What a season spring is! The verdant land and waking flowers, the lengthening days and the soothing balm of sunlight on the skin. You just want to drink it in. Apt then, that we have an especially juicy edition of the CellarHand newsletter coming to you this month. The key domestic release is the brand-new suite of Nocturne sub-regional wines from Margaret River power couple Julian and Alana Langworthy, while Tim Shand of Punt Road has a whole set of Airlie Bank releases with the…

Margaret River is, in many senses, a blessed place. The wild yet implausibly perfect beauty of its Indian ocean coastline hints at effortless epicness. The nonchalance with which it seems to knock out immaculate, flavourful and aromatically beguiling fruit year in, year out similarly hints at a preternatural gift. Charismatic, ebullient and virtuosic husband-and-wife team Julian and Alana Langworthy embody the magic of Margs. They’ve been making wine together for well over a decade but it is Nocturne – which debuted with the 2015 vintage…

Jean-Pierre Latour is not a man given to overstatement, but he was super-excited about the 2017 vintage. Where some recorded a boost in yields following the hail- and frost-hit harvests that preceded it, his production from the premiers crus was only on a par with '16. “As to the wines, I view the 2017s as appealing to two different audiences, which is not always the case,” Jean-Pierre told Allen Meadows of Burghound. “Casual consumers will like the fact that the whites will be both approachable…

Many of you will have had the pleasure of meeting Virginie Taupenot when she visited Australia for CellarHand’s 20th Anniversary celebrations in February. She’s a warm and cheerful presence, and as president of Femmes et Vins de Bourgogne, she’s the best ambassador imaginable for her region and the estate. Loveable as she and brother Romain are, they’ve also established themselves in the first rank of Côte de Nuits producers. “This is a domaine that I have followed since before writing about wine. Over the years…

“It is a bijou operation, just half a dozen or so crus in small but fortunately not microscopic quantities. Tardy is always welcoming and affable. He creates relatively fruit-driven, concentrated wines that lean towards the black side of the fruit spectrum rather than red. “You might categorize Tardy’s wines as leaning to the more modern, intense side of Vosne-Romanée winemaking... There is always density and grip to these wines, which benefit from bottle age.” – Neal Martin, Wine Advocate It would be an exaggeration to call…

Winter's days are well and truly numbered, and we hope that this month's newsletter can cast an inner glow on your soul as spring begins its advance. It's an import-dominated month, with Mornington Peninsula champion Paul Scorpo hogging the domestic limelight. And why not? This quiet achiever has got the entire range - with has praiseworthy depth, breadth and brilliance - absolutely purring. We're also celebrating our position as Paul's new distributor in NSW and ACT this month. In foreign affairs, it's Austria making the…

Hannes Schuster was one of a Burgenland trio to hit Australia back in August alongside Gerhard Pittnauer and Roland Velich of Moric. He was a hit – understated and yet you could sense the confidence behind a dry demeanour. It was his first time here but he showed admirable awareness, telling us how important it was for his entry-level wines – a Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt and Sankt Laurent – to be way better than people imagined, and cost far less than their quality would suggest. He…

“Once again there is pure joy – when the work from an entire wine year is so tasteable in the glass!” It’s the quote that pops up when you land on the Bründlmayer homepage and serves as the mantra of the estate. Certified organic and with an exemplary approach to bottling a pure and unblemished image of its beautiful vineyards, Bründlmayer is as much tangible philosophy as wine business. And doesn’t that philosophy taste good? We’re delighted to be welcoming Andreas Wickhoff MW to these…

Winter 2019 offer There’s an aura of joy that surrounds some wines. You feel it in the winemaker’s smile, in the look of the label, the scent of the juice and the way it bounds across the palate. Ingrid Groiss is one such winemaker. Wherever she went during CellarHand’s 20th Anniversary tastings in February, she was mobbed by grinning tasters. The joy was infectious. The latest shipment from the Weinviertel superstar gives us a deeply satisfying spread, with the ’17 Sauberg Grüner sitting alongside the…

Winter 2019 Offer “A short digression into punk history: a mosh pit (and occasionally indeed mash pit) is the area directly in front of the stage where hardcore fans pogoed without fear of skin contact.” Not your average tasting-note intro - but then Gerhard Pittnauer isn’t your average winemaker and he doesn’t grow your average wines. The wine he’s talking about there is the 2017 Mash Pitt, the most beguilingly complete amber wine to make it into the CellarHand portfolio and more than a match…

Paul Scorpo and CellarHand are delighted to announce that CellarHand will be the exclusive New South Wales and ACT distributor of the Scorpo wines as of Thursday, 1st August 2019. We have long enjoyed a close friendship with Paul, whose wines have been an integral part of our Victorian portfolio since 2002. Throughout this time, Scorpo’s unwaveringly meticulous husbandry of an exceptional site in Merricks North has placed it firmly within the top echelon of Mornington Peninsula estates. The home vineyard rolls over red/brown, clay-rich…

What a blessed relief! After a string of years where Chablis was on the receiving end of a merciless Mother Nature, whose hail and frost decimated crops time and again, 2018 brought a welcome change. It’s a credit to estates like this that they keep smiling through those lean years, and keep banging out brilliant wines thanks to the Herculean efforts of their vineyard workers. Guillaume Michel has seven full-timers out in the field to ensure that his 22 hectares yield the best they can…

2017 marks the fourth harvest since we began our association with this low-key high-achiever from the Mâconnais. There were plenty of reasons we were drawn to André Bonhomme in the first place. This is a modest, hard-working pioneer family – the first to domaine-bottle wines in the appellation that subsequently became Viré-Clessé. There’s no ego or technical meddling in the cellar; everything at this place begins and ends with the certified-organic fruit. And on that note, there’s a fascinating patchwork of terroirs across their old-vine…

It feels like a mixed and meaty kind of news month, with the kind of vibrant diversity that we adventurous winelovers espouse. The big release for the month - along with Mount Mary's JWDM - is Nick Farr's 2017 Sangreal and Farrside Pinot Noir alongside his whites from 2018. It won't surprise you to hear that it's another affirmation of the way this family is still streaking ahead of the pack, finding ever more precise detail and harmony in the wines. Elsewhere in Pinot-land, there…

HdV is a family venture between Hyde Vineyards of Napa Valley and Aubert & Pamela de Villaine of Burgundy, France. Aubert de Villaine, married to the Hydes' cousin Pamela F. de Villaine, is one of Burgundy’s most recognized individuals. Born and raised in the rich traditions of France’s greatest winemaking techniques, Aubert brings to the partnership the foundation upon which the venture bases its theories and practices. Larry Hyde came to the Napa Valley more than 40 years ago with a great love of wine…