Jeez, if ever there was a year where the Champagne was kept on ice, it was 2021. But whatever happens next, we’ve come this bloody far and it’s time to celebrate in style. Here’s a selection in white, rosé, red and sweet; you’ll find notes and reviews beneath the table: SPARKLING REGION RRP       WHITE           NV Airlie Bank Yarra Cuvée Sparkling Yarra Valley $24 NV Stefano Lubiana Brut Reserve Tasmania $45 2020 Frédéric Mabileau Orgasmic Pét Nath Loire…

Summer’s here, and it’s time to sink pink! (In moderation, naturally.) We’ve got a lovely selection of rosé right here ready for you, in fizzy and still styles to suit every shade of the season. You’ll find notes and reviews beneath the table: ROSÉ REGION RRP       SPARKLING           2021 Chalmers Col Fondo Aglianico Heathcote $36 2015 Stefano Lubiana Brut Rosé Tasmania $55 2014 Hattingley Valley Rosé England $91 NV JmSélèque ‘Solessence’ Rosé Champagne $120       STILL…

WINE REGION DRY? RRP         2020 Gunderloch Fritz’s Riesling Rheinhessen Dry $24 2020 Dr L Riesling Mosel Dry $25 2021 Frankland Estate Riesling Frankland River Dry $30 2020 Wittmann 100 Hügel Riesling Rheinhessen Dry $30 2020 Domäne Wachau Terrassen Riesling Federspiel Wachau Dry $32 2019 Villa Wolf Wachenheimer Riesling Pfalz Dry $32 2021 clos Clare Riesling Clare Valley Dry $32 2020 Koehler-Ruprecht Kallstadter Riesling Pfalz Dry $33 2020 Weaver Riesling Adelaide Hills Dry $35 2020 Paul Blanck Riesling Alsace Dry $36 2019…

"One of my most favourite wines," says Wine Front's Gary Walsh of the beauty leading off the domestic news. High praise indeed but then Wantirna Estate’s Amelia is used to the adulation, and the new-release 2019 is superb. Also creating a stir on the home front are releases from Stephen Pannell and Shadowfax. The former has hit a fantastic groove with his Adelaide Hills Protero label, adding the top-of-the-tree Capo Nebbiolo to a range that now sports white Pinots, an off-dry aromatic white blend, Barbera and everyday Nebbiolo.…

Growing great wine takes patience. Stephen Pannell knows it as well as anyone. Here’s a man who's worked more than 40 vintages, including nine in Europe. When he started S.C. Pannell in the early 2000s, he'd already risen to the top of the tree at Hardys, off-and-on Australia's biggest producer. By the time he bought the Koomilya vineyard in McLaren Vale, it had already been the subject of a 20-year love affair and the source of a Jimmy Watson Trophy. And then there's Protero. The…

Let's get the bad news out of the way. In a year when grape yields across southeast Australia were down as much as 60%, this gorgeous little vineyard wasn’t spared. Its beloved Chardonnay only managed to fill a measly two barrels in 2020, making this year’s spring release a one-wine offer. On the bright side, lovingly tending vines in between shepherding beautiful juice to barrel and bottle is seen as essential work. That’s good for the cheerful disposition of the Egan family. Another boost comes…

It’s a bit like summiting Everest and realising there’s another peak with a better view a tad further on. Such is the quality of the initial By Farr release, taking in Chardonnay, Sangreal, Farrside et al, that it arrives with feverish anticipation and, often as not, vanishes in a puff of head-spinning smoke. And, mirroring those same vintages – the white one year ahead of the red – we’re treated to an encore that raises that dizzyingly high bar even higher. So now we welcome…

It’s a single-vineyard release but controversially it isn’t all about the vineyard. You can’t downplay the Macedon Ranges’ role in this. A lot of people are still coming to terms with the specialness of this region. The coolest quality wine-growing area on Australia’s mainland milks that natural advantage for all it’s worth in a warming world where people love to drink Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. What does that mean? In a nutshell chez Shadowfax, it means plentiful flavour with the drive and energy to keep…

The Mount Mary release is a haven. It’s a fixture on the calendar - a marker of time, and a landmark on the Australian wine scene that you can take your bearings from. But while devoted to a place, the Middletons are far from stuck in time. They continue to take strides towards a bright future, ensuring they’ll always be something we can count on and look forward to. Sustainability has been a major focus over for the past five years across every aspect of…

Stephen Pannell's beloved Koomilya vineyard leads the way this month, with three 2018 single-block Shiraz wines out now: JC, DC and GT. Steve fell in love with this McLaren Vale vineyard as a young winemaker because of the strength of its personality, and the wines bearing the Koomilya name are magical, mythical explorations of terroir. Other new releases come from Tasmania and Victoria. First up, Lou and Joe of Stoney Rise have an exotic suite of 2021s: Grüner Veltliner, Trousseau and a first-ever Savagnin join…

Innovation. We tend to think of technology when we hear the word but you get it in nature, too. Evolution entails innovation for survival, and good farmers adapt to thrive in changing conditions. Again, technology can intervene to solve problems - but how much simpler to let the plant do the work? Bruce Chalmers is no Silicon Valley type. He’s into plants – the ones that live and grow, not manufacture. But he’s certainly an innovator, and his daughters Kim and Tennille have inherited the…

KOOMILYA - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE by Stephen Pannell Koomilya is a special place in a special landscape. It’s so much more than simply a beloved vineyard in the Upper Tintara district of McLaren Vale. We recognise with the utmost integrity every time we step onto the ground at Koomilya that it is on the traditional land of the Kaurna people, and we pay our unreserved respect to Kaurna elders past, present and emerging. One of the most important acts we can do with this…

It's spring! What a monster month we're having on the imports front. So, let's start with that. From Austria, we have Grüner Veltliner and Riesling from the likes of Prager, Emmerich Knoll and Ingrid Groiss. From Germany, more 2020s have started to arrive. This time it's the turn of Wittmann, A. Christmann and Gunderloch. From Italy, all four of our estates are in the news: mammoth praise for Cigliuti; the second coming of the Vaira family's Monterustico wines; a few white delights to fill out…

Number 6. Julian’s lucky number, though you’d be forgiven for thinking the world and large parts of Australia are not all that lucky at present. However, the seasons inexorably roll on, and in making these wines and continuing to put together a body of work that resonates so strongly makes us, at least, feel very lucky. Chin up, Australia - get vaccinated and generally be awesome to one another. As you know, Nocturne is now comprised of two wine ranges. The Single-Vineyard or ‘SV’ range…

A couple of big domestic releases lead the way this month, with great old mates Ben Glaetzer and Rob Mann releasing their flagship wines. Ben's label turns 25 years old in 2021, and he's celebrating in style with the '19 Amon-Ra and Anaperenna. Rob and wife Gen, meanwhile, have put out the third iteration of their Calgardup Cabernet Sauvignon. It's another absolute pearler. In Pinot news, it's Stefano Lubiana that's making the headlines, with a pair of single-plot wines from 2018. Fellow biodynamic estate TWR…