Adelina Estate Shiraz Malbec YV 2022 (Clare Valley, SA) 

Cane berry pippy, and comfy moss smelling: a positive pong, sort of Monastrell-Mataro-Mourvèdre pepper dried cow pat. Soused black cherry density too, and wet red bricks. As it tastes too: almost a Wendouree-ishness* to the palate, in terms of the tannin austerity evolving into short-crust pastry melt. Maillard reaction-like, standing roast rib complexing things also. Plenty of juice, dustiness, and grip. A warmth, but not heat. This has restraint, sapidity, and a nourishing rye crustiness—a most fabulous palate, and gently complex nose which pulls in. Should gain complexity with an another five years in bottle. 94(95)/100 (e) - 9/10 (h) - 😋😋😋 - $33.

*Not for the first time when tasting a red wine from this vineyard, my senses have jumped the fenceline and reminded me of the dinstinctive scents of Adelina’s northern neighbour, AP Birks Wendouree. Sometimes it’s a sniff of anise or bay, but with this it’s Spring Farm roast beef meatiness—the end bits. And the texture—nature—of the tannin.

The YV on the label refers to the two young vineyard blocks established in 2013 and 2017 with source material from early the estate’s 19oos plantings (the Shiraz, at least—I’m assuming that the Malbec was taken as cuttings from Wendouree). There’s a dollop of 100 yo Shiraz grapes in it too. I’ve dropped by Adelina quite a few times over the seasons and can tell you that there would be few vineyards anywhere in the land tended as meticulously as it—it also being an ACO certified organic vineyard. You can follow Col McBryde’s insights about dry farming in this part of the world here. This wine is—without any doubt—one of the best value Australia red wines I’ve tasted in many a year. Not the least bcause of it most special provenance.

Oliver's Taranga Vineyards x Valtteri Bottas Ihana 2022 (McLaren Vale, SA)

Deep and dark and with cracked red rock pepper spice, plus some animal meatiness. Complex—cold—steak and kidney spelt pie smelling. A dried fruit density, plus shimmer. Lands deep rich and edgy, building fine tannins and some creaminess. Deep, lush and quite unforced with power but also freshness. Sure there's alcohol, but whoa what a start!* The fruit is lingering and figgy while the tannins are red dusty ferrous. Maybe gets a bit—the tiniest bit—oak-sucked up to finish, but this is the only quibble. Although it’s fine oak most fruit complimentary oak too. Should grow though, and there’s a delightful valedictory tweak of liquorice. 94(95)/100 (e) - 😋 - 7/10 (h) - $80. Also to be found here should be looking to source it within Finland.

*This was the first wine I tasted—although the seventh I nosed—in a half-blind line-up which included ‘22s from the Clare Valley and Heathcote. Hence my excitement about the palate, even venturing back and forth to it after assessing the others. It was a surprise, however, that this turned ou to be from McLaren Vale for I’m not ordinarily a fan of Shiraz from the Vale. But then ’22 has provided a delightful number of them. And this—groan—is positioned at one or two so far on the vintage's grid.

De Bortoli Nebbiolo Fizz NV (Yarra Valley, Vic)

Brininess, sweet toast crustiness, cured complexity—of the parma into bresaola kind— and deep. Cane berry pips build. Cane berry pippiness on the palate also — loganberry more than raspberry — there’s most serious fruit in here. Has a biscuity bresaola mashed pips mouth-aroma thing also, while the tannins are melting and most Nebby*. And they’re gently integrated in the fine mousse*. Has intriguing textural complexity and I seriously want to taste this—drink I mean—with some Pino’s Dolce Vita wagyu bresaola. Because this is emphatically bresaola bubbly. 94/100 (e) - 9/10 (h) - 😋😋😋 - $29.99 cellar direct. Crown cap sealed.

Chalmers Col Fondo 2021 (Heathcote, Vic)

Intense red fruitiness on the nose: raspberry-blackberry conserve pippiness and a sniff of rye sourdough crust. How it tastes too—packed with pippy red cane berry fruit—although not especially long. But most tasty it is and dry cane berry fruit finishing with just the right balance of juice and grip, and a mouth-aroma waft of crust. Not super complex, but super pure—flavourful—and lots of fun. 91/100 (e) - 😋😋 - 8/10 (h) - $35 cellar direct.  Crown cap sealed.

Mitolo La Spiaggia Sparkling Glera 2024 (McLaren Vale, SA)

Prosecco orange blossom smells, among fresh pear skin corella. Some dried oregano. Has depth this. Some dehydrated pineapple too .This has decent weight and width in the mouth, although not a great deal of flavour. But it’s balanced and gently chewy: tasty, with a good middle. But just trickles away a bit. But there are gentle mouth-aroma aromatics. A tickle of bitter salad greens. 90/100 (e) - 8/10 (h) - 😋 - $32 cellar direct. Sealed with Diam technical cork.

Haddow and Dineen One Hundred Days Méthode Ancestrale 2021 (Tamar Valley, Tasmania)

So complex on the nose (and elsewhere). Crab apple, rye flour crumble, fresh cut bacon rind. Amandine with soused morello cherry on top. Smells so compelling. Super-complex, aged, amandine melting in the mouth also. Acid is out there, but integrated (if this makes sense). Tastes like it has a good bit of reserve in it—a complex base—although it pulls up a bit to close. Who cares? There's peel, chew, density. Ozone bracing too, with anchovies and raspberry pips on the breeze. Granular, blackberry cox's apple flavour/texture characters an’ all. And Christmas baking spice. This is a whole bubbly world of fun. 94/100 (e) - 9/10 (h) - 😋😋😋 - $45 cellar direct. Crown cap sealed. And in case you’re wondering why I’m not pointing higher, it’s because of the slightly clipped finish. But is is still fabulous. A remarkable thing to behold. 

Daosa Rosé Method Classic 2022 (Piccadilly Valley, SA)

Smells pure and vital; has a real energy to it. Cane berry pippiness; tiny iced liquid raspberry seeds. A sniff of sweet leather and short, crumbly pastry. Bursts with deep cane berry pippy fruit on the palate too—loganberryish. A rosehip sumac edginess also. Excellent texture here: super-fine fizziness and extract. There's subtle mouth aroma wafts of Serrano and then goji berry sweet-sharpness.

If you let it sit a little—warm and open up—it gets plumper through the middle, and there’s more still winey width. Classy pink méthode this, and one which I wouldn’t mind revisiting with another 6-12 months in bottle. I reckon there may be more to come. 94(95)/100 (e) - 😋😋 - 9/10 (h) - $65 cellar direct. Sealed with Diam technical cork.

Moorilla Muse Series St. Matthias Vineyard Extra Brut Rosé 2018 (Tasmania)

Fabulous fruit depth here: poached and compressed. Has blackberry baked apple Blanc de Blancs-like smells. Deep, puckered stonefruit skin and rockpool brininess. Fresh kelp, yet caramelised—but fresh—development. Deep toasty, almost tarte tatin brûléed. Dry though, bitter quince skin and big deep compressed pippy black berry—from Chardonnay I think—through the middle. Showing some cork age, but in a good way. Fab, plum dried skin in the middle. Before gentle apricot skin chew velvet to close. Something just a bit abrupt about the finish, but most certainly personality packed for most of the experience. 94/100 (e) - 8/10 (h) - 😋😋 - $60 cellar direct. Sealed with Ganau Perlage technical cork.

L.A.S. Vino Albino PNO 2023 (Margaret River, WA)

This has some style: red rose fruits and gently salamandered poached peaches, and white nectarines. Some white chocolate. As it warms a little, there are gentle wafts of clotted cream. There's compressed white nectarine and fraises on the palate too. Chewy grippy, with a touch of warmth—phenolic warmth methinks (a good thing in this). Not super long, but I do much appreciate the way the mouth-watering tangerineness rises. Texture is long, although not the flavour, as yet. Seriously classy and seductive — and gets better with air. 95(96)/100 (e) - 10/10 (h) - 😋😋😋 - $60 cellar direct.

Not for the first time when tasting a wine—blind—Phillipa Sibley’s, Circa, The Prince dessert, ‘Snow White and Rose Red’* has popped to mind, which was as gorgeous to the eye as it was on the palate. Although here, of course, I can’t see the colour of the wine as I’m tasting it from a Riedel Blind Blind**.)

*I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to taste previous releases of Albino PNO both a short time after receiving tasting samples from Nic Pieterkin, and then again from 6-18 months later.

Longview Juno Rosato 2023 (Adelaide Hills, SA)

Has dried peel and positive pong. White blackberry earth. Some bresaola cured meatiness. Has perfectly judged shape on the palate—creaminess into melty terra cotta dustiness. Sapid-pippy fruit and chew. Blood orange glacé peel and loganberry pips bursting. Spelt pastry melty. Quite a delight to taste this. (And to — later — drink on, a number of occasions). 95/100 (e) - 9/10 (h) - 😋😋 - and at $26 cellar direct this is incredible value, although I must now write was. The latest Melbourne Wine Show rosé trophy winning 2024 has just—early December—replaced the ’23 on the Longview website, and it’s now $32 cellar direct.

I’ve also learned that despite the very recent vintage rollover—the first week of December—there is not a drop of ’23 trickling through distribution channels, as the last of it was taken by a clearly discerning — and significant—Adelaide entertainment destination. So should you find yourself enjoying the hospitality of the members enclosure at The Adelaide Oval —and other of its other select venues —you’ll have a decent rosato at hand to enhance your summer sporting engagements. A sublime accompaniment would be wagyu bresaola should any be on offer.

With a few notable—and really only occasional—exceptions your correspondent is not beguiled by Adelaide Hills Pinot. So there’s no better use that I can think of for Hills nero than to partner it in a complimentary and supporting role to Nebbiolo in rosato. Or in a méthode, of course, and many delicous examples of these abound (see here for my review of the latest divine ’22 Daosa Rosé). The ’23 Longview rosato was in the ratio of 70:30 of nebb to nero as I recall it, while the ’24 ups the nebb ante higher still. I’ll let you know when I’ve tasted the ’24. And FYI, the ’23 only earned a bronze at the Melbourne show of ’23. A bit too chewy for some probably.

Dalrymple Estate Vineyard Chardonnay 2021 (Pipers River, Tas)

Has a sort of rock pool oyster brininess. Meyer lemon peel, crunchy pear rocket, serrano jamon and Section 28 Monforte, a most delicious semi-hard artisan cheese from the Adelaide Hills which I’ve been much enjoying of late. (Okay I’m chucking this in so I can provide you with a link.) So: most complex in an understated way. Faded tangerine and Meyer lemon in the mouth also and has real delicacy, yet chew too; pithy, mouthwatering, translucent of texture. That primal thing. Limpid. If tastes can be so. So not super-flavoured, but great shapes and structure. 94(95)/100 (e) - 9/10 (h) - 😋😋 - $52 cellar direct.

The 

S. C. Pannell Sauvignon Blanc 2023 (Adelaide Hills, SA)

Mown grassy and tangerine smelling — crisp golden delicious also. Edgy, juicy, tangy. And tasting too, with mouthwatering passionfruit and tangerine fruit intensity, before a lingering, pink salty, lime peel finish. Packed with flavour and juicy, ‘sweet’ acidity. A Sauvignon blast. 92/100 (e) - 8/10 (h) - 😋😋 - $32 cellar direct.

Vince Blefari. It is in Piccadilly. 

Otherness Harmonica Aglianico Montepulciano 2022 (Barossa Valley, SA)

Some woodsy leaf in here, plus carbon paper. Bitter orange peel. Some digestive wheaten biscuit. A sniff of violet. Builds soused black cherry  hazel nuttiness as sits and opens. Has tight tannins and a tweak of anise which is most alluring. Has bitter peel tanginess and nourishing rye crustiness. If you’re a fan of Langhe Nebb, or fine local examples of same cultivar from the Hills, then this will appeal to you. 94(95)/100 (e) - 9/10 (h) - 😋😋 - $55 cellar direct. Will be even more complex in a few more years I reckon.

Mitolo ‘Masso’ Montepulciano 2022 (McLaren Vale, SA)

Deep luscious smelling, cut with warm, terra cotta tile dustiness, dried rose florals, blueberry crumble, and roast-meaty end-bits at the edges. Has complexity this and gets better in the glass. Deep, dusty chewy on the palate with gritty grainy — Italianate — tannins, and integrated sea spray acidity. There's dehydrated peel, mouth-sucking oyster shell chewiness, before it mellows, getting blueberry crumble digestive crust — and coffee crema. Just the teeniest bit saggy finishing is my only (slight) grumble. But I do much admire the crumble. 92(93)/100 (e) - 8/10 (h) - 😋😋 - $42 cellar direct.

Evan Evans Bianco 2022 (Eden Valley, SA)

Peach stone juice — of the yellow-skinned kind — bruised orange and a durian— er—‘offness’ (in a complexing, positive way). Old Turkish Delight, and pistachio cream as it warms and opens. A sniff of my local Asian grocer— Yue Kee—as rain hits the pavement. Skinsy papaya on the palate, baked apple textured, and some creamy prosciutto fat. So: sweet-sapid, while the acid is a melty, briny blast mingled among quince skin chew. A brulée, poached tarte tatin thing too. This is a bit of fun. 91/100 (e) - 8/10 (h) - 😋 - $28 cellar direct.

Component not a feature.

wines by KT Pinot Gris 2023 (Clare Valley, SA)

Has a fab tang to it, even not long out of 8º fridge. Builds dried pineapple: so a Pecorino! (Er, incorrect Tw, as I learned at the reveal, but there were a few in the line-up: please see explanatory note below*). Pear bosc skin and mizuna leaf as it sits and opens. Nourishing, sapid sweet aromatics. Has zing, chew, and power on the palate in equal delicious measures. There’s ruby grapefruit rind and some compressed pineapple. A perception of glutamate too, and there’s much to suck on and consider through the middle. Not so much a creaminess, more a pistachio, fine sea salt pastryness. Plus extreme moreishness. 94(95)/100 (e) - 9/10 (h) - 😋😋 - $35 cellar direct.

Chalmers Pecorino 2023 (Heathcote, Vic)

This has deep tanginess: ruby grapefruit peel and small cell juice. And then a caneberry jelly thing pops up too. Gets better and better as it sits (after thirty minutes or so). There’s gentle pistachio shell and I do appreciate the restraint here. There’s also some Parma salami-ness about it too. Has a deep concentrated core—serious fruit power on show here—and it gets tangier on the palate as it opens up. Finishes with mashed, iced cane berry pips. 94/100 (e) - 8/10 (h) - 😋😋 - $33 cellar direct. Perhaps not quite as sublime as the ’22, but still a stimulating and satisfying introduction to this variety for those who’ve yet to dare.

The first Australian Pecorino I tasted was—unsurprisingly—the Chalmers Project 2018, made with grapes grown on the family’s mother rows at Merbein on the south side of the Murray River, just west of Mildura. I write ‘unsurprisingly’ as, for those who don’t know the story, Chalmers Nurseries selected two clones (VCR 417 and VCR 485) of this intriguing white variety from the Marche for importation to Australia in 2011, along with many other divine Italian cultivars in the decade or so prior. The cuttings were released from quarantine in 2015.

Which is remarkable when you consider that plantings of Pecorino were virtually non-existent in its homeland as recently as the early 1980s. In his absolutely remarkable—truly peerless—work, Native Wine Grapes of Italy (University of California Press, 2014), Ian d’Agata informs us that Cocci Grifoni’s “Colle Vecchio” Pecorino was first released in 1990 and that for ten years “he was the sole producer to commercialise the wine…”.

Over the border in Abruzzo Luigi Cataldi Madonna was the first Italian winegrower to label a wine as Pecorino with the release of his 1996 vintage. There is an an excellent piece about this gifted eccentric titled, The Nutty Professor of Pecorino, by Robert Camuto on the Wine Spectator website.

For additional Pecorino detail you’ll find a Chalmers Nursery data sheet to download here. And a complete listing of the grape varieties Chalmers is responsible for importing and propagating here.

Mitolo ‘Perduto’ Pecorino 2023 (McLaren Vale, SA)

Takes a little while to open up, but when it does gets nettle and icy, ruby grapefruit peel. Quite understated. Lemon thyme too. Pistachio. Dehydrated pear skin austere and chewy on the palate. Bracing and sea salty — has genuine varietal glutamatey-ness. Sapid, chewy, gathering dehydrated peach-pineapple as it warms. Might be too austere for some, but not for I. Although I’d recommend giving it a slop around to pick up some air and lose some chill. 91/100 (e) - 7(8)/10 (h) - 😋 - $35 cellar direct. If you join Mitolo’s wine club you’ll get 15% off and free shipping. Mix some with the ’22 Masso Monte would be my suggestion (I’ve not been paid to write this).

Some disclosure though: In February '24—I undertook some sensory work for Mitolo — a pre-bottling shiraz blends assessment, as well as a look at some current release wines. While I did taste this wine on the day my review above, and therefore the ratings I’ve attributed, derive from a small, ‘half-blind’ tasting of whites of a style that some might describe as ‘textural’.

The line-up also included a few rosatos (a.k.a. rosés)—tasted in Riedel Blind Blinds so sight unseen—which is my standard assessment practice. I really don’t care for how a wine looks, it is what it smells and tastes like that is most important to me. This may in part be due to my deuteranomoly, but I believe—know—that many a wine professional is significantly influenced—swayed in a qualitative direction—by how a wine looks in the glass: by its hue, density, clarity, or turbidity. I discuss this subject in more detail here.

Another reason why I don’t like to sight labels before tasting, is that the producer’s name may influence how positively or negatively—and all points in-between—I rate the wine. We all file away prejudices and preferences to some degree or others, whether conciously or not. And personally I enjoy the surpise of the reveal, hopefully discovering a wine that has exceeded its reputation or status.