Fast Five: Christina Kaigg-Hoxley

Christina Kaigg-Hoxley is the Wine Development Manager at 67 Pall Mall in Melbourne. She has over 15 years’ experience in the hospitality and wine industries, including assistant head sommelier at Michelin-starred restaurant The Clove Club (London), sommelier at Gimlet (Melbourne), assistant wine buyer at Atlas Vinifera (Melbourne) and brand ambassador for WA-based Burch Family Wines, and has worked vintages in the Yarra Valley and Margaret River. A wine communicator and certified educator with the Wine Scholar Guild (WSG), Christina is a recipient of the Sommeliers Australia Education Scholarship and is currently studying her WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wine.

Below, she shares the five wines that have had the most influence on her life and career so far.

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2023 Robert Mondavi To Kalon Vineyard I Block Sauvignon Blanc
Napa Valley, California

Earlier this year, representing 67 Pall Mall, I spent some time in the historic and significant To Kalon vineyard at Robert Mondavi in the Napa Valley. It was a sweltering 35 degrees, standing next to unirrigated, dry-grown, bush-trained sauvignon blanc vines, and I was poured a taste of the 2023 I Block release. The wine was so distinctly moreish, saline, like chewing on a nectarine danish. I felt my relationship with the variety change forever – a fitting place for it to happen, and a true testament to the legacy of the world’s pioneer of fumé blanc, posthumously still changing people’s perception on this singular grape.

There are some places that just stamp themselves on your heart, and the Yeringberg property is one of those for me. The months I spent with Sandra and the de Pury family working vintage were foundational in my understanding of people and place. I could have put any of the 2021 vintage wines here, but as this rosé was the inaugural release, it still makes me smile. It’s a wine that clearly expresses the de Pury approach to winemaking, born of practicality and significant consideration. A pale, savoury rosé with layers of texture from time in barrel, a hint of creaminess and angularity of cabernet and shiraz.

This was a completely unexpected moment with my husband at Les Caudalies in the heart of Arbois in the Jura. The head sommelier Philippe Troussard took our cue to explore the wines of the region by pairing my entrée of lobster and turnips with a 1986 Arbois Rouge poured from magnum. Not only was the pairing unexpected and exquisite, it was an example of exceptional service. I had never had a red wine from the Jura with so much age, and I remember its glossy, rose hip and pomegranate notes alongside gorgeous earl grey tea tannins and beautifully elegant palate.

I had no idea the prestige, history and price point associated with this wine when it was poured for me as part of the Sommeliers Australia Education scholarship, but it was formative in so many ways. I remember it being so distinctly different to every other nebbiolo I had ever tried – so broody and dark-fruited, seductively tannic and with such incredible length and power. It felt like a wine for the ages, from another time, with an extraordinary muscularity and depth that would take decades to disappear.

Madeira is such a unique place for wine production – so little industrialisation, such specific infrastructure. I’m utterly fascinated with the place, and, while working at The Clove Club, I was fortunate enough to meet with Luis d’Oliveira and spend an hour or two tasting through a selection of Madeiras while visiting the island. 100-year-old Madeira is not for the faint hearted. It tasted like mushrooms and salted licorice, made from a strain of malvazia that is usually blended and almost extinct.

Instagram: @christina_uncorked | @67pallmallmelbourne