Star Lane Winery Merlot 2022
AU$48, 14% alcohol, screwcap, Beechworth.
This medium-weight merlot from Beechworth is drinking well now. It shows subtle signs of leathery development, giving it a softness, and which also complements the main run of plum, mulberry, mint and tobacco-like characters. There’s a distinct dryness to this wine, and plenty going on; it’s certainly not simple. 90 points.
Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He founded The Winefront, is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion (and former editor of Halliday magazine), and is the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He is 100% independent, and tastes between 5,000 and 10,000 wines each year, blind and in comparative brackets as often as is practicable.
Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.
