2008 Joshua's Fault Chardonnay Canberra Region

There is pine in perfume, with maybe the slightest hint of passionfruit. It's very dry on the palate, like unripe pineapple, but with medium length and depth. It has the texture of chardonnay but, nevertheless, is fairly austere and stern. Therefore it's a serious chardonnay. It's 'hand picked' and 'immediately basket pressed', and French oaked. It has 'less stirring' 'post ferment'. Joshua's Fault is at Gundaroo. The vineyard is between two fault lines on sedimenatry clay loam - so says the label which is modern, in black and rusted red with an abstract, Indigenous-like painting of a fault line.  Grapes are estate grown and the wine is produced by Chris and Sophie Joshua. $25.00  available from Weetangarra IGA.

2008 Lake George Pinot Noir Rose

Nice label said my drinking companion. and it is of a  possibley 19 c or 18 image of Lake George, a strnage body of water in what seems the middle of nowhere. Text is in off-black responding to the grey-green of image. Pale, orangey-pink red. Dry on the palate, after rush of strawberries. Nice strawberry, cinnamon, marshallow aroma. good, dry rose. Possibly a bit too stern for summer, but remarkably good in a Canberra winter. Local IGA supermarkets smartly carry Canberra wine despite the lack of a barcode. $20.00.

2003 Doonkuna Cabernet Suavignon Merlot

A very elegant, smooth and soft  Cab Sav (80%) Merlot (20%). Cool climat vienyard in Canberra region, straddling the Great Dividing Range. Slow ripening in this climate. 'Open fermented', 'hand plunging' and matured in French oak for 20 months. Eden Road took over the winery in 2011. 20 mins. north of Canberra. Plantings commenced in the 1970s. Around $16 +.

2008 Barton Estate Riley's Riesling

Not particularly astounding if you've drunk Clare Valley Reisling. Neverhteless drinkable. Serious if not stern. Staid if not elegant. (Will cellar for ten years says the label.) For $18.00 a bottle, I'd possibly want more finesse than this.

2010 Topper's Mountain Wild Ferment Viognier

The label has a padlock in shades if dusted bronze to red bronze  The wine is semi pale gold in colour.There's pine and apricot in the aroma. The palate is spicy, like a cinnamon-nutmeg apricot. The winery claims alternative varieties and the terroir is high altitude and terra rossa profunda. It's a good wine and gets my tick as it does from my co-drinkers at the time. Mark Kirkby is the viongeron  and Mike Harris the winemaker. As a wine-making region it was born in the 1850s - so says the label, but it is currently re-emerging. The 'vineyard is just north of Tingha (near Armidale) on the spine of the Great Dividing Range in northern NSW', at 'the western edge of the New England Tablelands at an altitude of 900m above sea level. The vines have their roots deeply immersed in the beautiful, deep, red volcanic soils high above the valleys of the MacIntyre & Gwydir Rivers'. The name "Topper's Mountain" appears to have come 'from brothers E & W Topper who were employees of George Wyndham in the 1850s. At this time George owned "New Valley Station" which included the present day "Topper's Mountain"'. Note that the winery 's website does not currently list this wine.

2010 Thomas New England Estate Rose

You sense sweetness in the perfume and intially on the palate, both of which cannot, unfortunately, be forgotten despite the dry last finish. It's also that lolly-water colour. Placed up against roses such as Charles Melton and De Bortoli, it doesn't make it.  The label is, equally unfortunately, coloured-coded as a bright pink, and is overly and inappropriately luxurious with gold trim and a black stallion's head. New England has 'a rich history of viticulture, with vineyards dating back to 1869': so says the label. But the winemaking needs more finesse. One such fine element could be noting the grape variety used. About $16.00.

2011 Witches Falls Granite Belt Co-inoculated Unwooded Chardonnay

Very pale  lemon in colour, with maybe a sense of a green tinge.  Turkish delight, guava, passion and pine  or pear and nougat. n the perfume.  Tart  and dry with citrus on the end palate. some body and length but also thin-ish. Does not have the delights of a wooded, buttery chardonnay, which now I think I like very much and should stick to. It's quite stern and serious.  A wine that probably needs food.  - cheese, spinach, asparagus.

2010 Witches Falls Wild Ferment Viognier

The grapes are grown at Boyland, west of Tamborine  Mountain. Steve Cerutti is the winemaker who uses
'indigenous yeast,  some juice solids and barrell fermentation'. The label says it can be cellared (though nothing hangs around long enough in our house). It's golden in colour, like a traditional chardonnay, smelling of citrus, honeydew and honey. It's sweetish on the font palate, with some honey residue on the back and then a kind of figgish bitterness. Viognier is good for someone who is adventurouswho doesn't want a traditional chardonnay but still wants that same bodyand thickish fullness. Viognier will impress such a drinker.  It's zippy, still full of flavour but less weighty and less full-bodied than chardonnay. I think young women should get into it. This is one of Withces Falls best whites, if not the best.

2011 Witches Falls Granite Belt Co-inoculated Sauvignon blanc

The label tells us that the Australian Wine Research Institute  studied fermentation  'co-inoculated" with more than  one strain of yeast'. These showed that sav blanc  had 'a signicantly modified  chemical aroma profile and a potentially enhanced aroma  profile, relative to single  yeast ferments and belended wines'. Witches Falls co-inculated their 2011 sav blanc. It is a very beautiful, elegant subtle pale gold in colour that almost has pink in it. It's very perfumed, like a classic sav blanc, with pine, sharp passion-fruit, musk and even pistachio. It has considerable length with a middle to back palate, astringent and fruity. In flavour it has some celery, peach, apricot and even some mustard. It's a classic summery wine, beautifully balanced and structured. It would go well with cheese and fruit as appetisers.

2009 Witches Falls Granite Belt Wild Ferment Grenache

Grown by Davydd  and Cheryl Westlake at Ballandean. The labels of this winery are very informative and well-judged in design. In colour it's ruby-red with a mustard, golden ring. It has cherry and vanilla a nd some pepper in the pefume. Not a long palate, but it tastes of cherry strudle. It has a little warmth and some tannin.

2011 Witches Falls Granite Belt Co-incolulated Verdelho

Australian wine research Institute studied fermentation  '"co-inoculated" with more than  one strain of yeast'. These showed that sav blanc  had 'a signicantly modified  chemical aroma profile and a potentially enhanced aroma  profile, relative to single  yeast ferments and belended wines'. Witches Falls co-inculated their 2011 Verdelho. It's a wine that needs, even demands  food such as basil pesto pasta. It's mid-green-gold in colour. it has a fullish palate. it tastes of apple and cucumber.

2009 Zappa Martin's Shiraz

The aroma is of milk and vanilla. It is thickish in the mouth, with pepper and berry. It has some middle depth but not much length. A soft but sturdy wine.