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The Northern Rhône: Where Syrah Finds Its Most Savoury Side

There are certain wines that challenge our expectations of what a grape variety should taste like. Syrah is one of them. For many Australian drinkers, Shiraz means generosity. Dark fruit, richness,...

Burgundy and the Art of Restraint

There is something fascinating about Burgundy. In a world where great wine is so often associated with concentration, power and intensity, Burgundy has built its reputation on something rather diff...

Mature Bordeaux: What Time Can Do to a Great Bottle

There is something particularly fascinating about opening a bottle of Bordeaux that has spent years quietly developing in a cellar. Not simply because the wine has become older. Age alone is no gu...

Syrah and Shiraz: One Grape, Two Very Different Conversations

There are few grapes in the wine world that have developed two identities quite as distinct as Syrah and Shiraz. In France, Syrah brings to mind the steep granite terraces of the Northern Rhône: Cô...

When Wine Gets Interesting: Foradori, Occhipinti, Radikon and a Different Side of Italy

There is a point in drinking Italian wine when the familiar names are no longer quite enough. You have tasted Barolo. You understand Chianti Classico. You know Brunello, Amarone and perhaps Etna. T...

Sicily in a Glass: The New Elegance of Southern Italian Wine

For a long time, southern Italian wine was described through warmth. Sun. Ripeness. Generosity. Powerful reds. Mediterranean richness. None of those descriptions are necessarily wrong. But when it ...

The Italian Red for Sunday Lunch: Why Food Changes the Way We Understand Wine

Italian red wine has always had a particular relationship with food. Not simply because Italy has a strong culture of eating and drinking together, but because many of its native varieties seem alm...

Tuscany Beyond the Famous Names: Finding Character Outside the Grand Labels

Tuscany needs very little introduction. Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, Bolgheri and the great Super Tuscans have made it one of the most recognisable wine regions in the world. Names suc...

Chianti Classico: A Great Wine That Never Needed Reinventing

Chianti Classico: A Great Wine That Never Needed Reinventing Chianti Classico has been traditional, modern, fashionable, unfashionable, misunderstood and rediscovered. Yet the reason it remains one...

Sangiovese: The Soul of the Tuscan Table

There are wines designed to impress from the first sip. And then there are wines designed to make dinner better. Sangiovese belongs firmly to the second group. It is difficult to separate Sangiove...