Heiligenstein, Uhlen, Reiterpfad, Hermannshöhle, Grillenparz - all such evocative names. If you're into Riesling, they're also names to make the mouth water, calling to mind complex, ethereal, thrilling wines. Here, in the third of three videos shot at CellarHand's recent single-site tasting in Melbourne, some of the most famous Riesling makers on the planet take you to the exact birthplace of their wines. When all's said and done, it's all about the vineyard... http://youtu.be/SU2elGBFzAc

Diversity in Riesling? You bet. This is the second in a series of three videos we shot at our recent single-site tasting during Riesling Downunder. The breadth and quality of the wines was, predictably, exceptional. And it was great to taste the wines in context - learning from their growers about the traditions, climate and geography from which the wines were born. These brief interviews star the likes of Erni Loosen, Steffen Christmann, Cornelius Dönnhoff and Willi Bründlmayer. The video takes in their regions and…

Several of the world's best Riesling makers came to Australia in February 2015 for Riesling Downunder. As a sideline to this celebration, CellarHand hosted a tasting in Melbourne and Sydney featuring one vineyard each from some of these tremendous producers, including Dönnhoff, Frankland Estate, Dr. Loosen, Georg Breuer, Wittmann, A. Christmann, Heymann-Löwenstein, Koehler-Ruprecht, Stadt Krems, Gunderloch and Bründlmayer. We asked each of them what it was about Riesling that made this grape so goddam wonderful... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge1FpR7_Oyg

Riesling Downunder has come and gone, and what an event it was. A three-day celebration of all things Riesling, with hundreds of members of the public, trade and media involved. It's been a particular delight for CellarHand, as proud distribution partners of event founder Frankland Estate and co-sponsor clos Clare. We were fortunate to play host to 12 producers from Austria, Germany and Alsace whose wines we import into Australia. It was important to justify this mammoth journey for them, so we crammed as much as…

by Ed Merrison Tom Barry’s marital contract is pretty much written in Riesling. That’s how much he loves the stuff. When he and wife Olivia tied the knot a couple of years ago, they did so in one of Australia’s most lauded Riesling sites and went head-to-head in noble-grape competition. “We got married in the Florita vineyard with Thai food and German Rieslings from our birth year,” Tom recalls. “It’s a famous German tradition that you compare the vintage of your birth.” That meant 1986…

Vintage 2013 marked the 10th year since the first plantings went in at Burn Cottage, and it’s hard to fathom the trajectory of this beautiful vineyard over that time. In next to no time it’s become one of the most eagerly anticipated releases on the CellarHand calendar, and now it's the turn of the 2013 Burn Cottage Pinot Noir. Aussies are the first to get a sniff of these lovely wines, available now. Read all about them here. As always, demand is high and quantities…

by Ed Merrison McLaren Vale winemaker Stephen Pannell has won the highest prize in Australian wine for his 2013 Adelaide Hills Syrah. It’s the second time he’s taken out the prestigious Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards, which he first snagged 18 years ago with the 1995 Eileen Hardy Shiraz. His is the first Adelaide Hills wine to win the award and breaks a seven-year drought for South Australia, which once dominated this competition to unearth Australia’s best one- to two-year-old dry red…

by Ed Merrison Anna Flowerday says ‘cool’ a lot. Not ‘cool’ as in climate – though her journey from fifth-generation Shiraz-swilling McLaren Vale lass to South Island NZ is a big part of the story. Nor ‘cool’ meaning on-trend – in fact some of the best moves she’s made run counter to fashion (and received wisdom). No, just cool in that simple, spontaneous way that says you’re going to dig it, whatever happens. Example: it’s “pretty cool” that’s she gets to do a job she…

by Ed Merrison Grenache has filled a Pinot-shaped void for Steve Pannell. I know, sounds an unlikely substitution: a sun-worshipping, late-ripening, oft-blended also-ran for the crown prince of the Côte de Nuits? But over recent years people like Pannell have steadily recast Grenache as the Burgundy of South Australia. As a junior winemaker he was “very much obsessed” with Pinot Noir at Tim Knappstein’s Lenswood Vineyards in the Adelaide Hills. “I liked that style, with power and intensity fitting within a medium-bodied frame. When I…

At CellarHand we have a number of biodynamic producers in our portfolio, including Domaine Leroy in Burgundy, Domaine Ostertag in Alsace, Burn Cottage in Central Otago and Weingut Wittmann in Rheinhessen. At our recent trade day, we asked three winemakers from Australia and New Zealand - Vanya Cullen of Cullen Wines in Margaret River, Steve Lubiana from Stefano Lubiana in Tasmania and Anna Flowerday from Te Whare Ra in Marlborough - why they employ organic and biodynamic practices in the vineyards. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMYAjoUQBYM[/embed]

   Over the past decade, the wine choices open to the Australian diner have opened up immeasurably, with superb styles from the world's most exciting regions readily available. At CellarHand's 15th birthday Trade Day, we asked a few sommeliers what this tremendous breadth of options means to them. The tasting featured a host of imported wines from the portfolio. Importantly for the Aussie diner - or for any winelover anywhere - this includes top wines from Burgundy, as well as Sancerre, Alsace and the Rhône.…

I recently had the privilege of participating in a comprehensive Mount Mary Vineyard vertical tasting encompassing 20 vintages of Triolet, 20 of Chardonnay, 20 of Pinot Noir and an epic 30 vintage line-up of Quintet Cabernets. I can think of worse ways to spend a Monday! The Middletons have conducted such tastings in the past, but always as a behind-closed-doors exercise for the winery team. This time around, in addition to the Mount Mary team (pictured above is head winemaker, Sam Middleton), a tiny number…

Arriving at Domaine Leroy at Vosne-Romanée is always an exciting moment, and by the same token there's always a sense of wonder in terms of what the visit will bring. Sometimes it's a tasting of Maison wines. Sometimes a mix of Domaine and Maison, sometimes Domaine wines from barrel... or bottle. Sometimes Madame Bize herself is present - if not Frédéric Roemer presides. If neither are available there's no visit. Simple as that. Visits can range from 'just' a tasting, to a tasting and 'tour',…

André Ostertag is a man who very much walks his own path. A constant student of wine he, like many of the producers we've met on this trip, is not one to rest on his laurels. To stand still is to go backwards, someone said at one of the visits, and André is a case in point. Our tasting today is a mix of mostly 2010 and 2011 vintages. 2011 in Alsace was reminiscent of 2007, with very early flowering finishing by the end of…

You arrive at Huber's winery in Malterdingen to be greeted by the ever affable, genuine and 'hell bent of doing everything he can to make it the best' character that is Bernhard Huber. Even though we're more than an hour late thanks to a 'solving the problems of the world' session with Steffen Christmann! The Eurocave where the tasting bottles live is set to 15. The Riedel Burgundy glasses are at the ready. Welcome to a tasting that honours the 700 years of Pinot Noir…