Squitchy Lane Yarra Valley Fumé Blanc 2022

Takes the Fumé style seriously, combining bottle age, time in oak and a ripe fruit intensity that makes you wonder why more producers don’t pursue this more elegant, sophisticated expression of Sauvignon Blanc. It’s quite a textural wine, too, which undoubtedly adds to the overall enjoyment, adding that extra sense of class. Peach, pear, citrus, honeysuckle, snow pea, spice and herbal influences of lemongrass and curry leaf, rise in the glass. After four years in bottle, it remains alert and fresh, firm in a structure of lively acidity that brightens the palate – note the sea spray notes – against a warm textural background. Has aged particularly well and will continue to do so leading into 2030+.

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