Turkey Flat Butcher’s Block Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2023, Barossa Valley, AUD $27

Vineyards were first planted at Turkey Flat in 1847 and the Schulz family have been custodians of Turkey Flat since 1860. This wine is named in homage to the property’s origins as a 19^th century butcher shop, and displays archetypal Barossa and GSM attributes of fragrance, generosity and real drinkability. Great value as well.

Bright and youthful in the glass. Lifted aromas of dried flowers, cherry, blackcurrant, Asian spice and cola. Bright, blue fruited and with lovely presence and flow. There’s plenty of snap from the perky acidity and the tannins deliver shape, texture and presence. Smart drinking. (Screwcap)

Score: 92 ★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 14.5%

Drink: now to 2035

Food: kassler chops and sauerkraut

Stockists: Turkey Flat Wines; Nicks Wine Merchants online; Regions Cellars, Dulwich and online – SA (AU)

Ranked: #7 of 19 2023 Grenache blends from Barossa Valley

Clairault Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2022, Margaret River, AUD $26

A final blend of 81.11% cabernet sauvignon, 12.14% merlot and 6.75% cabernet franc.

Deepest ruby red, purple notes at the rim. Blackberry, blood plums and petrichor aromas. Medium to full with ample ripe plum and blackberry fruit, layered over tobacco leaf and stoney minerals. Good length on the back of firm gravel tannins. It shows the power of the region and offers a bargain cellaring opportunity. (Screwcap)

Score: 90 ★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 14.5%

Drink: now to 2037

Food: pork roast with fennel purée

Stockists: Clairault Wines; Old Bridge Cellars stores, Perth and online – WA (AU)

Ranked: #19 of 38 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon blends from Margaret River

Holdaway Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2025, Marlborough, NZD $18

Remarkable value for money from the Holdaway vineyard in Dillon’s Point of Coastal Wairau—a subregion known for being able to retain classic flavours even at higher crop loads, something which worked in its favour in the 2025 vintage. Archetypal Marlborough sauvignon blanc in expression, this Appellation Marlborough Wine is tailored for immediate enjoyment.

Crunchy green apple and juicy gooseberry in a classic expression of Marlborough’s green and tangy style. There is length and textural interest provided by finely measured structure with fair palate weight before it gives way to light salinity on the finish. (Screwcap)

Score: 91 ★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 12.5%

Drink: now to 2027

Food: spring asparagus risotto

Stockists: Lowlands Wines (Holdaway Estate); Blackmarket online (NZ)

Ranked: #26 of 71 2025 Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough

Awarded: Top Value

McHenry Hohnen Rocky Road Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2024, Margaret River, AUD $25

This is 78% sauvignon, 22% semillon. It’s undergone skin contact, fermentation on solids, and ageing in seasoned oak to bring complexity.

Light-medium yellow colour with a ripe passionfruit and mango, tropical fruit nose, very overt and in-your-face. A big flavoured, ripe and generous sauvignon blend that should win many fans. (Screwcap)

Score: 92 ★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13%

Drink: now to 2030

Food: poached john dory with two sauces made from green and red capsicums

Stockists: McHenry Hohnen wines

Ranked: #2 of 16 2024 Sauvignon Blanc blends from Margaret River

Awarded: Top Rank & Top Value

Taltarni Old Vine Estate Shiraz 2022, Pyrenees, AUD $50

Taltarni is a treasured Victorian winery. I often hear Ben Portet talking about his father, Dominque Portet’s time spent here where the French man steered the winery to greatness. It’s been a while since I’ve tasted a Taltarni, and it was great to be reacquainted. A potential contender for my Christmas table, in a few years.

Dark chocolate, mulch, raspberry licorice, roasted fennel and Christmas cake spices mesmerise on the nose. On the palate, the heady mix of flavours continues while remaining buoyant and fresh. It’s nicely composed and holds great synergy between oak and fruit. Seamless and even, although it’s still quite young. This spicy shiraz deserves an office corner in your cellar…with views! (Screwcap)

Score: 96 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 14.5%

Ageing: now to 2035

Food: steak frites with béarnaise sauce

Stockists: Taltarni Wines

Ranked: #4 of 132 2022 Shiraz from Victoria

Awarded: Top Rank

Indigo Secret Village Roussanne 2023, Beechworth, AUD $45

Free run juice was transferred directly to barrel and fermented in French barriques and hogsheads: only 10% of the barrels were new.

Pale straw yellow in the glass. Honeysuckle and yellow peach aromatics. Medium weighted, peach and apricot, some subtle grapefruit pith texture and a lift of cumin spice at the edges. Good length, the fine acid keeps it flowing without edges and it glides with grace to the finish. (Screwcap)

Score: 92 ★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol:12.5%

Drink: now to 2029

Food: pan-fried trevally with Mediterranean vegetables

Stockists: Indigo Vineyard; Cellars.com online (AU)

Neudorf Home Block Moutere Chardonnay 2024, Nelson, NZD $95

A true New Zealand icon, this organic old-vine masterpiece grown by Stef Brockley and made by Todd Stevens comes from the original block by the winery. It is living testament to the vision of Judy and the late Tim Finn who believed from the start that the region’s clay would be instrumental to making great chardonnay. Everything has come together perfectly this year to create sheer sophisticated elegance.

A restrained and very young wine which currently shows cinnamon and spicy oak hiding reluctant notes of just-ripe stone-fruit, zesty citrus and crisp apple. No more than medium-bodied but very concentrated yet backward with evident, latent power tightly wound within the coils of grainy, stony phenolics and intense, saline acidity. The finish is very long, amplified by the chewy texture and stony intensity. Undeniable quality and fine-tuned finesse with a long life ahead.

Great wine which will develop slowly in bottle into a grand, elegantly complex chardonnay if cellared carefully. (Screwcap)

Score: 97 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.5%

Drink: 2026 to 2040

Food: grilled crayfish with a light butter sauce

Stockists: Neudorf Vineyards

Ranked: #1 of 54 2024 Chardonnay from New Zealand

Awarded: Top Rank

Wine Classification: 3 Merits

Utzinger Black Label Chardonnay 2024, Tasmania, AUD $60

Matthias Utzinger is a Swiss winemaker who is one of the most recent and most exciting new additions to the Tasmanian wine landscape. He married a local Tasmanian girl and set up shop on the west bank of the Tamar River in 2018. The Utzinger wines have made an immediate and profound impact.

Light, bright straw-yellow colour; smoky reductive aromas that clear quickly, rich and powerful fruit with sylish oak and matchstick characters combining in a complex bouquet. A full-bodied, intense palate with lovely fruit-sweetness, which is kept lively by bright lemony acidity, the finish cleansed with the help of a pronounced phenolic grip. Great drive and precision. A superb wine and will be even better with food. (Screwcap)

Score: 96 ★★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.7%

Drink: now to 2039

Food: crayfish tartlets with yuzu

Stockists: Prince Wine Store, South Melbourne and online; WineSquare online (AU)

Ranked: #3 of 22 2024 Chardonnay from Tasmania

Awarded: Top Rank

Spoke Brink ‘The Brink Vineyard’ Sauvignon Sémillon 2023, Marlborough NZD $33

Fascinatingly restrained yet complex wine. The fruit came from 2 ha of the oldest certified organic vineyard in Marlborough, which was on the ‘brink’ of being ripped up before it was stopped. This wine is a joint venture between The Coterie’s Ben Glover and Liam Steevenson MW. It underwent partial skin contact before it was whole-bunch pressed to wild co-ferment in old barriques and one new oak puncheon. The oak is nicely under control, giving it structure and spice with a distinctly green, earthy edge from the vintage.

Zingy and tart, this is edgy and New Wave, combining the apple and yellow plum flavours with savoury herb, cucumber and hay (from the sémillon?) all woven into the saline and grainy structure. Nicely dry and almost chewy on the finish, it sits further in the complex green and earthy spectrum than it does in fruitiness, with some near-term upside if kept. (Screwcap)

Score: 93 ★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 12.5%

Drink: now to 2028

Food: Thai chicken noodle salad

Stockists: Normanby Fine Wines, Auckland and online (NZ)

Pegasus Bay Whole Bunch Fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2024, North Canterbury, NZD $28

A complex wine which has built-in depth from a myriad of winemaking techniques. Picked in batches of different flavour profiles, the free-run juice was tank-fermented while selected parcels were fermented on whole bunches for 200 days adding spice, phenolics and savoury complexity. There was also a small addition of barrel-aged sémillon.

A hint of flint gives way to inviting aromas of blackcurrant bush, bay leaf, woodsmoke and nutmeg. The palate is concentrated, bursting with fruit and generously flavoursome through to the dry, grainy finish where a touch of oak spice emerges. Tightly defined by crisp acidity and wood tannins, it has a firm drive and structure which will allow it to develop more savoury layers in the coming years. (Screwcap)

Score: 93 ★★★★ – view original tasting note

Alcohol: 13.5%

Drink: now to 2029

Food: crispy salt and pepper squid

Stockists: Pegasus Bay Wines; Blackmarket online, Caro’s Wines, Auckland and online; Vino Fino, Christchurch and online (NZ)

Ranked: #15 of 168 2024 Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand

Awarded: Top Rank