The best

• red wine
• white wine
• champagne
• rosé
• whisky
• spirits
• beer

deals in Australia

Coldstream Hills was established in 1985 by James and Suzanne Halliday and has always produced a benchmark cool-climate Pinot Noir. This beautifully textured wine boasts rich flavours of dark cherries, pepper and foresty notes, with a long and toasty finish.

Coldstream Hills has been consistently producing excellent Yarra Valley Chardonnay for years and if anything it keeps getting better. Stone fruit and grapefruit characters are supported by creamy nutty oak.

There is a delicate perfume of Kirsch and dried strawberry with underlying dried bouquet garni. This is a light to medium-bodied wine with a supple yet generously flavoured palate.

The aspiration of Oakridge LVS -- or Local Vineyard Series -- wines is to be outstanding expressions of single vineyards within the Yarra Valley. Local Vineyard Series wines enable wine lovers to compare and contrast the power of terroir and geography in winemaking. In essence, different grape varieties thrive in different soils, and Yarra Valley terroirs and altitudes vary widely. Oakridges expertise and understanding of the region allows viticulturists and winemakers to match a particular variety with a particular site -- with marvellous results. Almost all LVS wines are cellarworthy. The Willowlake Vineyard is just outside Gladysdale in Victorias Upper Yarra Valley. Planted in 1979 at an elevation 300 metres, the cool-grown Chardonnay here ranks with the regions very best. Add the skills of leading Chardonnay exponent David Bicknell and these hand-picked grapes become wines that express their variety and origin with consummate precision and flair.

Of all the premium white wines we sampled last year; it was the Soumah Hexham Chardonnay that rose to the top. This top class Yarra Valley Chardonnay features the perfect amount of oak and a moreish creaminess. Produced from small single vineyard plantings in the Warramate foothills of the Yarra Valley, Soumah Hexham Chardonnay is brilliant now but patience will be rewarded if cellared up to 5 years if you can keep your hands off it that long. One of the real movers and shakers of the industry in recent times, Soumah is without a doubt one to keep a very close eye on. This is a super complex and extremely alluring example. Produced from small single vineyard plantings in the Warramate foothills of the Yarra Valley, outstanding fruit quality works hand in hand with barrel derived complexities. This complexity around a mid to full bodied core lends its self just perfectly to seafood with the traditional butter sauce accompaniment.

David Bicknell is a Chardonnay perfectionist with a passion for terroir and contrasts in the characters of different vineyard sites. In the glass: Bright fine straw with a green hue. On the nose: Fabulous purity and lift with ripe, complex stonefruit combining with lees and struck match magic. On the palate: A complex funky monster! It shows tremendous depth and umami being satiny soft throughout with amazing refined power and balance and extraordinary length and persistence. Classy!

This Chardonnay has opposing elements of minerality and creaminess make this an outstanding, complex wine. The aromas and flavours of lemon pith, chamomile, just ripe nectarine and apricot are underlain by fine grained, smoky oak.The grapes were whole bunch pressed and the free run and pressings separated for fermentation. After chilling, 50% of the unsettled juice was placed in 500 litre puncheons and 228 litre barriques for fermentation. At the end of fermentation, the wine was left on yeast lees for 8 months. The lees were stirred weekly. The remaining juice was fermented in tank to retain the fresh aromas and flavours of the variety. This wine also remained on yeast lees for an extended period of time. The restraint on this wine suggests it will continue to age and improve in bottle. While waiting for the magic to happen, enjoy the wine now with a classic freshly shucked oysters with a dot of green apple granita.