Victoria

Crittenden's “homage” to the classic Catalonian blend of Tempranillo (50 percent), Mataro (Mourvèdre, 30 percent) and Grenache (20 percent) was inspired by winemaker Rollo Crittenden's love of this part of Spain. The grapes come from a vineyard just outside the Mornington Peninsula region and Rollo uses old oak and wild fermentation to retain freshness in the style.

The wine is indeed fresh, lean and pure. Bright, juicy red and black fruit comes through from the Tempranillo whilst the Mataro adds a dense feel to the wine with a meaty element; and the Grenache brings elegant spice and white pepper to the long finish. This is a really impressive wine with a clear Catalonian feel to it, ¡salut!
Catriona Felstead - Australia Buyer, January 2017

A combination of low yields and ideal ripening conditions have produced a bright, ruby Pinot Noir. This has aromas of red cherry and juicy plum on the nose, while the delicate soft tannins and spiced berries develop into a savoury twist on the finish.
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer

Not the Pythonesque antithesis of Kangeright, Kangerong is actually a zone of Mornington Peninsula.  This is a fruity, understated Chardonnay, with its character from extended lees’ contact rather than oak. The fruit comes from two selected Chardonnay blocks, a stone’s throw apart.
100% chardonnay.
Cool & discreet.

Located in Australia’s Yarra Valley, Pimpernel Vineyards is an exciting family-run producer of top quality Australian wines. Winemaker Mark Horrigan’s wine experience began in youth. Wine was so much part of the family routine the garage was occasionally transformed into a bottling line, the unit for which is now on display in the Pimpernel Vineyards Wine Room.

This is an inherently generous and open wine that’s become even more so after five years in bottle. Its bouquet of liquorice, garrigue and sweet black fruit is more Vacqueyras than Victoria, but the addition of one percent Muscat of Alexandria is classic Ozzie ingenuity. Expect plush tannins and a long, savoury finish.

Circe’s Hillcrest Road now leads Pinot Noir production in the area – which is no mean feat, given the level of competition. It is sourced from a 1.2-hectare cool northeast-facing site planted in 1993, about 2.5 miles from the coast. With only 20 hl/ha making it to fermentation, low yield is the main weapon in the quality arsenal. For the 2016 vintage, fermentation was 100 percent whole bunch with six days foot-stomping. This considered winemaking delivers a wine of standout sophistication – offering delicate wood smoke and spice on the nose and black cherry on the palate. This is a deep and complex wine meant to be savoured slowly or reserved to evolve in the cellar for years to come. 
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer

Produced in the Upper Yarra Valley, this Sauvignon exhibits ripe greengauge and gooseberry fruit paired with herbaceous and stony notes. The elegance that marks out the wines from Gembrook is evidient through the wine.
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer

Gembrook Hill is a small estate comprising five hectares of vineyards and the yields are low at 700hl/ha. The first wine was produced in 1989 and the winery constructed in 2000. Winemaker Andrew Marks’s philosophy is to make “smashable” wines, as he puts it. By this he means wines that are light and elegant and easy to drink. Despite being smashable, the Gembrook wines offer some of the finest expressions of Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc from this part of Australia.

Their 2012 Pinot Noir is no exception, a wine with the distinct cherry, gamey fruit of the New World, yet balanced like an Old World Burgundy. The nose is full of spice, cherry and redcurrant with gamey spice in the background. The palate is light- to medium-bodied, with a good depth of fruit, yet it is also elegant and poised. Lovely length. A great match to a light lunch, or a plate of charcuterie.  Drink 2018 to 2020.

2013 was the best vintage yet for Circe, with consistently warm temperatures ensuring even ripening and healthy fruit. It is hardly surprising therefore that winemaker Dan Buckle has made a standout single vineyard wine from the Hillcrest Road vineyard this year. Extremely restrained and very Burgundian in style, this wine is defined by its savoury complexity. It is vastly different from what you might expect from an Australian Pinot Noir in almost every sense. The wine is pale in colour and delicate, almost pretty in style (typical for Mornington) yet it is also structured and conceals a power and a concentration that comes through on the mid-palate and remains evident on the extremely long and beautifully fresh finish. The nose and palate display subtle notes of hedgerow, smoke and bacon fat which complement the macerated ripe red berry notes, and the tannins are exceptionally fine. This is a must-try for Pinot-philes.
Catriona Felstead MW - Wine Buyer

Yarra Yering was the creation of Dr Bailey Carrodus, a legendary, pioneering figure in Australian viticulture who sadly died in 2008. He planted an eclectic range of European grape varieties but was particularly successful with Bordeaux grapes and Syrah. Usually he would blend Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot but in 2006 made a wine exclusively from Merlot, not a grape which is widely or successfully planted in Australia. The aim is to produce something akin to a top Pomerol; the nose has an abundance of rich, plumy fruit with chocolate notes; on the palate the tannins are wonderfully ripe with a silky texture and the chocolate theme continues with hints of mocha too. Very long on the finish, impressively concentrated and well worthy of comparison to some of the great Right Bank Bordeaux wines.

The clay soils of the Underhill block make a particularly fine Shiraz, with distinctive black fruit flavours and a notably savoury aftertaste.

"Just a barrel or two are made in truly exceptional years, that's only when the Merlot in the original vineyard  has achieved perfect ripeness. Always a densely structured wine when young, that gives nothing away. It comes spectacularly to life after around 8-10 years in bottle and continues to open out with time. I recently sampled the 1992 vintage and it was stunning, revealing mulberry and plum notes with an exotic, spicy edge. New World's answer to Le Pin?!"
Hong Kong Fine Wine Team

"Always a talking point at a Yarra Yering tasting. Made using indigenous Portugese varieties and fortified very much in a vintage Port style. Think of a vintage port with slightly sweeter fruit and more appealing in its infancy. The Potsorts has come a long way in recent years, and as the vines age, the structure and depth increase and we now see a perfect balance with the alcohol. This should really be left for a decade, and will provide a great alternative to standard vintage Port. Robert Parker is a huge fan!"
Hong Kong Fine Wine Team

"The Underhill vineyard was bought in the late eighties, with the intention of the fruit going into the No 2. However the rich clay content in the soil produced fruit that had an identity all of its own, so the Underhill was born. The Underhill Shiraz is a much broader, muscular style of Shiraz than the Dry Red No 2, not dissimilar to Hermitage, with a huge core of black fruit, leather and black pepper notes. With age, the Underhill is perhaps the most individual wine I have tasted with savoury meat and stewed fruit aromas coming to the fore. This has been a favourite with Berrys' customers for many years now."
Hong Kong Fine Wine Team

This has the typical Yarra Yering `Old World' crushed leaf Cabernet Sauvignon character along with sleek cassis fruit and generous plumpness derived from the Merlot and Malbec. This will drink well for at least 20 years and will make for an interesting comparison to top 2005 Clarets in the future.

Purple-colored, it emits an alluring fragrance of smoky oak, toast, vanilla, pencil lead, olives, black currant, and blackberry liqueur....Impressively balanced, all components are well-integrated, and the finish lasts for 60 seconds.
Jay Miller - Wine Advocate - Oct-2007

Shiraz from Aus. is often hot ,fat and huge, where a sniff or sip gives very short term interest and enjoyment. This is completely the opposite! Explosive nose of ripe, cool spicy black/red fruits with a shot of pepper and mustard. Exhilarating!. Beautifully constructed with precise and expressive fruit. Soft and integrated tannins give it a sexy mouthfill and a fabulous minute long finish. A total delight! Drink now but give it 2- 10 years and it will just keep giving.

Warner Vineyard is so-called because it belongs to Rick Kintzbrunner’s business partner, Graham Warner. Fruit from this plot is co-fermented with a tiny percentage of Roussanne to impart a little floral lift to the wine. At 500 metres of altitude this is a decidedly cool location by Australian standards and in style the wine leans more towards Cote Rotie than to the Barossa Valley.

Aromas of black olive, violets, blackberries and black pepper suggest a Northern Rhone origin, and the wine also has the supreme elegance of the finest examples from that prestigious appellation. Rick Kintzbrunner unashamedly admits that he is seeking to make a wine of structure with fine tannins, acidity and subtlety rather than one dominated by sweet fruit.

Giaconda Vineyard was established by Rick Kinzbrunner, a mechanical engineer who became interested in wine in the early 1970s and spent the next 10 years traveling to wine-growing areas overseas learning as much as possible. Rick was the first to establish a vineyard of any consequence in Beechworth when he planted in 1982. Now there is a real buzz for the region while his wines are counted among Australia’s very finest. The wines are hand-crafted and only top quality French oak is employed.

Rick named the winery after the Mona Lisa (“La Giaconda”), and much like their namesake, his wines are enigmatic. The Warner Shiraz offers plum, sour cherry and ripe blueberry alongside a comforting spice that envelops the mouth. But, it manages to balance these with restraint and a honed finish that belies expectations. Delectable.

Scented and fragrant, there is a definite suggestion of the Rhône here. Much more elegant than a Barossa blockbuster, this has deep, red and black berry fruit with a savoury touch and a hint of smoked meat. The tannins are present but smooth and the wine has lovely freshness. Herbal notes of the garrigue (or the scented Aussie bush) come through on the fine, long, complex finish.
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer

As usual, Pat Carmody at Craiglee has fashioned a supremely elegant Chardonnay with more than a hint of Burgundian elegnce and restraint. The grapes are barrel-fermented and enjoy significant lees contact, which imparts aromas of cashew nut, with hints of melon and pineapple.

However, the blocking of ther malolactic fermentation means that the wine retains a firm, refreshing acidity and helps it to age gracefully over a number of years. Excellent with rich fish dishes but could also work well with light poultry dishes. 2009 proved a challenging year for winemakers as drought created severe problems. The cool climate sites fared best, particularly Victoria, such as Sunbury, home to Craiglee. The Chardonnay was barrel-fermented but was not allowed to undergo malocatic fermentation.

This helps to preserve the inherent acidity in the wine and maintains freshness and vitality. The bouquet displays notes of exotic fruit such as pineapple and melon, with hints of nuts, too. On the palate extended lees contact imbues the wine with great intensity, richness and a pleasing minerality, and despite its Australian origins there is a real sense of restraint and subtlety, reminiscent of White Burgundy in a ripe vintage. Ready now but will improve for a couple of years of further ageing.
(Katie Cooper, Wince Club Manager)