Latest Releases

We don’t think it’s news that the 2022 vintage was a dream year for Garagiste. Growing conditions were nigh-on perfect—a long, slow and moderate season that allowed for ideal flavour development and precise harvesting. And, even if volumes have been shot to pieces by the La Niña pattern, the quality has been, to quote the man himself, “bloody spectacular”.

Despite mourning the loss of our luggage, there were worse places to be stranded than in Saumur. Unable to progress on our journey, we called on the help of Google Maps and Guiberteau’s right-hand man and self-proclaimed tractoriste, Brendan Stater-West, to help us locate a good portion of this grower’s vineyards. A dropped pin or three later and we were on the way to see the vineyards central to this grower’s rise to stardom.

New releases from Murdoch Hill, Quealy, Toolangi, Laughing Jack and Blind Corner.

The small but perfectly formed 2021 vintage provided the impetus to act on a years-long desire to add a ‘Villages’ Marlborough Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to their range. From a year when yields were so miserly, Corofin could not feasibly make the usual range of single-vineyard wines, and so 2021 marks the first release of its Marlborough blends. These wines bring another layer to an already impressive range of wines and importantly, a little more volume to Corofin—and its customers, who have been yearning for more!

From grapes harvested at least two weeks later than in 2020, you’ll find ample, silky density buoyed by moderate alcohols and a surge of energy that comes from a lighter place than the three preceding vintages. And in contrast with those years, 2021’s flavours shimmy from a more exotic spectrum in the direction of citrus, crystalline white fruit and herbal nuances. The notes from the wine press and our tastings, all point to a don’t-miss year from a Rheingau great.

Drum roll, please. Following a two-vintage hiatus, the crown jewels in the Spinifex portfolio—La Maline and Indigene—are back, and in this release, they join the new Moppa Shiraz and the Inaugural Sol Solice Grenache. The 2021s are a welcome return, each showcasing Schell’s consummate ability to harness and channel raw Barossa power into wines of sleek charm, perfume and length.

The legacy of a warm and dry vintage, the 2020 Chenins are stony, ripe and supple, with intense, well-balanced palates alongside graceful, textured length. Following our tasting here last year, we have shipped the domaine’s deliciously vibrant Saumur Brut and its first red wine, a 2021 Saumur Rouge, which is bouncing with red-fruited energy and refreshment.

While you will hear of some producers in France struggling to find balance in 2021, quite the opposite was the case at Domaine Weinbach. Eddy Faller puts 2021 up there as one of his family’s finest in the last 20 years and notes the domaine has not seen the same confluence of ripeness and acidity since 2010. It’s a match made in heaven—or Kayserberg, in this instance... 

2022 was quite a year for Luke Lambert and Rosalind Hall. Both quit their day jobs—Luke as a consultant winemaker in the Yarra Valley and Rosalind as a music teacher in Melbourne—to focus exclusively on their Glenburn farm (Sparkletown) and Lambert Wines. They also said goodbye to Tibooburra, instead switching their base camp to one of the Yarra Valley’s most distinctive and meticulously managed vineyards. 

Today we offer a relatively substantial allocation of this grower’s sought-after wines. We mentioned last year that due to three low-yielding vintages, to manage his inventory, Goisot has been holding back a portion of his annual allocations to re-offer the following year. While we are not quite in Benjamin Leroux territory, we can now offer over twenty wines spread across three exciting years.

Despite emerging as one of Barbaresco’s most captivating producers, these wines continue to fly under the radar, perhaps because it’s still early days since most of the changes have occurred, and perhaps also, as the Busso family are very low-key, humble people. Nonetheless, it would be difficult to find a more exciting ‘new’ grower within the DOCG’s boundaries, especially if you love the classical style of Piemontese wine. 

Today, we’re delighted to offer the latest releases from Laballe’s fabulous collection of vintage Armagnacs. Our offering includes some truly great Armagnac years—2001, 1985, 1981 and 1972 to list a few—alongside some vintages new to Australia: 1975, 1997 and 2004. The only downside is that, as the Laudet family seeks to conserve their stocks of ever-dwindling liquid treasure, some of the older vintages we have worked with are unavailable.