Playing favourites: Wine critic Huon Hooke reveals his top six bottles of the moment

What’s your favourite wine?

This is the most-asked question I receive and it’s not just me: every wine professional gets it. Actually, I’ve just spent two weekends wriggling out of answering this question at The Real Review’s annual Top Wineries tastings.

Wine writers shouldn’t really have favourites. Every time I hear it, I’m reminded of my old friend and colleague, the late Mark Shield, who also used to write in Good Weekend.

Mark never had a cellar, never stored bottles, never hoarded anything. When asked his favourite wine, he’d always say, “The next one.” He also used to say, “Good wines are like buses: just wait, and another one will come along in a few minutes”.

The desire to possess nice things simply wasn’t in his DNA. Despite his apparent vinous promiscuity, he was a good judge of wine; he had his standards.

But, okay, I’ll lay my cards on the table. If you look at what I’ve bought recently, here’s the list:

Robert Weil trocken rieslings from the Rheingau’s 2021 vintage
Gaffy & Neal Merricks North Chardonnay 2022, from the Mornington Peninsula
Ossa Pinot Noir 2021, from Tasmania
Oakridge 864 Henk Vineyard Aqueduct Block Pinot Noir 2021, from the Yarra Valley
Larmandier-Bernier and Egly-Ouriet champagnes, the former blanc de blancs (chardonnay), the latter pinot noir-dominant

And if the plastic will bend a little further, I also intend to buy some 2022 Clare Valley rieslings and 2019 Barolos, both of them top vintages.

My diet leans more toward lighter-bodied reds and delicate dry whites and sparkling wines, and I note this is a general trend: as people mature, they steer towards less domineering flavours and prefer subtlety, complexity, fragrance.

An importer I know specialises in Burgundy and Barolo, which he calls “ethereal” wines. I get it.

Unlike Mark Shield, who never bought wine by the case or kept a cellar, I have wine coming out of my ears. But I still buy it, usually six bottles at a time, so that I can revisit it several times over a period of years and observe how it matures with time. As a lover of wine, this is, to me, one of life’s greatest pleasures.

This story was part of the 24 June 2023 edition of Good Weekend.