Description
This excellent value mixed pack features six highly-rated white wines that boast accolades and high acclaim from the Halliday Wine Companion Tasting Team.
This iteration of the pack features a stack of excellent recently released wines. All at a great price with great reviews.
It will be updated regularly with freshly reviewed wines as they drop!
- 2024 Rieslingfreak No. 2 Polish Hill River Riesling
- 2024 Mercer Wines Bianco Vermentino
- 2024 Domaine Naturaliste Discovery Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
- 2024 Sherrah Fiano
- 2024 Larnook Grenache Gris
- 2023 Denton Chardonnay
2024 Rieslingfreak No. 2 Polish Hill River Riesling
The Polish Hill River Riesling comes from a single block in the Polish Hill sub-region of the Clare Valley.
John & Belinda Hughes think this vineyard produces the best fruit of all of their vineyard sources. Grown in soils rich with limestone and shale, this dry Riesling is ballistically good in 2024.
There's an extra level of intensity here. That classic iron bar of acidity as a spine, the chalky crunch of a green apple, wonderful perfume and glorious purity.
This sits comfortably alongside the best wines from this famous sub-region of the Clare. This is an elite Australian Riesling which beautifully captures one of the premier sub-regions for Riesling in the whole country.
98 points
"Such a sleek, tightly bound package, with a steely focus, porcelain acidity and a pitch-perfect tubular palate shape. It's lovely saline and sapid drinking now, but this will age beautifully."
- Dave Brookes (Halliday Wine Companion)
97 points
"This vintage’s star of the Rieslingfreak sub-regional expressions shows off the distinctive mineral traces typical of Polish Hill River vineyards, which provide a sturdy backbone to rich and generous lime and lemon flavours. It opens with a seductive bouquet of fresh green apple and jasmine, before the influence of fine chalky tannins defines the shape of a curvy mid-palate that shows a long citrus core gripped with a trace of honeysuckle, with an irresistible smack of minerality at the conclusion."
- David Sly (Decanter)
96 points
"It’s otherworldly, to be perfectly honest, quite hard to describe. It’s ethereal. All I can say is this is what you’d drink at the pearly gates, if you’ve been good of course."
- Shanteh Wale (Wine Pilot)
2024 Mercer Wines Bianco Vermentino
Aaron Mercer’s 2024 Bianco Vermentino is an easy-drinking nod to the future of sustainable grape-growing. Vermentino thrives in warm, dry climates like the Hunter Valley, and this wine makes the most of its natural resilience. With fruit sourced from the Roxburgh Vineyard in the Upper Hunter, it’s all about simplicity done well.
Bright and zippy, it’s bursting with tangy citrus and a subtle saline edge that keeps things lively. There’s a touch of texture and plenty of refreshing crunch, making it a great companion for sunny afternoons and laid-back meals.
Perfect with fresh seafood or just a handful of salty snacks, this is the kind of white that’s made for the esky and your next casual get-together. At this price, it’s as easy on the wallet as it is on the palate.
95 points
"An outstanding Hunter vermentino that successfully traverses the elements of texture and vibrancy. The palate is fabulously expansive, with clean citrus flavours and delicate notes of acacia. Lighter in body with excellent flavour length and charm."
- Toni Paterson MW (Halliday Wine Companion)
2024 Domaine Naturaliste Discovery Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
Margaret River is the home of the "Aussie White Bordeaux", the classic Sauvignon Blanc Semillon and Bruce Dukes makes one of the best in the area.
The Discovery is 'classic' in the best possible way. As Bruce describes, "Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon are captured to highlight their attractiveness in youth." That freshness is complimented by the soft savoury undertones of the portion which has been barrel fermented.
The classics are classic for a reason.
This is a top-value example from this famous region.
95 points
"There’s texture, flavour, brightness and good fruit flavours within – lots of lemon and mandarin, a touch of lime and barely a hint of tropical fruit, more gooseberry, if anything. There's a succulence and mouth-watering, neat acidity keeping it bopping along, a layer of creaminess and more. Nice one."
- Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
2024 Sherrah Fiano
Alex Sherrah’s 2024 Fiano is the kind of white that does a lot without making a fuss. It’s fresh and bright, with plenty of flavour and just enough texture to keep things interesting. The fruit comes from two McLaren Vale sites - one down near the coast in Tatachilla, the other up in Seaview - and that mix brings both crunch and depth to the final wine.
Alex keeps the winemaking pretty simple: half the juice goes into tank, the other half into old barrels, all on lees for a bit of texture. No fining, no acid adds, no fluff - just clean, thoughtfully made wine that’s all about drinkability. It’s the sort of bottle that works just as well with a plate of seafood as it does on its own, and one that feels completely at ease in any setting.
One of the better value Fianos in the country.
95 points
"This is a fine expression of the grape, picked at just the right moment and made adroitly. Crisp golden apple, nashi, lemon zest, celery salt, a hint of makrut lime and fresh jalapeño. There’s a mineral clarity to the wine, subtle savouriness and texture from half seeing old oak fermentation/maturation, with twin stewards of fine acidity and pithiness bringing things to a close. Just gorgeous."
- Marcus Ellis (Halliday Wine Companion)
2024 Larnook Grenache Gris
Grenache Gris isn’t a variety you see much of, especially in Australia, but Alexia Roberts at Larnook has made a pretty compelling case for it in McLaren Vale’s Blewitt Springs. This first release is all about texture, freshness, and balance - something a little different but seriously easy to enjoy.
Made with a light touch in the winery, the wine spent time in old oak (30%) and stainless steel (70%), with three months on lees to bring some extra depth while keeping it bright and crisp. It’s got just the right amount of weight without losing any freshness, making it the kind of wine you can drink now but won’t mind revisiting in a year or two.
Larnook is a new player in the Vale, but with wines like this, it won’t take long for people to catch on.
Trophy & 96 points
Best New & Emerging White Wine
- McLaren Vale Wine Show 2024
95 points
"Grenache Gris seems very suited to the Vale—well, if the Larnook iterations can be taken as a reasonable survey. This drinks somewhat like a happy melding of Chenin Blanc and refined Chardonnay—if such varietal echolocation is necessary—with flavours in a red and golden apple zone, along with nashi, stone fruit kernel, green almond, lemon oil, and white florals. It’s textural (30% old oak, 70% stainless, and three months on lees), fine-boned, and effortless in feel, guided by vital acidity. This is truly excellent."
– Marcus Ellis (Halliday Wine Companion)
2023 Denton Chardonnay
The 2023 Denton Chardonnay is a textbook example of what this site does best - precision, energy and texture, all wrapped up in a clean, mineral frame. Sourced mainly from Block 6 on the northeast slope, it benefits from gentle morning light and granite-rich soils that dial up the detail and length. A splash of fruit from the close-planted Gingin vines in Block 4 adds some extra edge to the mix.
Fermented wild in large-format puncheons, including one brand-new barrel for extra layering, the wine spent 10 months on fine lees with a few gentle stirs along the way. There’s no smoke or mirrors here - just thoughtful farming, sensitive winemaking, and a great season that offered long, slow ripening and terrific flavour development.
With new investment and energy flowing through the estate, this release signals a producer clearly hitting its stride. Denton’s Chardonnay has always had a loyal following, but this one may be their most assured yet.
96 points
"Opulent and complex aromas of ripe stone fruits, ginger, oyster shells and scented white flowers. Concentrated and structured on the palate, finishing saline, nutty and very long. Another excellent Denton chardonnay."
- Philip Rich (The Wine Companion)
Customer Reviews
| Price Bracket | $30 or Less |
| Type | White |
| Feature |
High Score |
| Reviewed By |
Halliday Wine Companion |
| Size | 8 |
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