"It’s interesting the Shaw family made all their wines at Calabria from 2009, but grew the grapes in Murrumbateman. Hence it’s the same wine-making team now as it has been under previous ownership," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"Shiraz is no longer the most prominent grape grown in Australia. Chardonnay was the largest single variety by crush size in 2026, overtaking shiraz," says wine writer RICHARD CALVER.
"This is not a 'blow-to-the-head' wine at 18.5% ABV, albeit not a wine you’d skull. It had a lovely cassis-filled palate and a hint of spice at the finish," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"Steve Feletti’s passion was made real when he 'borrowed' some cuttings from a vigneron in the Languedoc. Then came three years of the plants being in quarantine and then another two years in a cloning laboratory," writes RICHARD CALVER.
"It was good to be reintroduced to this varietal and to taste an Italian nebbiolo that, while young and reasonably priced, did not belt the palate with a bitter tannic aftertaste," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"The prices in Nordic countries for wine are eye-watering. In Iceland, the most expensive destination an average glass of white wine (an unimpressive pinot grigio) was $28 a glass," bemoans our travelling wine writer RICHARD CALVER.
"Development of the punt was important in the evolution of the champagne bottle. In the 1500s, French monks were making sparkling wine, but the pressure from the bubbles meant that sometimes bottles exploded," writes RICHARD CALVER.
"Younger consumers are drinking differently from previous generations. They are less attached to formal wine culture and, where they do drink wine, favour lighter, fresher and more approachable styles," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"The illustration of a black soldier fly on the label is the first indication that a new shiraz from the Four Winds Vineyard in Murrumbateman is not your average drop," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
A small Canberra-region winery has taken out a major award at the National Wine Show of Australia, with Sapling Yard's 2025 Fiori white blend winning a trophy at the national competition.
"The colour was bright in this young wine. The initial sharpness went away as it breathed. It went well with the chunky steak pie filling, pinot noir being versatile in its food pairing," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"At first taste, you scratch your head a little because of the wine's complexity and then, as it settles in the glass, there's a taste of strawberry and the influence of oak. Intriguing," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"The guide asked the 10 of us whether it was a gin tasting or another wine tasting that should form part of the itinerary. Nine voted for gin. I abstained." Columnist RICHARD CALVER reports from his wine tour to Kangaroo Island.
"It was a new-style chardonnay with very little butter and the oak flavours subtle. It was a pleasant drink." Wine columnist RICHARD CALVER gets a taste for a chardonnay from Orange.
"I was back in my 1970s bell bottoms (purple!) reading about the plat de pauvre that is fondue, a way the French use up bits of hard, cracked or unattractive cheese," confesses wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"Arneis, a white varietal originating in Piedmont in north-west Italy, has found a home much closer to us – in Wallaroo," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
"The older wine changed a great deal over the course of lunch. It had obviously been stored well and its deep-red colour showed no hint of browning, a sign of a wine being over the hill," writes (well aged) wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
More than 350 million bottles of wine are gathering dust in Australian storage, and industry figures have an ingenious plan to stop them heading for the bin.
"So, here we were in the warm embrace of the Brown Brothers’ matriarch; the Patricia range of wine in part celebrates the winery’s matriarchal heritage," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
