Rather than being embittered by a long-term decline in Australia’s per capita beer consumption (129.3 litres in 1989; 89 litres in 2001), Australian brewers sought to excite and entice beer drinkers with new products. Hence, the creation over the past decade and more of light beers, mid-strength beer, dry beers, cold filtered beers etc.
Despite all […]
Miramar Mudgee Chardonnay 2000, $15 at cellar door
The trophy-winning Miramar Chardonnay 1984 was the most memorable wine of the 2003 Mudgee Regional Wine Show. For a nineteen year old it showed extraordinary vibrance and varietal flavour in combination with mellow, aged character. It was just one of a continuing line of age-worthy estate-grown-chardonnays made by […]
The battle for the top of the bottle is diversifying as the pure-cork monopoly crumbles. What was once the domain of the cork came under challenge from synthetic plugs in cheaper wines in the mid nineties before being blown wide open by recent widespread acceptance of screw cap sealed premium wines.
But the synthetic plug and […]
The recent collapse of wine investment companies Heritage Fine Wines and Wine Orb underlines the high risk to consumers of investing in wine through a third party. And a search through the price realisations at Langton’s Auctions suggests the secondary market is a buyer’s paradise and a devilishly difficult place to make money even when […]
Rose’s long predicted moment in the sun may, at last, have arrived – in a very small but dynamic way.
According to A.C. Nielsen, Australian retail sales of bottled rose grew 108.3 per cent by volume and 79.5 per cent by value in the year to November 2004.
By the end of December, says Orlando-Wyndham’s Paul Turale, […]
Penley Estate Coonawarra Phoenix Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 $19.99
At last week’s Limestone Coast Show, Singapore based writer, Ch’ng Poh Tiong awarded Phoenix the International Judge’s Trophy as his favoured wine of the show. Together with James Halliday, we’d ranked it at the top of the small 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon class, noting its vibrant, sweet, fruity aroma […]
Part 1
28 August 2005
Amongst Australia’s two thousand wineries, mostly comparatively new wineries, significant numbers date from the mid to late 19th century. Some — like Penfolds (established 1844) – now belong to larger companies. Others, like Tyrrell’s, Drayton’s, Yalumba and Bleasdale remain in the hands of their founding families.
Amongst these family-owned veterans, Tahbilk, occupies a […]
Schild Estate Barossa GMS 2004 $19
Ed Schild and family own vineyards sprinkled between the banks of Jacob’s Creek and the village of Lyndoch in the southern Barossa Valley. A significant proportion of the vines are mature (up to 150 years old) and produces wines of stunning quality – like this gift made from vines averaging […]
Tahbilk Nagambie Lakes Marsanne 2005 $11-$14
This is surely a contender – along with a few Clare Rieslings – for Australia’s best-value-white title. Not only does it drink well as a young wine but as the last weekend’s tasting at the winery demonstrated, it takes on a golden, honeyed richness with age — the 1974, 1982, […]
Jacob’s Creek is a wine brand in transition. As the team behind growing, making and marketing it looks ten, twenty and thirty years into the future, they see – and have laid the foundations for –- a brand with a sense of place and history. And it’ll be led, in future, by benchmark regional varietals […]
Jacob’s Creek Johann 1999 $100, St Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet 2002 $40, Centenary Hill Barossa Shiraz 1997 $40, Steingarten Barossa Ranges Riesling 2002 $30, Reeve’s Point Padthaway Chardonnay 2002 $30
Meet the posh members of the Jacob’s Creek family: Johann, an extraordinarily rich, elegant Barossa Shiraz, Coonawarra Cabernet blend for long cellaring; Centenary Hill, a powerful, savoury […]
Results of last week’s Canberra Regional Wine Show confirm shiraz as the district’s outright star. Various delicious examples won four gold medals and, for the sixth consecutive year, the variety earned the ‘champion wine of the show’ trophy.
But for the first time since I’ve been judging at the event, shiraz met a serious challenger for […]
Helm Canberra District Premium Riesling $ $33
Ken Helm’s been talking the riesling talk for decades. Now, deservedly, he’s walking the walk with this stunningly good wine. It’s the product of years of incremental adjustments to a winemaking regime applied to the very best grapes from Al Lustenberger’s fastidiously managed Murrumbateman vineyard. All it took was […]
As far north and as coastal as it is, the lower Hunter Valley of NSW ought to be too warm, too wet, too humid and, with Sydney so close, too expensive to make wine. But it has successfully done so for 170 years and today it is more varied and innovative than at any other […]
After a hot, flavour-sapping 2004 vintage, the milder 2005 season seems to have produced rieslings of subtle perfume, delicious flavour and, in the better examples, the classic intensity and acid structure for long-term cellaring.
As these flow into an increasingly competitive market over the next few months, it’ll pay to stock up – provided, of course, […]
Grosset Watervale Riesling 2005 $33 & Polish Hill Riesling 2005 $39
Jeffrey Grosset’s Clare rieslings, from the subregions of Watervale and Polish Hill, rank consistently amongst the best of the style in Australia. The Watervale (for the first time in 2005 entirely from Grosset’s own vineyard) is almost unbelievably pure and delicate with a racy, lingering […]
A long winemaking history, varied landscapes, large area under vine and sheer numbers of winemakers underlie the Barossa Valley’s ability to make so many wine styles so well.
Riesling, semillon, chardonnay, viognier, shiraz, grenache, grenache-mourvedre-shiraz blends, cabernet sauvignon and a range of sublime fortifieds all earned gongs at last week’s Barossa Wine Show.
This tasty mix of […]
Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2004 $19.95 to $22.95
Yalumba offers three viogniers, each outstanding at its price – and little wonder. Since establishing Australia’s first significant plantings in the Eden Valley in 1980, they’ve worked hard to tame and bottle what winemaker Louisa Rose calls an ‘incredibly challenging’ and ‘unpredictable’ variety. The amazingly plush, complex $60-a-bottle […]
If you’re wondering where David Farmer went, I’ve found him in the Barossa. I found his brother Richard there, too. They’re about to re-enter the wine trade.
For those who don’t remember the Farmers, this is the pair that back in 1975 took advantage of Whitlam’s Trade Practices Act and liberalised ACT liquor licensing laws to […]
Langmeil Barossa ‘Valley Floor’ Shiraz 2003, $24.50 cellar door
After judging at the Barossa show a few weeks back I dropped into Langmeil, home to some of the Valley’s oldest vines, dating to 1843. The $100 ‘Freedom ‘ Shiraz 2003, made from these vines, is impressively vibrant and concentrated and just one of a handful of […]
As reported last week, David Farmer, co-founder of former Canberra-based Farmer Bros, is about to re-enter the wine trade via a cellar door mail order operation –glug.com.au — in the Barossa Valley.
While setting up the business, though, David’s been applying the disciplines of his old trade, geology, to the Barossa. This work when published could […]
Thomas Hunter Valley Braemore Semillon 2005 $24, Kiss Shiraz 2004 $48
Former Tyrrell winemaker, Andrew Thomas, now makes wine for Hungerford Hill and a range of Hunter clients as well as sourcing outstanding material for his own label. The two reviewed here are superb regional specialties. The intense, delicate, vibrant and potentially very long-lived Braemore semillon […]
This is the story of three jaw-dropping wines – a $90 shiraz, a $13 shiraz and a $40 chardonnay.
The first has been 35 years in the making and the second, 19 years. The third, with only a few vintages in bottle, might be just a shadow of itself without the 35-year endeavour behind the $90 […]
Hardys Oomoo McLaren Vale Shiraz 2004, $9.90 to $15
Here’s proof of the trickle down effect: the flagship Eileen Hardy Shiraz is McLaren Vale based and amongst the best reds in Australia. Budget priced Oomoo benefits from the effort expended on Eileen. This is reflected in its fruit brightness, generous, chocolaty regional character, savoury ‘real red’ […]
Eileen Hardy Shiraz – flagship red of the Hardy Wine Company was introduced in 1973 to celebrate the 80th birthday of family matriarch, Eileen Hardy. That wine, a selection of the best McLaren Vale Shiraz from the 1970 vintage, still drinks well today.
What began as a birthday gift became a company flagship, despite significant style […]
Seppelt ‘Benno’ Bendigo Shiraz 2003 $50, St Peters Grampians Shiraz 2003 $60
These are sensational reds – the top two in Seppelt’s range of Victorian Shirazes. ‘Benno’ appears indestructible having lasted a week on the tasting bench, building and strengthening over time. It has an essence-like concentration of fruit flavour and plush, fine, velvety texture. St […]
The Limestone Coast wine zone takes in all of South Australia south of Lake Alexandrina, bounded to the east by the Victorian border and to the west and south by the sea.
This unique limestone plain is home to The Coorong, Naracoorte World Heritage caves, the extinct volcano, Mount Gambier, the Robe crayfish industry, vast pinus […]
Wine marketers will tell you that drinkers shop around: serious wine collectors cherry pick at numerous outlets; casual shoppers go where it’s convenient; and bargain hunters scour the press and web before leaving home – or pushing the button.
And wine marketers will also tell you that within the context of the massive liquor retail struggle […]
Ladbroke Grove Coonawarra Riesling 2005 $17.99
This is a little producer to watch. Ladbroke’s Killian Cabernet 2001 won three trophies in the 2003 Limestone Coast Show. This year it was the riesling’s turn. After topping a strong 2005 vintage riesling class it went on to win the Karl Seppelt Trophy. Fruit comes from a northern Coonawarra […]
Australia’s great wine icon, Penfolds Grange, is in no danger of demise. But in my view it does have a quality challenger — albeit in a different style — from within its own cellar.
The challenger goes under the name RWT, originally a prosaic acronym for ‘red wine trial’ – a mid nineties project led by […]
Lanson Champagne Vintage 1996 $79 to $89
With some of the big name vintage Champagnes pushing beyond $100 a bottle, Lanson 1996 offers sensational value for money. At New Zealand’s ‘Liquorland Top 100’ wine show recently I rated it the best of all the Champagnes and it went on to top the category. It shows the […]
David Farmer — former Canberra wine merchant, in town last week to launch his new Barossa-based business, Glug — believes traditional liquor retailing has gone forever to Coles and Woolworths.
Even after the current margin-sapping wine glut clears, consolidation among producers and retailers virtually ensures a changing landscape.
For independent retailers that means finding a niche that […]
Domaine Day Eden Valley Garganega 2005, $19.95
Former Chief Winemaker of Orlando, Robin Day, believes he is the first in Australia to plant garganega, the white grape of Soave, in Italy’s Veneto region. I had to visit Wellington, New Zealand, to taste the wine but have since enjoyed it twice in Australia, most recently at the […]
The sheer delicious pleasure of drinking riesling, young or old, and the efficacy of screw caps for both early drinking and cellaring wines came through at the recent National Wine Show exhibitors’ tasting.
Faced with 1400 wines and just four hours’ tasting time, quick forays into chardonnay, cabernet and shiraz turned to a dedicated look at […]
Yalumba ‘Y’ Series South Australia Riesling 2005 $9 to $12
Despite the humble price, ‘Y’ comes from the Barossa and the Eden Valley, key riesling areas. And in the hands of the Yalumba team, you can always count on the flavour and freshness being there. With 52 points out of 60 and a silver medal at […]
There’s never been a better time to buy wine. Equally, there’s never been a more confusing time for wine drinkers. For the very glut of producers and labels currently forcing prices down forms an intimidating wall of brands that confounds even professional wine judges.
The diversity of choice and competition-driven low pricing is good, of course. […]
Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz 2004 $11.40 to $22
Wynns is a magnificent, cellaring red prone to bouts of discounting. Hopefully the $11.40 price offered by 1st Choice last week will come around again somewhere in Canberra. Made by Sue Hodder, the 2004 — benefiting from vineyard rejuvenation and a shortening of time in oak — is […]