Around the region: a new cellar door at Wamboin, and a run of spring releases

A lap of what has surfaced around the region this week, from a cellar door opening to a run of new spring releases.

Sapling Yard opens its Wamboin cellar door, this Saturday

Sapling Yard is celebrating the opening of its new cellar door at 810 Norton Road, Wamboin, on Saturday 12 September from 4pm to 6pm. Carla Rodeghiero and Malcolm Burdett are hosting, with complimentary tastings across a selection of their award winning wines and canapes to go with them. Tickets are $25 a head, which covers the catering, and reservations are essential. Treehouse members come in free with a guest, by RSVP to [email protected]. Booking and details on the Sapling Yard event page.

Lark Hill's Spring six-pack, with the first estate grown Falanghina

Lark Hill has released a Spring New Release six-pack, and the wine to look at is the 2025 Falanghina: the first vintage made entirely from their own estate grown fruit. The southern Italian white has been a slow build at Bungendore, and this is the vintage where the estate carries it on its own. It comes with the 2024 Altitude Pinot Noir, the 2025 Regional Pinot Noir, the 2022 Estate Grown Shiraz Viognier, the 2023 Estate Grown Scuro and the 2024 Nero d'Avola. Valued at $233, going for $190 including delivery within Australia, from the Lark Hill shop.

Collector puts Tiger Tiger Chardonnay to the club first

Collector Wines has its 2023 Tiger Tiger Chardonnay on pre-release to Friends of Collector members, at $49 a bottle. It is hand picked, whole bunch pressed, wild fermented and matured eleven months in French oak, thirty per cent of it new. The label has form: trophies for Best Chardonnay at the Canberra and Region Wine Show in 2021 and 2023, and a gold medal there in 2024. Members can order it now on the Collector site.

Clonakilla releases its 2025 Chardonnay

Clonakilla has its 2025 Chardonnay out at $50. Their description: "Floral notes and a touch of citrus, think grapefruit and meyer lemon, framed by fresh mineral acids. Delicious now with years ahead in the cellar." As with their chardonnay each year the fruit comes from the Johansen family vineyards at Tumbarumba, higher and further south than Murrumbateman, then barrel fermented and aged eleven months in tight grained French oak. Available from the Clonakilla shop.

The Real Review reshuffles its classification, and Helm holds its place

The Real Review has published the 2026 update to its Wine Classification of Australia, now covering 664 wines across three tiers: One Merit for wines consistently at 95 points or better, Two Merit at 96 or better, and Three Merit for the fewer than half a per cent that sit at 98 and above. It is not a show result. A wine only qualifies after at least ten years of blind review by their panel, and a classified wine keeps its tier for a minimum of four years, so it measures consistency rather than one good vintage. Helm Wines is in there from Murrumbateman, with three wines classified. Helm lists the Classic Dry Riesling and the Premium Riesling in the One Merit tier and the Premium Cabernet Sauvignon in the Two Merit tier, on their own news page. The full write up of the changes is at WineTitles.

Most of these are a short drive from the city and open on the weekend. When you want to string a few together, the trip planner will map you a route, cellar door to cellar door.