Patrick Single Vineyard Home Block Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
There is a pure essence of Coonawarra in this excellent cabernet sourced off the original 60-year-old vineyard planted near the family home. Masses of plush
Author: Ray Jordan
This author has written 370 articles
Ray Jordan
Ray Jordan is one of Australia’s most experienced wine journalists. Ray has been writing about wine for more than 40 years. His first articles were published in the early issues of the national wine magazine Winestate in the late 70s when he worked in Sydney as a correspondent for The West Australian newspaper. Ray is currently Wine Editor for Seven West Media, writing wine columns for The West Australian Fresh Section and the Saturday Magazine, Play. In 2003 Ray released the first of his annual guides to West Australian wines. In 2016 Ray published Wine in the Blood: Australia’s family wine estates, with both Chinese and English versions. In 2017 Ray and Peter Forrestal released the definitive book on the beginnings of Margaret River as a wine region, The Way it Was: The History of the early years of the Margaret River Wine Region. Ray has been awarded the Jack Mann Medal for his contribution to the West Australian wine industry.
Patrick Single Vineyard Joanna Shiraz 2016
The fruit for this excellent shiraz comes from south of Coonawarra at Wrattonbully. It’s a wine of some poise with those dark chocolate and slightly
Patrick Single Vineyard Block Aged Riesling 2014
You don’t see many Coonawarra rieslings, especially with a bit of age on them. In this case there’s a lot. But it’s a remarkably fresh
Patrick Two Blocks Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Elegance personified. That’s what you get with this beautifully refined and stylish cabernet from Coonawarra which has the distinctive leafy DNA that is part varietal
Flametree Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Just another super example of cabernet from the 2018 vintage. This is a thoroughly scrumptious cabernet selling for less than $50 – crazy stuff quite
Flametree Chardonnay 2021
Anyone who thinks vintage doesn’t matter so much should look at the 2020 and 2021 vintages in Margaret River. Both have produced quite different but
Serafino Wines Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
There is a such a beautiful varietal expression in this McLaren Vale cabernet. Little wonder it’s performed well in wine shows. Packed with blackcurrant and
Serafino Wines Black Label Shiraz 2020
Captures so much of what McLaren Vale is all about. Lifted notes of florals and dark chocolate with a subtle spicy licorice infusion. There are
Serafino Wines GSM 2021
This excellent wine makes great use of the dominance of the highly aromatic grenache, such a beautiful variety in McLaren Vale. Bright red fruits with
Wirra Wirra Catapult Shiraz 2020
You are getting a lot of mighty fine wine for this price. It has all the McLaren Vale DNA of rich plush flavours, but the inclusion
Victory Point Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
This is the flagship for Victory Point. This vintage turned out surprisingly good for cabernet, especially for those prepared to wait until the long cool
Victory Point Chardonnay 2019
This was a cooler vintage in Margaret River and this excellent chardonnay is a great example of some of the top-notch wines emerging. It’s all
Frankland Estate SmithCullam Syrah 2020
This super wine comes from the original east west facing winery block planed back in 1988. It is an immensely powerful wine of great length,
Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Syrah 2020
Small crop and small production, so this has to be on your shopping list. It is quite different from the syrah styles made ten years
Frankland Estate Shiraz 2020
Shiraz has been a main player with Frankland Estate almost from the get go and this is one of the very best under this label.
Frankland Estate Chardonnay 2021
Interestingly, while Frankland’s approach to riesling has been influenced by its approach to chardonnay, particularly wild yeasts, its approach to chardonnay has likewise been influenced
Frankland Estate Spatburg(down)under Organic Pinot Noir 2021
Clever play on words here as Spatburgunder is the German equivalent of pinot noir. A little Aussie touch and up pops this neat name. It
Frankland Estate SmithCullam Riesling 2021
This is an off-dry riesling, and its making reflects the leading-edge approach Frankland Estate is taking, albeit using older European techniques. In this case it’s
Frankland Estate Organic Franc 2021
Fell in love with this cabernet franc from the first sniff. The fruit is off what are now old vines in the Isolation Ridge vineyard,
Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Riesling 2021
Recognised quite rightly as one of Australia’s best riesling producers, this is another excellent vintage. It’s fine and linear with a crisp minerally acidity that
Frankland Estate Organic Grüner Veltliner 2021
I do like this variety and delighted to see the increase – albeit off a very low base – of plantings. This one is just
Schild Estate Narrow Road Vineyard Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
First things first, make sure you decant. Sometimes we can forget how much decanting improves wines and in this case it is striking as it
Pontifex Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre 2018
This small production outfit specialises in these three varieties and, in this wine, they have harmonised into a thoroughly beautiful expression of what the Barossa
Pontifex Shiraz 2018
This was such a good season for the Barossa and this beautifully crafted and presented shiraz illustrates it perfectly. Soft and supple but with generous
