Latest Releases

“The southern Rhône is a place of great abundance; sometimes the skill of the winemaker is knowing when less is more. These are generous wines but...

A tale of two vintages. A return to the cooler Chablisien vintages of old, 2021 was also a year blighted by frost. Like many of our Burgundy grower...

“Disciplined viticulture and ambitiously precise vinification puts these two young men leagues ahead of the competition and promises to keep the...

Fresh off his third win of the prestigious Hunter Valley Winemaker of the Year 2023 Award, Andrew Thomas joined us in Sydney and Melbourne this week to celebrate his winery’s Silver Jubilee. Through the lens of his two flagship wines, Braemore Semillon and Kiss Shiraz, Thomas guided us through his Hunter Valley journey: a fascinating and delicious tale of site, soil and a winemaker’s passion for the place. It is a testament to Thommo’s standing in the industry that even James Halliday came to pay his respects. 

The offer of some grapefruits from their mates at Curly Flat Wines planted the seed for Animus’ exciting new Elements range. The idea for a Grapefruit Triple Sec was born, with a Mandarin-Cello and Coffee Noir soon following, forming the first premium and versatile liqueurs under the Elements label. In a category full of internationally scaled products, Animus Elements provides a refreshingly simple and transparent approach to production; top shelf, locally sourced ingredients, and small batch runs with minimal waste. 

Jeff Byrne has been one busy fellow since setting out on his own in 2019. He’s established his own Glenidle vineyard—first crop 2023—and converted the old apple shed into a functioning winery, all the while cementing his label as one of New South Wales’s most exciting new prospects. It’s been a bit crazy, he admits, “I was building the winery right up until the day picking started this year”. Yet with the foundations set, the future of Byrne Farm could hardly look brighter.

In terms of the new releases, from a cool, low-yielding year (try 30 hl/ha on for size), the 2021 rosé is a knockout: an  umami-fuelled and mineral Pibarnon that, once again, reminds us of how serious a great, savoury rosé can be. The Bandol Rouge from 2020 (and similarly low cropped) is a wonderfully intense and detailed release; a case study for the individuality of Pibarnon’s slow-ripening highland terroir and a culture that results in this distinctively elegant, ‘mountain’ style of Bandol.

We are very excited to have gotten our hands on a parcel of Domaine des Lises’ white Crozes. Finally. We first tasted the wine in the Rhône Valley in 2015 and, since then, have been gently reminding Maxime that we are still patiently waiting—Maxime has only 0.4 hectares to work with. The wine comes from a historic terroir in Mercurol called the Coteau des Pends, a sloping south-facing hillside on white clay and chalk. 

Novicius: June - New Releases from Murdoch Hill, Spinifex and Thomas Wines

Michael Downer struck gold with his Lenswood site, and he knows it. Even so, the speed and level to which the recently acquired vineyard is delivering have surprised even him. Since purchasing the site a few years back, Downer and his team have...

We’re delighted to add five new titles to the Ex Vinum library with more to come later this year, including what we think is set to be the most exciting book to be published on the Australian wine scene in a decade. 

Vintages fly when you’re having fun. In the slipstream of his intensely mineral 2021, we have another cracking release from Gérard Boulay. It’s a wine that renders the vibrant, ripe fruit and mouth-watering juiciness of the vintage, and, as always, it’s a Sancerre that showcases the incomparable class of Chavignol’s great limestone terroirs. When such vineyards are combined with old vines, organic viticulture and inspired precise cellar work, the results are electrifying. Followers of this wine have much to look forward to.