The last week of September at our house revolves around two key events, and neither involves footy.

One is Mrs Ozwinereview’s bday, which demands a cellar raid for tasty things to drink in honour of the biggest supporter of this website. The second is the Australian Wine List of the Year Awards, which demands that I do my official judge duty, stand on a stage, and hand out oversized award placards to deserving venues, before enjoying (small pours of) tasty things to drink in celebration.

And there were some really delicious drinks this year too.

We’ll cover some of the wines actually consumed next week in the usual ‘what have you been drinking’ roundup. Before then, a word on wine lists.

As has been the tradition in recent years, last Monday was spent speed-dating with sommeliers. I’ve been judging the WLOTY awards for about a decade now, and as part of the process, there is an opportunity for anyone from a venue to interrogate a selection of judges about why their list hasn’t won yet/how to win…

This is an occasionally uncomfortable part of the event, as it requires some frank convos about lists that are way off the mark. That said, this is less common – it’s mostly fun. as you instead get to understand the ways venues actually work, as spoken by human beings who indeed live the service (you can see a pic of me on slide two in the insta post below handing out happy vibes last year).

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This year, we even had one of the somms from the winner (Society) sit down and ask how they could win. For the record, only a handful of people know the winners; I wasn’t one of them, but it was still a struggle to nitpick what a deserving winning list this is. Similarly, the joyful part about this speed dating element is telling sommeliers/owners/venue managers, etc. that their passion-play wine list they’re unsure about is actually really good.

Anyway, while all this is happening, there is a whole room full of sommeliers etc. in another room (a very large room, as the past two years have been in the big NSW Parliament House function area) on a tasting trail where wines, a few beers and the odd cocktail flow very freely. It gets a bit loose as the awards ceremony pushes on, and the beer eventually runs out in tandem, but the quality of the drinks on offer is uniformly excellent.

I had a very brief look at a few things, and there’s some worth writing home about (but please understand these were tastes snatched in between handing out awards, so they’re vibes).

Firstly, I was uninvited from the annual Penfolds tasting a decade ago because I was too critical of the wines, and the only things I really miss seeing are the Chardies. The Adelaide Hills Bin A Chardonnay pops up in wine trade land, and it’s typically delightful, but this newish Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay 2023 is a reminder of what I’m missing out on. Largely Tassie fruit, as it has been for some time, it’s a full-meal wine, with this grapefruit fruit/fine-grained oak tension that is super high quality. It feels very Tasmanian, if you like, in a pure quality way. Interestingly (or at least to me, because I’m out of the Penfolds loop and don’t know this), the Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay 2025 alongside it is now from very similar fruit sources, which makes Yattarna a barrel selection (though it does see more new oak). 311 wasn’t anywhere near the same quality tier, though; it looked primal and incomplete with two less years. I could have skipped the Penfolds Champagne Rosé NV too, which just felt fully priced (circa $100). The structure of the Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2024 also on the table felt very classic, though – that part of the Penfolds equation hasn’t changed.

For a poignant counterpoint to the Penfolds Champagne, the House of Arras Grand Vintage 2017 at the other end of the room was similarly priced (a few dollars more on the RRP) but twice the wine. I often feel like there’s a bit of tall poppy syndrome with the Arras wines (they’re expensive for Aussie sparklers, etc etc.), but consistently the complexity of that long-lees-aged vintage release is pretty grand.

Meanwhile, the new Clonakilla O’Riada Shiraz 2024, a few tables around from Arras, was a wine I’d like to drink. There’s a clever balance between spice, red fruit and Canberra-ness in that wine, which is extra impressive. Yes, the Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2024 next to it has the swagger, it has the perfume, it has this silken texture, but the detail of the (very fairly priced) O’Riada was a winner. A strong vintage for both wines, though, and very worthy buys.

Curiously, I had the Mount Edelstone Shiraz 2022 almost immediately after and was whelmed. The oak looked a fraction dominant, the mode less complex, the form less Eden and more Barossa Valley floor chunky. Good, but not top-of-the-pile great. As a direct comparison to the detailed – and considerably cheaper – Clonakilla wines, I can’t fathom it.

Finally, there was a quick try of the new Thomas Wines Braemore Semillon 2026, which was actually rather enjoyable, further underlining how much more approachable Thommo has made that wine as a youngster in recent vintages. The Thomas Wines Cellar Reserve Braemore Semillon 2019 is in a good zone now too. It’s a riper vintage wine, and I think the warmer years often make the best Hunter Sem. No hurry, and I’d buy plenty.

New Swinney

Let’s move on to another highlight from last week: a flying Rob Mann visit with some brand-new Swinney releases.

I’d totally forgotten that the Swinney family bought the old Brookland Valley site off Accolade back in 2022 and have now embarked on a mission to give Swinney a proper cellar door/home in Margaret River. Rob, who is more than just a winemaker for Swinney, is helping envisage what this looks like, including rebooting the old Flutes restaurant (once considered an icon of Margaret River winery restos) and even embracing luxury accommodation.

Interestingly, Accolade have contracted back most of the fruit from the Brookland Valley vineyard, but this year there is a brand new Swinney Margaret River Chardonnay 2025 and a Swinney Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2025 (pictured above). It’s only the Chardonnay that comes off that site for now though, with the Cabernet drawn from Rob’s Calgardup Vineyard inland from Redgate Beach in southern Margaret River.

There’s such a Margaret River classic stamp in that Swinney Chardonnay too. As Rob explains, it’s a block with Gingin clone Chardonnay vines, and the grapefruit acid shape is unmistakable. The wine is still way too young, with oak a dominant force for now, though the lines are very classy. The headline act is the Swinney Cabernet through, which has star power. With more new oak than Rob’s Corymbia Cabernet, it’s so polished, seamless, and inviting that it could bring people back to the Cabernet fold.

Notably, a Swinney Cabernet from the ex-Brookland Valley vineyard might be a way off, though. Rob sees a certain herbaceous character in that fruit that, while it has a place, can be too dominant. That’s quite a contrast to the Calgardup Vineyard, which, although it sits in the cool southern end of Margaret River, is actually a warmer, early-ripening site perfectly suited to Cabernet (and it shows).

Meanwhile, heading back to the Frankland vineyard, I very much liked the new Swinney Riesling 2026 as well, which has a sort of archetypal Frankland River green fruit power that feels at once powerfully tight yet immediately drinkable. The tannic profile of the new Swinney Grenache 2025 is really quite remarkable too – they’re powdery tannins, reflecting how much Rob aims for a bit more Grenache grip (and it works). Although when pressed, Rob still thinks the bush vine Mourvèdre is the best grape on the Swinney vineyard, and the Swinney Mourvèdre 2025 shows an ability to cope with even the endless dry heat of a record dry vintage, while delivering the trademark varietal black fruit and some black jelly bean fruit generosity.

Indeed, the only wine I can’t quite warm to is the Swinney Rosé 2025, which feels stuck between being a fresh and approachable modern rosé and a slightly more phenolic and layered Bandol-esque powerhouse. Ambitious rosé, yes, but it gets overshadowed in this company. I’d buy the new Cabernet, some Grenache, drink a bottle of Riesling and wait for later before cracking some Chardonnay.