About The Pack
These are exciting times for WA wine.
In just the last few years there's been an explosion of seriously exciting experimental producers popping up all along the West Coast.
It's not all buttery Chardonnay and rich Cabernet in the West these days. There's plenty more interesting and delicious things to explore and this little pack is a great place to start!
A bottle each from six producers all doing things their own way. Every bottle here comes with a great story.
Get stuck in.
2017 L’Enclos du Tertre Riesling
In just a few short years, this has become a new high watermark for Western Australian Riesling.
Lee and Clemence have worked with this fruit for many years. They know this site like the back of their hand. This old vine, dry-grown block is now managed by them. Here all the elements of Riesling come together in beautiful harmony.
It has incredible length and drive, a thrust through the mouth which is spine-tingling. Grip, texture, crunch and searing acidity - this has it all. Mike Bennie gave this a huge 97+ points, the highest rating ever for a young Australian Riesling on The Wine Front.
As far as Australian Riesling goes, L’Enclos du Tertre is right at the apex.
Read more about 2017 L’Enclos du Tertre Riesling2017 Tripe Iscariot Wilyabrup Chenin Blanc
South Africa has long been pursuing excellence in Chenin Blanc, some of their finer examples are considered some of the best in the world.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that a South African is taking Australian Chenin Blanc to the next level - ladies and gentleman, this is one serious Chenin Blanc.
In an effort to highlight the variety's ability to articulately communicate terroir, Tripe.Iscariot owner/winemaker Remi Guise is releasing a pair of Margaret River subregional expressions of this often maligned grape. They were stunning to try back to back. This, the Wilyabrup wine, was our favourite.
It is a wine of immediate impact, bold and full flavoured. It has tension and depth, all in all, it is a remarkable achievement.
Read more about 2017 Tripe Iscariot Wilyabrup Chenin Blanc2018 Brave New Wine Ambergris Pinot Gris
There are so many more interesting examples of Pinot Gris in Australia at the moment.
Here's a new one to enter the fray from Yoko and Andries at Brave New Wine.
This is some very fine fruit from the Great Southern. Andries leaves this wine on skins for about three weeks before pressing. He makes it more like a Pinot Noir than a white wine and the results are delicious.
Loads of sweet berried fruit and super delicious acidity, this is the perfect picnic smasher for the Summertime.
Read more about 2018 Brave New Wine Ambergris Pinot Gris2017 Express Winemakers Rosé
Express Winemakers are doing some interesting and delicious things in the West. The wines feel as laid back as their winemaker Ryan.
They are made with a sense of joy and playfulness, built for fun times and easy drinking. Good vibes all round with this stuff.
This Grenache/Mourvedre Rosé is wild fermented in old oak giving it a lovely texture and some savoury undertones whilst maintaining its youthful exuberance.
Fresh and breezy in style; think picnics and fisbees, beaches and boards, and you're heading in the right direction.
Read more about 2017 Express Winemakers Rosé2018 LS Merchants Red Blend
Dylan Arvidson wanted a red to glug on pizza night at home, and so this little red blend was born.
He foraged up some Touriga Nacional from a local grower who employs Dylan to make his fortified. A little addition of his whole bunch Mataro and a splash of Syrah later and this is the end result.
Touriga's slurpy nature, the richness of fruit without heaviness or overbearing tannin makes it a prime candidate as the base for this 'vin de soif' style of wine.
It's such a joyful thing to drink.
Read more about 2018 LS Merchants Red Blend2017 Dormilona Cabernet Sauvignon
A beautifully different style of Margaret River Cabernet here from the 2016 Young Gun Winemaker of the Year, Josephine Perry.
There are few, if any, other winemakers in Margaret River that would dare release their Cabernet Sauvignon without any new oak, but that is precisely what Jo chooses for her own.
It's about fruit first and foremost, her trusting the vineyard and her instincts on when to pick to ensure that all structure in the wine is derived from the grape rather than an oak tree.
It's a gloriously feminine style of Cabernet - lifted and precise.
Read more about 2017 Dormilona Cabernet Sauvignon