NSW Wines Drinking Well Right Now
I do believe NSW wine is underrated. It’s easy to look overseas or interstate. While it can offer difficult conditions from time to time, there are plenty of excellent drops from NSW soil — if you know where to look!
Here are four wines I’ve opened recently and would happily drink any night of the week.
Manners Rosé of Sangiovese 2022 — Mudgee
Price: $25
Purchased from: the man himself. Also available on Manners’ website here, from Kelly’s wine store, and excellent restaurants around Australia.
If there’s a better rosé in Australia for under $30, I’m yet to find it. Sometimes the Provence rosé style (while fashionable and perfectly quaffable) can feel one dimensional, but James Manners has a way with Mudgee sangiovese. Here it’s bone dry and savoury, with some seductive spiced strawberry and cherry and a little musk to finish. There’s lovely acidity here but it’s also incredibly easy drinking — it’s one of those wines that’s serious but at the same time doesn’t take itself too seriously. On a warm afternoon, with friends and a spread of good food, you could just be in Provence. Prawns, leg ham, oysters, a slice of soft cheese on a baguette, your feet in the swimming pool…
Rikard White Label Pinot Noir 2021
Price: $45
Purchased from: Ferment Wine Store, Orange
One of my favourite pinot noirs. It seems to walk the line between being a whole-bunch Burgundian style while also displaying some more delicate and restrained fruit and spice. Sour cherry, raspberry, rhubarb, orange peel and cloves. Not too heavy; unfiltered and bloody delicious. I’m thinking chicken with barley and pine mushrooms, or a rabbit ragu with pan fried gnocchi and a herby pangrattato.
Logan Cabernet Merlot
Price: $40
Purchased from: Cellar Door, Mudgee. Also available at Kelly’s Wine Shop and at various locations around Oz.
While there’s always something exciting come from Bordeaux, and some excellent examples coming out of the Margaret River, it’s always a treat to find a decent bottle with local terroir. The Logan Cabernet Merlot proves that cool climate cabernet can be—and is often—delicious in the right hands. The 2018 vintage was only released late in 2022, meaning winemaker Peter Logan is a patient man; he likes to let the wine soften, mature and develop before release. It’s dark and savoury, with blackberries, redcurrants, some tobacco and violet and a touch of well integrated oak. I’m thinking lamb shanks smothered in anchovy paste, served on some pureed parsnips with some buttery, stir-fried autumn greens.
Gilbert ‘Blanc de Blanc’ 2016
Price: $66
Purchased from: Kelly’s Wine Store, Mudgee
Drinking this reminds me that you can find vintage bubbles in Australia—and NSW!— that are far more interesting than any bottle of your stock-standard NV Champagne.
Here’s also proof that Orange is one of Australia’s best climates for chardonnay. Tastes like there’s been oak in the second fermentation. On the palate: freshly cut pear and Granny Smith apple. There’s a nutty toastiness that ensnares perfectly with the fruit and acid. A really smart bottle of bubbly.
It’s quite rich and developed, so give me scallop mouselline, with grilled leeks and saffron; or any kind of shellfish grilled with butter.
