2010 K1 Geoff Hardy Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir

K1's 2010 Geoff Hardy Adelaide Hills, Kuipto, Pinot Noir, which I purchased online, is brown-ruby in colour with a definite deeply ripe plum perfume with spice such as cinnamon and nutmeg edges. Very drinkable Pinot, slipping down easily. It could be a summer drink, especially if cooled. Light weight, but satisfying length on palate, shiraz-like with some pepper, and currents and sultanas.

2012 Upside Down Marlborough Merlot

The 2012 Upside Down Marlborough Merlo is the best I've drunk for a while, especially lacking in 'dust'!

2010 Glenwillow Yandoit Creek, Bendigo, Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2010 Glenwillow Yandoit Creek, Bendigo, Cabernet Sauvignon, that Jared Dixon also has at the Clunes Wine Store/Cellars, is a deep black ruby red, and has a kind of white chalk aroma, with sweet green pea. It's smooth and soft on the palate, and could almost be sweet at the end. (A wine with an uninspiring label, though, that lets down the contents of the bottle.)

2006 Elizabeth Hunter Valley Semillon

James Halliday always mentions Elizabeth Hunter Valley Semillon in this annual best 100 whites under $20. The 2006 was available at the Station Hotel. Bright ripe-lemon gold in colour, on the palate, as usual for Semillon, it's stern if not severe: it has gravitas. You really wouldn't, if you were bright, select it to drink alone on a summer's day at a pub or wine bar. It's probably best with food, but what? A rich, buttery roasted chicken? A Middle-Eastern dish with preserved lemon. A dessert of some kind: partially sweet, something with butter again. As I have said before, it's a drink for adults; it's not a YA grape. But while I understand the 2006's gravitas, I can't see myself buying it again—unless I know I'm having that chicken.

2013 Passing Clouds Macedon Ranges Chardonnay

A beautiful name, yes, but nowhere near as good a label as Jilly FIFO, or, say, Cloudy Bay, which are other labels to do with clouds/sky. The Passing Clouds label is blue for sure, but otherwise looks inappropriately 'regal' with white stripes and a crest. Cameron and Graeme Leith are the viticulturalist and winemaker, outside of Daylesford, of this cool-climate Chardy. So a cool-climate Chardy won't normally be full on butter and stone fruit. The Passing Clouds, gold in colour, smells of butterscotch, egg custard and lemon curd, all of which are on the palate, too, with some pepper and mid-sweet pineapple. It's smooth: so easy to drink.