Wine Reviews

The 2023 Pigato is a skin-contact wine, and the bitterness of that component makes me smile as I taste it. There are notes of dehydrated orange peel, lemon and grapefruit, squeezed lime and sea salt—it's throwing salty Margherita vibes—plus jalapeño, coriander and white pepper. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, with 50...

The 2023 Tiver Rose of Vivian is a blend of Sangiovese and Sciacarello (a Corsican grape variety) grown in the Clare Valley. In the glass, the wine is not quite pink but more of a dirty flamingo blush, onion skin, etc., and in the mouth, it is a rich, complex,...

A blend of 53% sangiovese, 19% sciacarello, 13% grenache, 12% vermentino and 3% carignan. This is a juicy, light, mouth-watering red with cherry, dust, twiggy herb, apple and cranberry flavours working energetically through the palate. It's a case of less is more – it's just so drinkable; it's just so...

Brought to life through the Gullyview and Parish Vineyards of Clare Valley. Now in screwcap closure.  A potency to this wine, texture and savoury elements with strong currency of green apple, tart lime and gingery spice woven through. A faint accord of hazelnut nuttiness, a lick of creaminess and yet...

A blend of sangiovese and sciacarello from a single (Vivian) vineyard. We’re in rose land here.  Fragrant with sour cherries, cranberry, rose hip tea, sweet spice, a lick of minty herbs too. Palate and bouquet send similar vibes. The palate is juicy, has a little tug of fine, lacy tannin...

Skin fermented vermentino (20 days maceration) from Clare Valley. This one feels more in the refreshing zone than orange wine zone, but does the latter justice in its texture and pleasing bitterness. The tenth release for this significant wine!| Like tonic water meets mandarin juice joined to alpine herbs meshed...

The Vivian Vineyard is the headliner. The Koerner epoch in Clare is going to go down as a significant one, showcasing the ‘other’ of Clare in a fine wine paradigm and a breathing of additional character into the region, no doubt. Kudos to the fellas. Made in a Slavonian oak...

A tilt at a new breed of Clare red wine, though it has been since 2016, or at least since then for me. It’s cabernet, cabernet franc, grenache, malbec, carignan, sciacarello from three vineyards, drawn together to produce a regional red. Clever. Clare cabernet and shiraz solo can fall short...

My favourite grape variety of all (what can’t it do?!) now interpreted by the Koerner brothers. This comes from the Deanery vineyard in Balhannah, Adelaide Hills. And it is a ripper, though leaning into savouriness, and not aping the famed wines of Jura. Delightful in its own incarnation. It has...