.jpg?fit=900%2C1051&ssl=1)
Chris Janses and Rodney Macuja
Numbered from top to bottom, left to right.
1. TROPHY WINNER
2017 Hither & Yon Nero d’Avola, McLaren Vale, $25
Winner of three trophies at last year’s Alternative Varieties Wine Show and no surprise: deep-purple colour, loads of seductive voluptuous fruit, supple but firm, grippy tannins.
2. NEW VINES
2017 Ricca Terra Arinto, Riverland, $30
The Portuguese white grape arinto obviously loves the hot, dry growing conditions in South Australia’s Riverland because this wine is full of life: bright, lemony and delicately textural.
3. CHARDY FROM HERE
2016 Fraser Gallop Chardonnay, Margaret River, $39
This gorgeous, scintillating chardonnay is as refreshing as a well-made G&T: lovely hints of sweet fragrant botanicals, some bright lemony cut, and a chalky, savoury finish.
4. ISLAND WHITE
2016 Rose Kentish Vermentinu, Corsica, $38
SA winemaker Rose Kentish has visited Corsica to produce this delicious, green-melon-scented white and Provence to make a savoury, spicy rosé.
5. CHARDY FROM THERE
2015 Roland Lavantureaux Vieilles Vignes, Chablis, $49
If you like classic Chablis – hints of wild flowers and honey floating through the perfume, a sensation of licking pebbles on the tongue – you’ll love this great-value, old-vine wine.
6. MODERN CLASSIC
2017 Pewsey Vale 1961 Block Riesling, Eden Valley, $32
A new wine from old vines in a great site high in the Eden Valley. It’s as crisp as biting into a cold green Granny Smith now; 20 years in the cellar will see it develop a toasty richness.
7. WILD THING
2017 Bertrand Bespoke Mouvèdre, Heathcote, $40
A brilliant example of the wild flavours that can be found in red wines made from mouvèdre – prickly hedgerow berries, a Campari-like tanginess – at a 12.9 per cent.
