Makers

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Whenever we travel overseas, we always take along wine for our family and friends. We usually take Australian sparkling shiraz, as you don’t see it much in other countries. This year we took along Castagna Sparking Genesis Syrah, made by Julian Castagna. It’s one of our favourite sparklers. Julian had been been…

In the last interview Dr Liz Thach commented on a few things Australian winemakers might consider when exporting to the USA. One of the things Liz mentioned was ‘Old Vine Grenache’, a favourite of Michael Twelftree, who runs Two Hands Wines in the Barossa Valley. The winery exports over 30%…

Phillip White finished his recent  Drinkster  ‘EXMESS REFRESHMENTS’    guide with the following review… Now for some real torture. Forget the Exmess pudding. You can drink it. It’s called Chambers Rosewood Vineyards Rutherglen Rare Muscat ($350-$400 for .375 ml., 18% alcohol; screw cap). It’ll change your brain forever. It’s prickly to sniff:…

Martinborough’s about an hours drive North of Wellington. I first went there in the early 90s, it’s become one of my favourite areas for Pinot Noir. Larry McKenna’s wine impressed me from day one. Larry has been referred to by various wine writers and authorities as everything from the ‘Prince of Pinot’…

Summers here, and summer makes me think of Riesling. Last summer a mate of mine, Chris Waterman gave me a bottle of  ‘Rizza’. “New label old name, looks like the Riesling King, John Vickery’s back in business’ he said. The wine was good, but what intrigued me was the back…

In an interview early this year, when I asked Chris Carpenter, Kendall Jackson winemaker both here and in the US, what the main differences were between wine drinkers here or in the US, he replied “The big difference is not so much in what wine people are drinking –  it is how people…

The first Australian Pinot I really enjoyed was a 1985 Moss Wood at Nediz Tu, one of Adelaide’s leading restaurants in the early 90s. Up until I met Bill Pannell, I always thought he’d made it. Seems he had left Moss Wood before 1985 and it was made by Keith…

When I started this project, a number of people emailed with suggestions of people I should interview. Vanya Cullen featured on many of the suggested lists.  I had enjoyed Cullen wines, but had  never met Vanya. I thought next time I was in WA, I’d call her and see if…

On any special occasion in our house, our go to ‘Aussie Sparklers’  are either Arras ‘Grand Vintage’ or Deviation Rd ‘Beltana Blanc de Blancs’. My partner in life Anne Marie belongs to quite a serious Champagne group, expertly organised by the inimitable Kaaren Palmer, Champagne editor for Galaxy Guides. When Kaaren was away on a recent…

John Bird or Birdy as he’s commonly known, has completed 56 vintages with Penfolds. He’s a real link with the original ‘Schubert and Penfold-Hyland ‘styles. I first met John in the mid to late 90’s, then again in 2012  while working on the Grange book. I wanted to interview him…