Sidewood Pinot Gris 2025

Sourced from Sidewood Estate’s vineyards in the Charleston and Oakbank districts, a fair bit wild-fermented in large format French oak vessels, which immediately suggests the style of wine is aiming for a decent level of personality. Glossy pale gold, it looks almost unctuous which confirms where it’s headed, then smelling gloriously of spiced pear compote with faint cinnamon and ginger nut biscuit notes for extras. It’s rich in the palate, too – stone fruits and milky raw macadamia nuts, offset by a spring of subtle acidity to balance its natural fruit sweetness. All its aromatic and flavour elements play a part in the generous mouth-filling and textural style of the wine, which stands out as a distinctive example in this varietal class. Awarded the trophy as the best Pinot Gris/Grigio at the 2025 Sydney Royal Wine Awards.

Tony Love

Journalist at Winepilot

Tony is best known for his 10 years as News Corp’s National Wine Writer, with weekly columns in major metropolitan mastheads throughout Australia including The Adelaide Advertiser, The Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Melbourne Herald Sun. He continues to write feature articles and columns for all the major Australian wine media publications. Tony has also worked as a restaurant reviewer, section editor, book editor, digital content provider, journalism teacher and was named Wine Communicators of Australia 2018 Legend of the Vine (SA). Find out more about Tony at tonylove.com.au

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