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…

Securing a spot to taste through the new wines with Lucas Pichler was no mean feat in itself, such was the rugby- scrum of hopefuls surrounding the table. These guys are rock-stars! But timing is everything and as Bengt and I made our move a group where just finishing and were in! The first thing to be said is that the FX wines are better than ever. And that's really saying something as they were always, obviously, very good indeed. I asked Lucas if he'd…

On arriving into Vienna some 27 hours since leaving Tullamarine we found the CAT train which whizzed us in ultra-smooth and very quick fashion. There was time for a swift check-in, shower and email download before it was time to meet in the hotel bar with the rest of the visiting Australian contingent. After a well appreciated local beer we set off on what was a delightful 30 minute walk across central Vienna, though a thriving with tourism Stephansplatz square and on to our spot…

In June this year Patrick and Bengt Baumgartner travel to Austria, Germany and on to a sneaky few days in Alsace and Burgundy. Bengt is sommelier at The European in Melbourne and was winner of the 2011 CellarHand/Frankland Estate Riesling Scholarship award. Bengt has already attended the Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting in Sydney in February this year as part of his prize - and is now about to undertake the second part of the prize - two weeks with some of the greatest Riesling…