Loads happening at home this month. Among high-profile releases, we’ve had Vanya Cullen’s Kevin John Chardonnay from 2015, Ben Glaetzer‘s top Barossa reds from the same vintage and Yeringberg‘s suite of 2014s. That lovely Balnaves family of Coonawarra have also rolled onto new vintages for most of their wines, while the equally lovely Smith Cullam family of Frankland Estate have shown they’re firing on all cylinders with a sublime Shiraz from Isolation Ridge. Speaking of Shiraz, Stephen Pannell‘s in the news with a couple of very different interpretations of McLaren Vale, while Punt Road dynamo Tim Shand has followed up his multiple award-winning 2015 with another belter.
From New Zealand, PJ Charteris continues to bewitch us with his Hunt Vineyard Riesling, and Te Whare Ra’s Flowerdays have taken Sauvignon Blanc to a new level with their single-vineyard, barrel-fermented SV 5182 rendition. You can’t miss, either, the fantastic 2015 Pinots from Burn Cottage, including one of the wine world’s most precocious classics from the eponymous vineyard.
In overseas news, it’s Austria’s month: a focus on 2015 Burgenland wines, plus Domäne Wachau‘s single-vineyard whites and a pretty Sommerwein rosé from Ingrid Groiss. Across the border in Germany, Cornelius’s Dönnhoff‘s Leistenberg Kabinett is begging to be drunk. And finally, we’re gearing up for an emotional farewell to the 2014 vintage in Burgundy. Read our round-up of what’s left, before it all disappears.
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