Gill Estate Rivah Tempranillo 2021

Not every wine is destined for the cellar, the retailer’s top shelf or that special occasion. Sometimes we forget that at its essence, the role of wine is to simply give us pleasure. Rivah Tempranillo from the Sunraysia region reminds us of that. The lively, easy going young Tempranillo is totally approachable now. Winemakers at Gill Estate are letting the ripe, sweet fruit have its way. The result is seriously delicious. Lashings of black cherries, plum, dried leaves, rose and red liquorice, cherry cola and easy going lacy tannins tell the story. This is $20 well spent and well above the usual $20 suspects with good depth of flavour and that peppery, red liquorice finish brings extra lift and interest.

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