The best wines of 2024

At the annual Awards judging earlier this year, our Tasting Team collectively chose these 17 wines as the best in their class. Where the initials PD appear, the attributed score was a panel decision.

SPARKLING WINE Sittella Wines Grand Prestige Late Disgorged 2010, Pemberton

MB writes: Twelve years on lees. Very toasty scents laced with sea spray, dried apple, fig, cinnamon and nougat. The palate is set similarly with characters of more toast and cinnamon with licks of honey in the mix, yet a piercing line of saline acidity makes its mark, too. Creamy mouthfeel on top of that and a salted nut finish lingers. A profound wine. PD 12.5% alc.

RRP $125 / 2027

RIESLING limefinger Solace Riesling 2022, Clare Valley

MB writes: So scintillating, so pure, so much energy, so minerally. Scents of lime (of course), pink grapefruit and honeysuckle with a whiff of warm slate. The palate is compact, racy and very long. More of those lime characters, tightly bundled with an incredible brine-meets-granite mineral character that races through the wine, extending it on lacy threads to infinity. Immense drive.

It’s a superb riesling. PD 11% alc.

RRP $38 / 2040

CHARDONNAY Landaire at Padthaway Estate Chardonnay 2021, Padthaway

CM writes: Wow, this is serious business. Indeed the word glorious immediately springs to mind. Toast, flint, grilled white peach, nougat and lemon curd characters come charging at you, first sip until the last, compellingly, authoritatively. Jumps straight out of the box and once it’s out, there’s no stopping it. PD 12.5% alc.

RRP $37 / 2023

SEMILLON Pepper Tree Wines Museum Release Limited Release Tallawanta Single Vineyard Semillon 2013,

Hunter Valley

The Tallawanta Vineyard is best known for sublime shiraz with a 50-year life span, but if the vintage was very good – as in this case – semillon is nipping at its heels. I’ve decided that this wine is too great to spit out as I write this tasting note. The detail, the balance, the length, the aftertaste ... all perfect. JH 11.5% alc.

RRP $130 / 2053

SAUVIGNON BLANC Domaine Naturaliste Sauvage Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Margaret River

Barrel fermented in new and used French puncheons, which contribute to both the flavour and texture of this very appealing wine. It’s savoury and dry, but the lemon zest and fruit flavours are the prime movers in showing what can be done even in a vintage that wasn’t easy. JH 13% alc.

RRP $35 / 2029

PINOT GRIS/GRIGIO Mayer Bloody Hill Villages Healesville Pinot Gris 2022, Yarra Valley

A fresh and appealing pinot gris. This has some nashi pear and grapefruit pith with a hint of apricot kernel. On the palate, you’ll find white nectarine, some pickled ginger and, equally importantly, a touch of grip giving the wine shape and structure. A no-brainer for spicy Thai food and the like. PR 12.5% alc.

RRP $34 / 2025

OTHER WHITES (& BLENDS) John Kosovich Wines Bottle

Aged Reserve Chenin Blanc 2018, Swan Valley

MB writes: Strong, lemony scents with accents of honeycomb, wet fern, pineapple and tonic water. The palate is squeaky and crisp, showing more lemony characters with dashes of tonic water, bay leaf and briny minerality with some chalkiness in texture, too. Gentle maturation endows savoury elements and some honey-butter notes. It’s in a brilliant place, vivid for the variety and maturing graciously. PD 12.8% alc.

RRP $54 / 2040

ROSÉ Sutton Grange Winery Fairbank Rosé 2022, Central Victoria

JP writes: Shiraz/cabernet sauvignon/ sangiovese. Sutton Grange’s new winemaker Chris Smales delivers on his first vintage release. Attractive tea rose hues. Gentle, lifted aromas of raspberry, wild strawberry and lively spice. Love the smoothness, the inviting spice, the bright red berries and clean acid crunch to taste. And so, so versatile at the table. PD 13% alc.

RRP $35 / 2025

PINOT NOIR Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022, Yarra Valley

Aromas of crushed rose petals, red and black cherries, satsuma plums and subtle hints of sandalwood and fennel fronds. There’s a little charcuterie and a discreet touch of wet stone. On the palate, this is concentrated, structured and saline, yet you barely notice the tannins due to the core of pure raspberry and cherry fruit. Simply irresistible. PR 13% alc.

RRP $90 / 2032

GRENACHE (& BLENDS) Yangarra Estate Vineyard Old Vine Grenache 2021, McLaren Vale

JH writes: Ex 1946 Blewitt Springs bush vines planted in a deep sandy dune that Yangarra call The Beach; dry-grown, bunch-sorted, wild yeast, open fermented and basket pressed. Bright clear though deep crimson hue; scented/perfumed, and I’m gone for all money without even tasting it. And I haven’t fooled myself. Except why on earth is it only $45? Its red fruit sundae glistens with dew drops on a spider’s web, yet also has a savoury echo towards the finish. PD 14.5% alc.

RRP $45 / 2041

SHIRAZ Murdoch Hill The Landau Single Vineyard Oakbank Syrah 2021, Adelaide Hills

NG writes: So finely tuned, aromatic and fresh it makes my head spin. Violet, iodine, purple fruit persuasions and a swathe of the most beautiful, shapely tannins, like pinions of savoury enforcement riddling olive and smoked meat across the mid-weighted palate. Clearly fruit comes off a site as beautiful as the hands that crafted this wine. PD 13.5% alc.

RRP $51 / 2030

CABERNET SHIRAZ BLENDS Bleasdale Vineyards Wellington Road Shiraz Cabernet 2021, Langhorne Creek

JH writes: Winemaker Paul Hotker made full use of a brilliant growing season and harvest, with a juicy and sleek palate redolent with red and black fruits that caress every time you return to the supple mouthfeel and lingering finish. PD 13.5% alc.

RRP $32 / 2046

CABERNET SAUVIGNON Bleasdale Vineyards The Iron Duke Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, Langhorne Creek

A best-barrel selection, and oh my, it’s a beautifully structured and textured cabernet sauvignon akin to those of Wynns Coonawarra Estate, which also explores 13.5% alc. Here cassis has the purity and sparkle of wine which you could drink tonight or in 30 years time. JH 13.5% alc.

RRP $89 / 2051

CABERNET (& FAMILY) Houghton C.W. Ferguson Cabernet Malbec 2020, Frankland River

MB writes: A mellow, medium- to fuller-weight expression rippling with choc-raspberry, forest berry, clove, dark chocolate, mint and eucalyptus. All nicely played, balanced and even. A potent flow on the palate, so inky and rich, and a chewy corset of silty, crushed rock tannins. It’s a bold strike of cab malbec but finds judicious balance and a sense of vibrancy. It speaks fluently of quality fruit and the finesse of winemaking. PD 14% alc.

RRP $78 / 2040

OTHER REDS (& BLENDS) Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No. 3 2021, Yarra Valley

Touriga nacional/tinta cão/tinta amarela/ tinta roriz/alvarelhão/sousão. A totally gorgeous wine that’s hard to put down, this exhibits a riotous array of red and black fruits, wildflowers, dried herbs, licorice root and cocoa nibs. Chewy, well-knit tannins make this wine a total joy to drink now, yet it will still be looking good years from now. PR 13.5% alc.

RRP $110 / 2030

SWEET WINE De Bortoli (Riverina) Noble One Botrytis Semillon 2020, Riverina

SW writes: Peach flesh, perfectly ripe mangoes, tangerine and persimmon.

Orange blossom, lemon oil and brandy snaps. Exuberant in fresh fruit and, despite its utter luscious sweetness, still maintains very persistent acidity to carry the flavours long. A grip of ruby grapefruit pith, vanilla bean oak and sugared almonds on the finish. Beautiful now, sensational with decades in the cellar. PD 9% alc.

RRP $75 / 2045

FORTIFIED WINE All Saints Estate Museum Muscat NV, Rutherglen

That perfume, so ethereal, aromatic and lasting. The concentrated intensity of mature parcels of wine and the brightness of youth in treacle, soused raisins, dried fig, butterscotch toffee, honey drizzled sticky pudding and nutty nougat. The blender’s hand is foremost in the use of neutral fortifying spirit to bring everything to a wonderful culmination.

Sit back and drink it all in, figuratively and literally. 500ml. JP 18% alc.

RRP $1200