“So lovely. You’d be mad not to.” That was how Gary Walsh of The Wine Front concluded his note on the ’16 Chardonnay, and it kind of sums up the ease with which you can settle into the wines made by Sam Middleton, Kaspar Hermann and Will Byron at Onannon. 2016 was the harvest from which the chaps added a top tier to the range with a Pinot each from Leongatha and Red Hill. So with a few vintage rolls, the reels have spun into…

Our visit to Domaine Jean Tardy in March was a highlight of a very fruitful European trip to see the growers in the CellarHand portfolio. It’s a tiny domaine with vanishingly small quantities of wine produced, and to have so much wiped out - 40% to 50% frosted everywhere except Echézeaux and Chambolle-Musigny, where losses were more like 70% - seems heartbreaking. But Guillaume, like his wines, was in vibrant, gracious and uplifting form. He’s always one of the first to pick, with acidity the…

“Romain Taupenot has been behind the ascent of Taupenot-Merme in recent years,” wrote Neal Martin for Wine Advocate on tasting these 2016s “It is almost as if fashion has caught up with them, traditionally furrowing their own path of slightly leaner, terroir-driven wines that were as much about texture as fruit, now many growers have changed back more to this style.” It’s obviously a great thing when an estate’s long-term methods, ethos and aesthetics find themselves en vogue, but it means a whole heap more…

2016 was the first harvest with Elsa and Adèle Matrot fully grasping the reins at this organic Meursault estate, having coaxed them from father Thierry.  A superb legacy to take on, but this wasn’t, to say the least, the kindest year in which to kick off the sisters’ reign; the estate lost up to 80% of its normal production to the spring frost. It is, unsurprisingly, a fine debut - they’re more than up to the challenge. Engaging, incisive and forthright, they joined the domaine…

There's an even spread of home and away fixtures this month, with some very fine shipments sailing in from Europe while the domestic scene is littered with new releases. From ye Olde Worlde, we have Burgundy from Domaines Matrot, Jean Tardy and Taupenot-Merme, plus a very handy Bourgogne Rouge et Blanc from Madame at Leroy. Staying in France, we have a new Côtes-du-Rhône white and red landing alongside a Cairanne and Gigondas from Pierre Amadieu. The Germans, bundled out of the World Cup in the…

“I call '17 a racy vintage for us,” says Nick Farr with a slight chuckle. Raciness is relative, and Bannockburn and Bernkastel, say, work off a different scale. But still it’s clear what he means when experiencing the purity and acid drive in the Chardonnay. The Viognier, too, has superb varietal complexity with a buoyancy and freshness that few manage to achieve with this grape. “I think you can see the fineness, texturally, and more detail because it was a really prolonged growing season,” he…

No signs of things cooling off on the home front this winter! We have warm celebrations for the wonderful Smith Cullam family at Frankland Estate, toasting 30 years since planting Isolation Ridge with a great set of '17 single-vineyard Riesling plus the '17 Isolation Ridge Shiraz and Olmo's Reward Cab Franc-dominant Bordeaux blend. Stephen Pannell, McLaren Vale-based maestro of contemporary Aussie wine shines a light on provenance with a deliciously diverse set of new releases, plus Burn Cottage of Central Otago has put out its…

“Open a bottle of Stephen Pannell's wine and you will enjoy it. No, you will probably love it.” So wrote wine writer Ray Jordan earlier this year in selecting a seriously diverse quartet of wines that epitomised Steve’s approach to this whole wine thing. “He combines the best features of the vineyard with sympathetic fruit-enhancing winemaking to produce wines that are suited to the modern style of Australian cuisine,” is how Jordan summarised that approach. Put like that it sounds pretty simple – but then…

By now I have run out of superlatives for Vajra. Suffice it to say these are some of the finest, artisan wines being made in Piedmont today. Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media It is with enormous pleasure that we welcome G.D. Vajra of Barolo to the CellarHand portfolio. We’ve long been enormous fans of the wines and – through various personal means – enjoyed crossing paths with the Vaira family. It’s clear they share so much in common with CellarHand and the growers in our portfolio:…

"Remarkable site that the fruit is grown on here. Verdant, buzzy with Bambi-like scenes of animals and flowers and insects and stuff. Biodynamic farming, loads of care, a selected place to grow great grapes. Good ingredients. Clever winemaker, Claire Mullholland, and in the mix the wonderful consultant in Ted Lemon from Littorai, California." Mike Bennie, The Wine Front Mike Bennie’s observation, which served to preface his review of the “lovely” 2015 release, is spot-on in pinpointing the unique charm of the Burn Cottage vineyard. It’s…

Frankland Estate is to be revered and celebrated in equal measure. Quietly going about its work, it continues to delight and surprise. Mike Bennie, Gourmet Traveller WINE That’s right, it’s time to celebrate. It’s 30 years since Judi Cullam and Barrie Smith laid down the first vines on Isolation Ridge in Frankland River. It’s well known, with thanks to the naming of Frankland Estate’s top red wine, that Dr Harold Olmo singled out this remote patch of Western Australia as a singularly bright prospect for…

Irrewarra has been a happy hunting ground for Nick Farr. The name comes from a local Aboriginal term meaning “long spear throw”, and denotes the Nick’s venture in Victoria's Western District, out near Colac. He’s enjoyed unleashing his immense talent in a new realm of regionality and flavour. “The wines proved to me how different a concisely moist environment like Colac can be texturally,” he says. “The Chardonnay has had great feedback from the start, perhaps because of its slippery moreishness. The Pinot was a…

Welcome to the newsletter for May 2018, a month that sees a pretty even spread between domestic happenings, and incomings from overseas. A couple of big bits of news from Mount Mary, with the second set of releases from the Middletons' Marli Russell "Rhône Project" as well as a '16 Fumé Blanc and Chardonnay under the Réflexion label. Shiraz news comes in the guise of a lovely first review of Ben Glaetzer's 2016 Bishop, while Tim Shand of Punt Road is excited to unveil his…

Hats off, Hattingley Valley! This English estate has enjoyed more than its fair share of spoils in its relatively short life to date, with two world-champion wines to its name in the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships, as well as two Winemaker of the Year trophies for Emma Rice. This time the estate is celebrating winning the Winemaker of the Year 2018 award from Luxury Travel Guide. The award comes as we celebrate a new shipment arriving from the Old Dart. The 2013 Rosé…

It was at L’Assiette Champenoise in Reims last October when a match in the early stages of a dég menu threw up, as well it might in Champagne, a glass of something local we hadn’t heard of. It was poured, and it was good. Damn good. So good, in fact, that it was immediately followed by a bottle and a barrage of questions to the sommelier. The wine was JmSélèque Solessence, from a third-generation grower enjoying a meteoric rise. The next day we were on…