When it comes to winemaking, there’s almost nothing Nick James-Martin won’t try. He loves to experiment and play with grape varieties and blends.

“About the only fear I have is an empty glass,” he jokes.

James-Martin is a winemaker for d’Arenberg, an Australian producer that is still very much family-owned and run, with a tradition of almost 100 years. In keeping with that tradition, he focuses on “letting the wine make itself, I want the flavours to be unique and to come from the vineyard.”

That also requires careful handling — picking the slope and soil for the vineyards, hand-harvesting, crushing the grapes in basket presses in small batches.

Currently, d’Arenberg is making 38 different wines, mostly out of Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale in South Australia, with a heavy reliance on what we’d call “Rhone varieties” such as Syrah, Grenache, Viognier, even Marsanne and Roussanne. There’s also more familiar Cabernet, Chardonnay and Riesling, of course.

Another important aspect of the d’Arenberg philosophy is the requirement to deliver those quality wines at a fair price. They certainly do that with their growing presence here in Ontario.

Traditionally, we’ve seen d’Arenberg wines parading through Vintages on a regular basis; there are currently seven labels with decent stock listed on the Vintages website. But now they’ve got two in the LCBO general list — the launch of the white was the reason for James-Martin’s recent visit — and one constantly available as a Vintages Essential.

I thought I’d walk you through those I tasted during James-Martin’s visit:

D’Arenberg The Stump Jump Lightly Wooded Chardonnay ($13.95, code 173302). This is the new arrival, hitting the general shelves just a week ago. A remarkable value. It doesn’t need layers of oak because the fruit does nicely on its own, thank you. Rich, chewy, juicy, it shows off flavours of grilled pineapple, orange sherbet, cashews, cream, and a pinch of peppery spice. D’Arenberg is also known for the use of creative and significant names on its wines — the stump jump refers to a plow invented in Australia that allowed farmers to basically jump over hidden tree roots.

D’Arenberg The Stump Jump GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre blend) ($14.95, code 173294). The red general list. Great lively fruit extract, with almost no barrel influence (they age in large old vats). Another excellent value; tastes of fresh baked cherry pie, strawberries, plums, fragrant spice.

D’Arenberg D’Arry’s Original (Vintages Essential $19.95, code 942904). An equal split between Syrah and Grenache, built to age in bottle (I’d say another three or four years). D’Arry is the nickname of company scion Frances D’Arenberg Osborn, who was named in honour of the family of his mother, who died giving birth to him. He’s in his eighties now but still works around the farm. Look for black currant, plum, tamarind and chocolate cake flavours, along with what James-Martin calls a “gritty” texture.

D’Arenberg The Hermit Crab Viognier Marsanne ($17.95, code 662775). Clever name derives from Hermitage in the Rhone plus the shellfish/limestone soil the grapes grow in. Impressive peach and marmalade aromatics, very fresh in the mouth. Creamy texture, yet tangy flavours of apricot, tangerine, ginger, white pepper, vanilla.

D’Arenberg 2007 The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier ($28.95, code 936971). The Australians discovered that a small percentage of white Viognier gives surprising vigour and fresh character to Syrah. D’Arenberg decides how much based on taste, in this year about 10 per cent. Starts with a lactic feel and plums, then come the cherries — tart, sweet and dried — then red berries, licorice and violets. Excellent complexity and length.

In addition, the four D’Arenberg wines below are in Vintages (see the Vintages section at your LCBO store) with enough supply to make them worth mentioning, and all are very good wines indeed. And don’t forget that once they’ve been available for two weeks, you can have the store bring in a bottle or more for you, even if they don’t carry it.

The Stump Jump White ($14.95, code 922203); Dry Dam Riesling ($16.95, code 942953) which we discussed last week when it went on sale; The Olive Grove Chardonnay ($17.95, code 702845); The Money Spider Roussanne ($19.95, code 656710); The Custodian Grenache ($19.95, code 713040).

Wines & Spirits writer Dan Kislenko can be reached at dkislenko@therecord.com