Fresh, youthful nose of green apples. A dry palate, pretty light on lees/yeast characters, but with plenty of malic influences. Light-bodied, with medium-sized bubbles and a medium–length finish with most of its presence on the front of the tongue. Decent but not terribly exciting.

{screwcap, 13%} A developing nose of petrol & kerosene, mixed with rubber and subdued lychee and lime aromas. The palate is dry, with slightly stale-tasting musk flavours and some apple and lychee. It’s a bit simple and monochromatic; light-medium bodied, and with a medium finish, but the acidity is very reticent, and this tastes older than 9 years to me. It might blossom into something multi-faceted with more cellaring, but if it did it would be a bit out of character for this label in my experience.

{screwcap, 13%} Bright nose of youthful apples and white flowers. As always, a bit less citric than your typical young Clare riesling. The palate has a touch of gentle spritz making it very lively, with apple and fruit-salad flavours. It’s fresh and very soft-textured; I suppose there acid is about medium level but it seems pretty discreet anyway. A light-bodied wine, it does finish dry, and medium-length, but I doubt there’s the structure here for serious aging. Best within 5 years.

{screwcap, 14%} The Marlborough savvy from central casting. Gooseberry/greenish aromas and flavours, although not unripe. Acid is under control; ie. it doesn’t screech at you; the palate is light-medium-bodied, and seems to finish pretty dry, although there could be just a dash of sugar here to fill out the palate. Good enough if you like the rather exaggerated Marlborough style.

{screwcap, 14%} Much more restrained than its older sibling, this still offers a pungent, somewhat sweaty asparagus-scented nose. There’s greater depth of flavour on the palate here; albeit still with a fair whack of gooseberry. Medium acid, medium body, and a medium-length finish too. No oak, as usual. Decent wine.

{screwcap, 12.5%} Modern nose, so, stone fruits and a little vanilla oak. Balanced and fairly restrained. Light-medium body, youthful still, and vaguely minerally. Mild grapefruit flavours. Dry palate, short-medium finish. OK wine.

{screwcap, 14%} Sweet cherry jam with a touch of game if you sniff it long enough. The light-medium-bodied palate is fairly plain, low in acid and tannin, with elemental pinot fruit flavours and a rather short finish. At around A$35, seems well overpriced for a fairly standard commercial offering.

{screwcap, 14%} Lovely developing nose of meat, game and smoke. This has the goods! The palate is earthy, with compost aspects to the gamey, red fruit flavours. You have to think hard before calling this new world. It’s about medium-bodied, and the medium-length finish covers the tongue quite evenly. Tidy wine for the price; probably best before it’s ten years old, as its quite advanced even now.

{screwcap, 13.5%} Bright, fruity cherry notes. Understated acid and pretty mild chalky tannins. Straightforward medium-intensity pinot, not too hard-edged, with a medium length dry finish. No great depth, though.

{cork, 14%} Murky. Volatile, fungal smelling nose. Hollow palate. Devoid not just of fruit (fair enough, it’s grand cru burgundy) but of any wine-related interest at all. Ghastly. Can’t be typical, surely?

{screwcap, 14.5%} Fairly fruity young cabernet. Currents, understated vanilla oak; medium tannins, juicy fruit flavours. Sweet fruit, sure, no residual sugar. Only quite soft tannins; not terribly cabernet-like, not terribly Coonawarra-ish; just a little bit Anonymous Red Wine. Needs less alcohol to start with. Pleasant enough, but lacking inspiration.

{screwcap} Youthful nose of after-dinner mints. Peppermint, spearmint. Basically, MINT! Similar palate, of a minty bent, with well-judged French oak. Dry, with low-medium acid, medium body and not a lot of tannin, this is a decent bistro wine promising a bit more (thanks to the name) than it delivers. Medium length finish, but there are better wines around for A$23. The first release of a ‘second label’ for Petaluma. Hmm. Not terribly convincing.

{vinolok, 14.5%, A$55} Youthful nose of bright red berries. Cherry, jam and blackberry flavours, bright and clean on the palate. Medium-bodied and medium length, but seems a bit simple overall in flavor. At this stage appears to lack the gravitas to justify the price, but the excessively jammy quality that marked early vintages of this cuvee is gone, so who knows, it might come good? Certainly ought develop a bit more dimension with time.

{screwcap, 14.5%, A$85} Beautiful nose, of youthful fine-grained cedary oak and rich spicy shiraz. There might be a touch of vanilla here too. There are dark-hued blackberry fruits on the palate, sweet and ripe. Medium powdery tannins are ultra-fine and feathery on the palate; there’s a firm acid spine. It’s medium-full bodied, but oh-so-drinkable even at five years old. Too young for much complexity to have evolved yet, but the impression made right along the tongue, and the length of the finish promise great things. Terrific wine with a great life ahead.

{375ml, screwcap, 10%} Mint leaves and coriander. Odd. Flavours of flower-petals. Weirdly ethereal wine. Off-dry I reckon, light-bodied, but with a dry, almost dusty finish. Medium acid; a wine that sits mostly on the front palate. Still youthful, but I don’t know about aging this. Most unusual.