Heading north for a private lunch hosting was always going to be touch and go with Junior Wine Animal #4 due any day, but I had my phone on loud and every finger and toe crossed that she wouldn’t enter this world while I was up north. Thirty hours—that’s all I needed.
The best part about these trips is the people I’ve met and introduced through a shared love of wine. These people wouldn’t have met or connected if I hadn’t invited them to dinners and events. Now, they are friends, frequently sharing glasses and bottles. It’s incredibly humbling and satisfying to sit back and watch them chat, laugh, and share wines that are important to them. It’s one of the best parts of what I get to do.
I arrived steaming from a very long lunch to an outdoor Italian restaurant in 90% humidity for a three-course feast. I was full, hot, and probably a touch drunk. We each brought a bottle to share, and these were the bottles:
2022 Moreau-Naudet Montée de Tonnerre Chablis – Bright and fresh, a terroir-expressive Chardonnay. Probably the best value-for-quality producer out there. Razor-sharp but with such texture and purpose.
2023 By Farr GC Chardonnay – A mighty wine, with precise and pure fruit. Needs time to shine. Maybe the ‘Grand Cru’ of Victorian Chardonnay—it’s certainly right up there.
2020 Kumeu River Maté’s Vineyard Chardonnay – What a wine. Would keep up with some top-shelf Burgundies in a blind tasting, no doubt. A masterpiece, deserving of its accolades and awards—a masterful blend of fruit and spice, savoury and all things nice.
2022 Vincent Dancer Bourgogne Chardonnay – So much texture and control of fruit. Burgundy really hits differently. I love the roundness from such a young wine—focused, precise, and fruit-driven.
2017 Jean-Noël Gagnard Santenay Clos de Tavannes Premier Cru – Red wine from France has a charm and nostalgia that we don’t quite achieve in the New World. Beautiful.
2009 Tyrrell’s 4 Acres Shiraz – My experiences with this wine haven’t always been great—until now. Gorgeous fruit and an earthy complexity that hits every aspect of the nose and palate. About time a Hunter Valley Shiraz had me this excited. It’s not a style I generally turn to, but wow—maybe they just need age.
2004 Penfolds St Henri Shiraz – I only had a small mouthful—fruit, leather, and silky tannins. A perfectly stored and aged Aussie icon. To me, the best value wine in the Penfolds range.
2005 Standish ‘The Standish’ Shiraz – Perfume! Magical Barossa Valley Shiraz. Who says they need to be drunk young? So much to love here. Power doesn’t always have to be the main star—balance and delicate florals shine through.
NV Egly-Ouriet Les Vignes de Bisseuil Premier Cru Champagne – Having Champagne at the end of the night is something I’m going to do more often. So many people picked this as their Wine of the Night. Classic Egly—racy, sharp, and full of bruised fruits, all woven together with a sea spray-like minerality.
A magical lineup, showcasing three different countries and multiple regions—the best of Australia, France, and New Zealand, all showing amazingly well.
Wine of the Night is hard to pick. For me, the Kumeu River was immense, the Vincent Dancer so pure and classy, and, surprisingly, the Tyrrell’s 4 Acres was simply beautiful.
A massive thanks to the lads up north, especially for putting up with my moaning about the heat and humidity—I mean, seriously, who wants to drink big red wine in that heat?
Wine Animal Out.