Kooyong Estate 2024 Single Vineyard Chardonnay

 

Talented winemaker Tim Perrin continues to produce some outstanding, Burgundian-accented chardonnays and pinot noirs using fruit from the Kooyong vineyard at Tuerong on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. All the Kooyong wines are made from domain-grown, hand-picked grapes at the estate winery. This brand-new release is disturbingly drinkable. I was sure I had only had a couple of sips, but the bottle was suddenly half empty. Kooyong boasts of sustainable viticulture and low-impact winemaking and this offers classic cool-climate chardonnay citrus/stone fruit flavours, hints of cashew and stony minerality, along with very bright acid. Beautifully balanced and charmingly assured for a wine so young, this paired amiably with some pork chops/aubergine and potato bake. $55. https://www.portphillipestate.com.au/

Clonakilla 2025 Viognier Nouveau

Here they come: just a few weeks after vintage the first wines from the 2025 season are hitting the market. Clonakilla, based at Murrumbateman, outside Canberra, is best known for its benchmark Shiraz Viognier blend, where a small portion of the viognier grape softens shiraz. Here the Rhone white variety stands alone, fermented cold and released young; strutting its stuff as a fresh, vibrant and flavoursome wine for immediate enjoyment. Think stone fruit, minerality and bright acid. Pair with vegetarian or poultry dishes. $35. www.clonakilla.com.au.   

Hay Shed Hill Block 8 2023 Cabernet Franc

 

Cabernet franc must be one of most under-rated grape varieties around. Often used as a minor element in Bordeaux blends, the variety also produces medium-bodied red wines with immediate appeal. This one found favour with my tasting group for its soft, easy style. A wine for sipping and savouring, preferably paired with dishes showcasing chicken or quail. The Hay Shed Hill Block Series wines are made from small parcels of fruit from individual blocks on the vineyard at Wilyabrup in Margaret River. This is soft and lifted with a fascinating blend of complexity and elegance. $45. https://hayshedhill.com.au/

Wynns 2024 Black Label Messenger Chardonnay

This a very impressive addition to the Wynnsday collection of wines released earlier this week by winemaker Sue Hodder and her team at Wynns Coonawarra Estate. It is a composed, very varietal cooler-climate chardonnay that also offers formidable value. The Messenger Vineyard has 32-year-old chardonnay vines, which produced stellar fruit in 2024. This is a very classy wine with plenty of flavour and a brisk acid finish. Hand-picking, whole-bunch pressing, barrel aging, and malolactic fermentation all play their role in a release that is complete and very varietal with stone fruit flavours, youthful enthusiasm and waves of texture producing a very smooth customer indeed. $45. https://www.wynns.com.au/

Lyons Will Estate 2024 Gamay

 

What a ripper! One of the best gamays in Australia, and an example of why we should see more versions of wines using the Beaujolais grape made here. This is wonderfully juicy and fresh, gloriously gluggable and ideal for serving after a short chill should that be your preference. Wild fermented and matured in older oak barrels for nine months, this has emerged as such a fun drink with dark cherry flavours to the fore. The juice had four weeks on skins to give it some vibrancy. 60% whole berry, 40% semi carbonic maceration, 100% pleasure. Unfined, unfiltered, and Vegan-friendly, this might already be in short supply given only 380 cases were made. 93 points, if points are your thing. $49. https://www.lyonswillestate.com.au/        

Henschke 2022 Keyneton Euphonium

 

Henschke makes some of Australia's most sought-after wines, including the $1000-a-bottle Hill of Grace, regarded as the best single-vineyard wine in the country. But the Henschke family - six generations in - also offers a range of far more affordable wines; like this red blend that would grace any dinner party table. A blend of shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, along with small amounts of cabernet franc and merlot, it is a very stylish amalgam of fruit from the Barossa and the cooler Eden Valley. The name pays tribute to an instrument used by the former Henschke Family Brass Band. This is a very sophisticated drop that be enjoyed now, or cellared for decades. Bright and beautifully balanced with oak playing a role in creating impressive structure. $67. https://www.henschke.com.au/ 

Angullong 2022 Cossing Reserve Harriet

 

This is a pretty spectacular reserve release from a small producer in the NSW Central West. The vineyard is in the foothills of Mount Canobolas outside Orange. The property has been in the Crossing family since 1950 and was a sheep and cattle station before grape growing and winemaking started in 1998. The wines are made by the talented Canadian Jeff Byrne and this is a smooth but assertive blend of Italian varieties sangiovese, montepulciano and sagrantino that is named in honour of the family matriarch. It is a lovely, food-friendly release that is drinking very well right now; fruit and oak are in impressive harmony. Decidedly moreish. 94 points from me. $50. www.angullong.com.au.