The Wine Front – Restrained style, though not without perfume and flavour. Here be lime leaf and lemongrass, that rocky/stony thing that’s there, but doesn’t make sense in terms of real world descriptions. Fine and crunchy, lemon and lime of steely intensity, yet quiet of voice at present, a stony texture, and a precise finish that’s all lime sorbet and rind. An intense stare now, but generosity to come.

The Wine Front – Pear, spicy biscuits, jasmine, honey, fresh apricot. Medium bodied, quite fleshy, with quince and ripe lemon as bonus flavours, a firm briny tang of acidity, a milky and powdery texture, and a spicy finish with a slight watermelon rind bitterness. Nice wine.

The Wine Front – Pear, spicy biscuits, jasmine, honey, fresh apricot. Medium bodied, quite fleshy, with quince and ripe lemon as bonus flavours, a firm briny tang of acidity, a milky and powdery texture, and a spicy finish with a slight watermelon rind bitterness. Nice wine.

The Wine Front – Bannockburn has never done things by halves when it comes to its sauvignon blanc. This 2017 release was made in three separate batches: one partially destemmed with skin contact, one barrel fermented and the third fermented in tank. It’s low in alcohol, but almost sweet with fruit ripeness. Sweet fruit but cutting acidity. Fun and then serious. Lemon, almonds, florals and metal. Red apples and rose petals. It’s as much nuance as drive, though there’s plenty of the latter. In all honesty – and we don’t say this often of sauvignon blanc – it needs a little time. Though there is a great deal to admire here. And that’s without mentioning the check of chubbiness to the texture, which works a treat.

The Wine Front – Adelaide Hills chardonnay grown at 400 metres. Fermented wild. Matured in French oak, 20% new, for nine months prior to bottling. Some malo, some not. It’s light-ish in some ways but it’s ever-so-attractive. Lemon, nectarine and pear flavours float across the tongue, the texture just-so, the acidity neatly contained within the fruit and yet offering plenty of refreshment. It looks bright in the glass and feels bright in the mouth. It’s still building, still findings its way in the world, but for length, balance and mouthfeel it has it going on. 92 points, Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au

The Wine Front – Grown on a tiny block of (43 year old) McLaren Vale grenache. Hand picked/selected from the lowest yielding vines. 75% spent 35 days on skins. The remainder spent nine days on skins and was fermented cool. 120 dozen made. It’s a marvellous grenache. It has a bit of beef, a bit of flesh, and yet it promotes dryness, spice and structure ahead of fruit. It’s not thick or massively intense but it’s convincing and indeed powerful, by its own design. Licorice, graphite, flings of dried herbs and bushes, a campfire smokiness. It’s textural, it’s aromatic, it’s a treat. The linger of tannin and flavour here is quite superb. Your best glassware, please. 93 points, Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au

The Wine Front – Grown mostly on the Rayner vineyard in McLaren Vale. 43 year old grenache vines; 65 year old shiraz vines; mataro from nearby. Some whole bunches, mostly with the mataro. All old oak. Bottled unfined/unfiltered. Another fantastic release from Bondar. Just the right mix of structure, flavour and interest. This is a savoury, sinewy wine first and foremost though flavours of graphite, woodsmoke, black cherry and fennel mean that there’s plenty else going on. Those strains of spicy tannin though; those fistfuls of smoked twigs and spices; they really set the scene. It twirls and twists through the mouth like it’s mapping out genes. A light-but-exquisite red wine. 93 points, Campbell Mattinson, winefront.com.au

The Wine Front – A month macerating on skins has given this wine a lease on life in the orange wine spectrum. Interesting project from Barney Flanders, who tells me that it was born from his love of phenolics and structure in wine, and a willingness to see the same in his whites. I like it. Dense fog of scent shows ripe melon and apple fruit characters, a whiff of juniper or gin-like botanicals, touch of green herb but just a pinch, an orangey aroma too; all appealing. Succulent, full mouthful of juicy fruit hemmed with a corset of fine, chalky tannins. Character-filled, complex white of high drinkability.

World Wine – Barney Flanders from Garagistes (wine) of Mornington Peninsula decided he wanted to take a look at how carbonic maceration and skin contact might work in his white wine ferments. It begat this range of wines. All wines under the label Côtier are made with white grapes (well, gris is in a grey area, of course), but see extended time on skins and ferment naturally ala carbonic. Fascinating. Good drinking. Pale gold colour but blazes in glass. Scents of preserved lemon, honey and honeysuckle, toffee apples, ginger and lemongrass spice. You’d get ‘riesling’, if you were playing guessing games, but with a twist. Chewy and tacky-textured in the palate, almost powdery in feel, lemon barley water and bitter apples in flavour. It’s actually very refreshing too. Defined by its texture, is the take away, and the least eccentric of the Côtier wines. This drinks super well.

The Wine Front – It’s from a number of sites across the Peninsula and its quality (and value) is very good. It’s a dry, savoury pinot with ample fruit and fine grooves of tannin. Complex, interesting, well scaffolded and satisfying through the finish. There’s a woodsmoke note, lots of black cherry, a tangy cranberried character and a late rise of redcurrant to the aftertaste. Plenty to see and experience. We’re into impeccable territory once again.

The Wine Front – A beautiful single-site chardonnay from the Mornington Peninsula. Brilliant straw in colour but long and racy. This really has its skates on, and it pulls more than enough flavour along with it. Flint, meal, grapefruit and stone fruit with fig and cider-like characters. Plenty going on but contained and whole. Terrific length. Just enough razzle-dazzle. Excellent.