The taste of redemption – 11 wines that made it this April 2025

I call this the anti-Almost Club.

Monday’s monthly dive into the ‘Almost Club‘ wines can seem negative, so today it’s about wines that actually did make it, with an emphasis on drinkability.

Importantly, this list also has a sense of redemption, with several producers who featured in Monday’s list and deserve love. Couple that with a few bargains, and we’re cooking with gas.

On that point, a call out for bargains – found any lately? Let me know in the comments.

Angullong Crossing Reserve Harriet 2022

Angullong has such an unusual blend of grapes planted, especially for Orange. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Cab, yes, but also Vermentino, Sagrantino, Malbec and more. Harriet is an Italian mashup blend, too, using Sangiovese, Sagrantino, and Montepulciano grapes.

Minty leaves and tobacco – there’s a ripe but leafy contrast going on here. Red cherry and furry red berry Montepulciano and Sangiovese elements, along with a hint of Sagrantino darkness. It’s at once a bit firm and acidic, but also rip and hearty. It never feels effortless, with a minty edge to that dark fruit. Too many angles for me, but I opened this for my extended family, and they rather liked the Italianate charm.

Best drinking: no hurry, five years might make it more friendly. 17/20, 90/100. 14.5% $50. Would I buy it? Worth a few glasses.

Anselmi Capitel Foscarino 2023

Anselmi’s reinvention of Soave continues. Breaking the mould, this is Garganega and Chardonnay. There is so much more weight and flesh here compared to most Soave, although this 2023 iteration of the Capitel Foscarino feels a bit more primary and less detailed than some vintages.

Yellow gold, it’s all lemon and melon – there’s this fleshy rockmelon generosity here. It’s like a ripe Sauv. Actually, that’s a good analogy – this feels like one of the worked Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, but with all the Gargenaga shades. It’s not strictly a complex wine (especially compared to some vintages), yet also a mouthful of flavour and not uninteresting.

Best drinking: now. 17.5/20, 91/100. 13.5%, $70. Would I buy it? Worth a glass, though the dollars are pushing it for more.

Anselmi San Vincenzo 2023

Garganega with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s another generous, honeyed and mouthfilling white wine with blossom and lemon barley sugar. It smells much riper than it tastes though – there’s this tangy preserved lemon drive. It’s just a tad ill-defined and round, yet just when you think it’s a boring wine, there’s a tangy cut through the finish. Again, drinkability and more than meets the eye.

Best drinking: now. 17/20, 90/100. 12%, $50. Would I buy it? Worth a glass.

Feudo Arancio Riserva 2019

Off to Sicily, with the hearty Feudo Aranco wines. This is Nero d’Avola, with 70% of the blend aged in 8-10 months, and the final blend matured in tank and bottle. It’s a hearty, luscious and black wine with baked earth and a baked feel to it. Has some thick blocky presence to it, and a little blackberry leaf but very secondary already. Still plenty of tea leaf tannins too. Authentically, tarry Sicilian red of heart, even if the price is up there for what is pretty basic stuff.

Best drinking: nowish. 17.5/20, 91/100. 13.5%, $50. Would I buy it? A glass.

Five Vineyard Shiraz 2022

Light, fresh Shiraz from a winery that is just outside the Yarra. It’s a bit underdone, with just-ripe plum and blackberry, plenty of acidity and a lean, plummy palate and powdery tannins. Missing a mid-palate, maybe, but refreshing.

Best drinking: nowish. 17/20, 90/100. 13.5%, $30. Would I buy it? A glass.

La Sorda Rioja Riserva 2015

Hello, affordable Rioja. It’s hardly a polished wine, but the DNA is spot on. Old leather, brick dust, dusty redcurrants and the old toasted oak tannins of mature Rioja. Yet this has the body, oak tannin grip, and a proper sense of Riojan feel to it, even though it shows all the creakiness and rawness of inexpensive Rioja. I kinda like it.

Best drinking: now, and yet it’s hardly going to fall over. 17/20, 90/100. 14%, $40. Would I buy it? A glass.

Meerea Park Alexander Munro Semillon 2019

This is old-school Hunter Semillon in a funny spot, but also some surprising approachability (which I neer say about Hunter Sem). It’s a nutty, slightly funky wine with a hint of hay and honey, and an almond-forwardness that makes it more easy-drinking than the norm. It’s not going to win trophies, but it willwin some converts who hate aged Sem.

Best drinking: later. 17/20, 90/100. 11.5%, $65. Would I buy it? A glass.

Nino Franco Primo Franco Dry Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore 2023

‘Dry’ Prosecco is hard to get right. The sweetness so often sticks out, and blunts the vitality of what is great Prosecco. This gets the balance better than most, even if it would be better drier. Yellow apple and a bit of sherbet in this juicy fizz. It’s a little diffuse and formless on the finish, with sherbet and tart acidity cancelling each other out. This is ultimately such an affable wine, even if Nino Franco’s less sweet wines are ultimately more up my alley.

Best drinking: now. 17.5/20, 91/100. 10.5% $80. Would I buy it? A glass.

Running with Bulls Grenache 2023

Slurpability plus in this Barossan Grenache. Soft, light, slightly syrupy red with juicy, fruit-sweet raspberry glycerol fruit and a light, ripe, low acid palate. This is exactly what it should be. Has some licoricey softness but there is surprising depth to it as well. A sub $20 bargain.

Best drinking: now. 16.8/20, 89/100. 13.5%, $20. Would I buy it? A glass.

Small Gully Wines Panakeia Joe’s Zinfandel 2021

The Small Gully wines are nearly always OTT, but the flipside is flavour expanse. This is named after the Greek god of cure-alls – panacea. Thick, treacly, ultra luscious and warming – it’s a huge wine, but also one of extravagance. Lots of vanilla bean bourbon oak, and then a blackberry lusciousness. Yes, it’s fractionally spirit-y, but that fruit expanse goes on and on. This is anything but a drink I love, but that giant wall of fruit flavour will go down so well with lovers of big sweet reds (and you know it could be big in the US) and I rather admire the unabashed excessiveness too.

Best drinking: now. 17.5/20, 91/100. 15.8%, $50. Would I buy it? No, but I know plenty of people that will love this.

Zonzo Estate Vintage Sparkling 2017

Cool and clean Yarra sparkling with interest. Marzipan and lemon with a tart lemon tang – it’s a crisp and cool aperitif mode with a little aftershave and white fruit. Tart and lean and crisp, a bit linear and tart but nice freshness and delicacy. A second glass reveals some delicate complexity to it as well. The price is high, and it is a bit too taut, but also rather refreshing.

Best drinking: now. 17.5/20, 91/100. 12.5%, $65. Would I buy it? A glass.