It's always the perfect way to kick off the new year with a Family and Friends mixed dozen. After a Christmas and New Year blow out this pack has to be stellar value and this year it looks to be one of our best deals yet!

After more than 25 plus years in the game we have forged strong relationships with the producers we import into Australia and` consider them not just friends but family. Closer to home we have forged similar relationships with many of Australia's greatest producers as well as many of the country's rising stars and young guns of wines. They are the friends and family we hold the dearest in our vinous hearts.

This month's pack brings them both together with some of our favourite Aussie winemaking friends alongside a selection of cracking wine straight out of our direct import portfolio. It’s packed with crispy and crunchy whites, perfect pink and juicy, light on their feet reds just perfect for summer sipping, the beach, or the BBQ from Australia, USA, France & Italy. 

Enjoy!

THE FAMILY

Fontaleoni is a family estate run by brother and sister team, Matteo and Simona Troiani, with a little help from consultant Paolo Caciorgna. They've succeeded in producing a range that is emblematic of the best of what the region has to offer with particular emphasis on Vernaccia which, it has to be said, has been a revelation in the years since we first started seeing them in Australia. 

Bright and somewhat crunchy with a direct line of fresh apple like acidity. Plenty to enjoy here with all the usual elements you would want from Vernaccia of this quality, apple fruit, lemon oil and white flowers along with just enough texture to provide a little tactile interest. Clean and clear cut and something I will be drinking a lot of as the weather starts to warm up again 

Picpoul from the coastal reaches of the Mediterranean has become in recent years the 'go to wine' in France for Oysters, shell fish and indeed all fish and with good reason as besides having that dry bite and the acidity that goes with it, it also has good body and underlying fruit flavours. I love it - and particularly as it is made by my good fried Francois Chamboissier who is both a talented winemaker and a great gourmet living in a stunning small village in southern France. What a life! 

Another winner this year here. Salt spray and lemon pith with green apple skin on the nose. Plenty of fleshy and juicy fruit with a wonderful zing and mineral thread that gives the pallet a refreshing kick along while the long flavours lay down softly and easily. Lovely drive but nothing sacrificed in flavour either. 

Stephane's family has been wheeling and dealing in Beaujolais for generations. Based in Fleurie, his father owned an oenological laboratory and worked as a wine broker where, after completing his studies, Stephane returned to work in the family business as a wine consultant and a winemaker in Chénas. His experience there and history in the region brings a depth of knowledge and intimate detail of the terroirs he now works. That, when combined with Stephane's obvious talent makes for a formidable combination.

Black cherry and bright raspberry with a hit of heady, whole peppercorn spice, touch of cola and lovely burst of five spice that drives the inviting nose home. Super crunchy, raspberry fruit layered in with fine slippery tannins. Bursting with red fruit flavour, bright and bouncy. It's fine and tight with a lovely core of fruit that feels light and airy and at once concentrated and precise in its delivery. A fine Villages.

The P & A wines are from our friend and Burgundy madman Nicolas Potel. These are the wines that epitomise the term vin-de-soif. These are absolutely gluggable, definitely chillable and straight-up delicious fair from the southern reached of France where Nicolas, via is network of winemaking legends sources fruit from top growers.

This little beauty is crafted by Potel's partner in crime Stephane Aviron who brings his consdiderable talents to the table. there is an elegance and purity to the wine with underlying terroir drive that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who tried Nicola or Stephane's wines. 

Wafts of raspberries, black plums and sweet spices lure you in. The core is a vibrant and buoyant mass of black and red berries, wrapped in an elegant framework. Subtle notes of rosemary come from a thoughtful use of whole bunch. This overdelivers hands down on its humble price point, no need to second guess here.

The transformation that has taken place at Francesco Rinaldi over the last few years is truly remarkable. Today's wines are cut with beautiful precision and show exceptional harmony. ANTONIO GALLONI

Today the estate is run by two sisters and each as a daughter who is slowly taking over the reins. It's a crazy combination of staunch traditionalism and a modern view on what it means to craft such historically important wines. It is an estate for which we have almost endless admiration, for many reasons not which least is the incredible quality focus they bring to their whole suuite of wines from cru Barolo to this not so humble dolcetto.

If there was ever a wine that could convince you we should be drinking more Dolcetto, then this is it. While Barolo and Barbaresco are the undeniable international stars of Piemonte, Dolcetto is it's heart and soul and a wine that is always on the Piemontese dining table and with examples like this, you can see why. Some dark red cherries and berry fruit are dusted with sweet cake spice and peppery goodness. It's a plush little package is knotted together wonderfully with a firm press of tannin, which sweeps across the palate to clean everything up at the back kept fresh by a jolt of bright acidity. The harmony and balance in this wine makes it the complete package. Not too heavy, not too light, just bloody right! 

Located in California’s golden Central Coast from vineyards in Monterey County, Craftwork Wines have been honoring the best of traditional winemaking, from estate-grown wines handcrafted to showcase what they believe is the best expression of vineyard, variety, and vintage.

The Monterey County growing region is a wonder, with a myriad of soils, elevations, and microclimates which allows Craftwork to grow a number of the classic California varietals. The indelible influence of Monterey Bay and the enormous submarine canyon that lies two miles below its surface results in cool coastal conditions throughout the growing region and can be seen in the vibrant expressions they produce.

Gentle handling in the winery  means this skirts the best of both worlds embracing the punchy and ripe fruits of zinfandel while embracing a more elegantly styled wine overall. The cooler Carneros temperatures helpt to keep things vibrant fresh with a zippy edge to the mulberry, dark currant and juicy blackberry flavours. Aged in a combination of Hungarian and American oak they bring a lovely savoury edge and buffering tannin. This is absolutely spot on BBQ screaming for a lamb sausage or tasty bit of grilled steak. Really cracking example of what zinfandel can be in the right hands.

THE FRIENDS

Polish River-sourced fruit from two picks spaced 10 days apart. Water-white with a flash of green and fruit aromas of freshly squeezed lime juice, makrut lime and lemongrass. Hints of citrus blossom, crushed stone, celery salt, Christmas lily, green-apple sorbet and liminal notes of clover and honeysuckle. Such a sleek, tightly bound package, with a steely focus, porcelain acidity and a pitch-perfect tubular palate shape. It's lovely saline and sapid drinking now, but this will age beautifully. (98) DAVE BROOKS, Haliday Wine Companion

The fruit was picked over two nights and ten days apart. Lemonade fruit, finger lime and starfruit. White talc, marble and immovable white stone like minerality. Clover flowers, celery heart and aloe. The wine has an almond shell creaminess and finishes with a taut sea spray salinity. It shouts of pure lime pith with a clean laser like acidity. This is shockingly focused and impeccably balanced. Fruit is amplified by savoury edges and flavours of inorganic matter. Steel wool, quartz and concrete. It’s otherworldly, to be perfectly honest, quite hard to describe. It’s ethereal. All I can say is this is what you’d drink at the pearly gates, if you’ve been good of course. Drink now and will age glacially for another 20 years. Serve with a sashimi of crystal prawns and white soy.  SHANTEH WALE, Wine Pilot

So, Charles one of the guns behind One Eighty Wines started working for Prince Wine Store the middle part of 2024 and quickly became an invaluable team member. Imagine our surprise when he bought in a selection of wines made from his home turf in the beautiful surrounds of Adelaide.

These are deftly crafted wines that speak gently of place with an easy going attitude that belies their subtle complexity. They are crafted beautifully allowing wine making elements to blend seamlessly with pure fruits and wonderful balance. These really over-deliver in every way. 

The 2023 Chardonnay, sourced from the Adelaide Hills region, is aged in 50% new oak for 9 months, then bottle aged for a similar length, this wine boasts bold butterscotch flavours, with notes of green apple to give the wine great balance. It's a lovely combo of old-school richness and modern freshness. That's not easy to pull off but they have done it here without losing any of the positives either style. Well done!

Enlists all of grigio's strongest varietal trademarks from the gentle blush colour and scents of pear, honeysuckle and apple to the savoury nod on the palate, crisp acid flow and touch of salty almond to close. All in all, a quality grigio that is mighty darn drinkable. JENI PORT, Halliday Wine Companion 

Made by sommelier-come-Italian wine rep-come Italian wine tragic, James Scaresbrook, his renditions of Italian varietals are some of the most convincing you will find. That's not to say I like them because they're mimicking the Italians. Nup, not at all, and in fact the fruit spectrum generally shows it's antipodean origin. Through intelligent winemaking techniques (often observed in his own travel in Italy) he brings texture and aromatic complexity to these varieties. It's a recognition of how these varieties work with food and transports them from dry white and red wines to something with altogether more interest.

A recent appointment trying through his range only highlighted what good things James is doing. His wines are all on point with thougtful winemaking inspired their homes in Italy but not dogmatically so. James is happy to changed tact here or there if he sees something not working or vice versa if a wine is expressing itself in a way he likes but moves away from his original idea hes is not afraid to let it do its thing.

A debut for this variety under the Fleet’s Lichen series. Grown at 800m above sea level on Clare Burder’s vineyard in Whitlands, North East Victoria. Made by Lisa and Justin Jenkins.

It’s a wine of lightness and freshness but it also has elements of darkness. Blue fruit skin and meat, red fig flesh, tarragon and cool herbs, iron and salt. It’s filled with chalky, cushy tannins and a salty, almost bloody, tension, ozone lift, and a little peppery spice to the end. It does it oh-so-well. KASIA SOBIESIAK, The Wine Front

A very good year for Basso. 50 year old vines.

Bright cherry, musk, lots of iron and ferrous character, exotic spice and mint. Medium-bodied, juicy fruit, but savoury, with plenty of tannin and extract, stony feel, a lot of bounce and perfume. Finish is ferrous and crisp, and pretty long. Kind of rugged, though it’s a joyous expression of Grenache. Fun times. GARY WALSH, The Wine Front

A contemporary expression of Vale grenache with a whiff of gum leaf, for tradition's sake. A skirt of sandy tannins, carved from the seabed with the precision of a scalpel. Kirsch, fecund strawberry, white pepper, Seville orange and tea tree. Frisky yet ample, with the levity of drinkability the endgame despite a somewhat drying finish. NED GOODWIN, Halliday Wine Companion

We have always been a fan of the wines of the Stephen and over the years he has become more than just an acquaintance of the Prince. He has a wonderful insight into the wine world that is both pragmatic and poetic. His love of grenache is likely no surprise to those who know his wines and from his home turf in the Mclaren Vale he is master of his domaine when it comes to the varietal.

There's certainly a bustle in the hedgerow here, with blackberry, black raspberry, leaf, dried roses and pencils. Medium-bodied, cool acidity, a distinctly 'mineral' feel, intense small berried dark fruit, graphite tannin, a little sundried tomato and raspberry pip, and a spicy and gently bitter amaro/sappy finish of excellent length. Tight and crunchy, and very good to drink. I like it a lot. (93+) GARY WALSH, The Wien Front

We've featured the wines of under the Amen Break label a lot here and there is a reason why - they rock. Hailing from a small village in east of Australia called New Zealand the Clonal Brothers are Matt and Steve Harrop and together they are a lethal winemaking combination. One of the most sampled drum patterns music nerds will recognise this as a 6- to 7-second (4-bar) drum solo performed by Gregory Sylvester "G. C.". Coleman in the song "Amen, Brother" performed by the 1960s funk and soul outfit The Winstons.