t’s a wine with genuine fruit purity that is then complemented by a range of spice; wild fennel, aniseed and a dollop of harissa. In the background there are scents of sweet wet clay on a potter’s wheel. I then smell the occasional waft of smoke that swirls around a pile of dried kelp. The flavours are full but fresh with the fruits of mulberry, blueberry and Satsuma plum. It has darkness and restrained power.

Beautiful, delicious wine this. Silken texture, tightly wound but with a give of mouthwatering fruit flavour and incredible, harem-like perfume of pot pourri, fangipani, red fruits, incense and garam masala spice. That texture, whoa, Canberra District’s greatest ally when shiraz (with or without viognier) is on song – sleek, sheathed in finest lacy tannins, long and so fine.
It’s joyous in fruit expression but shows savoury, spicy detail and finishes with a floral, pretty mouth perfume that lingers.
So good."Rated : 95 Points Winefront.com.au

"One of the best, young Etna wines I’ve seen. It’s guttural and savoury, earthy and yet sweet fruited, powered by clamping tannins and a swish of blood orange acidity. Impressive in its sweep across the palate it’s wildly, wonderfully perfumed with a mix of dark berries, briar, dark chocolate, warm stones, ash and alpine herbs. There’s depth in flavour too, no wallflower, but the freshness is all there. Velocity across the tongue, assertive, lip-smacking, then stains the palate with that gently ferrous, pumice like drawl of Etna. Unreal."

This is a fabulous shiraz/syrah. One sip and I was hooked. It bursts with aroma, is rich with fruit, comes laden with all manner of spice notes and extends gorgeously out and through the finish. It’s a complete wine. It plays a Siren song for the Heathcote region as a whole. It has texture, graphite, nut and herb notes oozing from its pores. Blue and black berried fruits. Just simply beautiful."
Rated : 95 Points Winefront.com.au

Lovely grenache. Excellent. It crackles with spice, it runs with fruit, it’s splashed with earth. Exactly as you’d like your grenache to be. Effortless, honest, pure and pretty. Ripped with tannin too. Everything as it should be. The Purple Hands winery is in the best of form."
Rated : 94 Points Winefront.com.au

Delicious Tasting Pack for the stunning new Gins from Animus Distillery.Contains 1 300 ml bottle each of the three Gins, the
Animus Distillery Ambrosian Gin
Animus Distillery Arboretum Gin
Animus Distillery Classic Dry Gin
Perfect way to try each of these wonderful Gins, also make a near perfect gift for any Gin loving friends!

"Hoddles Creek probably about the best $20 you can spend on Australian Pinot Noir. It’s almost ludicrous.

It’s rosy, slightly peppery, red fruited, almost minerally, with spicy biscuit oak gently folded in. Light to medium bodied, fine sweep of emery board tannin, fine acidity, delicate flavour, bright and fine boned, with no annoying sweet and sour flavours, and a firm insistently tannic finish.
Serious Pinot satisfaction here. Rated : 93 Points Winefront.com.au

3. Passopisciaro Etna Passorosso 2014 ($65) - The importer has already sold out of this fantastic wine from the fertile slopes of Sicily’s Mount Etna. However, you can still find it (in rapidly decreasing quantities) at selected retailers around the country, and when you do I recommend you buy the lot.

It is a mid-weight wine that somehow conveys a sense of rocky energy. It has an exciting nose where strawberry and raspberry fruit are lifted by violet aromatics, and there are herbs, spices and the stony, rocky element that is hard to identify but undeniably present. I should probably recommend drinking it with food but I enjoyed it so much it had gone before I had even given a thought to the menu.
A definite wine of the year contender. Weekend Australian

This fragrant red offers alluring scents of rose, red berry and cake spice. The radiant, structured palate is endowed with finesse, offering ripe black cherry, raspberry, licorice and flinty mineral. Firm, refined tannins and bright acidity provide the framework.
Drink 2020 through 2025. 93 points Wine Enthusiast