Johnny Hedgehog Aland, called over from the Northern Territory and we had a celebration of old rugby mates with the top reds for the year. Anthony Merlo, Lincoln Gibbons and Rupert McCall joined.

Why are we so into Pinot we asked ourselves? But this year was more about my top grape varieties in no order; Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Nerello Mascalese and Negroamaro.

We started off with Mornington Peninsular Victoria Pinot Noir, Great Southern Western Australia Pinot Noir but then came an A to Z Wineworks Oregon USA Pinot Noir as the pick of the Pinots. We won’t mention the Japanese Pinot as I later wrote to the multinational company in Japan expressing my disappointment. And we finished the night with a Yarra Valley Pinot Noir.

Anthony Merlo’s arrival coincided with the rollout of the Banfi Black Rooster, Chianti Classico Riserva. Not only do we love the black rooster story and label of authenticity but the cherry and hints of tomato & oregano make this a favourite.

But is was the Etna Rosso and Nerello Mascalese grape variety by Pietradolce that raised eyebrows. It was the dried cherry and hints of orange rind.

We then celebrated our mateship with a San Marzano Negroamaro from Puglia as the black fruit with dry herbs was awesome with the giant chicken gourmet pizza on Uber Eats!

All the best for a happy end of the year and let’s hope we find some beautiful reds to share together in 2023.