The Almost Club June 2024 edition: 24 wines that almost made it

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

Here are 24 wines that almost made the silver medal grade in June 2024. From friendly, sub $20 quaffs to not-so-cheap disappointments…

Cape Barren Native Goose Shiraz 2021

An old-school McLaren Vale Shiraz that lets oak and sweet, luscious fruit be the main event. It can be found in retail land for $20ish, and it’s good drinking at that mark. A blend of French and American oak barrels in the blend here, and you can taste the toasty chocolate wood character all over the wine. It’s a bit forward and smells of bacon fat and black fruit, with layers of milky oak on the nose and lining the palate (including some late oak tannins). It’s round, sweetish, oak-enriched and warm, with some elevated acidity to punctuate the finish. That plushness will win friends, even if this feels a bit constructed. Best drinking: over the next ten years. 16.8/20, 89/100. 14.5%, $30.

Handpicked Regional Selection Yarra Valley Rosé 2022

The Yarra Valley is called a ‘Mediterranean climate’ in the notes for this pink. Tell that to winemakers in the Upper Yarra with a dusting of snow this week ;). Then again, the Tuscan hills aren’t that far from the Med… Sangiovese grapes in the blend here, which is also uncommon for the Yarra. It’s a coppery pink-coloured wine, in a style that is savoury, dry and forward (maybe better last year?). Built in a modern, red-fruited Tuscan rosato style, if you like, which means a pitch at fuller flavours (and a dry finish). It’s refreshing enough, for that matter, but with no fruit to speak of and a finish that’s a bit tannic. Tries a bit hard. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 12.2%, $29.

Harewood Estate Chardonnay 2022

Great Southern fruit for this broad-brushed Chardonnay, which drives along with plenty of tinned stonefruit flavour, except the finish gets tart and tight, battling the creamed peach fruit. It never gets out of simple fruit mode, but has sunshine fruit. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 13.5%, $35.

Harewood Estate Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2022

Denmark fruit for this white too. It smells of nettles, grass and unripe things, into leafy basil and jalapeños territory, then a bit of sweet lemongrass on a tangy palate that is sweet and sour. Very well priced, for sure, and punchy flavour, but the green fruit/sweetness thing unbalances the whole drink. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 13%, $20.

Howard Park Miamup Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2023

Grassy green WA blend (again). Pyrazine, passionfruit and dried herbs. Crunchy, lightly herbal, sour and acid-driven lean palate, too. Again, plenty of intensity, and you can see every angle, but not enough beyond crunchy green fruit aromatics and biting acidity.. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 12%, $30.

Paulmara Estate Sangiovese Rosé 2023

his Barossa rosé is plenty plump – a juicy, berried, easy drink, but the finish is a bit sour. The sweet/sour thing isn’t great, but this has enough red fruit affability to be a cellar door hit. Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 12%, $25.

Penny’s Hill Edwards Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

Rugged, minty McLaren Vale Cabernet. It smells of spearmint, dusty oak and dusty firm tannins. Lots of McLaren Vale Cab tannins but so much mint, acid and alcohol. There’s still plenty of flavour, and unlike the Merlot below, it has fruit generosity. Best drinking: over the next decade, easy. 16.8/20, 89/100. 14.5% $30

St Hugo Barossa Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2023

Others will undoubtedly see this wine differently (especially in a wine show), but too modern and over-polished for mine. Jubey, gummy and bright Barossan Grenache fruit-driven style in a squeaky, super smooth, medium-bodied mode. Too squeaky (from the acidity) and made. It’s not a bad wine, but less winemaking would be more. Best drinking: over the next five years for a start. 16.8/20, 89/100. 14.5%, $45.

St Hugo Chardonnay 2023

This is another made-rather-than-grown Eden Valley Chardonnay. Lemon and lemon cream, banana esters, cream pie. The nose is certainly interesting – coiffed. After the flourish of the first whiff, it doesn’t taste like much at all and simpers off into peachiness. Not quite congruent. Best drinking: over the next five years, and better next year. 16.8/20, 89/100. 13%, $38

Tokar Estate Pinot Noir 2023

I’ve never been disappointed by a Tokar Yarra Pinot, which makes this a curious release. It’s minty, and it looks like the ripeness was a struggle this year—there is a soapy/menthol vibe despite the 14.3% alcohol. It’s not unattractive—the mint and glacé fruit is interesting but feels short and gruff. Best drinking: I don’t know. Nowish. 16.8/20, 89/100. 14.3%, $40.

Yalumba Eden Valley Chardonnay 2022

Tinned sunshine, but not enough beyond that. Bright and peachy Chardonnay fruit. A generous, easy, mid-palate-driven wine of stonefruit, a layer of creamed peach and gentle acidity. Fun enough, but uneventful, especially given how good the Viognier in this range is. Best drinking: over the next few years. 16.8/20, 89/100. 13%, $28.

Apricus Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Barrel-fermented Denmark Sauvignon Blanc here, but it doesn’t show a barrel-fermented character, just pointy, early-picked fruit. Lots of herbal pyrazine aromatic intensity, but there isn’t much beyond that grassy hit. Give me more for this price. Best drinking: nowish. 16.5/20, 88/100. 12%, $40.

Barwang Impromptu Sparkling Chardonnay 2023

Barwang is back! Now out from the old McWilliams brand and on its own. Great to see a celebrated Hilltops vineyard/name back. This is a crown-sealed, easy Hilltops sparkling. I thought it was a Pet Nat, and it pours with some froth, although underneath, it’s just a juicy, slightly off-dry sparkling. Broad melon and ripe apples, a generous appley palate, too. Affable, round, easygoing, juicy flavour, if not much more. Best drinking: now. 16.5/20, 88/100. 10.5%, $23,

Cape Barren Native Goose Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

Smudgey, diffuse McLaren Vale Cabernet. There is plenty of flavour, but it’s all blurry, chunky lines that crash into each other. It’s full-bodied, with dusty blackberries and a dusty, tart tannic finish with caramel oak filling the holes. I see mixed ripeness as the downer here, as plenty of 2020 Vale reds show. Best drinking: nowish before it starts drying out. 16.5/20, 88/100. 14.5%, $30.

Howard Park Flint Rock Shiraz 2022

Great Southen fruit for this red shows the struggles of getting Shiraz exactly ripe in a southern WA vineyard. Raspy tannins and a firm, tart, extractive shape rob this of enough delight to be delicious. It’s hearty and tannic, but the minty purple berry fruit isn’t up to the task. Acid sticks out in the finish as well. Hearty, but not elegant. Best drinking: no rush, will go for 5-10 years, but it might dry out. 16.5/20, 88/100. 14.5%, $30.

Paulmara Estates DeNero Nero d’Avola 2023

Rich Barossan Nero d’Avola clouded by sweet vanilla bean American oak. There’s some black jelly bean fruit in there somewhere, but oak on the nose, palate and finish is hard to conquer. Best drinking: now and for plenty of years yet. The oak might integrate more, too. 16.5/20, 88/100. 14%, $25.

Penny’s Hill Malpas Road Merlot 2022

Merlot from a block in McLaren Vale planted in 1991. Matured for 12 months in older oak. The oak is 1+ years old, but there isn’t much room for fruit between the wood and the extractive tannins. It’s a hearty wine with plenty of alcohol and acidity but a missing mid palate. Best drinking: nowish. 16.5/20, 88/100. 14%, $28.

Barwang Chardonnay 2023

Single vineyard Hilltops Chardonnay. A ripe gently peachy white wine of hay and stone fruit roundness. No oak, medium acidity, pleasant but broad. Best drinking: nowish. 16.3/20, 87/100. 13.5%, $23.

Silkwood Estate The Bowers Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Tart, green-fruited, crisp and varietal Pemberton Sauvignon Blanc that’s a little weedy. Fresh enough, and enough passionfruit through the middle to be drinkable, but the green acidity is raw. Best drinking: now. 16.3/20, 87/100. 12.5%, $25

Hirsch Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Flavourless Yarra Valley Sauvignon Blanc. Spends five months on lees in a bid for texture, but it misses. It’s a little passionfruit and hints of tropical fruit, but it’s green and lacks flavour. Best drinking: now. 16/20, 87/100. 12.7%, $34.

Truly Wildly Heathcote Shiraz 2022

This is fine for $14, but no more. It has deep colours but a thin wine, with a dusty, cardboardy edge to the red fruit, a little Heathcote earth, and spiced plums on the finish. It’s fine, but it tastes like a $14 red. Best drinking: now. 16/20, 87/100. 14%, $14.

Paulmara Estates XW Blanc de Noir 2023

This is such a strange white wine. I’m unsure of the (red) variety, but it just tastes like caramel wine. It might be good for options games, but it tastes like weird fruity caramel juice. I’m guessing this was used to wash through some new wood. It’s sour and lacks flavours recognisable as fruit. Best drinking: now. 15.5/20, 85/100. 12.8%, $25.

White Box Shiraz 2018

This is better than the 2019 below, but it is still a raw, dusty, tiring Heathcote Shiraz that was picked too late. Minty mulberry red fruit, sweet toasty oak, jubey confection, drying tannins and a sting of added acid and alcohol. Not great. Best drinking: last year. 15.3/20, 84/100. 15.7%, $24.99

White Box Shiraz 2019

This is on the way out. Still ruby red, it smells of old kirsch liqueur, leather and mothballs, with a palate that doesn’t have much left besides grippy tannins, oak and alcohol. No joy. Best drinking: last year. 15/20, 83/100. 15.7%, $24.99.