Local white blend leads the year’s top drops
Wine writer RICHARD CALVER takes to his notes and his nose to line up his top five wines for 2025.
Wine
"I believe it's important to harness the buying power of larger groups... but nothing should subsume appropriate privacy protection," says wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"The Tahbilk winery is renowned for its marsanne. Despite origins in the Northern Rhone district of France, Tahbilk has the world’s largest single holding of marsanne, which was first planted in 1927," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Marina and John Sekoranja are the beneficiaries of a dream that was built from the desire to produce good wine in beautiful surroundings. Wine columnist RICHARD CALVER has been out to McKellar Ridge.
Wine
Of cherry and plum merged with light spice
"The Grand Assemblage finished beautifully, medium bodied with a silky smooth ending. This is a wine that will keep for the next five to 10 years, if well cellared," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine
You herd that Kiwi exports are not doing too wool?
"A massive 90 per cent of NZ’s wine production is exported, at a value of more than $2.10 billion a year, a testament to the industry’s success, writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine
Brindabella Hills wins wine-show champion title
Hall winemaker Michael Anderson has claimed the Champion Wine of Show award at the Canberra and Region Wine Show, for his 2025 Brindabella Hills Riesling.
"The wine was extraordinary in the way it changed so much in the glass… and the wine bottle was emptied with a grateful nod to the Apple Isle," says wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"As the wines came up to room temperature, strangely both developed secondary fermentation, with bubbles of carbon dioxide evident, more so in the riesling," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine writer RICHARD CALVER is given to daily long walks. On this day he passed a bottle shop and ended up at a wine tasting.
"The Best Canberra District Riesling was awarded to Gundog Estate. This was a most interesting wine – the bouquet had liquorice and citrus, and a finish of fennel seeds and anise," says wine writer RICHARD CALVER.
"It is the versatility of the sauvignon blanc varietal that will be the key to maintaining its popularity," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"The wine that stood out and was well received by all who tried it, compelling at least two sales that I saw in my 40 minutes at the tasting, was a Tasmanian shiraz/pinot noir," says wine writer RICHARD CALVER.
"Once the theme was launched, we just talked about what we liked about the wines we shared over lunch, rather than get bogged down in why they were interesting," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"The Cullarin wines are made by Eden Road’s own Celine Rousseau, a French import who knows how to make good Australian wine," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"Wine tourism is a bright patch amongst an industry that is otherwise in decline," reveals aine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"It was a crowd and a crowd intent on getting their share of the wines… But as always, with some excellent wine under the belt, love of humanity inched back into the picture," writes RICHARD CALVER, from a tasting of Rutherglen wines.
Columnist RICHARD CALVER samples the wines of the Willson family's Bremerton winery in Langhorne Creek, SA.
"The Nero d’Avola 2023 was my favourite of the night with fruit from Gundagai and a great balance of that fruit with tannins," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
