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This month:

Explorers will receive two newly released wines, both rated 95 points.

Enthusiasts will receive two wines, one rated 95 points and extremely refined. The other, rated 97 points and wonderfully complex. 

Collectors will enjoy a traditional Portuguese blend, and a glorious wine from a 106-year-old single vineyard. 

Want to know more? Read on for a summary of this month's selections from Jeni Port.

2021 tempranillo, Beechworth

2021 grenache blend, Barossa Valley

$89 incl. P&H

Everyone in wine is keen to talk about new and emerging 'alternative' grape varieties. But let’s press the pause button for a minute. Are some of the alternative grapes we talk about actually new? Some grapes have been around for a while and are being rediscovered by a new generation of wine producer and drinker.

Let’s take the first wine in this month’s Explorer pack, a blend of mataro, grenache and cinsault. They kind of sound alternative but they aren’t. Mataro hails originally from Spain and has taken a whole range of names since arriving in Australia many decades ago: balzac (Corowa), esparte (Great Western), mataro (Barossa Valley) and mourvèdre (just about everywhere). These days it’s sometimes seen on Australian wine labels as monastrell. 

It forms one part of a lovely, well-priced 2021 red that features this month from a leading Barossa Valley producer. Cinsault is warm, soft and relatively low in tannin, a perfect foil for mataro/mourvèdre/monastrell.

You are in safe alternative wine territory with our second wine, a tempranillo, which is definitely more recent to Australia. Pronounced “temp-rah-nee-oh,” our 2018 hails from the heights of Beechworth at a vineyard planted 580 metres above sea level. This is the kind of tempranillo to get pulses racing with exciting cherry and cassis fruits to the fore. Absolutely delicious.

2022 pinot gris, Mornington Peninsula

2021 chardonnay, Yarra Valley

$139 incl. P&H

Let’s set the scene. You are visiting a Yarra Valley cellar door and enjoying a particularly lovely chardonnay when you happen to mention that it reminds you of a delish Mornington Peninsula chardonnay. A wry smile emerges across the face of your Yarra Valley producer. “Mornington Peninsula, eh?” I might add that should the regional names be reversed, the scenario would be pretty much the same.

The two regions have, let’s say, a keen interest in each other. They are both within what is often referred to as the 'dress circle' of Melbourne wine regions, those closest to the biggest city in the state. They both look to visitors from Melbourne and beyond to support their wine and tourism industries. Importantly, both regions produce some of the most exciting cool-climate wines in the country.

This month, our Enthusiast wine selection looks at two wines that show outstanding regional credentials. The first highlights not only the beauty of the Upper Yarra Valley sub-region as a celebrated and in-demand area within the Valley for the grape, but the plush nature of the Valley style, both concentrated in flavour and well structured – a potent mix.

Our second wine is made by a well-known, award-winning winemaker and is from a vintage – 2022 – noted for its low yields and high quality. Peninsula Tasting Team member, Jane Faulkner, has called the wine “an exercise in refinement.”

Both wines represent two winemakers – and regions – at the top of their respective wine game.

2018 shiraz, Eden Valley

2021 dry red wine blend, Yarra Valley

$355 incl. P&H

Among the many questions raised by every wine judge just starting out in the Australian wine show system, one endures. Do you judge and score a wine on how it tastes on the day or on its potential? Good question. Once, it must be said, wine show judges tended to include a wine’s potential and its ageing ability in his or her deliberations and final score.

Today, we generally look at wines as the consumer might look at them. If the wine producer has released a wine and it is for sale, it is also available to be consumed. Therefore, it is to be scored as such. Wine judges can’t assume that the wine will be bought and cellared. Research on the consumption of wine after purchase (often within 48 hours!) doesn’t support that theory.

However, the complexity and seamless beauty of a relatively young wine is definitely a good sign for its medium and long-term future. This is a long-winded introduction to the two wonderful wines that are in this month’s Collector pack. Complexity and seamless beauty are part of both wines’ impressive DNA.

The first is a celebrated shiraz from a leading producer who calls the high contours of the Eden Valley home. It’s from the 2018 vintage, so expect to see what a high-quality shiraz with five years bottle age can produce. The long history of the vineyard and the producer speaks through this wine. It’s quite impressive.

The second wine is a little left-of-centre, a blended red that originated with a Yarra Valley winemaker who was often recognised as a genius in his lifetime. It’s a blend of not one or two but six Portuguese red grape varieties. It was originally called Port Sorts by its creator, which might not only give away the grape varieties but the maker.

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