a busy few days ahead in the shop, with an awesome name locked in for a tasting Thursday afternoon, as well as our regular Friday and Saturday slots!
Join us Thursday (19th) between 4 and 6pm, as we shine a light on the wonderful work being done at Praeter, by head winemaker Matt Large(formerly at Shaw + Smith and Tolpuddle), who is in town to pour and tell you all about each of his unique takes on Nebbiolo, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir! These expressions, a mix from Victoria's Pyrenees region and Adelaide Hills, show off distinct cool-climate winemaking at its apex; we'll let Matt expand on how he imbues the sense of drive, concentration and elegance across the range, but these have comfortably entered the top tier of the Australian conversation for us in each respective varietal!
Then come Friday (20th) afternoon, we're bringing together the wines of Rouleur (Yarra Valley) and Lino Ramble (McLaren Vale) for a combined tasting between 4:30 and 7pm! Both of those names represent not only vibrant youthful drinking, but notable value - the skinsy qualities of the Lino Ramble's (with Italian-inspired Grillo, Fiano and Nero d'Avola) will transition nicely into the ripe perfumes and soft tannin profiles of Rouleur's Pinot Meunier & Noir, as well as a single citrus-driven single vineyard Chardonnay (having seen age in Burgundian puncheons!)
Finally, our regular Saturday (21st) 12 to 2pm slot will be taken up by the latest and greatest from Jim Barry! A beloved Clare Valley name for what has now been several generations of their family, the Barry gang (now led by brothers Tom and Sam) always imbue fine texture and minerality in their whites (shown in this lineup by the Lodge Hill and Florita Rieslings, and fan-favourite Assyrtiko), and a seductive sense of breadth and power in their reds (represented in their Watervale Shiraz, Cabernet Malbec blend, a 2013 cellar release of 'Benbournie' Cabernet, and two premium shiraz options in the Spring Farm Block 73 and the irresistible 'Armagh'). These are always one of the calendar's most warmly-received labels, and we can't wait to show you how they're all looking this year.
'Stolen Moments' Rosato 2024 -
$32 on special this week ($36 RRP)
"100% Nebbiolo from the east-facing Kersbook vineyard. It boasts a magnificent watermelon hue, the intensity not by chance. The grapes underwent an 18-hour soak to yield this level of extraction. It smells of Royal Gala apples and grilled yellow peaches. Some fleshy apricot, rose and dried herbs, thyme and bay. Magnificent texture here, the result of a providential decision made by winemaker Matt Large to leave the juice on lees in barrel for 12 months. It grips and steers, lending a spine of spice through the breadth of its billowy fruit. Serious rosato – outside the scope of assumption." - 93 Points, Katrina Butler, Halliday Wine Companion
Spring White Blend 2025 -
$34 on special this week ($38 RRP)
// Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay and Savagnin from Southern Fleurieu on an E-NE slope of sandy loam and quartz over limestone.
"A fragrant and mineral-driven field blend of pinot blanc, chardonnay and savagnin from the Magpie Block in Southern Fleurieu. It's, for the most part, an even split of the varieties, which are all fermented separately. The chardonnay portion is fermented in amphorae, adding texture to its profile and a porous grip that generates light and shade with the oak and lees-aged pinot blanc and savagnin characters. This is stellar drinking. Orchard florals, white stone fruits, pear, broken quartz, fragmented and splintered within an ecosystem of lemon, from pith to curd. It's considered and thoughtful. An optimal spring white." - 95 points, Katrina Butler, Halliday Wine Companion
'Eternal Rhythm' Nebbiolo 2024 -
$39 on special this week ($44 RRP)
"As with the Rosato, this is from the Kersbrook vineyard. It has an unrelenting concentration of flavour, a juxtaposition to its very pretty and varietally true pale red hue. Sour cherry, dried rose, an edge of Campari, dappled with dried herbs, roasted fennel and Dutch licorice. The tannins are controlled yet earthen and feathery. Drinkability as a descriptor has perhaps lost its sway, but if there were ever a wine to mirror the sentiment, it's this one. Ease is a risk to my self control. Buy half a case and pour liberally." - 94 Points, Katrina Butler, Halliday Wine Companion
'Magpie Block' Chardonnay 2025 -
$40 on special this week ($46 RRP)
"Stylish chardonnay. Measured and elegant. Flavours of grilled peach, vanilla bean, mineral, slate and tonic water merge with a particularly umami-like expression of cedar. This is one of those chardonnays where you keep noticing something new or different as you work your way through a couple of glasses. It’s juicy but it has tension and it finishes with excellent persistence. It will improve over the next year or two as well. Excellent." - 94 Points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
'Truscott Block' Pinot Noir 2025 -
$44 on special this week ($50 RRP)
"The Truscott Block is at 500m asl in the Piccadilly sub-region of the Adelaide Hills. Average vine age is 30+ years. 15% whole bunches. Strawberries, fresh and poached, spiced and pure. This is as delicious a Pinot Noir as you could ever hope to encounter. It’s fine through the finish, well formed throughout, exuberant for the most part but neat and well structured too. There’s an earthen, beetroot-like aspect to this wine too; another bonus. This is a class act from start to finish." - 94 Points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
'Blue Note' Chinato 2021 -
$48 on special this week ($54 RRP)
"Piedmont in northern Italy is one of the planet's most blessed places. In addition to having one of the world's greatest wines, Barolo, and some of the finest food, they've also devides the answer to overindulgence in both. Matt Large discovered the magical digestive properties of Chinato while working vintage in Barolo. In this homage to the style he follows tradition by fortifying and aromatising nevviolo from Victoria's Pyrenees, and adds a little shiraz for and Australian twist. It's heady, grunty, complex and compelling. It's damn delicious." - 96 Points, Nick Ryan, The Australian
Lino Ramble 'Solitaire' Grillo 2024 -
$25 on special this week ($28 RRP)
"The sixth release of the Sicilian grape for Lino Ramble, with free run and pressings wild fermented in old French oak, where the wine stayed for 10 months. A pale gold in the glass, this is textural and flavourful, yet still with light-weighted verve the theme. Preserved lemon, cypress, quince, floral nectar, iced honey and chamomile tea, poached apple, sun-warmed rock and sea spray. There are no acid adjustments at this address, which the harmony on the palate attests to. Characterful and really delicious." - 93 Points, Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
Lino Ramble 'Ludo' Fiano 2023 -
$28 on special this week ($32 RRP)
"Such a distinctive wine, spicy and herbal, in a dried hardy herb way, not green. Pine resin, candied lime peel, mint gelee, pineapple sage, green grape, white pepper and some sappy florals. It’s got a bit of a bianco vermouth vibe – I mean that in a good way. Textural, lightly pithy, slippery, a little viscous, the finish clean but gentle." - 93 Points, Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
Lino Ramble 'Pee Wee' Nero d'Avola 2024 -
$28 on special this week ($32 RRP)
"A swift repose on skins sees this race well out of the rosé zone while braking before full red territory. It’s a novello style, as the label states, and a most agreeably mid take on the grape, skirting confection while delivering shimmeringly bright notes of wild raspberry, cherry and pomegranate, hedged with some briar patch herbs and a little white pepper. Chill or don’t – a discreetly effective line of tannin will accommodate either." - 91 Points, Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
Rouleur 'Strawberry Fields' Pinot Meunier 2024 -
$30 on special this week ($35 RRP)
"Sourced from the Burder vineyard at 841m on the Whitlands High Plateau. 10% whole bunches and left on skins for 10 days. A pale garnet. Comes into its own on the bouquet, which is fragrant with aromas of gently poached strawberries, mountain herbs and a little sous bois. I like how this fills out on the light- to medium-bodied palate, finishing with bright acidity and a touch of grip. Serve this lightly chilled on a warm day. Or any day for that matter!" - 93 Points, Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion
Rouleur Pinot Noir 2024 -
$30 on special this week ($35 RRP)
"Red cherry, strawberry, cinnamon, subtle earthiness. It’s bright, red fruited, has some cranberry crunch and a lick of emery board tannin, with a spicy lightly perfumed finish of good length, a slight orange peel bite and a firmish dusty grip to close. Nice wine. Very enjoyable." - 92 Points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Rouleur Issy's Chardonnay 2024 -
$45 on special this week ($52 RRP)
"Single vineyard and clone (95) from a vineyard perched on the Whitlands High Plateau at nearly 900m. We love this site for it’s contrast in style to our more ‘classic’ Yarra Valley Chardonnay we make that has a more robust character, synonymous with sites at lower elevations than this. Issy ‘24 is citrus driven, with a lovely even spread of mineral acidity, tight grapefruit and lime skin, fennel seed and melon over complex sulfide and fine, integrated mealy oak. We hold back our new barrels for the Rouleur Yarra wines, whilst Whitlands tends to love the subtlety and finesse of fine 1 and 2YO Burgundian puncheons" - Winemaker Notes
Rouleur Arlo's Pinot Noir 2024 -
$45 on special this week ($52 RRP)
"Handpicked fruit from our most elevated and latest ripening Yarra Valley vineyard, situated near the township of Macclesfield on the edge of the Yarra Valley GI. Pale ruby in colour, Arlo’s wine is an elegant expression of Upper Yarra Valley Pinot Noir. Displaying lovely aromas of wild raspberry, an array of herbal whole bunch spices backed by hints of malt and clove like new oak (20%). The palate starts with gentle, soft fruits before sappy whole bunch cherry cola and ferrous, mineral like tannins flow to finish." - Winemaker Notes
Lodge Hill Riesling 2025 -
$24 on special this week ($27 RRP)
"This is straightforward and direct but it still manages to assert its quality pretty clearly. Amazing that you can get a wine like this, routinely, for under $30. It tastes of fresh lemon and lime with talc, preserved lemon and tonic characters as part of its shtick. It feels both piercing and gentle; which is something. No hesitation on this. It’s very good." - 94 Points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
Single Vineyard Watervale Shiraz 2022 -
$30 on special this week ($34 RRP)
"This doesn't miss the trick of richness, providing a hearty, lusty red for those seeking heartland shiraz from Clare Valley. Bold strikes of choc-cherry, raspberry, dark chocolate with requisite sweet spices, choc-mint and faint game-meat characters. It's one speed, but delivers a generosity that should please a legion of flavour-packed red wine fans." - Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion
'The Farm' Cabernet Malbec 2021 -
$30 on special this week ($34 RRP)
"Blueberry, mulberry, a dried rose perfume, a little gum leaf and lovely cedar/pencil oak. It’s medium-bodied, tannin is firm and well-etched, blackcurrant and tobacco, and a tight finish of excellent length. Excellent. All just so." - 94 Points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
"A vibrant expression, lush and bright with supple texture and a general sense of high drinkability. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel or put glitter all over it, instead, we get a compact, refined, pure-feeling cabernet of great balance, vibrant fruit, integrated winemaking overlay and a general sense of ease. It's all blue fruits, sweet spice, a bit of green herb and some gentle woody seasoning. Mellow, easy and pleasing." - 92 points, Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion
Assyrtiko 2025 -
$32 on special this week ($36 RRP)
"A shag on a rock for a variety and producer in Australia, but jeez, the incremental excellence year-on-year suggests no resting on laurels. It's a brilliant, textural white wine here, flamboyant with jasmine florals, lime, sea spray, faint cashew nut savouriness, pink grapefruit, a thread of aniseed and dashes of salt bush. Gently chalky texture, good extension of flavour, refreshing, too. Very good." - 94 Points, Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion
"Light, bright yellow; dry straw and dried herbs on the nose, the palate light and fruity with a faint trace of sweetness with the stone-fruits and lemons of the palate flavour, all lifted and energised by zesty acidity. Delicious lemon-sherbet taste that lingers throughout the clean, dry finish. Very stylish wine." - 92 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
'The Florita' Riesling 2025 -
$58 on special this week ($65 RRP)
"Electric Riesling. This has it all. Vim and vigour driven by tart citrus fruit characters, a glacial, saline core, crunchy green apple, touches of slate and river pebble, and a general sense of being brittle, crisp and laced with distinct minerality. So refreshing and energetic in its dart-shaped, slim-line frame. Pristine as all get out, too. In its vogue, this is stupendous." - 95 Points, Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion
'The Benbournie' Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Cellar Release -
$105 on special this week ($120 RRP)
"Here’s a seductive and rich chocolaty wine layered with peppermint and baking spices, and ripe black fruit. Tannin is fat and well massaged, the acidity nicely bedded down, and the finish is long, deep and seasoned with sage and spice, and perhaps some tobacco and more savoury stuff. It’s very good." - 94 Points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
"Deep, dark red colour with few purple reflections, the bouquet rather oaky - chocolate accented - while the palate is rich and fleshy, intense and firm. It's a big wine but surprisingly elegant, with balance and attractive flavours, finishing with serious Clare Valley tannins. Very smart wine." - 93 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Spring Farm Block 73 Shiraz 2021 -
$175 on special this week ($200 RRP)
"Lighter and more lively than a lot of Clare Shiraz, this single-block wine has a bright herbal nose to complement its bright purple fruit. Grown at an altitude of 495m on a south-westerly aspect, these vines enjoy cooler temperatures that promote longer ripening and a more restrained flavour profile. The resulting wine has an energy and vitality that speaks of a smart new style of superior Australian Shiraz, characterised by a lean, feisty personality. Its vibrant fruit is sprightly, carrying an easy, unforced savouriness in the belly of the mid-palate. Soft, supple tannins have not been exaggerated by too much new oak. Its long flavours and tight construction suggest great cellaring potential." - 96 Points, David Sly, Decanter
"Another stealth bomb from the Barry brothers, one that definitely gets under your skin ever so quietly, but superbly, irresistibly well. Works against the trad model for Clare Shiraz, choosing a route that takes you down a path dressed in blue fruits, plum, black cherry, sage, aniseed, all firmly positioned and precise. Some light savoury meat influences are flagged, chalky, fine tannins are in motion, spices are on alert, flavours are poised and fine and the overall effect is complex and super elegant. Will keep on keeping on." - 96 Points, Wine Pilot
'The Armagh' Shiraz 2022 -
$450 on special this week ($500 RRP)
"Very minty on the nose, spearmint and salty strawberries with pencil shavings and lots of dried flowers. A gorgeous aromatic profile that draws you in. Wow, instantly captivating, you can't help but smile as soon as you taste this. Succulent strawberries and crunchy cranberries join quite spiced liquorice edges giving a push-pull of flavour. Light on its feet but still deep and captivating. This is dangerously drinkable with such charm on offer. Bright and energetic yet layered and long. Bottled happiness! I love this wine and this is another great vintage by the Barry boys - Tom Barry and Ben Marx winemakers. A wine that lingers long in the memory. 3.4pH." - 99 Points, Georgina Hindle, Decanter
"Here, the 2022 The Armagh Shiraz is a product of the cooler, wetter vintage in 2022 than was experienced in the great 2021 before it. The wine is detailed and fresh, with rose petals and earth, hung deli meat and ironstone, star anise, clove and dark chocolate. The wine retains the DNA of those early wines in its expression of brown/purple fruit, warm baking spices and roasted meat, yet the lift and vibrancy of the new-guard thinking is subtly overlaid. This is a tremendous release, perhaps slightly lighter than the deep 2021 and with greater edge and complexity. It is excellent. The lessons learned in the cool and wet 2017 vintage were aptly applied in 2022 via shoot thinning and green harvesting. The fermentation and oak vessels were similarly adapted this year to suit the season." - 97 Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
If you wish to purchase any of these wines, please use the links above
Otherwise, if you have any questions, please contact us on (07)32521117 or email sales@thewineemporium.com.au
// Special prices valid until Wednesday the 25th of February