What KT did: A Clare love affair
Kerri Thompson has always been drawn to dots. Various colours, sizes and arrangements speckle the labels of Wines by KT, evoking order and randomness at once. Her wines don’t want for clarity and coherence, but premeditation generally takes a back seat to impulse and instinct in the KT universe. She was just 17 when she embarked on her winemaking degree with little more than a vague notion that art, travel, science and a whiff of the exotic might converge on the far shore.
The things she cares about are the pinpoints in that world—a scattering of mentors, talented peers, cherished grape-growers and the like—and the picture that emerges is of a confidently visionary winemaker inspired and nourished by her Clare Valley home.
The Moneyball of wine: Thoughts on the value of thinking
“The numbers start out as tools for thinking. They wind up replacing thought.” The line comes from a podcast by Moneyball author Michael Lewis. In it, he goes back to the sphere of baseball to look at our tendency to latch onto ratings and cease to see the true value of things. He draws on an essay by Baseball Abstract creator, Bill James (himself the inspiration for Moneyball), containing an eloquent complaint about "nitwits who glom onto something superficial in the book and misunderstand its underlying message”.
The wine world is awash with numbers. They're not necessarily nefarious in themselves. But there is a danger that we miss all the important, enriching, revelatory lessons of wine if we fail to dwell on - and encourage others to see - the multifaceted world that it is.
Marksist theory: How a timeless gem is formed
I've heard it said many times: Gembrook Hill Pinot Noir is the Pinot the Yarra winemakers drink. This pioneering vineyard of the Upper Yarra is also home to arguably Australia's finest expressions of Sauvignon Blanc. One of the nation's finest bottles of grower fizz comes from here, too, and the Chardonnay is pretty sublime. Yet Gembrook Hill is one of the most—to use the parlance of the day—IYKYK estates going.
The story of its birth as the pipe dream of a Melbourne CBD dentist through its emergence as an Aussie domaine par excellence is an engrossing one, and can't help but include many brilliant people, not least founders Ian and June Marks. The wanderings and creative trailblazings of their son, Andrew, is a saga in itself—and it's hugely refreshing to hear about the depths of creativity and thoughtful friendship that go into painting a bright future for a homegrown gem like this.
Fagan ritual: Far beyond the bread and butter
Chances are you’ve drunk Sarah Fagan’s wines. Chances are you’ve been impressed. Chances are you’ve never heard of her. Chances are she wouldn’t care. After all, if you liked what you tasted and felt it was money well spent, why waste time thinking about who made it? That would be inefficient—and Sarah Fagan can’t abide inefficiency.
If it’s taken a while for Fagan to come to your attention, she was quick as a flash in gaining trust and respect from those in the know. Beginning with a three-month stint in her final year of university, she kicked off a 20-year stretch at De Bortoli in the Yarra Valley. In 2023, she finally left to join TarraWarra, a 40-year-old, 26-hectare estate in Yarra Glen. And now you’re going to notice her, whether she likes it or not.
AAVWS: An alternative take on provenance, progression & hope
Provenance. It derives from the Latin “venire” (to come) prefixed with “pro” (forth). We tend to think of it more as “coming from”—a celebration of origin. Wine shows often have a provenance trophy, where an exhibitor enters three vintages of the same wine over a period of 10-plus years. The idea is to prove the pedigree of the source through a track record of excellence. A worthy undertaking.
But the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show prompts you to look at things differently. An alternative take, it turns out, can be beautifully refreshing.
Vaughn Again: Sowing & regrowing love at Sinapius
Vaughn Dell’s heart stopped on a northern Tasmanian vineyard in May 2020. We all knew isolation then, or thought we did. Feelings felt remote, but tears were never far away, and stasis was the status quo. The layers of weirdness might have muffled the seismic shock for Vaughn’s wife, Linda Morice; certainly, what happened next was a blur.
For 15 years, they had been growing a future here, everything constantly beginning or becoming—the vines, the wines, their daughters; Vaughn's curious, can-do singlemindedness the perfect foil for Linda's pragmatic support and quiet resolve. With Vaughn suddenly gone, she kept on. Perhaps there wasn’t a choice. But maybe some things just become a part of you, especially when it’s your love that made them.
Stephen Pannell’s Many-Splendoured Grenache
“The perfume is alluring. The wine is not about weight. There’s a lightness of touch on the palate that makes you think and engage with the wine. Making those wines that are contradictory, that’s the hardest thing to do.”
Stephen Pannell is talking about Nebbiolo—except we’re really talking about Grenache. And, as he’s wont to do, he’s hit the nail on the head on the latter’s perceived limitations. Love, after all, is a many-splendored thing. Is Grenache?
On tasting Steve's three single-site releases from 2022, I took the opportunity to speak to this guru of Grenache about how to convince others of the tension, texture and complexity this grape can achieve.
Mark of Purity: Grenache The Bulman Way
Forthright, articulate and relatively young, Mark Bulman is an Australian winemaker with an outsize reputation for Grenache. He created one of Australia's best-loved rosés from the variety, was the first to win the prestigious Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for a Grenache and made an acclaimed wine from it in the Southern Rhône cru of Gigondas. Now he's released the first Australian reds under his own name, and they're distinctive, riveting wines. It's not surprising, given his love of Grenache and his conviction in crafting wines that show its potential to convey a sense of place, pleasure and surprise.
Australian Grenache: No more mister nice guy?
Grenache once covered more of the world’s surface than any other red-wine grape, and certainly had its day in the sun down under. It was never exactly an out-of-work actor, with its juicy, sweet-fruited affability scoring it roles in rosé, everyday blends, chillable varietal reds and even muscular Châteauneuf-du-Pape body doubles.
But a host of hot talents are sharpening up scripts giving this grape a plum role in A-list, single-vineyard wines. So, what’s it going to take to prove that Grenache has the range, depth and gravitas to be a box-office lead—and will the masses line the red carpet to check out its best work?
Hither & Yon: The path of Leask persistence
The most impressive thing about Richard Leask might well be his ordinariness. The wine world loves its myths. We glorify rarity and romanticise the Sisyphean image: nature the rock, perfection the pinnacle and Sisyphus the aloof, maybe cranky, grower. But this story doesn’t centre on a mythical figure; it gathers around the kind of Aussie everyman whose example—by dint of being unexceptional—is eminently followable. What’s more, the Hither & Yon co-founder’s affection for McLaren Vale and wine itself is as plain and contagious as the common cold.
McBryde stripped bare: The true story of Adelina
The truth matters to Colin McBryde, who wears his own as indelibly as his neck-to-heel tattoo bodysuit. A touched-up picture sold as genuine sells everyone short. As his trajectory from disaffected dropout to fêted vigneron shows, an authentic narrative arc lacks the smooth contours of an airbrushed curve.
Know your étiquette! Finding meaning in wine labels
“Once you label me, you negate me,” wrote philosopher Søren Kierkegaard – so eloquently quoted in Cantonese by Mike Myers in Wayne’s World. It’s a bit different in wine, where labels mean a lot and nothing much all at once. This video series from Vininspo! looks at specific terms that carry countless clues as to what you might expect when you pour yourself a glass.
Wine is a travel experience
The concept of wine as a travel experience is a central tenet of Vininspo! But what do we mean by it? The simplest interpretation is that by tasting wine we’re travelling through time, across cultures to a specific place.
But there’s another important angle. As when we embark on any hopeful adventure, we should be free to experience wine wide-eyed and whole-heartedly, without the slightest sense we don’t belong.
Adieu, Bonnezeaux Gonzo!
This book and an epiphany in a Paris bistro inspired a journey in storytelling. It started in freelancing, progressed to newsrooms and eventually to led to Vininspo! Please join me as I look back on that joyride and sentimentally close a chapter whose protagonist was Bonnezeaux Gonzo.
Variety show: Chardonnay
It’s the world’s most widely planted quality white wine grape - so widespread that you may ask yourself what constitutes a “typical” Chardonnay. Ed Merrison of Vininspo! gives a nutshell version of what this wonderful grape variety is all about.
Variety show: Mourvèdre
Born in Spain, on the up in France, the Mediterranean-hugging, warmth-loving black grape Mourvèdre is enjoying a day in the sun. Ed Merrison from Vininspo! digs a little deeper into its personality.
Maps and Legends
It mightn’t look like much but this childhood Christmas gift sparked the lifelong wanderlust that inevitably led to a love of wine.
Two Wolves: Alecia Moore’s wine adventure
“Wine makes you take a minute, and it makes you pay attention,” Alecia Moore, aka P!nk, tells Ed Merrison. “We’re always saying we should be more present. That’s a beautiful way to do it.”
A glass with Jancis Robinson
“Oh, I learn things every day!” says Her Royal Vinous, Jancis Robinson. “I suppose that’s one plus point of the world of wine expanding so much, and then there are all the new consumers.” Jancis talks to Ed Merrison of Vininspo! about her universal wine glass and the 8th edition of The World Atlas of Wine.
The Mount Mary mantra
With an unflinching faith in their vineyard and sense of finesse, the Middleton family’s wines have become as sought after as any in Australia. Sam Middleton tells Ed Merrison about sticking to your guns while restlessly seeking refinement.