What do wine shows mean? What goes on behind all those white-coated judges we’ve seen recently on TV news – in September’s Canberra Regional Show, October’s International Riesling Challenge and this month’s National Wine Show of Australia?
Who are the judges? What attracts them to serve without pay, not just in our three high-profile local events, […]
Otway Estate Prickly Moses Wheat Beer, Pilsner, Summer Ale 330ml $4.20
Today’s beers all come from Victoria’s Otway Ranges. The wheat beer is zesty, lemony, fresh and light but without any of the complexity of the Belgian originals (***); Pilsner starts and finishes with hops but there’s little depth to it (***); and the Summer Ale […]
Kevin and Alison O’Neill created the Snowy Mountains Brewery brand in 2004. Although the beer has been brewed at AIB near Camden (and at Geelong and Mildura, too, following its success), the couple always planned to build a brewery in Jindabyne, connecting the ales tangibly with their alpine-inspired names – Crackenback Pale Ale, Bullocks Pilsner, […]
Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale NV Brut Champagne $45.90–50
Saumur Brut NV (Gratien & Meyer) $18–20
Here’s a couple of lovely French bubblies imported by Woolworths (Dan Murphy) and Coles (1st Choice and Vintage Cellars) respectively. Joseph Perrier is the real thing and its flavour strongly reflects the company’s holdings of pinot meunier near its Marne River press […]
Fourteen-year-old Bill Redman arrived in Coonawarra in 1901with his older brother, Dick. They’d heard that work was available at John Riddoch’s cellars, says Bill’s grandson, Bruce. ‘Bill was small and they put him to work in the cellar (he could fit into barrels’, adds Bruce, ‘but his brother was bigger and was put to work […]
Brakspear English Pale Ale 500ml $7.80
This lovely, mid-amber coloured ale appeals for the delicious interplay of hops, malt and fruitiness. It’s a rich, but subtle, balanced style – modest in alcohol at 4.2 per cent, yet complex and though hoppy and bitter, not overwhelmingly so. It’s brewed in England using English malted barley and Fuggles […]
Brewer Chuck Hahn says he’s planning for two anniversaries next year. It’ll be 20 years since he launched Hahn Premium from his then independent Camperdown brewery. And it’ll be 10 year since the birth of James Squire Original Amber Ale, made in the same brewery but now owned by Lion Nathan and renamed The Malt […]
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 […]