Almost Club Dec 2023/January ’24 edition. 26 wines that almost made it this summer

Not all wines can be great. Plenty are just ‘ok drinks’, and some are just bad…

Here is a collection of x wines that almost made it in December 2023 and January 2024.

As ever, plenty of these wines are still entirely reliable drinks and with great prices vs drinkability (especially the array of Aldi-exclusives). Whereas some of these wines are just huge disappointments.

Let’s dive in, hey?

Chateau Tanunda 100 Year Old Vines Semillon 2022

Barrel-fermented Barossa Semillon is rarely seductive young. Rarely seductive old either, but I digress. This Chateau Tanunda promises plenty. Basket-pressed, old vine fruit and matured for months in old French oak. It doesn’t smell like much, with lemon and almond and neutrality. There’s a push of lemon rind fruit on the palate, but the balance isn’t quite right – it’s warm and tinny all at once. This feels a bit disjointed, even if the palate is clearly concentrated, and it feels like a wasted opportunity for that fruit. Maybe it will come out the other side? It’s not terrible, just disjointed. Best drinking: maybe later. 16.8/20, 89/100. 13.5%, $70.

Gundog Estate Rosé 2023

Just a bit too candied to be great. Sourced from the Hilltops & Canberra, it’s an old fashioned riper and juicier rosé here with a light pink/orange colour and a palate full of strawberries. Bright, juicy, just a bit candied for balance, it might well be popular at the cellar door but a bit juicy/sweet for me. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 13.5%, $28.

Patritti Lavoro Grenache 2022

Gummy, confected McLaren Vale Grenache that looks a bit stretched. There’s a carbonic red lolly fruit jolly generosity, but it gets a bit bitter and warm on the finish, just as you expect it to flesh out. There’s flavour but also a diffuse finish. Best drinking: nowish. 16.8/20, 89/100. 14.5%, $25.

Reserve de La Famille Drouet Sauvignon Blanc 2021

Bargain Loire Sauvignon Blanc from Aldi. Super varietal – it smells of green herbs, dill white pepper and green beans. The palate is snappy, clean and really quite persistent. Yes, it’s a bit on the unripe side of the fence, but man, is it fresh. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 11.5%, $9.99.

Bugalugs by Tim Smith Blanc 2023

A blend of Barossan Grenache Blanc/ Clairette/Roussanne/Viognier. The challenge is that it doesn’t have a definitive character – it could be anything from nearly anywhere. It smells of hessian and pear, with an easy, juicy palate of creamy pear and a bit of stone fruit with a little pucker to finish. This is an affable luncheon white, with some texture (a little skin contact and lees work) to add interest. I want just a bit more than the unripe fruit salad mode. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 11.5%, $30.

Val Soleu Rosé 2022

Organic rosé from the Drôme. Musk. Strawberry and a little pink fruit. Crisp, fragrant and easy but a pretty light sort of thing. Unremarkable, but correct, medium-bodied (in the Rhone mode of ‘fuller than flavourless’) French rosé. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 12.5%, $35.

Vinatero Grenache 2022

Light, jubey, easy redcurranty Aldi-exclusive Grenache with easy fruit and light sandy tannins. It’s like a joven Grenache. No alarms, just bright fruit. It just needs a bit more oomph to be a winner. Best drinking: nowish. 16.8/20, 89/100. 14%, $11.99.

Hentyfarm Pinot Gris 2023

I wish this just had more flavour. Has all the texta, pear and blackcurrant Pinot Gris hints and a phenolic tang but not the generosity to carry it off. Missing a flavour gear. Best drinking: now. 16.5/20, 88/100. 13%. $35.

Reserve de la Famille Drouet Cabernet Franc Rosé 2021

Aldi-exclusive, great colour and spot-on style in this Loire Franc. Orange/pink, a little dried herb and leafy strawberry on a dry, delineated, lightly herbal palate. Varietal, a little bitter, crunchy, and refreshing with leafy tannic grip. Smart for $9.99! Best drinking: nowish. 16.5/20, 88/100. 12%, $9.99.

Soumah Single Vineyard Marzemino 2022

A tricky grape to get ripe/right at the best of times. This is from the Hexham Vineyard in the Yarra Valley, with vines planted in 2018. It sees just 10% new oak, but even that might be too much for this early-picked Marzemino, giving this a bit of caramel over what is a light, ferny, herbal red. It’s not ugly – there’s a red fruit core in there, but the acidity buts against the oak. All it needs is more ripeness, even if it it’s a bit green and awkward now. Best drinking: I don’t know. Maybe three years? 16.5/20, 88/100. 12.5%, $35

Stockman’s Ridge ‘Rider’ Gruner Veltliner 2022

There isn’t much Gruner planted in Orange, with the grapes for this coming from a vineyard planted in 2012. Forward, but still carries the celery juice Gruner aromatic signature. The flavourless palate is a flash in the pan – blink and then it’s gone, with just a sour lemon and vaguely grassy palate. Not much happening here, despite the promise. Best drinking: now. 16.5/20, 88/100. 11.5%, $35.

Venturer Series Durif 2021

Also-exclusive Riverina Durif packaged in what looks very much like a De Bortoli bottle (you can join the dots). Bitumen, prunes cardboard, cooked plums. It’s a big, hearty sort of thing, with clumsy acidity but truckloads of flavour. For the price and intentions, this black jubey warm red will win friends. Best drinking: nowish. 16.5/20, 88/100. 13.9%, $8.99.

A.C. Byrne & Co. Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2023

Alid-exclusive Margaret River white at a bargain price. Clean, snappy but fleeting, with gooseberry and nettle Sauv, green melon, it’s plenty refreshing enough but there isn’t much below the surface. Still entirely drinkable. Best drinking: now. 16/20, 87/100. 12.8%, $10.99.

Maso di Mezzo Chardonnay 2021

Carries the ‘Vigneti delle Dolomiti’ IGT designation, which is such an evocative-sounding (and entirely beautiful) Italian appellation. Cardboard, unripe peach the nose and palate forward and a bit dusty. This tastes cheap, if inoffensive, and probably better last year. Best drinking: last year. 16/20, 87/100. 12.5%, $30​.

Yalumba Gen Organic Chardonnay 2022

I find this range one-dimensional. This Chardonnay is tinny too – forward and pineappley Chardonnay. Little oak is all pine lemon fruit and has an easy flavour. Doesn’t do much for me. Best drinking: now. 16/20, 87/100. 12%, $20.

Tussock Jumper Garnacha 2020

Tussock Jumper is a flashy packaged but largely disappointing range of Coles-exclusive $10 imports. This is the best wine in the range – a Spanish Garnacha from Cariñena. Caramel, brick dust, raspberry lollies. Forward, but it feels correct. Confected light raspberry fruit and slightly bitter tannins. It has flavour and authenticity., even if it’s short. Best drinking: now. 16/20, 87/100. 14%, $15.

A.C. Byrne & Co. Margaret River Chardonnay 2023

It’s 13.6% alc, but seeing much flavour here is a struggle. Yellow peach passes quickly with a bare hint of vanilla in a nod to oak character, then a warmish finish. Yeah nah. Best drinking: now. 15.8/20, 86/100. 13.6%, $9.99.

Clandestine Vineyards Prosecco Rosé 2023

Single vineyard King Valley Prosecco with some Barbera skin contact. An ‘off dry’ style., which first with the Italian style pink Prosecco. Forward and flavourless, save for a gritty finish. Little Glera about it or anything else. Best drinking: now. 15.8/20, 86/100. 10.5%, $28.

Luis Felipe Edwards Carmenere 2022

Chilean Carmenere. Reductive, to the point of distraction, but that blows off, with a meaty, rustic, cranberry and cooked raspberries, with a bit of mulchy dark earth and wet leaves. Hello Carmenere! The faux liquid oak is like a vanilla cream seam, then comes the mulch and raw tannins. I get it, but this is a bit of a jumble. Best drinking: now. 15.8/20, 86/100. 13%, $7.99.

Mottura Primitivo Salento 2022

Dogged by all the Primitivo challenges. Treacly black fruit molasses overripe fruit sugar sweetness, but unripe tannins and a mean green streak. It’s distinctly varietal, sweet and sour and ultimately an awkward red that I couldn’t drink (although not technically faulty). Best drinking: now. 15.5/20, 85/100. 13%, $35.

Piedra Negra Malbec Reserve 2020

Argentine Malbec. Slightly grubby oak weighs heavily on this with a grippy palate dominated by oak tannin rawness. Rough and ready drinking. 15.5/20, 85/100. 14%, $11.99.

Innocent Bystander Shiraz Cienna 2022

I’m not the target market here, so perhaps unfair. But this is a sweet red masquerading as something dry, with vanillan berries in a purple soupçon of sugary juice. The sweet finish is a major turn-off, even if it’s meant to be like that. Unbalanced and just not enjoyable. Best drinking: now. 15.5/20, 85/100. 13.5%, $23.

South Point Estate Pinot Grigio 2023

Crisp, flavourless white wine for smashingby the bottle. There’s a flourish of pear juice and not much else, but hey, it tastes like Pinot Grigio. Alcoholic water, in a way, but entirely fine for $5. Best drinking: now. 15.5/20, 85/100. 12%, $5.99

Tussock Jumper Pinot Grigio delle Venezie 2022

Water clear and largely flavourless. Cardboard, celery, vague white fruit. It’s not offensive but good luck finding any flavour. Sub €5 wine. Best drinking: now. 15.5/20, 86/100. 12%, $15.

Tussock Jumper Pinot Noir 2021

Raw. Lean and underweight French Pinot with no fruit and an empty carcass for a shell. Average $5 wine. Best drinking: now. 15/20, 84/100. 13%, $15.

Tussock Jumper Sangiovese 2020

Simply ‘Italy’. Leathery, already browning and lacking in fruit, the stretched and unripe palate is tired. This is pretty low quality. Best drinking: last year. 15/20, 84/100. 12.5%, $15.