Coonawarra, SA Wine Deals

A Chardonnay baker's dozen here, probably the first one we've ever put together! Quality kit too, with a $75 RRP Adelaide Hills Chardy from Solaris, a gold medal winner from Curtis, creamy goodness from Smalltown and a lovely Coonawarra Chardy from Katnook. So far, $462 worth for $265.

The kicker? a 13th bottle from Jean Loron... taking the total value to $582. This is an excellent white Burgundy offering layers of flavour and complexity. JL have been cranking out wine since 1711 and this premium bottling offers stone fruits, creaminess, minerality and that special creamy-meets-cheesy continuum you get when high quality fruit spends time on yeast solids in barrel. Yum!

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Just cracking Riesling here... The Vickery a 3 x 95 point classic from John Vickery, the most awarded Riesling maker in Aussie history. The Leconfield old vines is a beauty made in miniscule quantities and the Jeanneret Sevenhill is a 96 point stunner - ethereal, citrus-laden and powerful. Finally, the Vickery Castine Hill is magnificent - it is Huon Hooke's equal highest rated Clare Riesling from the 2020 vintage, from 67 reviewed. He says, '...superbly fresh and aromatic nose of fresh-cut flowers, lemon juice and pith, honey and citrus blossoms, the palate super-fine and delicate in its structure but marvellously intense in flavour, the acidity perfectly balanced and the finish very long and seamless, with perfect line. The finish is very dry and has a whisper of tannin assisting the dryness. A delicious wine, and one that should continue to age superbly'. Learn More

We love Chardy here at WD, well, most of us do, the ones with good taste... and if you are like most of us, this might just be the pack for you. There's 4 bottles each of the Solaris Adelaide Hills Chardy, a textural lovely replete with ripe and pendulous stonefruits along with rockmelon, vanilla, crème brûlée and brioche. The Dowie Chard, from an elevated, low yielding and sandy soiled single vineyard in Blewitt Springs is also textural, creamy and packed with flavours. The Katnook shows restrained tropical notes, fresh herbs, grilled nuts and butter. Learn More

Tough judging this year, with only around 5% of wines picking up a gold, and we can confirm that the quality of this year’s dozen is absolute fire across the board.

Every wine in the pack this year is a gold winner. There are also a couple of trophy winners: the After Five Monte, and Forester’s Shiraz. The latter is 86% Shiraz and 14% Fer… yep, an ancient varietal of Basque origin, which these days is also planted in some southern French wine regions. There is also a bit of it planted over in WA. The variety offers cassis, red fruits, black fruits, superb intensity and a degree of smokiness. This might be the first time a trophy winner at the Adelaide Wine Show has contained Fer, which offers a nice opportunity for nerdy contemplation. More importantly, the wine is beautiful. Looking beyond the accolades garnered at the Adelaide Show, these wines have also accrued an additional 10 gold medals, a trophy, a runner up in Halliday’s annual Cabernet competition and more. These wines are uniformly exceptional.

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Here’s the Official Royal Adelaide Wine Show Red Dozen for 2024.

Tough judging this year, with only around 5% of wines picking up a gold, and we can confirm that the quality of this year’s dozen is absolute fire across the board.

Every wine in the pack this year is a gold winner. There are also a couple of trophy winners: the After Five Monte, and Forester’s Shiraz. The latter is 86% Shiraz and 14% Fer… yep, an ancient varietal of Basque origin, which these days is also planted in some southern French wine regions. There is also a bit of it planted over in WA. The variety offers cassis, red fruits, black fruits, superb intensity and a degree of smokiness. This might be the first time a trophy winner at the Adelaide Wine Show has contained Fer, which offers a nice opportunity for nerdy contemplation. More importantly, the wine is beautiful. Looking beyond the accolades garnered at the Adelaide Show, these wines have also accrued an additional 10 gold medals, a trophy, a runner up in Halliday’s annual Cabernet competition and more. These wines are uniformly exceptional.

Learn More