Unconventional Excellence

Self-taught winemaker David Powell is responsible for some of the most revered wines to come out of the Barossa Valley.

Among the first English colonists to arrive in South Australia in 1836, Colonel William Light was tasked with seeking a north-eastern route to the Murray River, then the strategic artery of subsistence in the vastness of terra Australis.

Read More >

Must-Have Wine for the Christmas Table 2010

The Wandering Palate is heading to our Melbourne residence for the festive season and preparations for the Christmas day feast are already well in hand.

Priority of course is procuring the appropriate turkey, and I can tell you after enduring a commercial frozen turkey from the USA for the last three years here in Singapore, we are looking forward to a free-range, chemical-free, wholesome, flavoursome bird (one of the issues Singapore has yet to come to terms with) moreover, at a third of the price!

Read More >

Must Have Wine Accessory of the Year
Preserving open wine

So what do you get the wine enthusiast who seemingly has everything for Christmas? WINESAVE of course – so they can start their very own wine bar at home!

With the very nature of wine appreciably less intimidating nowadays and a growing familiarity amongst the populace, a glass of wine is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life around the world.

Read More >

Buying Wine | Related to: , , , | 2 comments
Marlborough hits and myths

Cloudy Bay may have put a certain white wine and a region on the map but Australian expertise started the trend.

Despite being shunned by wine buffs and recalcitrant writers such as myself, sauvignon blanc remains the world’s most popular white grape variety and has been for more than a decade, dismissing any notion it is a passing trend. While there is no sign of sauvignon blanc’s prevalence waning, overconfident producers should not be complacent. As witnessed in the past, entrenched styles and fashionable varieties can easily become passe.

Read More >

Arlewood Semillon Sauvignon Blanc Sussex Loc 3991 Australia

Best Bordeaux Recipe, Barrel-Fermented Semillon Sauvignon Blanc of Year

Winery Profile

With a bevy of praiseworthy wineries, contention over the pecking order of Margaret River labels is constant and subjective. However, a small producer called Arlewood is materializing as the sleeper of the region and making infinitely more complex and refined white wines in the Graves style.

Read More >

Must Have Wines | Related to: , , | 1 comment
Mitchell Watervale Riesling Vertical 2000 – 2006

Establishing the criteria for the best-value white wine producer of the year, encompassing both the new and old worlds, is not about identifying the best cheapest white wine on the market.

Rather, it is about price-quality rapport, consistency of quality, distinctiveness, synergy in the Asian market and how it compares on the world wine stage. Mitchell Watervale Riesling over-delivers in every aspect.

Having followed this winery for over two decades I can attest to their consistency of quality. A vertical tasting of 2000 to 2006 vintages reaffirms their unfailing capabilities.

Read More >

Age of Wisdom
Dean Hewitson, Barossa Valley, Australia

At the other end of the discounted and oversupplied wine market are undiscovered bargains made from old vines.

Having written on the subject of inexpensive wines in this column recently, I highlighted that price-to-quality rapport will always be subjective. There are many facets and arguments to what determines good value, although for most consumers discounts strongly influence the sense of a bargain.

Read More >

In the mood for red
Chester Osborn d'Arenberg Winemaker, Australia

South Australian grenache is all you need on a winter’s evening. The only way to better it is to fly to Adelaide and drink it with an excellent meal.

With the shortest day of the year past and the winter monsoon bringing its unwelcome message from Siberia, the drinking mood has changed to cuddly reds.

Read More >

Dalwhinnie Chardonnay 2006 Western Victoria, Australia
Dalwhinnie Chardonnay 2006 Western Victoria, Australia

Our Wandering Palate wanders into the Australian gold country of Moonambel-Pyrenees, Victoria, to come up with a favorite chardonnay.

I have been on a chardonnay crusade since writing on the subject in October, 2009, and as I taste through the current vintages of top producers from Australian, my headline “Another Brilliant Chardonnay” reverberates. So indulge me as I write a succession of reviews over the next month on the pick of cutting-edge Australian chardonnays.

Read More >

Must Have Wines | Related to: , | 2 comments
A tale of two regions
Highbank Vineyard Terra Rossa soil, Australia

The best cabernet sauvignons from Australia and France are arguably of equal quality, but one has ended up on supermarket shelves, the other in the best of wine cellars.

The wine regions of Coonawarra in South Australia and Bordeaux, France have a great deal in common, sharing similar climate and geology (terroir), varietal composition, and even comparable quality during Coonawarra’s epoch. Yet, today, they are poles apart, with Bordeaux surging ahead in prosperity, superiority and finesse in its wines.

Read More >