Description
- 2025 Hoddles Creek Estate Pinot Noir
- 2025 Longview Fresco Nebbiolo
- 2025 Fighting Gully Road Sangiovese
- 2023 Nick Spencer P.A.R. Hilltops Malbec
- 2025 Rob Hall Cabernets
- 2024 Adelina Shiraz Malbec
2025 Hoddles Creek Estate Pinot Noir
Hunting for good, affordable Pinot Noir in this country usually feels like a losing battle, but Franco D’Anna has been single-handedly solving that problem for years. Operating out of Hoddles Creek, he routinely delivers estate-grown gear that completely reshapes what we expect from entry-level pricing.
The fast, ultra-early 2025 season turned out a slightly more robust and bouncy iteration than the usual taut style, but the vineyard's cool-climate identity is still front and centre. It opens with an unforced bouquet of hand-harvested wild berries, blood orange rind, and a subtle undercurrent of sarsaparilla and graphite.
Franco left the fruit un-crushed in the ferments, which pays off beautifully in the texture. Rather than simple, sugary juice, you get a fleshy mid-palate driven by grainy, persistent tannins and a lovely line of natural crunch. It finishes with a great bit of structural chew that suggests it will look even better with a year in the dark.
When it comes to Pinot Noir, this is the ultimate case-buy no-brainer.
93 points
"It has both composure and drinkability writ large, though the fineness of the tannin and the dryness of the finish lend it, too, a seriousness... It’s pretty much impeccable all over."
- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
2025 Longview Fresco Nebbiolo
The Saturno family took the reins at Longview back in 2007 and have spent the last two decades turning their Adelaide Hills estate into a powerhouse for Italian varieties. Bringing former Bleasdale legend Paul Hotker on board in 2024 was a great move, and he’s wasted no time pushing their Nebbiolo into highly smashable, youthful territory.
The brisk 2025 season played right into their hands for this specific release. Instead of chasing the formidable, brooding structure the grape is famous for in Piedmont, they capitalised on the year's bright, juicy fruit to build a wine focused entirely on immediate smashability.
The fruit sees a mostly uncrushed ferment with just a small handful of intact clusters tossed in to dial up the floral lift. It gets squeezed off the skins quickly and takes a short rest in neutral wood, ensuring the finished wine is locked under cap in under a year.
Give this twenty minutes in the fridge before cracking the seal. Think tart redcurrant, bush pepper, and a lick of amaro-like bitterness to close. It’s an outrageously fun park wine that happens to also carry a 95-point nod from the Wine Companion.
95 points
"A lighter, brighter, indeed, fresher rendering of nebbiolo... Reminiscent of Piedmont's more energetic pelaverga wines, with a more bold strike. Lots going on, and so delicious; goes well with a chill as it would stand alone. Drink in vigorous youth. Utterly fun."
- Mike Bennie (Halliday Wine companion)
2025 Fighting Gully Road Sangiovese
This is perhaps Australia's best Sangiovese.
Mark Walpole is one of the rare Australian viticulturists who genuinely understands how to wrangle Sangiovese. Teaming up with winemaker Adrian Rodda, the Fighting Gully Road label consistently proves that you don't need to be in Chianti to get this notoriously stubborn grape to behave.
The fruit is pulled entirely from the upper, sun-exposed slopes of the Aquila Audax Vineyard in Beechworth. Up here, the vines dig into a tough mix of shale and metamorphic rock, forcing them to work hard and naturally restricting yields.
The blend of the 2025 is 95% Sangiovese backed by a 5% splash of Colorino to help lock in colour and structure. Fermented wild across a mix of stainless steel and oak vats with a portion of whole berries kept intact, the juice spends a full 28 days on skins before maturing in large Italian-coopered casks.
It drinks exactly as great Sangiovese should - dusty, tense, and built for the dinner table. The '25 is maybe a little lighter on its feet than the last couple of vintages, with wild berries, a rub of crushed sage, and the chalky tannin the grape is famous for driving a long, dry finish.
96 points & Top 100 Wines of 2026!
"Think of the first Australian sangiovese you ever tried and then try this – the two are worlds apart. The fruit sweetness, so obvious back then, is now one layer of many, a multi-cast member... Think you know sangiovese? Think again."
- Jeni Port (Halliday Wine Companion)
2023 Nick Spencer P.A.R. Hilltops Malbec
"Nick Spencer is one of the better winemakers in this country.”
- Gary Walsh
"Australian wine can be a brash place, but it still manages to provide harbour to some considered, thoughtful souls, of which Nick Spencer is one. He is the real deal, in short. His wines are more than wines. They are their grapes laid bare
- Campbell Mattinson
P.A.R. is a new label from Nick Spencer, started with the intention of focusing entirely on emerging/alternative varieties in Australia, seeing fermentation and maturation only in sandstone amphoras.
The Malbec for this wine is sourced from a vineyard 600m above sea level with decomposed granite soils located around Young in the Hilltops region. The fruit gets picked and sent to amphora for fermentation and further ageing for 18 months.
It comes out bountiful in aromatics and flavour, with it's purple fruited heart to the fore thanks to the lack of oak.
94 points
"You can tell it’s Malbec, but also, gee, it’s a lot like a good Teroldego. I really like this."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)94 points
"This is light and juicy, but, wow, does it finish the job beautifully through the finish! There's no heaviness to this wine – it's essentially built on acidity – but for character and complexity, it really has it going on, and at least, if not more importantly, it's really up there for drinkability too. As they say, delicioso!"
- Campbell Mattinson (Halliday Wine Companion)
2025 Rob Hall Cabernets
Here we have arguably the best value Cabernet blend in Victoria. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (56%), Merlot (38%) and Malbec (6%) from three vineyards across Healesville and Seville, it has the complexity that comes from drawing on multiple sites and the balance of a very good vintage.
The Merlot and Malbec soften the Cabernet's edges nicely, giving it a roundness and approachability that makes it easy to enjoy without years of patience. Medium-bodied, with fine tannins, fresh acidity and good length through the finish. Dark fruit, some spice and a nice savoury undercurrent.
It's an elegant, well-put-together Cabernet blend that drinks well now but has the structure to hold and develop over the next six to eight years. Truly exceptional value.
97 points & Top 100 Wines of 2026!
"A blend of 56/38/6% cabernet sauvignon/merlot/malbec. From three vineyards in Healesville and Seville. Exceptional value as always, but maybe even more so in this very good vintage. A brilliant purple with aromas of pure blackcurrant, cherry skins and crushed violets. Medium bodied, this is at once elegant and focused, with very fine-grained, persistent tannins. A class act to drink now and over the next six to eight years."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)
2024 Adelina Shiraz Malbec
Clare Valley Malbec blends have a quiet but well-documented history, and Adelina's Springfarm estate is one of the better arguments for it. At 460 metres on red sandy loam over slate and clay, with ACO certified organic farming and a lot of hand attention, this is a site that produces reds of real character and without pretention.
The blend is 75% Shiraz and 25% Malbec, drawn from younger blocks planted between 2012 and 2017. Shiraz and Malbec were co-fermented in concrete before 13 months in large-format French oak (20% new), keeping things relatively restrained on the oak influence and letting the fruit and tannin do the talking, as is Col's wine.
It's a medium-bodied, fresh style of Clare red: fragrant and bright rather than heavy, with fine, grippy tannin and a good savoury edge through the finish. The Malbec adds some darker fruit and structure without pulling it out of shape. Drinks well now and an exceptionally priced gateway into the wonderful world of Adelina.
95 points
"The palate is mid-weighted with plenty of juicy fruit, fresh acidity and fine-grained tannins bringing structure and shape."
- Ryan Montgomery (jamessuckling.com)
94 points
"This is an intriguing wine, one that I like so much more for drinking—as it should be."
- Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)
94 points
"Another testament to the divinely anointed idea that Clare reds thrive with some malbec in them. Unbelievable value."
- Nick Ryan (The Weekend Australian)
Customer Reviews
| Price Bracket | $30 or Less |
| Size | 3 |
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