Make no mistake: This is a landmark. And just for a moment take in that land on which the Chalmers family is making its mark! Drink in that colour, that warmth, that space! It’s undoubtedly Australia. Inland Australia, with its own rhythm, its warm, red dirt and blazing sun. It is a place where grapes – millions of tonnes of them – have grown. But till now, none have grown like these. It has taken a lifetime of journeying, enquiring, importing, planting, propagating, trialling, observing…

Grenache has an ability to bear the hardship of a changing Australian climate. Seeing how it handles each season leads me to wonder why Grenache is compared to other varieties, and why isn't it the other way round? We've often heard the expression 'warm-climate Pinot Noir' used to describe Grenache and used 'pinot-like' in previous tasting notes. Perhaps it's Grenache's medium-bodied nature or the tendency for some winemakers to disguise the variety's abundance of tannin. Either way, I can no longer agree with the comparison.…

Huge congratulations to Eva Clüsserath! She's just become the latest CellarHand portfolio member to be crowned Winemaker of the Year. The accolade is further confirmation that this humble estate in the Mosel Valley is a force to be reckoned with on the global Riesling scene. Eva, who is married to Rheinhessen winemaker Philipp Wittmann, juggles the running of her estate with bringing up their two children among the goings-on at the stellar Wittmann winery. She is, in short, a superwoman. It’s great to have a…

Vintage 2019 in Malterdingen was characterised by warm summer days, for us optimally dosed rainfall and very cool nights during harvest, so that the grapes ripened perfectly and the wine fully expressed its essence. Due to little rainfall in winter and spring, the vegetative development was delayed at the beginning of 2019. In mid-June, flowering was very even across the various vineyards amid good weather with cool nights. Later on, the vegetation in the foothills of the Black Forest benefitted from well-distributed precipitation during midsummer.…

  Wines from Germany's 2020 harvest are starting to flow a little more fully into Australia, with Riesling from Mosel, Rheingau, Rheinhessen and Pfalz arriving now from some of your favourite growers. These include your first chance to taste Eva Clüsserath's wares since she was crowned Germany's Winemaker of the Year. And from Baden, we have taken possession of the ripping 2019s from Weingut Bernhard Huber, the nation's greatest exponent of the Burgundy varieties. Fun times all round... MOSEL – Including newly crowned Winemaker of…

For a family that hangs its hat on innovation, Dott. is the extreme avant-garde. The Chalmers family’s forward-looking celebration of the frontier of vine diversity is also a retrospective ovation for the late, great Dr. (“Dottore”, or Dott. for short) Rod Bonfiglioli. He was the viticulturist whose extraordinary passion and vision helped paint Australia’s vinous landscape in all the bright colours of tomorrow, while all eyes were on the same old, Old-World prize. He sought out these rare grapevines for the Chalmers’ ground-breaking nursery collection,…

“These two wines from our certified-organic Isolation Ridge Vineyard continue to typify what we are about at Frankland Estate. “They encapsulate a journey of generational farming and a commitment to sustainability in every aspect of viticulture and winemaking. “Riesling and Syrah have been a parallel focus and we hope the results speak for themselves. “We offer them as singular wines that reflect a thoughtful, passionate approach to the Isolation Ridge site. “Our crusade for the last eight-odd years – and especially since our 2015 release…

Charteris is a trans-Tasman story of exploration, love and connection. Its protagonist is PJ Charteris, an eternal dreamer whose heart burns with a contradiction: Fondness for home and desire to explore. Wine, a lens through which to view time and place, is the perfect medium to satisfy those yearnings - and to share the fruits of experience with others. Kiwi-born PJ’s journey has gone full circle and halfway back again, with wines that embrace both his beloved Central Otago and his adoptive Hunter Valley home.…

We are delighted to introduce you to these fantastic white wines from the historic vineyards of Tokaj in Hungary. We actually began importing the wines of Attila Homonna – organic pioneer and standard-bearer for dry Hungarian whites – some years ago, having been introduced by our mutual friend Roland Velich of Moric. We now have the opportunity to expand the offering, including wines Attila makes for his great friend and like-minded grower Zoltán Jakab of Jakab Pince. VINEYARD & CELLAR The approach to vineyard management…

“It can withstand comparison with many a Grosses Gewächs from Germany,” wrote Jancis Robinson of the second release of the Wolta Wolta Riesling. She summarised the wine as “Really beautifully balanced, appetising, mature Riesling,” and ended up marvelling: “How do they do it?” The “they” in question are two sets of tireless, fearless Riesling pioneers: Ernst Loosen and the Barry family. The GG comparison is apt insofar as this is an ambitious Riesling. It’s the ultimate dry expression of a grand-cru vineyard: The high-altitude (480m),…

Good things take time, we all know. It’s around 40 million years since Antarctica’s split from Australia exposed thevolcanic seams that deposited basalt flows around the more elevated parts of the Mornington Peninsula. One of the beneficiaries of that rift is Paul Scorpo, whose Merricks North vineyard sits on the iron-rich red-brown clay-loam soils shaped by millions of years of weathering. It's on this dirt that he grows his most singular, layered and inistent wines. In keeping with the unhurried geological process, Paul hasn’t rushed…

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY OFFER We at CellarHand are fortunate to work with a number of inspiring, incredibly gifted women. Exhibit A is our exemplary matriarch, Virginia Walsh, as well as the team members that make CellarHand tick. On the grower side, of course, we are blessed to know a host of exceptional “international women”. The wines they craft bear testament to their vision, talent and strength of character. We present this offer in the hope that you, too, will share in our appreciation of their…

“It’s complex in a casual, almost off-hand way,” writes Campbell Mattinson of the new-release Leongatha Pinot Noir. It’s a fair observation of the wine but perhaps it also touches on the appeal of Onannon. Vintage 2008 saw the birth of this label. That’s some serious miles on the clock for an outfit that looks as fresh and purring as a brand-spanking sports car. The analogy ends there, though, because there’s never been a hint of flash about the way Will Byron, Kaspar Hermann and Sam…

“We have three unique blocks of Pinot Noir. The fruit chosen for the Sasso is grown from these. The three to five best-performing barrels are selected to produce a mid-weight wine with soft, savoury tannins and well-balanced acidity. It's a style that we have always enjoyed making and drinking. The wine is only produced in exceptional years, with the 2020 being the ninth year of Sasso Pinot Noir production.” – Steve & Monique Lubiana 2020 Stefano Lubiana ‘Sasso’ Pinot Noir RRP $132 SOLD OUT 100% estate-grown,…

As always, the Moonlight Race has played warm-up act to the new-vintage single-vineyard releases from Burn Cottage. And didn’t that wine bode well?! Well, the main event is here and resolutely lives up to its billing. Would you believe we’re now on the sixth vintage of the Burn Cottage white wine? Its lost none of its fresh and original appeal. Mind you, the same can be said for the Burn Cottage vineyard Pinot Noir – more than 10 vintages in and beating its own path…