JM 1ST APPROACH

Deep straw colour, with a pale green hue. An intense combination of cashew, butter, honeycomb and stone fruit characters. Medium palate weight with a rich and creamy texture. Peach and nectarine fruit flavours are perfectly complimented by toasted nuts, honey and a persistent and flavoursome finish.

Decent, quaffable pinot noir for under $20? It's almost impossible to find but this terrific value import from the south of France manages it ... “the best French Pinot Noir outside of Burgundy” .... It's on the riper side of the pinot spectrum, certainly no shrinking violet, but no brash bogan either. The (French) girl next door with smoothness, dark cherry fruit flavours, hints of earthiness and plenty of length. It can be found on special for as low as $15 but the RRP is $19.  Windsor Dobbin

Decent, quaffable pinot noir for under $20? It's almost impossible to find but this terrific value import from the south of France manages it ... “the best French Pinot Noir outside of Burgundy” .... It's on the riper side of the pinot spectrum, certainly no shrinking violet, but no brash bogan either. The (French) girl next door with smoothness, dark cherry fruit flavours, hints of earthiness and plenty of length. Windsor Dobbin

These characters intensify on the palate, opening with a fresh, upfront acidity of grapefruit and lime which provides an amazing backbone for the enticing flavours of green passionfruit, savoury herb scones, hints of spiced sourdough and a lovely lime sorbet sweetness. The structure is tight, directing these incredible flavours right to the back of your palate, leaving you with a crisp, clean finish showing just a hint of elegantly toasted French oak spice.

WOW, power and intensity from the west. From the area renowned for cabernet sauvignon, shiraz lives in the shadows, but should never be ignored. Earthy, tobacco and dark fruits give this wine a brooding intensity. Juicy blackberry and plum, coffee and dry, intensely gripping tannin add some real punch. Firm, youthful and very bold, this is attractive on many levels. This is worth finding. Value: Excellent Food: Roast beef Rating: 4/5 Tony Love

a complex mixture of ripe blackberry and plum fruit with a dash of creamy vanillin oak. The palate is medium to full bodied which starts with some sweet plummy fruit, the flavour then builds in the palate to provide an explosion of raspberry flavours. There is some lovely mouth coating tannins which combine with dark chocolate oak and fruit to provide a great depth and length of flavour.