Introduced in 2024, the Taster’s Pick category represents each Tasting Team member’s personal highlight from the past year.
Only one nomination per taster is allowed, making inclusion on this list a particularly strong indicator of excellence.
The 10 wines on the below list range from $30 to $300 a bottle and have been scored 95 to 99 points. To learn more about why each wine was chosen, as well as serving tips, read this article from the Tasting Team.
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2024 Agricola Vintners K'Sands, Barossa Valley
Apparently, you can't put Kalimna on a wine label or certain people puff their chests out and get all angsty, so here we have the 2024 K'Sands ... from the parish of Kalimna in the northern Barossa. It's essentially a small subregion of around half a dozen low, rolling sand hills that you can clearly discern if you're driving up Belvidere Road, and which have borne some of Australia's most famous wines ... hello early Granges. As is the norm, the fruit purity is off the charts with deep plum, cherry conserve and blue fruits. But there is a wilder intensity to its stare, with a gamey undercurrent, amaro, medina spices, hanging meats, clove and crushed bedrock. There's a little more chew to the pull of its tannins; a little more horsepower under the hood. Hoowee, it's good. Compellingly good. – Dave Brookes
2023 Bekkers Single Vineyard Selection Clarendon Syrah, McLaren Vale
From the Clarendon vineyard that Emmanuelle and Toby Bekkers acquired in '20 after being planted in the '90s. The history runs longer than that though, with the notably steep site first planted between 1842 and ’48. It’s clear this is a special vineyard, one of the coolest in the Vale, contour planted on vertiginous terraces. This is an extraordinary wine. Sweetly spiced, layered with sultry dark florals and blue and red fruits, this has such impeccable harmony on both nose and palate, the suppleness of fruit and perfectly extracted, caressing tannins dreamlike. Intense but weightless. Imbedded is a mineral line, lavender, some pressed violet, olive, nori, all so seamless. It’s startlingly good – a wine of breathtaking class and character. – Marcus Ellis
2023 Brokenwood Verona Vineyard Shiraz
Fragrant raspberries, supple dark cherries and pomegranates accented by a little violet and rose. The palate is perfectly poised and medium weight, with the fruit encircling a bright core of acidity. Fabulously vibrant and tight, yet also inviting, with a seriousness of structure and intensity. The south-facing vineyard was planted in '68, with soils similar to the Graveyard vineyard. It's moreish and long and, though it will cellar well, it will be hard to resist in its youth. – Toni Paterson MW
2022 Byrne Farm Shiraz Pinot Noir, Orange
A tiny smattering of reduction so this wine benefits from a swift decant. Here you'll uncover dense prune plums, Bing cherries and coils of raspberry fruit straps. Acidity upholds the promise of a crunchy red but is also a seriously structural wine. Tannins are a fine sandpaper of granular texture and there is a paperbark, cumin and ground ginger spice. The sinewy palate weight and zesty fruit means it's a wine you want to keep drinking, any day of the week. Keep these blends coming! – Shanteh Wale
