“Verdelho needs to be really squeaky, no phenolics and not too much alcohol,” Davidson informed me. With a lot of bland Hunter Verdelhos on the market, this 2009 Verdelho is one I can recommend with a particularly fragrant, spicy, green apple, white pepper and cumin seed nose leading to a good concentration of peppered citrus fruits on the palate. Refreshing acidity, medium bodied with 13% alcohol and a long finish. For drinking now. Next up is a trio of vintages of his equally interesting Malbec?which left me puzzling why more Australian producers don’t consider planting this varietal? Twenty-five years ago Mark Davidson started Tamburlaine as a boutique winery, in the days when the Hunter had only 20-25 wineries. Today he produces around 100,000 cases of wine from vineyards in the Hunter Valley, Orange and Mudgee – all Australian Certified Organic (though this is not automatically accepted by USA labeling standards).Around 65% of Tamburlaine’s sales are domestic with a very strong mailing list following. These Reserve wines are not currently available in the USA but a selection of Tamburlaine wines are imported by Guardian of the Grape, Cary, NC.; www.guardianofthegrape.com