Sweet nothings: Australia’s Top 20 Moscatos
Moscato’s defining characteristic, according to world sparkling expert Tyson Stelzer, is its price. “Above all else, Moscato should be cheap”, he says in his Australian Sparkling Report. “Let’s face it, if you’re after a sweet, grapey, bubbly hit, you’re hardly looking for a profound drinking experience and you’re not about to break the bank.” We’re […]
In the pink: Australia’s Top New Season Rose wines
Nothing says Spring like Pink. The colour, that is, not the singer. Rose is the all-purpose, good time girl for the new season. Its cheery tint suggests all the freshness and flavours of strawberries, new apples and perfumed roses. Pink wine has come a long way in Australia over the past five years as local […]
Australia’s world heavyweight wine: Top 50 Shiraz
Ok – this is it: fight night. The talking is over and it’s time for the heavy hitters to square up to each other and go toe-to-toe. But we’re not talking boxing here folks. We’re talking Shiraz – Australia’s biggest and best-loved red wine. The Big Kahuna of Australian liquor. While Brisbane schoolteacher Jeff Horn […]
Beautiful Blends: Australia’s Top 50 Red Blends
Blended red wines do it tough in Australia. All the local glory goes to single varietal wines such as shiraz, pinot noir or cabernet sauvignon. But blends are, in many ways, the epitome of a winemaker’s craft. Dealing with the idiosyncrasies of a single variety can be trying enough but indulging the vicissitudes of several […]
Patience needed: Australia’s Top 50 Semillons
Semillon could be Australia’s most perplexing grape. Critics rave about the variety – frequently awarding its most noted examples handsome scores and adorning their bottles with more gold medals than a Russian general. Yet consumers mostly look the other way. Single varietal semillon accounts for less than one per cent of white bottled sales. That […]
The Big Easy: Australasia’s Top 50 merlots
Merlot is the big easy of winemaking. Its onomatopoeic name almost gives it away. Its soft vowels and simple syllables convey exactly the grape’s plush fruit and silky tannins. It ripens early, fits hand-in-glove with cabernet varieties and doesn’t need much time in the bottle. Except it’s not. Australia’s scorching summers and poor soils mean merlot […]
Sticky Ends: Top 50 Dessert Wines
Cool nights Fires bright What sweeter delight Than finish a meal With a sticky white. Well, we might not win any prizes for poetry but the makers of Australia’s dessert wines certainly carry them off by the armful. Sweet whites – the classification most wine shows give to dessert wines – is Australia’s most richly […]
Alt-red: The Top 50 ‘Other Red’ wines
Tempranillo. Montepulciano. Sangiovese. Nebbiolo. Their exotic, mouth-filling names conjure images of Tuscan towers or shimmering Spanish vistas as the tongue rolls around the syllables of these viticultural interlopers. “Other reds” – that is, wines that aren’t Australian staples such as shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir or merlot – are relegated to a category that’s becoming […]
Simply Sublime Blend: Top 50 Semillon Sauvignon Blancs
If Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon were wines, they’d be Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. In that order. Whoever first thought of putting these two grapes together was obviously an entertainment genius because these two are the Odd Couple of wine. Separately insufferable. Brilliant together. Think Semillon and you think austere, possibly insipid young wines that […]
Chateau Claret: Australasia’s Top 50 Cabernet blends
Those cunning French know a thing or two about wine. While they’re busy flogging off pinot noir (OK, Burgundy) for the highest prices the world is prepared to buy for wine, their favourite tipple is actually claret. According to wine-searcher.com, Bordeaux labels make up four of the top five most popular wine searches in France […]