The International Riesling Challenge, held in Canberra in October, reminds us that riesling remains our best value-for-money white wine variety. The results catalogue is packed with delicious, potentially long-lived wines available at modest prices. However, riesling remains a niche variety, ignored by the vast majority of drinkers, despite the decades of praise heaped on it. … Continue reading Big value in niche rieslings
In 1989 the CSIRO bought a woolly pup from Galacia, Spain. But it learned this only twenty years later. What the CSIRO believed to be the white variety, albarino, turned out to be savagnin. By then Australian vignerons had about 150-hectares of ‘albarino’ in the ground, all of it sourced ultimately from the original CSIRO … Continue reading Albarino update
There’s a saying going around the industry that you can always tell a Foster’s wine executive – but you can’t tell them much. It shows in every part of their faltering wine empire, and even in a recent press release announcing the launch in Australia of wine in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles. It’s an … Continue reading Will wine in plastic bottles succeed in Australia?
Ninth Island Tasmania Pinot Noir 2008 $20–24 Toolangi Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2007 $22–25 With a few exceptions, the entry price for decent Australian pinot seems to be around $20. But that’s the nature of a beast that needs a cool climate and low yields to deliver flavour and structure. Ninth Island (part of Pipers … Continue reading Wine review — Ninth Island, Toolangi, Mud House, Main Ridge and Cloudy Bay
Ask any retailer and they’ll tell you Hunter shiraz is a hard sell. In the past it’s been described as tasting of sweaty saddles, old boots and even a gypsy’s nether regions. Like its white cellar mate, semillon, Hunter shiraz remains an intensely loved, niche wine style with tremendous ageing ability. The best are profound … Continue reading A yummy Hunter shiraz tasting
Mitchell’s of Clare have made extraordinarily good wines consistently since 1975, when Jane and Andrew Mitchell kicked off the venture. I first tasted the wines in the late seventies and have enjoyed them every year since – on the tasting bench, with meals and on all-too-rare visits to the winery. It’s a sustained and impressive … Continue reading Mitchell — a great Clare Estate
At a recent series of pinot noir tastings at Mornington, the opening brackets showed just how variable styles can be. Were these style differences, we were asked, a result of human intervention or attributable to ‘terroir’ – the French the French term, for which there is no English equivalent, meaning roughly ‘the sum of the … Continue reading Mornington pinot celebration part 3
Fine Wine partners, the wine distribution arm of brewer Lion Nathan is about to launch Mac’s beer in Australia. The Canberra kick off (at Parlour Wine Room) will be done and dusted by the time you read this. But if you miss the party, there’ll be no shortage of beer afterwards. I’ve drunk various Mac’s … Continue reading Lion to bring Mac’s beer to Australia
Pinot noir attracts a lot of talk for a variety that makes up only five per cent of Australia’s annual red grape output. In 2008 it contributed just 47 thousand of the 964 thousand tonnes crushed by our vignerons – a crush dominated by shiraz and cabernet sauvignon at 436 thousand and 254 thousand tonnes … Continue reading Pinot noir — small volume, big talk
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 … Continue reading Wine review — Joseph Perrier, Gratien & Meyer, Eileen Hardy, Waterhwheel, Wyndham Estate and Jacob’s Creek