We've got a one-two punch of flavourful weekend lineups for you all to dig into this week!
Sven Joschke, an Adelaide Hills boy by birth, made the move away from his corporate career back in 2018, and has brought us his colorful confectionary of whites and reds from his Tanunda vineyards in the Barossa ever since. Since he ditched the office and spreadsheets for the vines and barrels, he made the concious decision to stay away from heavy, high-extraction in his winemaking, and aim instead for contemporary, energetic styles of classic varietals that feel effortless to polish off while remaining kind to the wallet. These great pieces of value, pouring tomorrow (Friday 3rd, running 4:30 to 6:30pm) include one of the very best skin-contact whites coming out of the country in the textural L'Ambre (led with Pedro Ximenez and Semillon), his bright and sunny Fumé Blanc, juicy Sangiovese, a straight savoury Shiraz known as 'Das Klaus' alongside a Shiraz-led Grenache/Mataro blend called the 'Le Rupert', and finishing off with a rich dark treat in the VSVP Fortified Syrah!
And as only feels appropriate for this Saturday's tasting, falling on the 4th of July, we will be diving into a lengthy lineup consisting of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Chenin Blanc and Zinfandel from across California and Oregon! This will be one to remember, with beloved estates such as Ridge, Peay, Littorai, Joseph Phelps, Brewer-Clifton, Kistler and 00 Wines included, next to other new names to Australian shores like Sonoma Coast's Flowers, andBergstrom from Willamette Valley. All will remain on special online for the coming week, if you can't quite make it into the store come the weekend, and we've also activated a sitewide special for any other American wines listed on our website! Simply add any USA white or red to your cart, and anautomatic 10% will apply. We've compiled some great stuff in those shelves these past few months, so we hope you find one or two things worth giving a good home!
'Le Rupert' SGM Blend 2024 -
$22 on special this week ($25 RRP)
// Shiraz 50%, Grenache 29% and Mataro 21%
"After reworking our Shiraz block over a four year period, fruit finally was where we needed it. Gone with the 8m eutypa ridden cordons, in with the fresh wood and spur positions. All parcels handpicked according with desired ripeness, destemmed and wild fermented separately. 60% in neutral French oak with 16 months barrel maturation. Shiraz brings the fruit density and leather spice. Grenache affords vibrant raspberries while Mataro brings up the purple savour fruit rear." - Winemaker Notes
'La Eleanore' Sangiovese 2025 -
$27 on special this week ($30 RRP)
"Despite the early press, classic Sangio soft and dusty tannins still accompany this wine. Single vineyard 25 year old Sangiovese vines from Langhorne Creek, another cracker year from the Horn despite difficult growing conditions. Bag pressed to settling tank and racked post malo. Wine sent to neutral French hog heads and tank for 6 months and bottled unfined with minimal sulphur added on bottling. Cherry spice, dusty dry tannins... serve chilled if required..." - Winemaker Notes
'La Gabriella' Fumé Blanc 2024 -
$27 on special this week ($30 RRP)
"Sourced from Eden Valley, grown by yetti with webbed feet. Picked in the cool of night, pressed and settled for 24 hours. Juice carefully racked and sent to new and neutral French oak for barrel fermentation. Extended barrel maturation of 18 months, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Minimal sulphites on bottling. Golden honey, marmalade, kafai lime and rich oaky texture." - Winemaker Notes
L'Ambre Skin Contact Blend 2025 -
$28 on special this week ($32 RRP)
// Pedro Ximenez 52%, Semillon 37% and Muscat à Petits Blanc 11%
"Welcoming the addition of a new PX site in Krondorf to the SJ fold, fruit was picked and fermented on skins for 1 month. Aim was to build out a little more texture and weight to the line without impacting what Semillon and Muscat contribute to the nose and palette. Citrus and tea like characters with a touch of mango splice and paw paw. Honey dew to round out the experience." - Winemaker Notes
'Das Klaus' Shiraz 2023 -
$34 on special this week ($38 RRP)
"Sourced from my main man Tommy Schiller, 25 year old vines. 100% desteamed berries were fermented in stainless steel tank with minimum allowable pump overs and punch downs. Free run was racked at 3 baume straight to French oak barrels for barrel fermentation. Skins were pressed straight to tank and the racked off fine and malo lees post ferment. A lean, super approachable Barossa Syrah without the over extraction. Minimal sulphur added on bottling, no fining or filtration. Black olive tapenade spiced nose, black savory liquorice like fruit drive, tannins are subtle and round, nice earthy smokey like finish." - Winemaker Notes
VSVP Fortified Syrah 2023 -
$28 on special this week ($32 RRP)
"Taking a little inspiration from our Portuguese friends, here’s our Barossa Vintage Port. Early picked Syrah spread over three nally bins, foot stomped twice a day to extract maximum colour and tannin. Aged Brandy Spirit added at a mild baume of 3 arrested the ferment at 52gms residual. Must was immediately pressed to tank, settled and bottled shortly after with zero fining or filtration and no oak. The result, a complex balance between savoury and sweet savoury, liquorice spice, lavender and violets. As the Portuguese do, savour for your offspring’s 21st birthday and once opened, enjoy shortly after. It’s a delicate wine after all….not a tawny. If not, enjoy now with a wedge of stinky blue. As mentioned, in true Portuguese style, this is a wine made to age in bottle. However, to drink now a freshca style with a salty cheese or rich chocolate dessert is definitely the way forward..." - Winemaker Notes
Hobo Wine Co. 'Folk Machine' Chenin Blanc 2022 -
$45 on special this week ($52 RRP)
"Free run and light press juice were fermented with naturally occurring yeast in a combination of concrete eggs, stainless steel tanks, and a few neutral French oak barrels. The multiple lots were blended in January and bottled in February. The 2022 is our sixth vintage of Chenin from this site. Like 2021, the acid is higher, the wine is a bit more austere, bordering on being reductive (in a good way if you ask me), but still savory and refreshing for sure....always about texture. Still, assuredly, a California Chenin Blanc." -
Winemaker Notes
Brewer-Clifton Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay 2021 -
$75 on special this week ($85 RRP)
"Ripe orchard fruits, butted lemon, crushed stone, and salty, marine-influence notes all emerge from the 2021 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills, a concentrated, medium to full-bodied Chardonnay with a liquid rock-like sense of minerality, beautiful mid-palate density, and a great finish. You should never underestimate these appellation releases from Greg Brewer. This is an insane value in top Chardonnay from California." - 96 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
Bergstrom Cumberland Reserve Pinot Noir 2023 -
$95 on special this week ($109 RRP)
"Named for the road where our family grew up in Portland, Oregon, our Cumberland Reserve represents a blend of some of the finest barrels from our five estate-farmed vineyards, all carefully combined to showcase Oregon Pinot Noir at its best. Our Cumberland Reserve is the epitome of the Bergström style-the expression of a unique vintage’s character combined with the perfect marriage of spice, mineral, and fresh fruit flavors." - Winemaker Notes
"The 2023 Pinot Noir Cumberland Reserve opens with aromas of raspberry liqueur, mocha, floral perfume, and savory notes of fresh sage. Medium-bodied, it offers ripe, detailed tannins, balanced acidity, and a long finish. While this vintage hints at opulence, the wine remains beautifully balanced and refreshing. It’s a stunning introduction to the vintage and a benchmark for the region as an appellation wine." - 94 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
Peay West Sonoma Coast 'Cep' Pinot Noir 2023 -
$99 on special this week ($115 RRP)
"The ideal expression of Pinot Noir to us is a wine that has body without heaviness and is full of flavor but graceful and elegant. The 2023 Cep Pinot Noir captures this essence and is just gorgeous. The aroma features bright fruits of raspberry, pomegranate, and cranberry with floral elements blowing through and a slightly brambly, anise quality giving ballast in the face of the high tones. It is full-flavored yet not rich, a quality I find very attractive and unique, especially at this price point. The acidity is mouth-watering though not aggressive. The tell-tale Peay Pinot Noir aromas of dried pine needle, jasmine tea, and earth linger in the aftertaste. This wine offers charm, complexity, and value." - Winemaker Notes
Ridge Estate 'Three Valleys' Zinfandel Blend 2023 -
$119 on special this week ($135 RRP)
// 71% Zinfandel, 16% Carignane, 9% Petite Sirah, 2% Mataro, 2% Alicante Bouschet
"Ruby red color, blackberry and raspberry on the nose. Medium bodied with smooth tannins, plum fruit and a note of vanilla on the finish. Matured for 12 months in 100% air-dried American oak barrels (19% new, 8% one year old, 50% four years old, and 23% five-plus years old). Hand-harvested grapes, destemmed and crushed; fermented on the native yeasts followed by a full malolactic on the natural-occurring bacteria; 1% water addition; tartaric acid; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush, 86 ppm over the course of aging); membrane sterile filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions." - Winemaker Notes
"The 2023 Three Valleys is a serious edition of this bottling from Ridge. Firm and structured, it delivers brambly blue fruit, graphite, vanilla, licorice and tons of spice, all wrapped up in a voluptuous, curvy frame. The Ridge house style is on full display. Best of all, the 2023 punches way above its modest price point. Though this is the ultimate by-the-glass pour or house red, it's complex enough to stand with the big boys in this portfolio." - 93 Points, Billy Norris, Vinous
Flowers Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2024 -
$130 on special this week ($149 RRP)
"Flowers’ organically farmed estate vineyards rise from 1,200 to 1,875 feet above sea level, set above the fog line and surrounded by dense evergreen forests. Here, cold ocean winds, intense high-elevation sunlight, and shallow rocky soils shape Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with structure, energy, and age-worthiness – with a site-driven signature that transcends category style." - Winemaker Notes
"Zesty lemon, lime, and green herb aromas mingle with citrus blossoms and cinnamon on the nose of this Chardonnay. The palate delivers a surge of vibrant acidity and pithy texture, with flavors of green apple, Meyer lemon, toasted hazelnut, and chopped lemon balm echoing for over a minute." - 95 Points, Tom R. Capo, WineEnthusiast.com
Littorai 'Les Larmes' Pinot Noir 2024 -
$185 on special this week ($210 RRP)
"The sources for our Les Larmes Anderson Valley regional blend are all exceptional sites worthy of vineyard designation in their own right. 23% of the final blend comes from declassified vineyard designate lots: Savoy, One Acre, Roman and Wendling Vineyards. 32% is press wine from these same sources. 20% is from a separate block at Wendling which is dedicated to this bottling and 25% comes from our Deer Meadows estate vineyard in the hills above Boonville where the One Acre parcel lies. This is the more earthy of our two regional bottlings, with notes of blackberry, citrus, pastry dough, red licorice, red apple, and yes…decaying leaves and wet earth. This is a lovely contrast to the Sonoma Coast bottling, with a slightly more structured palate and brighter acidity that integrates seamlessly over a long, lingering finish." - Winemaker Notes
Joseph Phelps Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 -
$190 on special this week ($215 RRP)
// 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot and 1% Malbec
"Ripe and concentrated on the nose, smells full. Gorgeous texture and overall impression in the mouth. I love the sticky liquorice aspect to the black cherries, blackcurrants and plum fruit, it's not spicy so much as in piquant but the hints of cinnamon and tobacco leaf give that added complexity and edge to the concentrated fruit. It's a bold style, but I like the sweetness and the acidity keeping it lifted. It's a joyful expression, easy to drink. Rich and round but not heavy, there really is nothing not to like here. Amazing for the price!" -94 Points, Georgina Hindle, Decanter
"The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) is absolutely gorgeous. Succulent red cherry, red plum, mocha, spice and leather are front and center. Soft contours and silky plush tannins give the 2019 its tremendous immediacy and overall appeal. The 2019 is a superb wine in its peer group." - 93 Points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Kistler Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2022 -
$205 on special this week ($230 RRP)
"The Russian River Pinot Noir is a single vineyard source on the Sonoma Coast. Just like all Kistler Pinots, it is fermented in small open top fermenters and the free run juice is barrel aged and remains in barrel for fourteen to eighteen months until bottling. This wine comes from a cooler Russian River site and offers a complex bouquet of red currants, smoked earth, ground pepper, and exotic floral and rosehip notes. Rich, medium-bodied, and seamless on the palate, it’s incredibly classy as well as perfectly balanced." - Vintage Imports Wines
00 Wines 'VGW' Chardonnay 2022 -
$240 on special this week ($275 RRP)
"The 2022 VGW Chardonnay is the “Very Good White” expression from 00 Wines, sourced from four Willamette Valley vineyards: Seven Springs, Chehalem Mountain, Shea, and Hyland. The vineyards sit at roughly 120–150 meters elevation, with predominantly east-facing slopes and a mix of volcanic and sedimentary soils. In the glass, the wine shows the layered signature of 00 Wines Chardonnay: preserved lemon, ripe apple, yellow pear, almond, beeswax, flint, pastry, and crushed stone. The palate is focused and mineral, with a creamy yet electric texture and impressive length. Critics repeatedly note its acidity, concentration, and long mineral-driven finish." - Winemaker Notes
"An intensely flinty, zesty, smoky and fragrant white. On the palate it’s salty, immensely concentrated and fresh, with heaps of crushed stone, flint and citrus rind flavors. Medium-bodied and electric, while packing a punch. Textured and creamy, too. A large proportion of the grapes comes from the Eola Amity Hills."- 96 Points, James Suckling
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 Thursday the 9th of July