Penfolds Koonunga Hill Autumn Riesling 2008 $17.99 cellar door
Penfolds have kept this delicious, retro-packaged riesling out of the retail scrum, offering it only at their cellar door outlets in Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, and Magill, Adelaide, and in some restaurants (where it’s more like $35). They do this with a number of outstanding wines, so it’s […]
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shed light on our wine-drinking habits and on our performance as a wine-exporting nation. And they make us think beyond the averages, reminding us, as W.I.E. Gates noted, of the man ‘who drowned crossing a stream with an average depth of six inches’.
We know, for example, that we […]
Williams Bros Grozet Premium Beer 500ml $9.90
There’s an echo of sauvignon blanc in this pale-coloured, tangy Scotch beer, as the brew contains gooseberries and a twist of bogmyrtle. But the fruit influence is subtle – meaning that what you taste is principally a high quality, traditional malt beer with refreshing fruit notes rather than hops […]
For a bit of beer excitement check out Anthony Young’s Plonk at Fyshwick markets. With help from champion home brewer, Dan Rayner, he’s quickly assembled what is probably Canberra’s best beer offering.
It’s an impressive range already. But Anthony reckons on having 500 or more beers in stock by Christmas, including soon-to-arrive direct imports from Belgium […]
Williams Crossing Macedon Pinot Noir 2006 $22–$25
Curly Flat Macedon Pinot Noir 2005 $46–$52
After several tastings, most recently as a judge at the Macedon Wine Show, I rate these amongst the best pinot noirs in Australia. They were in a field of 28 pinots, all from Macedon. Twenty of them won medals, with the only gold […]
Like Canberra, Victoria’s Macedon region sits high on the Great Dividing Range. It stretches roughly from Gisborne in the south to Baynton in the north; and from Kyneton in the west to Kilmore in the east – very roughly 40 kilometres by 40 kilometres, about half way between Melbourne and Bendigo.
Macedon’s vineyards sit mainly at […]
Little Brewing Company Wicked Elf Witbier 330ml $4.20
Elf Witbier, from Port Macquarie’s Little Brewing Company, emulates the Belgian wheat beer style with its additions of Curacao and coriander. The colour’s drab and unappetising but the aroma captures some of the fruity and clove-like notes of the style. The palate, however, falls flat – not much […]
Increasing consumption of premium beers has been accompanied by a rise in home brewing. It’s been a major force in USA for decades. But in Australia, until recently, home brewing was probably perceived more as an underground, nerdy activity.
It might also have been seen as a neat way to save money – and easy, too, […]
Brindabella Hills Canberra District Riesling 2008 $18–$20, Shiraz 2006 $22.50–$25
Roger and Faye Harris’s delicious, lime-like riesling has at last been recognised in a top-tier wine show – the 2008 recently winning gold in Canberra’s International Riesling Challenge. The wine was also rated by the judges as one of the best ten Aussie rieslings in the […]
Although it skips along the surface, Greg Duncan Powell’s new ‘Beer – a gauge for enthusiasts’ hits a need. Its release coincided with brewer Lion Nathan’s startling news that ninety per cent of people aged over eighteen years don’t know what’s in beer.
In that light Greg’s 20-odd page précis at the beginning of the book […]