Believe it or not, I love my wine. As a wine-specialist tour operator I’m always out on the scene seeking out new producers, tasting new vintages, and filling up my recycling bin with an obscene amount of empty bottles. It wasn’t always this easy. As a budding wine enthusiast, in my early days I always looked to The Adelaide Review’s Hot 100 Wines for inspiration on which labels to seek out and what type of trending wines I should be trying. To this day I […]
Being a wine tour guide you get a little bit excited when great new cellar doors pop up in the regions you visit. Here’s a run-down of the best new cellar doors that have opened up recently in the Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley, and McLaren Vale wine regions. Tapanappa Winery – Adelaide Hills Having taken some fifteen years to fully come into fruition, Tapanappa is the shared vision of legendary locals Brian and Ann Croser working closely with Bollinger of Champagne and the Cazes family of Pauillac, Bordeaux. […]
The ‘Survivor Vines’ shine on Back in the early 70’s when the Cirillo family emigrated to the Barossa from Calabria in Southern Italy, they became owners of a block of land filled with what appeared to be lifeless Grenache and Semillon bush vines. Having nurtured them back into life, the Cirillo family are now custodians of what is believed to be the oldest Grenache and Semillon vines in the world – something winemaker, vigneron, and staunch Grenache supporter Marco Cirillo is extremely proud of. Marco is a no-nonsense […]
No need for formalities Why do so many people seem to take wine so seriously all of the time? Well, in case you didn’t know…. You don’t have to. Good fun wine needs to be enjoyed more readily, without being judged by the depth of flavour, the complexity, the cellaring potential, or the price tag. Case in point. At just $15 a bottle at cellar door, Tscharke’s Grenache Mataro is an expression of modern fruit forward wine, made to drink now. This wine punches above it’s weight and […]
