Author: Round & About

I’ll start with a fizz, the Jansz Rosé (Noble Green £18.50 on a mixed 6).  One of the spectacular tastings I ever attended was a 30-bottle flight of sparkling wines overlooking the Tasman Sea.   An extensive selection of Jansz wines was on show, and while all were excellent, the rosé really wowed me.  It possessed all the green and white fruits and yeasty character that made the white so impressive but had a savoury raspberry and dried blackberry tone that was even more diverting than the view.  A stunning wine, it’s rarely out of my cellar. 

Yalumba is one of the great names of Australian wines.  Family-owned, winemaker Louisa Rose has taken this venerable producer’s wines to new heights.  I often find myself turning to their Viogniers for their joy-inducing abilities.  My go-to wine is the Yalumba Organic Viognier (Waitrose £10), which combines brilliance with value.  This year, having proved particularly testing (two rescue kittens entering the home of the world’s largest, most enthusiastic spaniel has proved a marriage made in hectic Hell), I’ve treated myself to some of the Samuel’s Collection Eden Valley Viognier (West End Wines £16.50).  Combining tropical fruit, apricots, and pears with fennel, honeysuckle, and white pepper, it’s exotic and full-bodied, yet easy-going.  Give this a couple of hours open and pair with roasted white meats or fish, and you’re in for a treat. 

Australian Chardonnay is a wine with a story to tell.  A breakthrough wine in the mid-1980s, by the early 1990s ‘bottled sunshine’ as it became known helped give rise to the ABC (anything but Chardonnay_ movement of the early 1990s.  Over-extraction and more oak than the New Forest saw its fortunes fall as quickly as they had risen.  Many years of soul (and soil) searching by visionary producers saw a renaissance in its fortunes and the emergence of gems such as the Robert Oatley Finisterre Chardonnay (The Good Spirits Company £26). 

Complex and energetic best describe this striking wine.  From the off, there’s a fascinating tension between richness and zest.  The nose offers tropical fruits and honey offset by lemon and lime, Granny Smith apple and the smoky tone of a struck struck match.  It’s the same on the palate.  Generous quantities of honey-glazed melon, peach and mango are balanced by white currant, lemon, and grapefruit.  Serious and delicious, serve this with seafood, gammon or mushrooms. 

I’ll stay with Robert Oatley for my first red, the Finisterre Grenache (York Wines £21.25).  Grenache held promise as a fine wine grape in Aus for years, but it’s only in the last decade that it’s kept that promise.  Keeping this naturally high-cropping variety’s yields down and planting on cooler sites has allowed it to show its Pinot Noir-like nobility.  Dark ruby with a welcoming nose of cherries, strawberries, mulberries, and musk, at first taste, it’s surprisingly taut and savoury.  Give the glass a swirl and flavours of strawberry, cherry, and raspberry come through, accompanied by aniseed twists and earth before the firm, grippy finish.  A class act, it’s got time on its side, but it would be brilliant with lamb or rich veggie dish like roasted aubergines. 

Wirra Wirra’s Church Block (Waitrose £15.75) is a fine example of modern Shiraz.  Inky purple, aromas of crushed currants, peppers, pepper and eucalyptus soaring from the glass.  The palate, though, is far less explosive, being cool-headed and measured.  Layers of juicy black berries, plums, and tangy cranberries form the foundations, while herbs, sour cherries, spices, chocolate and charcoal provide a delicious overlay.  Smooth as silk and round as a marble, it’s a must-try with hearty meat pies, pâte, and full-on cheeses.  

Lou Miranda’s wines were one of my big discoveries of 2025.  This family-owned and run Barossa estate creates a range of exciting and innovative wines that marry tradition with innovation to impressive effect.  The Lou Miranda Fierce Wild Blend (Perfect Cellar £23.95) is a perfect example of this.  Angela Miranda has created something unique here.  A red wine that drinks like a white that’s made from Shiraz, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot and Sagrantino.  I had it lightly chilled and found its abundance of red berries, plums, and earthy spices offset by red apples and rose water tones.  There’s a subtle hint of sweetness to the finish, and the lowish alcohol (12%) means it would make an ideal partner to Thai food or something piquant and creamy like an Italian cheese risotto. 

Grenache features in my next recommendation, the Lou Miranda Fierce SGM (Perfect Cellar £24.26).  Created using Shiraz, Grenache, Mataro, this is a mighty mouthful.  Very deep, with smoke, charcoal, black fruits, and red berries dominating the nose, with menthol balsamic coming up the rear.  Restrained and purposeful, in the mouth it’s fullish, earthy, with lots of toasty oak giving the sweet black fruits a charred character.  At the finish, there are dry, dusty tannins, plenty of juiciness and a herby, savoury note.  It’s one of the most thought-provoking reds I’ve had in a long time and one I will certainly be looking at again. 

I’ll finish with a flourish in the delightful shape of another new discovery, and an undoubted work of genius.  It’s the Uovo Nebbiolo Cabernet 2023 (Oxford Wine Company £21.75) from Australian wine legend, Larry Cherubino.  Personally, I’d never have thought of putting Piedmonte’s Nebbiolo with Bordeaux’s Cabernet, but that’s one of the many reasons that Larry was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Wine Producer Award at the International Wine and Spirit Competition and I wasn’t. 

This mesmerising wine is dominated by the Nebbiolo.  The nose of cherries, roses, raspberries, and liquorice are all classic tells, and the savoury, sophisticated dried black fruits, black cherries, leather and earthy spices are similarly typical.  In the shadows, however, the Cabernet brings blackcurrants, mint, and pepper, a contrast that is striking, yet feels natural.  Powerful and elegant, it was superb with a block of Manchego, but it would be brilliant with tomato-rich dishes or cured meats.