EPC Champagne Brut NV

Champagne Epicurean is a new name dedicated to de-mystifying Champagne and providing all the information a drinker might need to base their purchase on, from grape varieties to grower to sub-region and more. With the NV Brut, the information breakdown is impressive: 46% Pinot Meunier, 31% Chardonnay, 23% Pinot Noir; it is sourced from the EPC Winegrowers’ Group, Epernay, and it encompasses 77% of 2023 wines and 23% reserve wines. Aromas of oyster shell, nashi pear, quince, ginger nut biscuit and wild honey with meunier fresh strawberries lingering. The joyful factor runs high, this is a Champagne made to impress with an immediacy of flavour and brightness of acidity capturing interest with fruits to the fore with a citrus zestiness, white chocolate biscuits and a subtle nuance throughout, followed by a rousing over-arching honey nougat quality that shines through. And the back label recommends a pairing with oyster mushroom risotto – perfect! Exclusive to Dan Murphy’s.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic