Articles Written By: Milton Wordley

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The Royal Adelaide Wine Show is one of the oldest wine shows in Australia, the 140th was judged recently. Andrew Hardy is committee chair and from over the ditch Michael Brajkovich the Chair of Judges. They are supported by six panel chairs, twelve judges including International judge Yoshiji Sato plus ten associate judges. In…

Dave Gartelmann : Master Viniculturer

August 16, 2017 ♦

Growers, People, Shimmer

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In his piece on the recent sale of Mclaren Vale vineyard ’Connor’s Farm’ entitled ‘Best geologies getting record prices’, Philip White referred to the vineyard being tended by master viniculturer, David Gartelmann. A week or so later at a Hickinbotham Wines tasting at Edinburgh Cellars, winemaker Chris Carpenter commented on the…

Howard’s : Autumn ‘Leek-off’

July 29, 2017 ♦

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The 2017 autumn leek-off at the Duke of Brunswick Hotel was one of the best in the Howard Twelftree Memorial Cook-off’s illustrious history. Great turn-out, top entries and our judge Cath Kerry was on fire. Not only was Cath incisive and entertaining about the food, BUT she also gave us…

Kim West : Melbourne Radio Wine Host

July 24, 2017 ♦

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One of my favourite shots in the Grange Book is of Kim West trying to give a thank you speech at the 50th anniversary dinner of the Mirrabooka Beefsteak and Burgundy club. It was at Jacques Reymond’s restaurant in Melbourne. Westy was doing his best to thank everyone. Right in…

Ed Carr : House of Arras

July 4, 2017 ♦

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Ed Carr is widely regarded as Australia’s pre-eminent sparkling winemaker. His winemaking career spans over thirty-five years, the last twenty-three with Hardys (now Accolade), where he is the chief Sparkling winemaker looking after Arras, and many other brands such as Bay of Fires, Yarra Burn and Hardys’ Sir James. Australian…

Rob Mack : Aphelion Wine Company

June 15, 2017 ♦

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In an earlier interview Dr Liz Thach MW suggested the Australian wine trade would do well to focus on ‘Old Vine Grenache’ in promoting Australian wine in the US. At a recent Grenache tasting of our wine group ’The Old Duffers’ we looked at some of Michael Twelftree’s Grenache and…

Brian ‘Prof’ Lynn : Majella Wines

May 22, 2017 ♦

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In an earlier interview with David Lloyd, winemaker at Eldridge Estate on the Mornington Peninsular he suggested if I ever got down to Coonawarra I should catch up with the ‘Prof’. I have enjoyed Majella wines for years but did not know much about them or that the ‘Prof ‘…

Alison Jane Hodder : De Vinosalvo wines, Tuscany

April 24, 2017 ♦

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I often find the people who make wine as interesting as the wine they make, it’s one of the reasons I started this web site. Every now and again you come across a really interesting and inspiring story. One such story is Alison Jane Hodder’s journey in the world of…

EU 2017 : A few days in Huelva.

April 18, 2017 ♦

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On previous visits to Madrid, we had heard much about Huelva. It is the southern city, about a six hour drive from Madrid. Bea’s mum Pilar was born there and it’s also a place which Ventura, Bea’s dad really loved. We had always hoped to visit it with him. Spanish…

EU 2017 : London + Tuscany

April 6, 2017 ♦

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London Arrived in London some what wilted after a long flight on almost full plane – no chance of upgrades ….. Great to see Patrick and Caroline, who were once again fantastic hosts in their beautiful Richmond home. Patrick always keen to open something interesting for us to try ;…

Tony Brady : Wendouree, Clare Valley

April 4, 2017 ♦

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Wendouree is considered by many wine lovers to be among the most beautiful and distinctive wines this country has to offer. Years ago we gathered for a weekend in Mildura, with a group of our friends from the eastern states, mainly to have a night at Stefano de Pieri’s restaurant,…

Sue Bell : Bellwether, Coonawarra

March 13, 2017 ♦

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A recent article by Huon Hooke on Sue Bell reminded me that Sue had been on my list of people to interview for quite some time. Huon’s ‘The Real Review’ piece was about how Sue’s winery Bellwether was crowdfunding to go off grid. Sue’s worked for many years for both Penfolds…

Patrick Haddock : Reserve Wine Bar

February 17, 2017 ♦

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Sommeliers or ‘Somms’ get plenty of comments in the wine press. Wine writer Jeni Port emailed me one day saying “I love your series, particularly the interview with Irina”, at the time she suggested that if I were ever in Newcastle, I should call in on Patrick Haddock at the…

d’Arry Osborn OAM : d’Arenberg Wines

February 2, 2017 ♦

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In the early 70’s a flagon of ‘Red Stripe’ was the wine I took along to a party. If it was dinner it was a bottle of Wynn’s Oven’s Valley Burgundy. We didn’t know ‘Red Stripe’ as d’Arenberg, or that d’Arry Osborn had created it. We just called it ’Red…

Brian Walsh : Wine Australia chairman.

January 18, 2017 ♦

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Photography is an interesting game to be in. It’s not always the best photograph that’s the most important. For many years Brian Croser commissioned me to shoot a simple vintage group at Petaluma. I shot some significant landscapes, but in a funny way I’m sure these yearly group shots were…

Didier Gimonnet : Pierre Gimonnet et Fils, Champagne

December 8, 2016 ♦

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Champagne is the international drink of celebration. As someone involved in the communication industry for a very long time ,the way a single region in France has established itself as one of the strongest single brands in the world, has fascinated me. Australia drinks a lot of champagne. We sit…

Peter John : A.P. JOHN Coopers, Barossa Valley

November 24, 2016 ♦

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If you have ever had a tour of Penfolds Magill Estate Cellars, you would have noticed Grange and St Henri are matured in different sized barrels. In Champagne earlier this year I noticed at Lanson the amount of wood they used to mature the Champagne. I was not so aware of Champagne…

The first-ever Beirut End Sport and Food Festival

November 23, 2016 ♦

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THE BUILD-UP: For the first-ever Beirut End Sport and Food Festival, the message was loud and clear, thanks to the brilliant chalk art of Heather Glynn. DAY ONE: The piste was in perfect shape, the sky was blue, the company lively – the ultimate Adelaide spring afternoon. LADIES DAY: The…

Kerri Thompson : Wines by KT, Clare Valley

November 8, 2016 ♦

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Riesling is one of my favourite white wines, especially those from the Clare and Eden Valleys. Both regions have remarkable diversity even within small geographic regions. Kerri Thompson is very committed to riesling and makes some amazing styles with fruit from two small vineyards in Watervale. She has just celebrated…

Dr Robert DeBellevue M.D. : New Orleans

October 20, 2016 ♦

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The year that I photographed ‘A Year in the Life of Grange’ was 2012. The 2012 vintage has just been released and the reviews are fantastic. One hundred points from Andrew Caillard MW (Langtons) and many more around this mark. Grange is undoubtably Australia’s most famous wine. Penfolds work very hard…

Andrew Thomas : Thomas Wines, Hunter Valley

October 6, 2016 ♦

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Andrew Thomas grew up in McLaren Vale but has been making wine in the Hunter Valley for 30 years. I remember being a young press photographer working on The Australian in Sydney in the early 70’s and thinking, the only red wine was big full bodied McLaren Vale or Barossa…

David Lloyd : Eldridge Estate of Red Hill

September 21, 2016 ♦

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I was in Melbourne setting up for an exhibition of work from the Grange book in February 2015. Luckily for me the Mornington Peninsula International Pinot Noir Celebration was also on that week. I’d heard about the event and decided to shout myself a late Christmas present. I have been to a…

Michael Downer : Murdoch Hill, Adelaide Hills

September 6, 2016 ♦

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At the recent ‘Young Gun of Wine’ Awards, Michael Downer from the Adelaide Hills winery ‘Murdoch Hill’ was awarded The “Ocean Eight” Winemaker’s Choice. The winemaker’s choice is selected by all the finalists. Being selected by your peers is probably the most sought after honour in any industry – Michael…

Bruce Tyrrell : Tyrrell’s Wines, Hunter Valley

August 16, 2016 ♦

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One of my favourite white wines is Tyrrells Vat 1 semillon. First tried it in the mid 90’s. We had driven up to Sydney with a box of wine for a celebration dinner with friends at Tetsuya’s. The day of the dinner we realised we had only South Aussie reds…

Bernadette Kaeding : Red Art Wines, Barossa Valley

August 4, 2016 ♦

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I have always thought photography and winemaking had a lot in common. You need a lot of technical knowledge, but also a passion to create something unique. At a certain level both are a bit like an art or a craft. Winemaker Kevin Judd in New Zealand combines the two…

John Vickery : Riesling meister.

July 27, 2016 ♦

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In her 2003 ‘The Age’ article on Australia’s finest winemakers Jeni Port asked 50 Australian winemakers, educators, wine buyers and sommeliers to name their top three living wine makers. The voting was very close – only a few votes separated the top three winemakers, John Vickery, Rick Kinzbrunner and Brian…

Viv Thomson : Best’s Great Western

July 1, 2016 ♦

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You often hear people mention wines that are very special to them. They are often not the greatest wines they have ever had, but special because of who they were with and where they were when they shared them. One such wine for me is the 1985 Seppelts Great Western…

Hiro Kusuda : Kusuda Wines Martinborough.

June 16, 2016 ♦

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In our last interview Emmanuelle Bekkers said that one of the reasons she made wine at Yangarra was the sorting table. Hiro Kusuda takes sorting to a new level, he berry sorts. A day’s hand picking takes another 3 days to pick out the bad berries . I first came…

Emmanuelle Bekkers : Bekkers Wine McLaren Vale

June 2, 2016 ♦