I’ve kind of got out of the habit of lunching well. You know: old school wine trade lunches where you leave your desk before noon and write off the rest…
In Gippsland with Bill Downie and Patrick Sullivan
The flight from Adelaide to Melbourne is a short one, and before I knew it I was at the arrivals hall, being greeted by Bill Downie. We headed off to…
Revisiting the Barossa
Australia’s Barossa Valley. This was the first wine region I visited, back in 1996. I revisited as a professional in 2004 and 2005 to see some of the new young(-ish)…
Dinner at Taras and Amber’s with the Basket Range crew
After our tour of the Basket Range it was off to dinner at Taras and Amber’s place, which is secluded and fringed with green. This is not what you’d expect…
The Manon Wild Nature wines, made from abandoned vineyards
At my dinner with the Adelaide Hills Basket Range guys, it was great to meet Monique Millton (daughter of Gisborne, NZ’s James and Annie Millton) and Tim Webber. They are…
The Klopper Basket Range Tour
Visit finished, Ben and I hopped into Anton’s Land Rover Defender. All aboard for a tour of the Basket Range. The Basket Range is a beautiful corner of the Adelaide…
In the Adelaide Hills (1) Ngeringa and Anton van Klopper
The Monday morning after Rootstock. I threw all my belongings into a bag, and headed off to Sydney airport on the train. At the gate I bumped into a tired…
Rootstock Sydney highlights (3)
More Rootstock highlights. Christian Tschida’s wines, from Burgenland, in Austria, are full of nervous detail and intensity. Shashi and Devendra Singh have a 4 hectare dry grown Syrah vineyard on the…
Rootstock Sydney highlights (2)
Yes, there were a lot of highlights at Rootstock. It feels entirely unfair to pick out individual wines or producers. After all I didn’t taste everything, despite my best intentions….