2012 Beresford Beacon Hill Savi

2012 Beresford Beacon Hill Savi from SA's Langhorne Creek (Adelaide Hills, so a good place for Savi too). At around $9 it's great because of its understatement and subtlety. In a clear pale, lemon, it's light on the palate but not light enough to ignore, since it follows up with the lemon pepper. If you're looking for a lighter, non-NZ Savi, this is it.

2011 First Creek Orange Sav Blanc

2011 First Creek Orange Sav Blanc from Lismore (NSW, Australia) Dan Murphy's smells of passion fruit, but tastes of grapefruit and green apple. It's a very pale, clear light lime in colour. The wine-making team has woman as co-leader, Liz Jackson. First Creek is a Hunter Valley winery, but they select 'fruit from renowned vineyards … where the variety excels'. They say Orange is developing as 'the region of choice for this variety'. The label could be much more distinctive or artful for such an intriguing name. Around $20 to $25.

2011 Fighting Gully Road Aquila

Jared Dixon of the Clunes Wine Store (NSW, Australia) alerted me to this very recent cellar addition. At $25, It's a mixture of Chardonnay (for 'melon and grapefruit'), Viognier (for 'apricot' and 'richness') and Petit Manseng (for 'exotic fruits … acidity and length'). Fighting Gully produce cool climate wines on Victoria's 'elevated Beechworth plateau', while the fruit for this wine was grown in the King and Alpine Valleys. It's a desirously pale, light gold in colour, like a traditional Chenin Blanc (in fact it has 3% Chenin), with nuts, pear and coconut in the perfume, and on the palate it's complex and textured, most likely because of the varietal mixture. Its taste is a cross between mustard linen and a worn mustard velvet. It would be good with a cashew nut, bok choy, snow pea stir fry. Aquila has 'eagle' in its meanings, and there is an outline of the great bird on the cream, textured, simple label, which uses a classic running-writing font.

2012 Baily & Baily Folio Margaret River Chardonnay, 2011 Marlborough Saint Clair Gruner Veltliner

If you want to test Margaret River Chardonnay, then you can buy a Fairbrossen from the Clunes Wine Store – look for the retro 'Wine Store' sign. Or try the 2012 Baily & Baily Folio Margaret River Chardonnay from Dan Murphy's, Lismore. It's a classic, very drinkable Chardy. In fact, I highly recommend this very reasonably priced Baily &Baily Folio series which 'showcases the flagship varieties and styles from Australia's premier wine regions'. It's equal to the well-priced and very good quality Yalumba Y series.

 

On my trips to the independent Cellars (Bangalow, Byron and Ballina), I never fail to come across something interesting. Bangalow Cellars has a 2011 Marlborough Saint Clair Gruner Veltliner, a variety not readily available from bottle shops in the Northern Rivers. It is lemony in colour and aroma followed by a wonderful sherbet on a mid to long palate. It's difficult for me to think of GV, like Arneis, ever being bad. While usually like clear water, which I love, this GV is more flavoursome and therefore more irresistible.