Curious Wines Mixed Six

Discover your new favourites – six standout wines for the curious.

Contains 1 bottle each of the following:

 

Fighting Gully Road Verdicchio 2025

A wine of quiet confidence, beautifully balanced between richness and finesse. Medium to full-bodied and wonderfully textural, it unfolds in layers of white stone fruit and delicate blossom, with a vibrant citrus core adding lift and energy. A fine saline thread runs through the palate, bringing tension and definition, while bright, mouth-watering acidity carries the wine effortlessly to a long, persistent finish. Detailed, elegant and refreshingly precise.

 

Somos Biodynamic Vermentino 2025

A very pure vermentino, a variety whose texture and weight can be so hard to control. White flowers, honeysuckle, pear, ginger, white peach, fresh and preserved citrus. Silky and succulent, with creamy notes, hints of wood, opulent fruit, tangy citrus and salivating minerals.

A warm vintage and an early pick. This wine has seen an evolution of late, with this the biggest deviation from the prior opulently textural, skinsy, creamy and barrel-influenced iterations. It still saw oak, but no barrel ferment, with older oak maturation for six months, French puncheons only. The result is a more harmonious whole, still with a wash of texture, and some nutty savoury detail, but the fruit clarity is heightened. Waxy red apples, citron, preserved lemon, grapefruit pith. There’s a little chewy detail, and a saline slip to the zippy finish. And it’s a most pleasing thing. 94 Points – Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion

 

Tillie J Aligote 2024

Aligote has become trendy, presumably because in Burgundy at least, it’s hard to tell the difference with chardonnay and they are invariably cheaper. Ironically, I find it’s more varietal in Australia, being more linear than chardonnay and fine boned. Tillie J’s is remarkable, a shock really, it’s just so damn good and such good value! Intense, almost riesling-like. Lemon, rockmelon, saline notes, oyster shell, citrus blossom and a hint of crunchy pastry. The acidity – entirely natural – is formidable yet perfectly matched by the fruit from start to finish. An awesome wine.

From a vineyard planted at 250–300m in Whitfield. Whole-bunch pressed and fermented with solids in French oak (15% new) and stainless steel barriques. Even better than last year’s impressive debut, offering aromas of ripe pear, stone fruits and acacia together with a little struck match. Gently textured, the chalky and nicely structured palate finishes long and pithy. Tops. 95 points – Halliday Wine Companion

 

Frederick Stevenson Montepulciano 2024

Utterly captivating, with all the heightened sensuality of Montepulciano. Layers of blackberry, plum, blackcurrant and mulberry unfold into notes of licorice, dried herbs and mint. Curved and supple, with fine, bow-like tannins giving shape and line. Plush yet controlled, the focused acidity drives the wine long through the finish. Abundant, succulent, and seriously compelling.

Bright magenta-splashed crimson with fruit tones of blueberry, boysenberry and black cherry fruits. Hints of crushed rock, exotic spice, amaro, dried citrus rind, wildflowers, cherry conserve and earth. Bright fruits blue and black in shade, with a chewy, chalky tannin grip, bright red apple-skin acidity and a lightly earthen, savoury arc to its travel. Drinkability writ large. 92+ points – Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion

 

Fighting Gully Road Sangiovese 2024

Medium-bodied, with plush, fine-grained tannins that linger. Brambly dark berries, sour cherry and plum lead, with nuances of dried herbs, raspberry and earthy savouriness. Mouthwatering and beautifully composed.

“Mark Walpole loves sangiovese and the feeling is reciprocated. This is a mighty strong follow-up to the ’23, fairly bristling in cherry-fruited and aromatic brightness and crunch in youth, with an underlying brooding quality that says, ‘just wait.’ A smidge (5%) of the Tuscan colorino red grape adds to the iridescence of the cherry red, bright hues. Aromas rise in wild raspberries, red cherries, plum, florals, cumin, fennel seed, red earth and spice. The palate is nicely weighted, with brisk acid crunch, and is both upbeat and alive in spiced cherry, red fruits and an underlying savouriness of Campari, dried herbs, licorice and mineral earthiness. Potential? You bet!” 96 points – Jeni Port, Halliday Wine Companion

 

Traviarti Black Springs Nebbiolo 2023

Ripe dark cherry, dark florals and raspberry lead an invitingly aromatic opening, with woodsmoke and earthy paperbark beneath. A swirl of the glass unlocks a saline savouriness along with tar and gentle star anise. The palate is packed with alluring ripe red florals, dark cherry, raspberry and ripe red apple before ribbons of stacked, powdery tannins constrict the mouth for a coiled, precise and floral finish. Classy and perfumed with excellent structure. Fermented in concrete and raised in ceramic for around 12 months.” 94 Points – Tom Kline, Decanter