Our tasting with Lucas Pichler at ProWein this year was a highlight. The file of identically-labelled bottles lined up in their crate like soldiers on parade gave nothing away. And yet, to taste!  So intricately etched, so pure, penetrating and individual.  Many of the Danube growers commented that 2017 was pretty warm and early, and all voiced the same surprise at the animation and detail that their sites had achieved. That was borne out by what we tasted here: an abundance of juicy, open fruit with…

When it comes to the festive season, it's go large or go home. With that in mind, we've thrown together our complete listing of magnums for you  to crack open and share this summer.  We all know there are few sights more welcome in a bathtub of ice than a towering 1.5-litre bottle of Riesling, and we have the best in the world from the likes of Dönnhoff, Heymann-Löwenstein, F.X. Pichler, Frankland Estate, Gunderloch and Georg Breuer. But then Champagne en magnum is a must,…

Germany hasn't exactly had it easy over the past few harvests, but boy did the top growers pull it out of the bag time and again. Conditions in 2015 were famously auspicious, while the years around it threw up more than their share of challenges and heart-in-mouth moments. What materialised, however, is little short of miraculous - as these wines predominantly from '16 show. What follows, then, is a raft of dry wines from top sites to kick off your summer of Riesling... ANSGAR CLÜSSERATH…

As the weather warms up down under, here's a selection of smashable rizzas to splash liberally throughout the summer and beyond. KABINETT 2017 Dr Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Kabinett Mosel RRP $40 Very fresh apple and cassis character with wonderful freshness. A long, crisp finish. Screw cap. A long, crisp finish with pronounced minerality and a discrete hint of grape sweetness. Screw cap. Drink now or in 2019 and 2020.  92 points. Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com June 2018  2017 Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett Mosel…

Summer's coming, and great wine shows no sign of running dry round here, with November providing epic excitement on both the domestic and international front. Here at home, there's a host of high-profile releases: Nick Farr's close-planted GC, RP and Tout Près; Wantirna Estate's '17 Isabella and Lily and '16 Amelia and Hannah; Stephen Pannell's career-defining Koomilya wines; and Sam Middleton's 2016s from Mount Mary. Then there's some ace stuff filed under awards and accolades: Burn Cottage's 2016 Pinot coming first in a field of…

It was an overnight success 40 years in the making when it made its debut a couple of years back. 2015 GC Chardonnay by Farr was the best Australian-grown Chardonnay we drank from that celebrated vintage. We weren't the only ones swept off our feet. “This stands tall in the pantheon of top-end Australian Chardonnays, planting its own stake in the ground through sheer length,” proclaimed James Halliday. Its majesty wasn't lost on Campbell Mattinson: “This is a Chardonnay of presence if ever there was…

Wantirna Estate is a haven, an innocent bucolic fantasy seemingly oblivious to the din of modernity just beyond its borders. When Reg Egan planted it in 1963, he thought it inevitable that the vineyard would be swallowed by the suburbs, which back then petered out some way off. Thus it was conceived, to a degree, as an experiment - a chance to stick some vines in the ground to see what grew best on this cool-climate frontier. In went the likes of Riesling, Crouchen, Pedro…

Koomilya - A Dedication by Stephen Pannell After working 39 vintages, including nine in Europe, I've spent plenty of time in vineyards and wineries to ponder: Why do I love wine? Why do I love making wine? What is it exactly that makes a great wine? I think that all great wines obey a set of rules, and the most important of these is that wine should have a sense of place; the best possible expression of where they are from. Put simply, a wine…

Are the Middletons on a roll? That’s one way to look at it. After all, this Yarra Valley estate was named Winery of the Year 2018 by James Halliday, and has just had its Quintet anointed with Heritage Five status in the Langton’s Classification of Fine Wine VII –cementing the Bordeaux blend’s position as one of Australia’s five greatest wines. But conceiving this as a winning streak is misleading; both of those accolades recognise constant devotion to site and standards, plus accumulated wisdom – not…

Since 1868, Domaine Jacques Prieur has created one of the rarest mosaics of terroirs in Burgundy. Today it is probably the only estate owning vineyards on the greatest appellations both of Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits: Chambertin, Musigny, Clos Vougeot, Echézeaux, Corton, Meursault or Montrachet. This amazing collection is completed by other prestigious appellations and three clos monopole sites. Several of these phenomenal parcels of vines were snapped up at the turn of the 20th century by Jacques' great uncle, while Jacques himself…

Labruyère Champagne Grand Cru is the relatively young enterprise of top-flight French vignerons, the Labruyère family. The estate has almost 6 hectares located in Verzenay and Verzy, with holdings comprising 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.  In 1873, an unofficial ranking placed Verzenay among the top three crus in Champagne, which is why the Labruyères settled upon this village on the glorious Montagne de Reims for their Champagne adventure. Of the 320 grape-growing villages in Champagne, just 17 are ranked Grand Cru for the quality…

As we skip into sparkling season, what better time to land a range of superstar wines from a brilliant grower in Champagne? Even better, Jean-Marc and Oriane Sélèque are celebrating a terrific harvest from 2018, with a glorious, abundant harvest (a jubilant tone echoed by their friends and near neighbours, the Chiquet brothers of Jacquesson). So lots to get stuck into, lots to look forward to! We started off with Solessence (“essence of soil”), the non-vintage white and rosé blends of the three key Champagne grapes…

We're delighted to introduce you to the domaine of Jean-Pierre Latour. Ours was a friendship kindled a few years back when we first had a look as his wines, as scarce as they are alluring. The scarcity, from Jean-Pierre's point of view, meant there was little need to force things (and this is a place ruled by patience and grace). But that allure - well, that meant that we weren't going to wait too long. We got a chance to catch up again in March,…

We're absolutely over the moon for Judi Cullam of Frankland Estate, who was last night awarded the Len Evans Award for Leadership at the annual Gourmet Traveller WINE awards. Peter Forrestal wrote a lovely piece for the magazine, in which he explained the rationale behind bestowing this prestigious accolade on this bright, warm and generous woman. "Drive, determination and charisma, these are the leadership qualities that make Cullam a deserved winner of the Len Evans Award," he wrote. "They underpin her love affair with Riesling, which…

Intense and tensile wines are the calling card here, pure and unadorned by style and consistently high in quality. Indeed, I sometimes think that Louis Michel is the most underrated of Chablis’s great domaines. William Kelley, Wine Advocate September 2018 "The bad news is there’s not much wine; the good news is they’re both very good,” Guillaume Gicqueau-Michel said of ’16 and ’17 when we visited the domaine in March. Chablis has been lashed by a catalogue of meteorological mishaps over recent harvests, with this…