What happens when you combine watermelons, unsold bread, a retail colossus and a craft brewer? Summertime merriment, apparently.
Rebecca Le May
Ray Jordan trials the top-range Grange
Ray Jordan
Historic South West hotel hosts new brewery drawing on local produce
Simon Collins
From fiano to montepulciano, these Italian-style drops are perfect for summer drinking.
Michael Counsel loves his wine. Perhaps that’s a good thing given the challenge of leaving a senior role in an international corporate to take up a position in a Perth-based cyber security company.
INSIDER: Vasse Felix owner Paul Holmes a Court comes from a family renowned for bold business moves. He may have just uncorked another vintage plan to make WA a global destination for bubbles.
SEE THE PICTURES: It’s the end of an era for the iconic Newport Hotel in Fremantle, which will close its doors next month to undergo a major rebrand.
Danielle Le Messurier
The West Australians is giving away eight mixed dozens made up of whites, sparklings and roses from the annual Top 100 tasting, as selected by Ray Jordan.
Cy Clayton
From the extraordinary number of white wines submitted, it was a mighty difficult assignment to work through them to pick the best of the tasting and the best-value wines.
The West Australian’s wine editor has sipped through more than 750 wines to crown the best drops to sip this summer.
One variety dominated in this category, as some South Australian winemakers claim the 2021 vintage was the best they’d ever had.
These Australian sparkles are the equal of a lot of the lower priced French non-vintage styles. The best of these, as reflected in the over-$30 bracket, are exceptional.
Australian winemakers are doing a very good job with the style, so there is a good cross-section of local and imported prosecco in the list.
The traditional, deep-crimson-to-almost-red colour of Aussie rosés of the past has given way to often the palest of blushes. Yet the wines have a more persistent and penetrating flavour.
This is where you find the interesting wines, where the quality of the fruit is better and the winemaker is dialled up to match.
This category was logically dominated by wines from the past couple of vintages and there were some excellent value-for-money wines here.
There was only room for two pinot grigios but quite a few just missed the cut. It is a variety well suited to the price point, where you are looking for a nice easy drink especially over summer.
Winemaking giant Treasury Wine Estates is furthering its ambition to become the premium wine market leader in the US with a deal to buy Frank Family Vineyards in California for $US315 million ($434m).
The Swan Valley produces some of the top drops in the State. Here are three of Ray Jordan’s favourites.
There was something about the wines from Polperro that had Ray Jordan hooked from the start.
A slump in global wine production may be good news for Australian growers scrambling to secure new export markets but ongoing turmoil at shipping terminals threatens to derail the opportunity.
Jenne Brammer
More female brewers will lead to more women drinking beer, according to Simone Clements, inaugural head brewer at Gage Roads Freo.
Your morning coffee order could soon cost you significantly more as Australia’s cafes aim to bounce back after Covid-19.
Helena Burke
Houghton continues to release several wines which honour some of the most important people in the State’s wine industry while showing the regional diversity of the wines.
© West Australian Newspapers Limited 2021
