A NEW SEASON FOR AUSTRALIA’S MOST EXPRESSIVE WINES
As the season turns, Handpicked Wines’ latest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay releases reveal how subtle shifts in place shape what ends up in the glass.
3 min
The shift into autumn brings with it a quiet recalibration. Evenings lengthen, temperatures soften, and the wines we reach for begin to change.
Crisp aperitif styles give way to something more structured and contemplative. Chardonnay regains its depth, and Pinot Noir returns as the season’s defining red.
It is against this backdrop that Handpicked Wines has unveiled its latest premium collection, anchored in the 2024 vintage and spanning Tasmania, the Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula.
While geographically diverse, the wines share a common philosophy: that place, rather than process, should define the final expression.
“Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the bread and butter of Handpicked. They are our signature and what we do best,” said Chief Winemaker Peter Dillon.
“While we focus solely on our two hero varieties with this release, there is so much diversity to be found from the sites, with each one bringing a new quality and dimension to the variety.”
A tale of two vineyards
Nowhere is that diversity more evident than in the Yarra Valley, where two single vineyard Chardonnays offer a compelling study in contrast.
Separated by just a 45-minute drive, the Wombat Creek and Highbow Hill sites illustrate how dramatically elevation and soil can influence character.
Wombat Creek, perched at 420 metres above sea level in the Upper Yarra, produces a wine defined by finesse.
Volcanic soils and cooler temperatures deliver aromatic precision and a tight structural line. By contrast, Highbow Hill, located on the valley floor, offers a broader, more textural profile, shaped by slightly warmer conditions and different soil composition.
For Dillon, the comparison is central to understanding the essence of fine wine.
“Taking two wines from the same producer, region, and price point, made by the very same winemakers and viticulturists, has got to be the ultimate and most tangible way to explore terroir,” he said.
“It’s a joy for us as winemakers to create a totally new expression of the wine with the same grape; it really shows how the vineyard’s personality carries across into the bottle and onto the palate.
The rise of site-led winemaking
Across Australia’s leading wine regions, there has been a growing shift away from heavily manipulated styles towards wines that reflect their origin more transparently. Handpicked’s latest releases sit firmly within this movement, prioritising vineyard stewardship and minimal intervention.
Several of the wines now carry Certified Organic status, part of a broader transition that reflects a long-term commitment to soil health and environmental sustainability. The flagship Capella Pinot Noir, sourced from the Mornington Peninsula, represents the culmination of more than a decade of work refining both site and technique.
The result is a Pinot Noir defined less by overt power than by restraint and clarity, characteristics increasingly associated with Australia’s finest cool-climate sites.
A seasonal return
The timing of the release is not incidental. Autumn remains the natural home of both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, varieties that reward slower drinking and closer attention. Where summer wines are defined by immediacy, these are built for contemplation.
In this sense, the latest collection reflects more than a single vintage. It captures a broader evolution in Australian wine, one that places increasing emphasis on nuance, origin and longevity.
As the season settles and the pace of the year begins to shift, these are wines that invite pause. Not simply to drink, but to consider the journey from vineyard to glass, and the quiet influence of place that shapes every bottle.
For Central Element, the start of work at Pearl represents another step in the company’s growing eastern suburbs pipeline.
All three vehicles will form part of a broader charitable initiative benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the American Red Cross and Starlight Children’s Foundation
Apple’s first foldable, the $1,999 iPhone Duo, combines an iPhone and iPad Mini experience—but its size, weight and price come with compromises.
4 min
As I watched a Netflix show on Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, I had two surprising thoughts.
The first: Maybe I don’t need my iPad Mini anymore.
The second: Uh oh, am I about to spend $1,999 on a phone?
I didn’t think folding phones were for me. I’ve been testing Android versions from Samsung and Google since 2019, and those early editions came with too much screen and too many compromises.
Fast forward seven years, and the technology has come a long way. Apple—in its very Apple way—has also come up with some hardware and software trickery to make up for some shortcomings of the basic design. My desire for a folding phone before today was zero. After today, it’s a lot more than zero.
I’m not ready to recommend the Duo, which ships on Oct. 23, just yet. Not until I am able to test it more fully, so be on the lookout for that review in a few weeks. But from what I experienced at Apple Park on Wednesday, I could actually picture myself using this new half-phone, half-tablet hybrid.
Crease camouflage
For months, I’ve been using Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, a similarly squat, passport-shaped foldable that opens up to a larger screen. It’s impressively thin and can easily fit into the infuriatingly tiny pockets in women’s pants and dresses. Samsung did a lot of work to minimize the crease—the dip between the two halves of the big interior display—but it’s still clearly there.
When I held the iPhone Duo open, the crease was barely visible. As I slid my finger across the display, I could feel it, but it’s more subtle than Samsung’s. Most of the time, the screen looked as flat and smooth as the one on an iPad.
Apple employed both software and hardware techniques to camouflage the crease. The matte surface of the interior 7.6-inch screen minimizes reflections to hide it. (Samsung’s Fold 8 screen is shiny.)
And as you begin to open or close the iPhone Duo, the interface shifts the controls and content away from the center crease. If, say, you’re watching a video on the outer screen, you can open the Duo to switch to the bigger display within. A black fade marks the transition. You don’t see the video full screen until the phone is completely flat.
Heavy handed
My second observation was that, when the Duo is closed, in phone mode, it was harder to use one-handed than I expected.
In the keynote trailer and press release, Apple touted how thin the Duo is. It’s marketed as the thinnest iPhone ever—when open.
But it’s actually thicker and heavier than most of its Android competitors. The Duo weighs 254 grams, and is 11.3 millimeters thick when closed. The Samsung Galaxy Fold 8 is just 201 grams, with a thickness of 9.7 millimeters. Google’s Pixel 11 Pro Fold is 239 grams and 10.1 millimeters.
Because the Duo is also wider than a standard iPhone, I found it quite a challenge to type.
I admit, I do have smaller-than-average hands. So I consulted my colleague Rolfe Winkler, who has a larger grip. He agreed the Duo feels big.
Apple rearranged the interface on the outer screen so it looks different than traditional iPhones. The dock and control center are off to the right to be more reachable. Committing to the Duo as your main device will require adjustments in your handling. You will have to learn a new way to use and type.
Work and play
My most surprising takeaway? I feel a pull toward this device.
I always thought that combining an iPhone and an iPad would mean bigger compromises. The battery life is about the same as the 18 Pro (up to 24 hours of “regular use” on a single charge), though I’ll need to verify that in my real-world testing. And it’s also as durable, with the same IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating as the rest of the iPhone lineup.
There are trade-offs, for sure. Trying out the camera, I immediately missed the 8X zoom in my Pro model. The Duo has just 2X zoom, which wouldn’t cut it for the dozens of pictures I take of my kid every day.
But the dual screens unlock new photo functionality. You can see what your shot looks like from the outside screen. As someone who has tried tirelessly to self-direct a family photo—or a spouse—I am very eager to try this out more.
Foldables, I initially thought, were for classic mobile-warrior jet-setter types, who never sit at a desk and are always on calls. For that crowd, the Duo can run two apps side-by-side.
Me, I’m more of a bed binge-watcher and ebook reader. That’s what my beloved iPad Mini is for.
Watching videos on the Duo is a nice experience—nice enough that you forget the screen is 0.7 inches smaller than the iPad Mini’s. The main screen is also a 4:3 aspect ratio. Very similar, by the way, to the IMAX edition of the Odyssey.
Because I wasn’t able to snag a ticket to one of the sold-out screenings, I will be watching Christopher Nolan’s version of Homer’s epic on the Duo, just as the director intended. (Just kidding! Sort of.)
The Duo costs $800 more than an iPhone 18 Pro, and I’m not sure I want to spend that premium on a first-generation Apple device. But I’m not ruling out the idea that a Duo might one day be in my future. Stay tuned for my full review.
From office parties to NYE fireworks, here are the bottles that deserve pride of place in the ice bucket this season.
As housing drives wealth and policy debate, the real risk is an economy hooked on growth without productivity to sustain it.
