Fontavera delle Venezie DOC Pinot Grigio 2023

The label catches your eye – what a multi-colour assault! – and the mix of spring-like florals and spice in this Veneto Grigio don’t hold back either. Slight blush in colour and lifted in aromas of orange blossom, honeysuckle, ginger, white peach, papaya and pear. Pear is the motif, a recurring, arresting feature of this wine. It helps drive flavour, brings a real sense of concentration on the palate and is joined by some delightful – and exotic – gingery, cardamon-like spicy notes. There’s a touch of savouriness too, preserved lemon, for added breadth of flavour. Medium bodied, nicely textural, long in length and with good staying power, this is a wine with total versatility. It can be enjoyed solo or at the table.

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