Overall sampled wines from over 30 countries and over 100 grape varieties.

The year started with a one and only business trip to Barcelona, Spain (prior to the global Pandemic lockdown) where local celebrity Gorak el Gorilla advised on some splendid Priorat wines.

Post Spain, was confined to my district of Little Italy here in Brisbane (after over a decade in Hong Kong and short stint in Singapore) and naturally had a bias towards Italy from my daily visits to the New Farm Deli.

Top 10 for 2020 in no particular order.

Gorak’s Priorat recommendations were simply amazing as the *1 Ferrer Bobet came up trumps, a Carignan, Garnacha, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon blend enjoyed with Doc Morrison with a slow baked loin of lamb smothered in fresh rosemary.

Not far behind was a *2 Abadal 3.9 Vi de Finca Priorat that also achieved a ranking as one of Spain’s best wines. The local wine guide described it as “exquisite, adorable and impressive. It is enveloped in a sense of acidity that fills it with freshness, life and love. Then it comes alive and reveals its underlying sweetness and its striking flavour”. Also, thanks to the Brisbane customs officer that waived any customs duty on my half dozen bottles of Priorat!

My top 4 Italian ones hail from the New Farm Deli and were often enjoyed with the toasted Le Grande sandwich or Moreton Bay Bug risotto *3 Campo Al Noce Miterre Bolgheri Tuscan blend, *4 Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso, *5 Riverdito Verduno Pelaverga of Northern Italy and *6 Spider Bill Nebbiolo from Adelaide Hills.

The postponed Tour de France in August and September was 21 evenings glued to national broadcaster SBS travelling from Nice to Paris sampling many varieties of French wine. My best picks were my old rugby playing region of Languedoc Roussillon where I had many of a *7 Cara de Caraguilhes blend of Carignan, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah.

Also, the *8 Famille Jouffreau Hermann Clos de Gamot Malbec from the original home of Malbec, Cohors was a crowd favourite albeit being myself and my Samsung smart TV taking in the wonderful geography and history lessons for most of the 21 nights!

The *9 Radford Dale Stellenbosch Pinotage was my go to Stellenbosch red in 2020. After waking up from my colonoscopy at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, the African doctor from Cape Town said she was most pleased that I told her where to find a good Pinotage in Brisbane at a good price! What a relief that was!!

Finally in the last week of the year, I reached into the cellar for one of *10 Oliver Taranga’s unique varietal blends. The Brioni’s blend that comprises of Touriga Nacional, Syrah and Mataro.

For more specific details of these wines like year, tasting notes and the like, don’t hesitate to call over for a BBQ or webex/zoom call to chew the fat, have a cheeky glass of red and go deeper into the love of wine as “life is too short to drink bad wine” and “you do not need to spend much to drink really good wine”.

Le OB