Hello and welcome to my weekly dig through the pile of wine samples that show up asking to be tasted. I’m pleased to bring you the latest installment of Vinography Unboxed, where I highlight some of the better bottles that have crossed my doorstep recently.

I’ve got an eclectic group of wines to recommend this week from exotic locales like Australia and New Jersey. Yes, they do make wine in New Jersey.

Let’s start with Australia, though, and some wines from a region that many people are unfamiliar with, the Grampians. Located in western Victoria (the wine region in southeastern Australia that surrounds the city of Melbourne), the Grampians is a mountainous region that, thanks both to its altitude and the proximity to the sea, tends to be cooler than some other parts of southern Australia. It’s an old region from a grape growing perspective, having hosted grapevines since the mid 1800s. One of the modern pioneers of the region, Mount Langi Ghiran, sent through a Riesling and a Shiraz this week, two of the most common varieties grown in the region. The Riesling has a nice stony profile and the Shiraz a pretty combination of ripe fruit and more mineral undertones. Both are excellent values.

Moving on to New Jersey, where grapes have been grown since the late 1700s, doing their part to support the state’s nickname as the Garden State. New Jersey was, in fact, one of the earliest locales for American experiments in Viticulture, and had a thriving wine industry that was pretty much entirely wiped out by the double whammy of phylloxera and Prohibition. Things didn’t really get started again until some laws were changed in the early 1980s, but they’ve been accelerating quickly since then and there are now more than 50 wineries in the state. Many are hobby wineries, but some are more serious in their efforts. I was sent a bunch of wines recently, and while many weren’t recommendable, I do have nice things to say about the Home Vineyard Chardonnay from Unionville Vineyards, which is a textbook rendition of the variety that will definitely appeal to your average American Chardonnay lover.

New Jersey seems to have settled on Bordeaux varieties as the most promising set of grapes to produce. Both the Beneduce Open Source Bordeaux Blend and the Auburn Road “Gaia” Blend show some promise, with a more medium-bodied approach with restrained tannins and good acidity.

Closer to home, winemaker Bibiana Gonzáles Rave of Cattleya Wines sent along her Sauvignon Blanc and rosé of Pinot Noir, both of which were tasty and very good values.

I also got a couple of new Pinot Noirs from Darling Wines. Of the two the Turnstone is a little more generous and expressive at this point in their evolution, but both will appeal to those who favor leaner expressions of cool-climate Pinot Noir.

Finally, I also tasted the single vineyard “Amoenus” Cabernet from long-standing Napa producer Turnbull Cellars, which is newly released or just about to be released. The Amoenus vineyard is Turnbull’s Calistoga site, and their highest elevation vineyard at between 400 and 800 feet of elevation. The wine has some admirable qualities, but the weight of its bottle is not among them.

That’s all for this week. Notes on all the wines follow.

Tasting Notes

2023 Mount Langi Ghiran “Cliff Edge” Riesling, Grampians, Victoria, Australia
Pale straw in color, this wine smells of Asian pear, a hint of struck match, and citrus oil. In the mouth, juicy and bright mandarin and tangerine zests mix with Asian pear and wet pavement, as excellent acidity keeps things fresh. Dry and crisp, with no trace of sweetness. 12% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $23. click to buy.

2023 Alma de Cattleya Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County, California
Pale gold in the glass with blonde highlights, this wine smells of passionfruit and guava. In the mouth, silky flavors of passionfruit and guava don’t have quite as much acidity as I would like, but are quite pretty, with a lovely tropical quality. 13.4% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $25. click to buy.

2023 Alma de Cattleya Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sonoma County, California
Light peachy pink in color, this wine smells of strawberries and orange peel. In the mouth, flavors of strawberry and orange peel have decent acidity. Citrus peel notes linger in the finish but without the zingy brightness I’d want. Tasty, but just needs more acid to be really exciting. 14.1% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $25. click to buy.

2022 Unionville Vineyards “Home Vineyard” Chardonnay, New Jersey
Pale gold in color, this wine smells of vanilla and lemon pith. In the mouth, lemon peel and pith mix with lemon curd and a touch of sawdust. Very good acidity and silky texture, with very little oak signature. A competently made Chardonnay to be sure. Barrel fermented in 100% neutral French oak and then aged for 9 months. Malolactic conversion partially blocked. 12.9% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $48 . click to buy.

2022 Darling Wines “WestPet” Pinot Noir, Petaluma Gap, Sonoma County, California
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of nutty earth and green herbs. In the mouth, flavors of raspberry and potting soil mix with chopped green and dried herbs as faintly grippy tannins grasp at the edges of the palate. Crunchy acidity, with hints of flowers lingering in the finish. Very savory. 50% whole cluster fermentation. Aged for 15 months in neutral French oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 12.4% alcohol. 75 cases made. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $60. click to buy.

2022 Darling Wines “Turnstone Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma, California
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry, cranberry, and raspberry fruit. In the mouth, cranberry and cherry flavors mix with a hint of pomegranate as notes of raspberry pastilles and flowers linger in the finish. I would like a little more acidity here, but the flavors are compelling and unique. 13.1% alcohol. 50 cases made. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $70. click to buy.

2019 Beneduce Vineyards “Open Source Bordeaux Blend” Red Blend, New Jersey
Light to medium ruby in the glass, this wine smells of slightly meaty black tea, red fruit and herbs. In the mouth, cherry and citrus peel flavors are bright with acidity, as orange peel, dried herbs, and plum skin flavors mix with faintly salty licorice root. A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 20% Merlot, 4% Malbec, and 4% Petit Verdot. Destemmed with 10% of the juice drawn off as a saignee for concentration. Native yeast fermentation via pied-de-cuve. Aged 24 months in 3rd-fill French oak with two rackings. Full malolactic. 13% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $40.

2019 Auburn Road Vineyards “Gaia” Red Blend, Outer Coastal Plain, New Jersey
Medium ruby in color, this wine smells of cherry and cedar. In the mouth, cherry and plum flavors have a nice bright quality thanks to very good acidity, and faint tannic texture. Fruit flavors are pure, tinged with cedar and a hint of dried herbs. Hints of oak emerge on the finish but as a whole, the wine holds its wood quite well. A blend of 85% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot. Grapes were destemmed and fermented separately in small 1 ton bins with a manual punch down twice daily. 70% of the Cabernet Franc was aged in second and third use French oak barrels with a small portion of the blend aged in used Hungarian puncheons (500 liter barrels). Merlot and Petit Verdot were aged in used American oak barrels. 21 months of aging in barrel, blended then bottled. 13% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $45.

2021 Mount Langi Ghiran “Cliff Edge” Shiraz, Grampians, Victoria, Australia
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackberry, blueberries and a hint of earth. In the mouth, blackberry, blueberry, and black cherry flavors are juicy with excellent acidity and wrapped in faintly fleecy tannins that coat the mouth. There’s a nice stony quality to the wine, and the acidity lingers with a hint of orange peel and mint in the finish. 14.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $17. click to buy.

2021 Turnbull “Amoenus Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga, Napa, California
Inky dark purple in the glass this wine smells of sweet black cherry and cassis. In the mouth, intense black cherry and cassis flavors are juicy with excellent acidity. The wine leans high-toned as candied plum fruit emerges on the palate. Faint, muscular tannins increase their grip a little over time. Seems faintly high-octane, leaving a touch of heat in the finish. 14.8% alcohol. Comes in a nasty, heavy bottle weighing 1.63 kg when full. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $145. click to buy.