Raise your glass

Tenterfield is proving to be a reliable pinot-producing area and this pinot is good drinking right now. It’s initially light on the palate. But its colour shifts from ruby red to a crimson purple haze with a thin rim of orange bronze. And when we travelled to the Tenterfield Wine and Food Festival, ridges along the way seem to have been ravaged by fire, and this pinot carries that memory. There’s heat from a distinct cinnamon and warm-cherry character, or tannin and leather said my drinking companion. Viticulturalists David and Deirdri Robertson-Cuninghame, wvwines@northnet.com.au, $15.

Liquid gold in colour, this subtly wooded chardonnay has a perfume of peach and mango. There’s sunshine and honey in the mouth – I thought of damask tablecloths – with macadamia paste, caramel and jaffa on the back palate. My drinking companion spoke of grass and butterscotch. He was right: Scott Wright is the winemaker (and tractor-driver as well says the label) at the Glencoe vineyards, established in 1999 on the cusp of the old and new centuries. We paid $20 at the Tenterfield Food and Wine Festival, but see the website at www.wrightwine.com.