The Auswine Forum

Thanks to Sue for giving me a prod on this one. I haven't been around the forum much recently so it entirely passed me by. Sadly I don't think I'll be in for this one - my cellar is looking fairly bare at the moment, and definitely doesn't contain any 1998 Hawkes Bay red. It's given me enough of a j...

does it need to be available in UK or here in NZ? Both. just depends how much $$ ya wanna spend and what style of wine he likes Unfortunately I don't have a huge amount to go on in terms of his tastes, so I figure I'll get something I like! I tend to favour style over substance (i.e. stylish, compl...

It's not a case of "money no object" but we can't get TOO silly. I'd say we're looking in the $50-$100 range.

Martin

Hi folks, I haven't been around the forum for quite a while. I seem to have been concentrating on beer for most of the last year! Anyway, my in-laws are currently visiting NZ from the UK. They have a friend back in the UK who has a substantial wine cellar. He has sent them with orders to find an NZ ...

Just seen on the news websites - winery owner Trevor Drayton is one of 2 people feared killed in an explosion at his winery in the Hunter.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/winery-blast-kills-two/2008/01/17/1200419927603.html

Sounds awful.

Martin

Not sure if it was anything to do with the storage position, but I had a rather lively bottle of Billecart-Salmon the other night. I'd just untwisted the wire on the cage when the cork rocketed skyward, taking the cage with it. A second later I was drenched in (rather nice) champagne. My cellar was ...

I'd also like to add my thanks to Craig for organising, and to all the other attendees for bringing along some very interesting wines. It was an excellent evening, although it has led to me being rather slow off the mark this morning! I didn't take any notes, but I generally agree with Sue. I was on...

Hope it doesn't cause an issue but I'll be bringing a different wine to the one I originally mentioned. When I went in the wine storage unit this morning to pick it out I spotted a nice Bordeaux that I'd forgotten about, so I'll be bringing that along instead. However, no borwn bags or similar to be...

I've been out of internet access for a while. I think I previously confirmed, but if not please take this as confirmation that I will be there. Just me.

Martin

I'm planning to bring a Cahors, but I have a couple of other options if that doesn't fit.

Martin

My cellar contents finally arrived from the UK this month. Loading it all into the wine storage unit I noticed how biased towards red my red/white ratio was, so with summer around the corner: 6 x 2006 Squawking Magpie 'The Chatterer' Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 6 x 2007 Cloudy Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Bl...

I've been taking it easy booze-wise in preparation for the Auckland Quarter Marathon so after completing that yesterday morning (1h 12m) I thought I'd treat myself. 1998 Tyrrell's Vat 9 Shiraz The cork came out a bit too easily for my liking. As expected there were definite hints of oxidisation, but...

I'll be there. Just me. Pot-luck sounds good to me.

Martin

La Bocca, Tues 4th Dec, 7pm - locked in.

Congratulations on the cat herding Craig!

Martin

I ate at Santa Lucia in Mission Bay last week. The food was fine, nothing exceptional. I didn't really notice the glassware. I'd rather be somewhere more central though as I too have to schlep across the harbour bridge. My vote would therefore be for La Bocca (as I'm most likely to be bringing red w...

I've not been to St Tropez, but the food certainly does seem wine-friendly. I think I'd prefer Old World cuisine, as I find matching wine to Asian foods quite challenging. Plus my cellar is red-dominated at the minute. As for the other questions, I'd say central city on a weekday evening works best ...

The only date I definitely can't do in December is Thursday 6th. The rest is still clear at the moment.

I'm based in the city centre but I'm afraid I'm too new on the scene to know much about the restaurants.

Cheers,

Martin

Just bumping this back into life. My cellar seems to have survived its journey across the high seas (well, at least the bottles have - I'll give the contents a little while to settle down before I check for problems there) so I'd be up for any Auckland-based gathering in the not-too-distant future. ...

Bick, I see you are in Auckland. Why don't you apply for a stewarding position at the New Zealand International Wine Show next year? It's the stepping stone to judging if you are really keen. NZIWS is held at the North Harbour Stadium around the beginning of Sept. They also have volunteer stewards ...

Actually we are pretty pathetic at organising offlines in NZ. In fact ive been to more offlines in Australia than in NZ!! My feeble attempt to organise one for next weekend hasnt really worked. Looks like its turned into a couple of quiet ones with Lance and Dave before Wine NZ over a home cooked m...

I'm still on various merchants' mailing lists in the UK and I got a couple of emails today offering the 2005 Dead Arm. Oddbins are offering it at GBP24.99 (NZ$69.99) per bottle with 10% discount on multiples of 6.

Has it popped up anywhere down here yet?

Cheers,

Martin

We went to the Auckland Coffee Festival and ended up buying wine! Mills Reef had a stand doing tastings so we ended up buying a bottle each of the 2007 Reserve Piont Gris, 2005 Reserve Merlot Malbec and 2005 Reserve Syrah. The latter in particular was impressive in the tasting, with an extremely lon...

I have good memories of that wine. I picked up a few bottles at the winery in the Upper Hunter a few years back. I seem to remember it was quite subtle, as Hunter Chardonnays go.

Cheers,

M

2001 Chateau d’Armailhac Grand Cru Classe: Dark red/crimson. Perfumed and slightly floral nose of earthy cassis with a hint of game/truffles, then pepper and talcum/bath salts. Seriously intense and tannic palate at first, gradually revealing some feminine blackcurrant/strawberry and mineral...

My curosity nerve has been jangling ever since I posted my original message. If those bottles are still there tomorrow, at least one of them is going in my bag! But NOT the Wolf Blass Yellow Label!

Any ideas which of the other 3 might be the most palatable??

Martin

My most expensive was a bottle of 1985 Grange, at about A$350. Nice, but not mind-blowing, if my memory serves me right. What is rapidly becoming my most valuable wine is a case of Chateau Suduiraut 2001, bought en primeur in honour of my son's birth in that year. It cost me GBP330 for the case but ...

Hi folks, A guy at work has been clearing out his garage and has brought int some wine he found for (as he says) "anyone brave enough to try it!". The wines are: Wolf Blass Yellow Label Chardonnay 1994 Corbans Select Chardonnay 1997 CJ Pask Gimblett Road Sauvignon Blanc 1996 Vidal Hawkes B...

Would love to, but I suspect my cellar will still be on the high seas at that point!

Martin

Which "Intro" forum? You should be able to post a "Who Am I" entry, just not put stuff into your profile or include URLs until you've scored 5 posts. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's a small price to pay to keep the huge number of spambots at bay. Well, the Who Am I forum d...

I just registered and tried posting something in the intro forum to say hello, and all I got was the "you can't put info in your profile" error message.

Not amazingly helpful.

Martin