A powerful nose. Rosewater, peaches, candied pineapple and lemon, mandarins. The palate is viscous, with ripe tropical fruits, unripe pineapple (acid), with rosewater and musk on the finish. Quite a big and serious gewürztraminer, and a dob of residual sugar rounds out the mouthfeel and helps to hide the alcohol. ...

My winner in this evenings 2006 Gris-a-thon is this wine from Beechworth. Intense and floral with aromas of apricot, musk, lemon and spice. On the palate rich but not overdone with flavours of peach, lemon, tropical fruit and musk stick. It is lightly slippery and has weight from alcohol but ...

Second in tonights Pinot Gris pageant comes our entrant from the Grampians region of Victoria. Very fragrant with aromas of lychee syrup, flowers, bananas and ripe pear. On the palate very slippery character with flavours of musk, nashi pear and melons. The flavours are good and fresh if not slightly ...

I popped into the Boutique Wine Centre the other day and tasted through the Meerea Park range. This verdelho really popped up and suprised me. I am easily startled too. I thought hmmm this is at least as good as the trophy winning Benwarin that I reviewed the other day so lets have a bit of it. The fruit comes off a single vineyard in the Upper Hunter owned by Michael and Kay Paterson. I mention...

Cor this wine is a tricky little customer. The first bottle got knocked off from our fridge at a party and I did not get to write a note. I put this bottle in the fridge at the office and it got knocked off again! Luckily I caught this one ...

This comes from vineyards perched 600 metres above sea level. Tonight saw a tussle between this and the Brokenwood for top place in the 2006 Gris-a-thon. I was continually oscillating (or is that vacillating?) between the two wines. I liked the smoothness of the Brokenwood and then I liked the ...

Opened up four 2006 Pinot Gris from various bits of Australia this evening. This is the first and comes from a small vineyard in Geelong. Strongly reductive with aromas of burning rubber, grass clippings and then buried underneath the pile of smoking tyres are a couple of pears and a ...

Sometimes less is more. Austria's national grape, Grüner Veltliner cuts right through to your palate without going to your head. Thanks to the relatively cool Austrian climate, Lois Grüner Veltliner 2005 is naturally light in alcohol, weighing in at 11.8%,...

Nora has been one of my favorite non-Chardonnay white wines since I discovered it a few years ago.  The quality is still up there, although the price is a bit higher. From Rias Baixas, Galicia, Spain, and made from the Albarino grape, Nora is a crisp tank-fermented white. Tasting Notes ...

This Australian version of a white Bordeaux is "something different" and turns out to be worth the detour, for its complexity and near perfection. Cape Mentelle* Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2005 is a 50/50 blend (actually 49/49 + 2% Chardonnay) of Margaret River fruit, half from the estate.  A minor portion ...