some kind words from our friends in the know

95 points - huon hooke - 2017 PERSEVERANCE old vine shiraz

Bright, deep red/purple colour, with a fresh red-fruit and spice aroma, quite complex and the palate is full-bodied and deep, plush and ample in texture, with masses of tannins but they’re fine tannins and not coarse or oaky or bitter. A big wine and a very successful balancing act. The palate has a lot of fresh acidity, which keeps it all fresh and lively. Long-term potential.

96 points - huon hooke - 2018 beechworth chardonnay

Medium straw-yellow colour with golden reflections. The bouquet shows great complexity, nutty, toasty and buttery, with smoky sulfide notes and roasted hazelnuts - almost anything you could want in a chardonnay is there. It's the same on the palate: rich and concentrated yet refined and restrained as well, clean and dry to finish but soft and beautifully seamless. Superb flavour. And great value for money! 

96 POINTS - HUON HOOKE - 2018 ONYX DURIF

Very deep, dark purple colour, concentrated in every respect. The wine is very full-bodied, big and bold and layered with firm ripe tannins over a delicious sweet-fruit core. The concentrated black-fruit flavour lingering long on the farewell. A very impressive young durif with the world before it. (Grapes grown at Eldorado and Rutherglen)

95 POINTS - HUON HOOKE - 2018 COMRADE NERO D’AVOLA

Bright, youthful purple/red colour. The bouquet is rich and deep and brooding. Black plums and subtle spices, rich and smooth and ripe. Velvety palate texture, rich and fleshy, soft tannins melded seamlessly into the flavour. A superb wine. 

95 POINTS - NICK BUTLER - 2018 BEECHWORTH SYRAH

Intense pepper and spice, whole-bunch sinew wrapped by blackberries. It's a compelling nose. A lovely red licorice and raspberry intensity kicks right through the palate. Dare I say a Craiglee sensibility. A beautiful wine and hard to replicate. The stars have aligned.

91 POINTS - HUON HOOKE - 2017 QUASIMODO BLEND

Deep, dark, bright purple/red colour, with a youthful cherry, plummy bouquet, the palate medium to full-bodied and slightly leaner than the pure nero, less texturally rich or concentrated, but a very good drink and well priced.

93 POINTS - GARY WALSH - 2018 COMRADE NERO D’AVOLA

It’s a wine of distinct personality, and not least concentration for a Nero. Punnets of crushed forest berries, spice, fresh soil and redcurrant. Medium-bodied, fresh, dense, kind of stony and earthy, but sweet in small berried fruit flavour. There’s a cranberry crispness to the acidity, and grainy tannin to go. The finish is fresh and perfumed

hIGHLY RECOMMENDED - MAX ALLEN - 2019 LUMINOSO Rosé

Eldorado Road is the personal family label of Paul Dahlenburg winemaker at nearby Baileys of Glenrowan. As well as making wine from old vine shiraz and the other regional stalwart varieties chardonnay and durif, he has planted the Sicilian red grape nero d’Avola, and uses it it to great effect in this full flavoured, savoury rose, blended with a little sangiovese and dolcetto, and a splodge of shiraz. Enticing copper colour, wild hedgerow berry aromas, and good creamy texture thanks to 10 months ageing and regular lees-stirring in old barrels.

90 POINTS - GARY WALSH - 2019 LUMINOSO Rosé

There’s much to like here with soft and savoury character, red fruits and some toffee, gentle grip on a solid finish. It could perhaps do with a bit more cut and zip in the mouth, but there’s personality and interest on offer for sure.

91 POINTS - hUON HOOKE - 2019 luminoso Rosé

Smoky-salmon colour, with a savoury bouquet that has some caramel overtones. The wine is rich and soft, full and round in the mouth. Ample, textural, dry and very long. A ripe and less flighty style of rosé, and it's more than simple fresh fruit.

95 points - campbell mattinson -2016 Persévérance Old Vine Shiraz

Made from vines planted around 1890. Incredibly, the yield on this 15-acre vineyard was only 2.5 tonne in 2017. Ugni blanc is interplanted on this vineyard and so, as previous, there is around 2% included in the wine.

Love the finesse of this. Every aspect feels vital. It’s medium-weight at most but it’s bright, complex, cream-smooth and intricate. Herbs curl, fruit slides, woodsmoke blows on through. Tannin feels painstakingly etched into the wine. Perfumes are presented on a platter. Old vines have delivered us a delicacy.

94 Points - huon hooke - 2017 comrade nero d’avola

Medium to deep red colour with a good purple tinge, the bouquet fresh and sweet cherry-like, almost pinoty; bright, fragrant and charming. A good early drinking medium-bodied red, which would go better with food than solo, on account of its firm tannins. It is very elegant. Fruit sweetness emerged increasingly as it aired.

95 points - campbell mattinson - 2017 beechworth chardonnay

Add this to the list. This is a beauty. It needs another year or so in bottle but its mid-palate flavour and pure/thrilling length is really quite something. It tastes of white peach and melon, nougat and almond, though there are oatmeal and flinty/struck match characters evident in whispers. Bowled me over. It’s very good.

North-eastern Victoria looks a good home for nero d'Avola, and Eldorado Road is a regional flagship. This superb example has lovely floral scents overlaying notes of prune, Siena cake, cherry, peppery spice and leather. It has gorgeous fruit intensity and freshness, lovely balance and drinkability, and it should build personality with more time in the bottle.

95 points - james halliday - 2015 quasimodo

It has excellent hue, depth and clarity, one of those wines giving you a 'come-on' signal before you've had a chance to even smell it. It combines insouciant elegance with intensity, its balance already set in stone. You can tuck this under your arm and walk into any Italian BYO restaurant and walk out very happy. Bravo.

94 points - campbell mattinson - 2017 onyx durif

Beautiful. So measured, so flavoursome, so fresh. Redcurrant and graphite, tar and cloves. It’s both energetic and intense, with fine-grained tannin pulling it through to a satisfying close. Perfumed, finessed, intricate; all these things.

95 points - huon hooke - 2017 luminoso Rosé

Light salmon-pink hue, the bouquet confirming some development and suggesting a little barrel involvement. It's nutty and complex, with richness and generosity in the mouth but also refinement and subtlety. Delicious wine.