The Auswine Forum

The Annual Alternative Wine Show was held in Mildura last week. Over 700 wines were judged made from more varieties than you thought were possible. I tasted quite a few at the public tasting. Over the past decade the standard of the wines has increased markedly. Steve Pannell was awarded the trophy ...

Nobody in this thread has mentioned Tempraneo - m - which is group of six Aussie producers who are jointly promoting the variety. They have held workshops and comparative tastings around Australia. One factor which will help the variety is the promotion by Yalumba of the Running with Bulls Tempranil...

Someone has told me about a winery called "Della Fay" In WA. I can't find any reference to it or contact details. Can anyone help?

I am Launching my book in Sydney and have got some interesting alternative varietals for tasting along with a some canapes. &pm this Thursday 26 August. Sparkling Chenin Blanc (think Vouvray) WA Greco di Tufo SA Petit Manseng SA Nebbiolo NSW Sagrantino (Vic) Graciano(Vic) Durif (Vic) PM me for d...

Armagnac is the go. It is vintage unlike the more downmarket cognac.

I'm off to Sin City later this month. Can any Sydneysiders tell me if there is any good wine/food specialist bookshops in the cbd inner area?

I'm going to Port Elliot next week. There are plenty of smaller vineyards around with lakes of shiraz and chardy to sell. Try these for off the beaten track. Mt Jagged in Southern Fleurieu for their sparkling red. Rusticana Langhorne Creek for their Durif and Zinfandel (and try their horseradish bee...

Get yourself a copy of Rick Stein's French Odyssey the book or the DVD He goes from Bordeaux to Avignon by canal boat. Do the trip in reverse but instead of continuing into Bordeaux head south from Marmande into Gers, Madiran then down thru the Basque and Armagnac county to San Sebastian. Try the lo...

Best wines of the year have been tempranillo and vermentino, so I need to stock up on those this week. Probably Brown Brothers for both, that way there'll be enough money in the kitty, Global crisis notwithstanding, to lash out on some good sparkling red. Perhaps Andersons or Auldstones. Di Lusso ha...

Sorry Davo, you are right. We need to get our facts straight. The variety was not developed. But neither is it a result of a sport. It arose from a seedling, not the same thing at all. The Shalistin and Malian, white and bronze Cabernets at Cleggetts in Langhorne Creek did arise as sports. As far as...

I notice that an online retailer in the UK is offering "Benson Rise Cygne blanc" For those of you who don't drink wine you can see through, Cygne blanc is a white variety developed by the late Jack Mann in the Swan Valley. Mann Winery use it to make a sparkler. A few years ago a lot of it ...

Are we getting too anal about terroir? Last week the Fed square wine show held its annual awards event. Grampians Estate won the best wine of the year, best red wine etc for its Black Sunday Friends Reserve Shiraz 2006. Its little brother (non reserve) was also a finalist (silver or gold category) H...

Sorry guys, I am also a late withdrawal.

Better luck next time.

Just the one I of me.

Count me in for just one. My better half doesn't much like wine events, blokey or not.

I haven't been to the Metropolitan but if it's BYO it sounds good to me.

Will we have a theme, or will it just be bring a good bottle?

I think this thread raises an interesting issue about the 2008 vintage, esp in SA where vintage was influenced by an intense and persistent heatwave in March. Wines made from grapes harvested before the heatwave (whites and early varieties) will presumably be better than those harvested during and a...

My two cents worth. White vareities which are worth a look are Vermentino, arneis and Fiano. I'll reserve judgement on Albarino, although Jim Irvine has made a great one. Although Pinot Gris is now fairly common there is still some work to be done and I believe they are getting better. Among the new...

I have had some difficulty with Zinfandel, I've never really understood what it's all about until a recent conversation with Rick Glastonbury at Kabminye. I have never really had the time to learn about US Zin's, or most other imported wines for that matter, there are just too many other Aussie vari...

The winery won a Gold medal for the Nebbiolo (appropriately)and a bronze for Sangiovese. They also entered a Tempranillo that just missed the medals. I have not been able to track down contact details for them. I'd like to know exactly where the wine comes from for my database, and what other goodie...

For those who think there is life after shiraz you can get some idea of the experimental, sometimes crazy, exciting creative edge to wine making in Australia by checking out the results of the 2007 Alternative Varieties wine show at m 15 wines, out of 599, won gold I imagine some Auswiners would hav...

I have been contacted by a guy from the Carignan Renaissance who wants to know if there is any of the stuff left in Australia. On my database I have Happs in Margaret River, Kabminye and Spinifex, both in the Barossa. I think there must be some more around somewhere, but it is hiding after the very ...

Every day we seem to read that the medical establishment is advising us to drink less and less, even nothing for women who have a bun in the oven or even a man with a twinkle in his eye. So it's good to see some balance back in the discussion. This article in the UK Guardian http://www.guardian.co.u...

We all taste things differently, and memory plays an important part in taste/smell. Some people like to describe wine as tasting like gooseberries. I don't eat them very often and I don't remember what they taste like. But gooseberries is a good word to drop in when you are trying to think of someth...

I can probably dig up a bottle of mid 1990s Heathcote red.

The Wizz is spot on in his reccommendation about avoiding ripe and sweet reds when looking for something to go with pizza. Most Australian reds fit this category. Italian style reds are better. The variety is one clue in finding a good pizza wine. Try sangiovese or barbera. But some aussie wines mad...

A couple of years ago one of the provinces of Canada adopted the radical step of introducing BYO. They created a separate licence for restaurants who wanted to take away their leftovers. As I recall the take the rest home licence applied to both BYO wine and wines purchased at the restaurant.

It seems that the generalisation "worst Vintage ever" is useful in stirring up opinions, but of course it is inaccurate. My suggestion is most interesting vintage ever Has anyone heard a grower/winemaker from Australia saying "2007 vintage will be just another year" Cheers

Pam Lincoln of Oranje Tractor Wine Albany WA reports that they completed their vintage six weeks earlier than last year.

Cheers

A couple of standouts for me have been Di Lusso Vermentino, and their Sangiovese Rose Vigna Bottin's Barbera, and Pizzini have released a Brachetto. Arneis is creeping up on us, it may do a Pinot grigio over the next 5 years. Hot regions, well really the cool regions of NSW - Orange, Hilltops etc Ch...