Teusner 2012 Joshua

Here’s a wine for lovers of Barossa power that is completely under control; for wines with flavour but also impeccable balance, even elegance. Kym Teusner is one of the most talented young winemakers in the Barossa Valley and this is a delicious unoaked and fruit-forward blend of three classic regional varieties; grenache, mataro and shiraz. From what is being praised as a stellar year for Barossa reds, this is has a summer pudding nose and is a soft, plush almost indecently pleasurable wine; plummy but pristine and offering immediate drinking pleasure. $28.

Voyager Estate 2012 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon

This wine is the vinous version of a delightful summer day. It's bright, fresh and vibrant and undoubtedly one of the best of the many West Australian SBS or SSB blends I've seen from the strong 2012 vintage. What I liked most about it was its lightness of presence; it's faintly aromatic with a tangy, flinty, citrusy goodness on the palate. A small portion of the blend has undergone barrel fermentation to add textural interest but it is youthful exuberance that is this wine's strength. It would best be enjoyed in its youth, chilled, with good food and friends. $24. www.voyagerestate.com.au 

Folding Hill 2010 Pinot Noir

Born on the Isle of Man, Tim Kerruish is one of those people who make the world of wine so fascinating. After a stint working in Australia as a doctor he went to New Zealand on a fishing trip, loved it and eventually moved to Bendigo in Central Otago, bought a 40-acre sheep farm in partnership with friends and family and planted 10 acres of pinot noir - most of which he sells. He works in the local ER "to pay the bills" but still has time to produce outstanding wines like this tight, intense and textural 2010 pinot, matured in quality French oak, unfilterred and unfined and bottled under a Diam closure. It's a damn fine drop, built for the long haul, that blossoms when given some air. Well worth seeking out - and soon to be distributed in Australia by Winestock. $NZ40. 
www.foldinghill.co.nz.

Longview 2012 Queenie Adelaide Hills Pinot Grigio

Wow! I really like the vibrancy of this wine, which is, quite remarkably, the first-ever pinot grigio release from the Saturno family's immaculately tended Adelaide Hills vineyard. Named after the family matriarch, who travelled from Friuli in northern Italy to the Adelaide Hills in the 1930s and is now 90 years of age, the sheer freshness and liveliness of this fruit-driven number might hopefully convert some of the critics who are dismissive of PG as a style. If a bright, flavoursome white that is both refreshing and rewarding appeals, wrap your lips around some of this. It's already started to pick up show gold medals - if that sort of thing floats your boat. $19.50. www.longviewvineyard.com.au.

Eldridge Estate 2012 PTG

Is there a more perfect style of red wine for daytime summer enjoyment? I doubt it. I loved the debut 2011 version of Eldridge Estate's PTG, a homage to the passetoutgrains of Burgundy, which are  blends of gamay and pinot noir grapes. The 2012 edition is, if anything, even more impressive. Juicy and fruity, it's a rollicking, buccaneering Mornington Peninsula red that can easily stand being chilled. A super-drinkable and immensely enjoyable red that would be a lovely match with Asian-style pork belly, it is a simple wine, with bright raspberry and cheery cherry notes, designed for enjoying young. The empty bottle never lies. Well done David and Wendy Lloyd. $25. www.eldridge-estate.com.au.       

Zema Estate 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

The Zema family has been growing grapes and making wine in Coonawarra for three decades now - and their offerings are a byword for consistency and value. All the wines are estate grown, vintaged and bottled. With winemaker Greg Clayfield showing a deft touch, this is an outstanding Coonawarra cabernet with ripe, inviting aromas leading on to an inky palate with dark fruit flavours, chocolate and tobacco leaf notes with well-integrated French oak. Tannins and acids are perfectly in place, like well-behaved schoolchildren. In fact, there is nothing at all unruly about a wine that is both varietal and regional. It's drinking brilliantly now but will cellar for a decade or more. Pair it with roast lamb en croute, $30. www.zema.com.au.

Kooyong 2011 Clonale Chardonnay

Sandro Mosele makes some of Australia's finest single-vineyard chardonnays under the Kooyong Faultline and Farrago labels. This is the baby brother of those wines, released a year earlier and half the price. It's still a terrific Mornington Peninsula chardonnay, as you'd demand and expect from Kooyong, and offers excellent value. It's a Kate Moss-style wine that has great purity and focus with lean citrus fruit and flinty minerality. It's thoroughly modern, certainly not for those who enjoy their chardonnays big and buttery, but very much in line with the zeitgeist in its restraint and food friendliness. $31. www.kooyong.com.