I can’t claim to drink massive amounts of Australian wine. Why would I when there is so much exciting, well priced South African kit on the market in the UK.

But when I do drink an Aussie bottle, 9 out of 10 times it will be a cooler climate expression from Victoria, Adelaide Hills, or WA (Western Australia). Today was a Margaret River kind of day!

David Hohnen is an old dog of the Aussie wine trade and practically invented winemaking in Margaret River and half of New Zealand with the creation of the Cape Mentelle brand in Oz and Cloudy Bay in New Zealand. Today his focus is firmly on his McHenry Hohnen estate wines.

Never one for frivolous chatter or too much smiling, David is a lovely, deep, mysterious kind of character who makes tantalisingly fresh wines with a real purity and a sense of place. His top end estate wines ooze class and Margaret River typicity. 

David’s Tiger Country 2010 is a fantastic blend of Tempranillo, Petit Verdot and Graciano and shows beautiful aromas of black forest fruits, dark chocolate liqueurs and spicy berries. The palate is restrained and multi-layered with a real mineral presence of crushed gravel and graphite and finishes in a harmonic medley of black fruits, chalky tannins and fine balancing acidity.  (Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

I always love catching up with David in London as invariably the banter eventually drifts in multiple, exotic directions. Today was no different… working in New Zealand, the Isabel Estate, gun auctions, and hunting in the creeks of Margaret River. Classic!