stevens Rd Chardonnay

This is all class. A beautifully composed Margaret River chardonnay from an outstanding single vineyard site. Sourced from Block 2 of the Stevens Rd vineyard, 3km down the road from the Xanadu winery, this a stunning wine with a balance of intensity and subtlety; not an easy feat to pull off. All the elements are in place: floral aromas, stone fruit and citrus notes, minerality and a hint of sea salt. The palate is medium-bodied but full of interest with nectarine and lemon/lime flavours aided and abetted by brisk acidity. French oak and barrel ferment play key supporting roles but the fruit is the star. Ready for immediate enjoyment (try it with roast pork and crackling), or for medium-term aging. $100. https://xanaduwines.com/