With January behind us, we can breath more easily in the presence of friends who insist on January being an abstemious, alcohol-free month. 

“Un repas sans vin est un jour sans soleil” (‘a meal without wine is a day without sunshine’), Louis Pasteur is reputed to have said, and some wine lovers enthusiastically agree. Medical opinion, moreover, can usually be found to back up almost any personal alcohol strategy other than that of unmitigated excess.

Whatever your personal approach, we encourage the regular consumption of good wine in good company.

Many people enter the wine industry, almost no one leaves. We spend our working lives writing about (and thus in some sense promoting) fine wines, and hence we are in no doubt of their beauty, intrigue, cultural depth and civilising qualities. Often we witness and experience the beneficial effects of wine in lifting the spirits and bringing people closer to one another. A little wine brings spiritual music to secular life.

For this one we'll let the reviews speak for the wine:

"This is the best sub-$20 Chardonnay of the year. There you have  it! I almost fell off my (arm) chair when the inaugural 2009 vintage  hit the streets, and the proof has just landed that the Armchair Critic is no one-hit wonder. Quite the contrary. I like the new vintage more. It perfectly juxtaposes the cool, mineral edge of Tumburumba with restrained almond oak and the complexity of lees contact. It is beautifully textured, with a lingering lemon juice tail and and an exciting future in front of it." 94 points. Tyson Stelzer.

“Excellent intensity, sustained flavour, amazing length and lip-smacking savouriness. A bargain. 4.5 stars” Ralph Kyte-Powell – The Age Epicure

“Screams out "bargain"…could quite easily retail for considerably more. It's quite lean and elegant, composed and crisp with grapefruit and pear characters to the fore. A wine for snapping up by the case”. Winsor Dobbin

And James Halliday:
Struck match, quince and peach bouquey; savoury and lively palate with a nutty conclusion; quite a Euro-centric style.
Score: 90. February 2011.

And if anyone is wondering - just where is Tumbarumba? - it is indeed a remote region in the Snowy Mountains alps in NSW - very cool, picturesque, and only recently planted to grapes. The region is perfect for cool-climate grapes such as Pinot Noir, and for the minerally style of Chardonnays such as the Armchair Critic.

You won't go wrong with a case or two of this - buy here - $215.20 for a case including delivery.

Our ever-popular French and Spanish wine sampler packs have been updated with new wines. For all of us with fond memories of exploring these great countries and eating in a Spanish or French bistro or restaurant, perhaps sitting in an unstable chair next to a small, round table on a cobblestone sidewalk, these sampler packs are a way to remind us of those vacations.

Learn which grapes grow where and begin to understand the nuances of the different regions. Tasting notes are included in the packs, which can be viewed and purchased here for the French and here for the Spanish.