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The Ferngrove White Label range from Frankland River in Western Australia may just offer two of the best-value wines around right now. This is a delightfully pale pink rosé, aromatic, soft and fairly dry with some nice biting acid allied to cherry and cream flavours. It paired superbly with a Indian-style beef curry. Also part of the same range is the Ferngrove 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, a light, crisp and refreshing blend made in a drink-now style that's a perfect foil for Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. Both wines retail for $16 - which makes them well worth seeking out. www.ferngrove.com.au
There are several brilliant chardonnays in the impressive Oakridge range, but this is arguably the best value of them all - a wine that shines with its structure and length but can be found on special for under $20. I'm a little late reviewing this wine, but it has settled into serious gorgeousness since its release, as you would expect from chardonnay-meister David Bicknell and his team. A blend of fruit from four different Yarra Valley vineyards, this offers varietal flavours (think stone fruits and flinty minerality), fresh acidity and really pleasurable drinking. Excellent with roast chicken. $23. www.oakridgewines.com.au.
Rising is a new project from funkmeister Tom Belford and the crew at Sticks winery in the Yarra Valley. The four wines in the range come from the Rising vineyard in the Christmas Hills, and other hand-picked sites, and are made in tiny quantities (there are just 500 cases of this exceptional pinot noir). As is Belford's natural inclination, the wines are made with minimal intervention. This is very nicely put together with bright fruit allied to some great architecture. It finishes cloudy, a sign that it is unfined and unfiltered, and it has a wonderful rustic and muscular pinosity. Terrific value at $30. www.risingwines.com.au.
Vintage after vintage, Wirra Wirra's Church Block is one of those rare wines that can be guaranteed to deliver both quality and value for money. That's certainly the case with the lip-smackingly good new 2016 release, a blend of McLaren Vale cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot. Church Block was the first wine released by the late Greg Trott under the Wirra Wirra label, back in 1972. Today it maintains its reputation as a big softy; a wine with plenty of flavour and power but equally easy to drink. Matured in French and American oak, it is nonetheless fruit driven; enjoyable in its youth but with the structure to mature over the years. Terrific buying at $22. www.wirrawirra.com.
TarraWarra winemaker Clare Halloran is producing some excellent Yarra Valley wines, but this is an absolute standout when it comes to value for money. This estate-grown, hand-picked chardonnay just oozes class. It's clean and fresh with a bright acid finish but also offers real palate interest and is made with minimal intervention while retaining mainstream appeal. It is a wine of delightful balance; down to earth and definitely sessionable in a Chablisienne style. I remember attending the opening of TarraWarra some three decades ago (it seems like yesterday) and it has certainly established a reputation for excellence over those years. $28. www.tarrawarra.com.au.
Marnie Roberts is a busy, and talented, winemaker in the Clare Valley. Roberts not only makes three stellar rieslings for Claymore Wines, her full-time employer, but also makes two more rieslings under her own label Matriarch and Rogue, which is named in tribute to the strong women in her family. This is a classic Watervale riesling at a sensible price point, named after her great aunt Dot. Brilliantly tart and refreshing, it comes with lemon, lime and grapefruit notes to the fore, alongside racy minerality and acidity. Lots of energy here and with no additions other than sulphur, it is vegan friendly. Pair this with some King George Whiting fillets pan-fried in butter. Divine. $25. www.matriarchandrogue.com.au.
It is no surprise that John Harris from Mitchell Harris Wines produces outstanding sparkling wines that stand with some of the best in the country. Harris was for several years the chief winemaker at Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley before upping sticks and moving to Ballarat, from where he sources top-class fruit from growers in the Pyrenees, Macedon, Ballarat and Henty regions. The stellar 2013 vintage of this lifted and elegant bubbly is 60% chardonnay & 40% pinot noir from the Macedon and Pyrenees ranges. A reserve dosage liqueur adds just 5g/L sugar to help create a strikingly clean and complex aperitif style. Seriously lovely drinking. $42. www.mitchellharris.com.au.
