Description
'Alternative' grape varieties are causing an evolution in Australian wine, and changing the way winemakers and consumers think about our industry's future. These emerging varieties are often better suited to sustainably grow in our warm climate, and provide a myriad of delicious new flavours, textures and food-friendly styles.This pack allows you to discover some exciting new grapes for yourself, and sample some of the finest alternative grape variety wines in the country!
What's in the pack:
- 2023 Hahndorf Hill GRU Gruner Veltliner
- 2023 Varney Wines Entrada Vermentino
- 2023 Unico Zelo Jade & Jasper Fiano
- 2022 Dune El Beyda
- 2019 The Story Marsanne Roussanne Viognier
- 2023 Mercer Wines Picpoul Blanc
2023 Hahndorf Hill GRU Gruner Veltliner
The Austrian Grüner Veltliner grape is one of the current 'it' varieties amongst wine lover circles.
The Adelaide Hills region is where the variety is proving most successful, a fact that can be attributed wholly and solely to the inspired work of Hahndorf Hill guru Larry Jacobs. Jacobs prophetically first planted the variety in the region in 2006, since then many Hills producers have followed suit. But the Hahndorf Hill GRU remains the gold standard of Australian Gruner.
With a stack of Gold Medals and a lengthy history of outstanding reviews this is a clear benchmark for the variety - if you want to see what Gruner is all about, there is simply no better example in the country.
2023 Varney Wines Entrada Vermentino
The Entrada range from Alan Varney are all inspired by time he spent in a small Portuguese town back in 2017. Here he makes modern and affordable wines that are meant to be enjoyed straight away.
The Vermentino is a new addition to the range, and is a perfect wine to share with friends and family around the dinner table. Brightly flavoured with a mouth-watering line of natural acidity and a little bit of weight from time spent on lees, it's an excellent casual, easy drinking white wine.
A fun & playful wine built to share.
2023 Unico Zelo Jade & Jasper Fiano
The Unico Zelo owner/winemaking dynamic duo of Brendan and Laura Carter are hugely passionate about Fiano, and they wholeheartedly believe in this variety's suitability to Australia's climate and culture.
So do we, it's a winner.
This comes from the ancient sandy limestone soils on the iconic Ricca Terra Farms vineyard in the Riverland region of South Australia. Like in previous years it's a wonderfully textural wine, with the detail and balancew improving each and every year.
All up it's delicious to drink, perfectly built for enjoying with food and great value for money.
2022 Dune El Beyda
With the Lloyd family's commitment to experimenting with new varieties, Grenache Blanc makes a lot of sense in their range.
It's a variety which finds its home in the Rhone Valley. Given the success of Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro etc in McLaren Vale, Grenache Blanc is sure to thrive. Here it is blended with a portion of Grenache Gris (10%) and Clairette (10%) for a little extra textural complexity.
This is a soft, honeyed, gently savoury white wine with good body and weight.
A chilled bottle of this and some fish and chips by the ocean would be a great way to spend an afternoon.
94 points & Top 100 Wines of the Year
- James Halliday (The Weekend Australian)
2019 The Story Marsanne Roussanne Viognier
This wine is made from the only plantings of Marsanne, Roussanne & Viognier in the Grampians region, a strange thing given how much Shiraz et.al. is planted in the region.
Rory Lane makes this in a full-bodied, richly textured style. Fermented with wild yeasts in ancient French puncheons and barriques, it undergoes full malolactic fermentation for maximum textural weight.
With 11 months on gross lees and bottled unfiltered, it boasts a creamy texture and a gentle grip on the palate. Light gold in colour, with loads of golden stonefruit flavours, it's the perfect companion for rich, robust white meat dishes.
2023 Mercer Wines Picpoul Blanc
Picpoul Blanc (Piquepoul) is a variety that is absolutely best mates with fresh-shucked oysters so it comes as no surprise that a Hunter Valley winemaker, in the land of the 'Hunter Oyster Shooter' (if you don't know what that is, you're not living your life right, would make a very good fist of it.
Aaron Mercer has a very impressive stable of high quality, easily accessible alternative variety wines and this is one of the most delicious and obscure.
To get to know this food-friendly Rhone white variety, this is the perfect place to start.
93 points
"It’s very light, utterly refreshing... Has a Hunter’s Semillon softness of acidity. Maybe it’s the Hunter winemaker’s touch. Great release."
- Kasia Sobiesiak (The Wine Front)
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Delivery is free on orders of $150 or more!
For orders under this amount, delivery is calculated at checkout based on your postcode. You can order in any quantity or combination of wines you like. Straight dozens are not required.
We will dispatch your order the same or next business day.
Estimated delivery transit time varies depending on your location. Please review this page for specific estimates.
Sydney (Our Vans): If no one is home and there are no special delivery instructions our driver will try to call for instructions. If the driver believes there is a safe space to leave your wine they will do so if not, they will return the item to us and hold your order until further instruction from you.
Melbourne (Anonymous Wine Freight): If no one is home and there are no special delivery instructions, the courier will try to call for instructions. If the driver believes there is a safe space to leave your wine they will do so. if not, they will return the item to their dispatch centre and hold until further instruction from you.
Australia Post: Australia Post will leave the parcel if they have been given authority to leave and it is deemed safe to do so. To give your Authority to Leave, please enter this in the 'SPECIAL REQUEST' box at checkout.
Ordering
We want Different Drop customers to always be getting the best price. If you see a lower price elsewhere, just get in touch and we will sort it out for you. We handle all our price-matching on a case by case basis.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Retrospective price-matching is available for 30 days after you have purchased from us.
- The price match cannot be used in conjunction with a coupon or one-off deal we are offering. The idea is for you to get the best price in the market so if that is already achieved through a coupon then we won't price match on top of that.
- We don't price match clearance or fire sales.
- We’ll match the listed price as long as it is a legitimate offer and the competing store is actually able to fulfil the order (they have stock or more stock is en route). Essentially we won't price match cheeky vendors listing wines they have no hope of actually getting for you...
- It must be a publicly listed price. We won't match a price that has been achieved through a coupon/cash-back arrangement, or through a non-advertised offer over the phone or otherwise.
- It is limited to a reasonable retail quantity.
We'll treat each price match request on its merit and reserve the right to refuse where we deem fit. For example, particularly rare wines, from non-trust-worthy vendors, in circumstances we deem illegitimate or if we feel our policy is being unfairly taken advantage of.
At the end of the day, we'll look after you and use common sense to ensure you're getting the best price, please just don't take the p%$$!
No, feel free to mix it up! There is no minimum requirement. You can order wines in any quantity or combination, 1 or 50+ bottles.
We stock three different sized gift boxes (single, three bottle and six), all are available for purchase for a flat rate of $8. They look great and make an awesome impression.
To add a gift box to your order, simply add at checkout. The special requests box is your friend, please give us as many details of what you are looking for and we will try our best, or get in contact to discuss it with you.
If you want to bulk order gifts or if you have any trouble please email hello@differentdrop.com or call and we can try and help.
If you can't add more wine to your cart it means we are low on stock of that wine. For example, if you are only able to 3 bottles and no more that means we only have 3 bottles left of that wine. If it's a must have, please contact us and we may be able to order more in for you.
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