Featured White Wine for April – 2021 Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling
Riesling, the temperamental white grape, grows in cool climate wine-producing regions of the world. Its wine is both floral and fruity, with high acidity and a sweetness range that spans from bone-dry to lusciously sweet. Versatile, it can produce styles that range from light and crisp to rich and complex. Wine lovers revere Riesling for […]
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Featured Red Wine for April – 2016 Terrazze Dell’Etna `Carusu` Etna Rosso
Mount Etna wines are the product of a harsh but beautiful land. They are made from grapes grown on the slopes of Europe’s largest active volcano. The terrain is rough, but the wine it produces is refined and complex. The local red grape, Nerello Mascalese, is a light-bodied red wine with a taste profile that’s […]
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Featured White Wine for February – 2020 Gabriëlskloof Elodie Chenin Blanc
The west coast district of Swartland, 25 miles north of Cape Town, now ranks as the South Africa’s most exciting wine district. It is hot and dry here and its ancient geology has brought a mix of shale, sandstone and granite soils that are air-conditioned by the Atlantic Ocean nearby. Chenin Blanc and Shiraz grapes […]
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Featured Red Wine for February – 2014 Balnaves Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot
The Coonawarra Terra Rossa strip is a very odd patch of ground 250 miles south of Adelaide. It is a rectangle, 9 miles long and 1 mile wide of completely level, distinctively red soil, that was found in the 1960s to provide perfect conditions to grow Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Coonawarra’s soil was not the only […]
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Featured White Wine for January – 2020 Livio Felluga Friulano
The vineyards of the Livio Felluga estate straddle the famous Colli Orientali and Collio wine regions in Friuli situated in the Julian Alps, in northwest Italy, on the border with Slovenia. The estate takes its name from its founder, Livio Felluga who moved to Friuli in the late 1930s. Returning to Italy was not easy […]
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Featured Red Wine for January – 2017 Massolino Langhe Nebbiolo
Nebbiolo is the grape behind the great Barolo and Barbaresco wines of Piemonte in northern Italy. Langhe Nebbiolo is effectively the ‘second wine’ of Piemonte’s great Barolo and Barbarescos made in an early-drinking style. It typically offers great value. The Nebbiolo grape is an exceptionally finicky variety to grow and, like Pinot Noir, it takes […]
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Featured White Wine for November – 2018 Curly Flat Chardonnay
The Macedon Ranges in Victoria, Australia is known for quite a few things – its expansive native forests, vibrant arts scene, thriving food industries and natural attractions such as Hanging Rock and Mount Macedon. It is also the coolest viticultural area in mainland Australia. This unique site owes much to the combination of altitude (540 […]
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Featured Red Wine for November – 2018 Vigneti del Vulture `Piano del Cerro` Aglianico del Vulture
Located on volcanic soils, Aglianico del Vulture is considered the best quality wine region in Basilicata, in Southern Italy. The signature grape is Aglianico, a variety that exudes class. It makes firm red wines with great fruit and structure. In the past young Aglianico wines were often fiercely tannic and harsh – fortunately improved techniques […]
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Featured Red Wine for October – 2018 Franz Haas Pinot Nero
The Winecroft featured red wine for October is the 2018 Franz Haas Pinot Nero. It is a gorgeous light red from the mountainous Alto Adige region of northern Italy that simply must be tried. It is produced by Franz Haas who is emerging as one of the region’s greatest winemakers. It has the most delicate […]
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Featured White Wine for October – 2018 Terrazze Dell’Etna `Ciuri Etna` Bianco
Mount Etna is Europe’s largest active volcano. At an elevation of 3328m, it is also one of Italy’s tallest mountains. It is at the center of the Etna DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata), a wine appellation that arcs around the north, east and south slopes of the mountain. The wine producing region reaches 1200m and includes […]
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Featured Red Wine for September – 2020 Chatzivaritis Estate ‘Mus’ Xinomavro
It all started with love… when Vagelis Chatzivaritis met his soon-to-be wife Olga Iakovidou in 1981. She was from Goumenissa, a small traditional town in Central Macedonia, Greece, a place with a long tradition in winemaking. Being a wine lover himself, and a man who also appreciated fine food and the simple pleasures of life, […]
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Featured White Wine for September – 2021 La Giustiniana `Lugarara` Gavi di Gavi
While the Piemonte region in northeastern Italy tends to get the most attention for its fantastic red wines, it also produces gorgeous white wines. One of these is Gavi wine, which was one of the first Italian white wines to gain an international reputation. Gavi white wines are made exclusively from the Cortese grape and […]
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Featured Red Wine for August – 2014 Balnaves Coonawarra Carbernet/Merlot
The Coonawarra Terra Rossa strip is a very odd patch of ground 250 miles south of Adelaide. It is a rectangle, 9 miles long and 1 mile wide of completely level, distinctively red soil, that was found in the 1960s to provide perfect conditions to grow Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Coonawarra’s soil was not the only […]
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Featured White Wine for August – 2020 Smith + Shaw Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc
The Winecroft featured white wine for August is the 2020 Smith + Shaw Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc. This wine has become known as a benchmark for Australian Sauvignon Blanc. It is made exclusively from fruit grown in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, one of Australia’s coolest and most exciting regions. Made by Martin Shaw and […]
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Featured Red Wine for July – 2019 G.D. Vajra Langhe Nebbiolo
May 1968 – the outbreak of student protests in Europe. Aldo Vajra is 15 years old and joins the group of young protesters who flooded the streets of Turin. Perhaps the story would have taken another turn, if Aldo was not discovered by his father and immediately send to Barolo to spend the summer on […]
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Featured White Wine for July – 2020 Villa Bucci Verdicchio Classico Superiore
The Bucci family has been growing grapes in the Marche region of Central Italy, bordering the Adriatic sea, since the 1700s. The current custodian is Ampelio Bucci who has 26 hectares of organically cultivated vineyards focused on the local Verdicchio grape. Verdicchio has been grown in the region for 600 years. The old vines and […]
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Featured Red Wine for June – 2018 John Duval `Entity` Barossa Valley Shiraz
John Duval is one of the world’s best-known winemakers. He is most famous for the 29 years he spent at Penfolds, where from 1986–2002 he was Penfolds’ chief winemaker and the custodian of its great wine, Grange. In 2003 he started his own label, John Duval Wines, and now makes a small number of handcrafted wines […]
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Featured White Wine for June – 2019 Castell d’Encus Costers del Segre ‘Ekam’
Raul Bobet is one of the greatest winemakers in Spain. He established Castell D’Encus in 2001 to escape from the dramatic effects of global warming. The estate sits at 1000 meters above sea level, in the northern part of DO Costers del Segre, in the Pallars Jussà, an isolated, cool, and quiet place in Catalonia, […]
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Featured White Wine for May – 2018 Bouchard Finlayson Missionvale Chardonnay
Bouchard Finlayson is a world-class a family-owned estate situated in Walker Bay very near the most southerly tip of Africa. The estate is a groundbreaking partnership between acclaimed Burgundian winemaker Paul Bouchard and trailblazing local winemaker Peter Finlayson. The Hemel-en-Aarde valley is a remarkable location to grow vines, with a terroir influenced by the ancient […]
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Featured Red Wine for May – 2019 Tamar Ridge Pinot Noir
The island state of Tasmania, south of Victoria is home to the Tasmanian Devil but it is also Australia’s coolest wine region. Vineyards here benefit from many hours of summer sunlight, but average temperatures tend to be much lower than mainland Australia. In the era of climate change, this makes Tasmanian wine very cool indeed […]
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Featured White White for April – 2019 Ca’ Dei Frati Brolettino
For years, wine from the Lugana region was a secret shared among the thousands of tourists who flock annually to the delightful villages that surround Lake Garda, in northern Italy. But thanks to a continuous rise in quality, Lugana’s fame has finally spread beyond the region. Elegant, structured and delicious white wines made from Turbiana, […]
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Featured Red Wine for April – 2015 The Story Grampians Shiraz
Rory Lane started making wine with no family background in the industry, and a questionably vocational degree in ancient Greek tragedy, comparative literature and politics. “We named our winery The Story over a few drinks with friends back in 2003. I explained that we seemed to lack all the usual ingredients to a grand winery […]
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Featured Red Wine for March – 2018 Poggio al Tesoro ‘Il Seggio’ Bolgheri
Bolgheri is in the coastal Maremma region of Tuscany in northern Italy. The area first rose to prominence during the 1970s with the emergence of the Super Tuscan wines like Ornellaia and Sassicaia, non-traditional Bordeaux style blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The actions of the Super Tuscans inspired a generation in Italy. […]
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Featured White Wine for March – 2020 Franz Haas Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio can be insipid and uninspiring, but in the right hands, it can be a revelation. Unfortunately, there is a huge amount of indifferent, weak and watery Pinot Grigio around, made from grapes grown in the hot valley floors of the Italian Veneto region. However, Pinot Grigio – the good stuff, is completely different […]
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Featured Red Wine for February – 2018 Kevin White Blue Label
A delicious addition to the Winecroft Club List, the Kevin White Blue Label is a Southern Rhone-style red from Washington State in the North West United States. Kevin White lives in Seattle and works for Microsoft. So how come he produces such delicious Rhone-style red wines? It all started in 2006, when Kevin became a […]
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Featured White Wine for February – 2017 Cullen Mangan Vineyard Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon
A perfect winter white. The classic white grape blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon is synonymous with the Bordeaux region of France. The grapes work so well together because Sémillon brings body and rounds out Sauvignon Blanc’s tart acidity and herbal notes. The featured white wine for Winecroft members for February is not from Bordeaux […]
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Featured Red Wine for July – 2018 G.D.Vajra Barbera d’Alba
At your next BBQ when it is time to switch to red, the tangy, cherry-like Barbera from Piemonte in north-western Italy always hit the spot. The 2018 G.D. Vajra Barbera d’Alba from the Winecroft club list is a high quality example from a world famous producer. It is concentrated, smooth, rich, and fruity, all black […]
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Featured White Wine for July – 2020 Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling
A glass of dry Riesling is perfect to quench your thirst now our summer evenings are longer and warmer. For many of us though, the first thing that comes to mind when we think of Riesling is sweetness – and yes there are many rich sweet styles out there, however, a top-notch dry Riesling is […]
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Featured Red Wine for December – 2015 Bodegas Jimenez-Landi Piélago
Grenache is a red-wine grape grown extensively in France, Spain, Australia and the United States. It is most commonly found alongside Syrah and Mourvedre in the classic Cotes du Rhone blends and is dubbed ‘the Pinot Noir of the south’. It is low in tannins but high in alcohol – often reaching above 14% abv. […]
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Featured Red Wine for November – 2016 Carmignano Villa di Capezzana
If you hear Chianti, you probably think of, well, Chianti, the area of Tuscany between Florence and Siena where the famous wine is produced. You may think of the classic bottle in a straw basket, known as a fiasco, made famous by old school Italian restaurants back in the day or of Anthony Hopkins in Silence […]
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Featured Red Wine for September – 2015 John Duval `Entity` Barossa Valley Shiraz
There is no wine variety more synonymous with Australia than Shiraz. It’s the nation’s greatest wine export and the most widely planted grape. Aussie Shiraz has, however, taken a fashion bashing from wine writers over recent years. The heavy, oaky, alcoholic blockbuster style so popular ten years or so ago has fallen out of favour. […]
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Featured White Wine for September – 2017 Pieropan Calvarino Soave Classico
Does anyone remember drinking Soave in the 1980s? Everyone did – it was the Pinot Grigio of the day. It was mostly awful. The Winecroft featured white wine for September is also a Soave but a world away from the Soave drunk in 1980s winebars. For over a century, the Pieropan family has revolutionized winemaking […]
Read more Featured Red Wine for August – 2018 G.D. Vajra Barbera d’Alba
At your summer BBQ when your friends ask to switch to red, you need the wine to make an impact and for them to nod appreciatively with perhaps even a “Really good!”, “Nice!”, “That’s lovely!”. The tangy, cherry-like Barbera wines from Piemonte in north-western Italy always hit the spot on these occasions. The 2018 G.D. […]
Read more Featured White Wine for August – 2019 Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling
A glass of dry Riesling is perfect to quench your thirst during these warm summer evenings. For many of us though, the first thing that comes to mind when we think of Riesling is sweetness – and yes there are many rich sweet styles out there. However, a top-notch dry Riesling is very different and […]
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Bobal – Spain’s hidden gem of a grape
Ever heard of Bobal? Probably not. Until a few years ago, very few of the most ardent Spanish wine lovers would have done so. Planted only in one small corner of Spain, it barely rated a mention in most wine books and even then was dismissed by commentators as a workhorse grape suitable only for […]
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Premier League Pinot Grigio
The rise of Pinot Grigio from local varietal wine to international star has been dramatic. Its commercial success can be traced back to Anthony Terlato, a Chicago importer who, in the 1970s, looking for a single varietal wine for the US market, found Santa Margherita and became the winery’s US importer. Terlato invested heavily in […]
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Little Calvary
There’s a story behind every bottle on the Winecroft wine list. This one begins in the medieval village of Soave in the Veneto in north east Italy. Here for over a century, the Pieropan family has revolutionized winemaking, becoming one of the most acclaimed Italian wine families. In 1971, Nino Pieropan made a bold experiment […]
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