There are certain small producers whose wines have the X-Factor that makes them stand out from the crowd. Cullen, Clonakilla and Grosset are among those that come to mind and to that list I am tempted to add Majella, whose Coonawarra range, right from its budget The Musician release to the high-end Malleea blend, are beautifully constructed wines, always a pleasure to drink. This has plenty of ripe, juicy berry fruit characters but it is also beautifully knitted together with complexity and elegance. Despite being a young wine it has some very attractive softness on the long. lingering palate with French oak very much in the background. It's a bargain for the price and I'd be ashamed to admit just how quickly this bottle was emptied. www.majellawines.com.au. $36.
Curly Flat winemaker Philip Moraghan is an avid pinotphile - a student of the grape variety in all its many guises and styles. So when he says he considers this to be the best pinot noir he has produced that's a pretty bold statement. This is certainly a wonderful wine; indisputably varietal, with impressive length and textural elements on the palate. It's surprisingly complex, too, for a wine made from fruit grown on vines in the Macedon Ranges that only have an average age of 12 years. The vineyard is treated biodynamically, which might explain the quality. You'll find cherry/plum characters on the nose and palate, spice, forest floor earthiness, hints of stalks but most of all terrific balance given the low alcohol levels (12.6%). Delightful drinking. www.curlyflat.com. $54.
Dean Hewitson always makes wines that perk interest, whether they be fresh-as-a-daisy sauvignons blanc, or far more serious wines like this extraordinary mourvedre (or mataro) made from grapevines planted in 1853 - the oldest mourvedre vines in the world. Where you might expect some density and concentration, this is a medium-bodied wine, lithe and athletic. There are dark fruit notes, hints of chocolate and earthiness, more than a hint of assertive oak but the finish is silky and long with plenty of potential for ageing. An elegant, graceful wine, even in its youth; if this were an actress it would probably be a classic beauty like Catherine Deneuve. www.hewitson.com.au. $120.
If you love wines with that sweet/savoury combination that Jurancon does so well, you'll enjoy this classy little number that offers sensational value for money. The balance between sugar and acid is spot on here, so that while the initial impression is of ripe pineapple, the finish offers some surprising dryness, roundness and length. A blend of petit manseng and gros manseng, this would be superb paired with calves' liver, pates and terrines or blue cheeses, as an aperitif or as a dessert wine. Imported by www.discovervin.com.au. $10.99 for 375mls.
Zar Brooks is one of the wine industry's leading marketers and his wife Elena is a talented winemaker. Their Dandelion Vineyards wines, produced in conjunction with several partners, tend to offer something a little out of the ordinary, as is the case with this unusual blend of shiraz and riesling. The good news is that it works, with the riesling lifting the shiraz fruit much as viognier does, without intruding as much as viognier can. Hand-plunging, basket pressing and maturation in older French barriques has resulted in a very stylish wine that even has some delicacy and elegance; a rare thing in McLaren Vale reds. Imagine a fruit salad of red berries, cherries and currants, spicy oak and a soft, supple finish and you'll have some idea of this wine's attributes.
$30. www.dandelionvineyards.com.au.
This is leading Californian winemaker and funster Randall Grahm's homage to the great red blends of the Southern Rhone - the name is a reference to the fact that a local ordinance bans UFOs from landing in Chateauneuf du Pape. It's a stunning wine, too, funky, earthy, complex, intriguing and a lttle bewildering in its many layers of flavours. It's gamey and little tannic - but I loved it. It's a blend of shiraz, grenache, cinsault, mourvedre and carignan and, unlike many Californian reds, it is bottled under a screwcap. Serve this one blind and you'll have a whole lot of fun as your guests try to guess what it is and where it came from. $79. Imported by Brad Wehr. brad@winebybrad.com.au
I was recently a guest of Mount Riley at a very special dinner where I was impresssed by the wines in their "reserve" tier Seventeen Valley range. But as good as these wines are, the major focus of the family-owned Marlborough winery is its standard sauvignon blanc - a very tempting wine for the price and very nicely put together with plenty of flavour but without some of the overtly herbaceous characters that can be offputting in Kiwi savvy blancs. There are some delightful citrus and passionfruit notes on the bouquet and a purity on the palate that sets it apart. Racy, zingy and very dry, this is a lovely drink. Good value, too. $16. www.mountriley.co.nz