Yelland & Papps Barossa Valley Blanc 2023

Do you get the feeling that Roussanne – a Rhône Valley white grape – is having a moment in Oz? I certainly do. It is increasingly leaving its partnership with Marsanne to stand alone. Blanc is 100% Roussanne from the Barossa Valley, treated just a little differently to the norm with fermentation in French oak and, as you will see from the slightly hazy golden colour, minimal added sulphur. Winemaking brings out a savouriness and a complexity that is quite compelling. Expect heady floral aromas in honeysuckle and acacia with baked apple, pear and a whisper of beeswax. Opens with a flourish of high tone exotic notes of Asian pear, quince, apple, green almonds, lemongrass and ginger. Warm, textural, richly embroidered and just a little to the left of centre, it lasts long.

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