April 2021

Welcome to the CellarHand newsletter.


We hope you enjoyed a very happy Easter and have returned fresh and not without an appetite for further wine exploration.

The major new-arrival hype is around Germany, whose stellar 2019s have landed. Short on crop, long on quality, many of the wines didn’t survive to see the sun rise on this newsletter. What remains is well worth jumping on before said sun sets on Germany ‘19 altogether. Biodynamic brothers-in-arms Wittmann and A. Christmann have a small amount of estate Riesling remaining.

Their peers in the cooler Mosel Valley tend to release their wines a tad later, so we have the ’18 range from Ansgar Clüsserath and Heymann-Löwenstein available – the latter including Vinum Magazine’s ‘Estate Wine of the Year’. We’re also highlighting Jacques Prieur’s 2017 burgundies and high-end Grüner Veltliner from Austria – think Bründlmayer, F.X. Pichler, Franz Hirtzberger and more..

Closer to home, Jancis Robinson has been heaping praise on Frankland Estate and the Loosen Barry project in Clare Valley; we’ve had exciting vintage rolls on Victoria and Tassie Pinot Noir from Onannon, Shadowfax, Scorpo, Punt Road, Stefano Lubiana and Stoney Rise; there are good-value new alternative wines from Shadowfax’s Minnow range; plus, we’re placing the generous, succulent and refreshing reds from Ben Glaetzer’s Heartland in the spotlight. Enjoy!

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