TORB WA Tour Diary Chapter 2

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 7:45 pm

If you haven't already noticed, Chapter 2 is now up on Ric's site...

http://torbwine.com/pf/WA2006C2.htm

And for the eagle-eye pedants, I've already noticed two typos that I missed, they should be fixed soon:

"The new winemaker David is not so the new, he has been with us as assistant winemaker for six years.” - delete "the"

And "to do it than that Vasse Felix were we had a 1.30 appointment" = "at" and "where"

And don't ask for Chapter 3 before this time next week!

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 1:48 am

one more typo dicovered.

"As a result, we were in no hurry as we had oodles of time before out 10 o'clock appointment"

TORB · Post by **TORB** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:20 am

Well spotted Rob and in the first paragraph too. :oops:

Brian I hope you havent started something here or I will be fixing typos until next Christmas. :shock:

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:08 am

Rob wrote:one more typo dicovered.

"As a result, we were in no hurry as we had oodles of time before out 10 o'clock appointment"

Thanks Rob, and thanks for including a typo in your notification of our missed typo, makes me feel better. ;-)

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:39 am

No worries :wink:

parb · Post by **parb** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:27 am

I noticed in the Diary, no mention of the 3m high homage to RPJnr & and his bestowment of greatness on the Gralyn wines, or is it no longer on display in the tasting room. I agree, the wines at Grayln are very good indeed, but $90 each!! I can think of better ways to spend my hard earned. But credit where it's due, its good to see a winery letting the mortals taste the exy stuff.

Glen · Post by **Glen** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:27 am

Forget the typos, this one takes the cake...

Brian thought a bit of exercise was a good idea, so we hopped in the car...

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:56 am

parb wrote:I noticed in the Diary, no mention of the 3m high homage to RPJnr & and his bestowment of greatness on the Gralyn wines, or is it no longer on display in the tasting room. I agree, the wines at Grayln are very good indeed, but $90 each!! I can think of better ways to spend my hard earned. But credit where it's due, its good to see a winery letting the mortals taste the exy stuff.

That's why the cheapskates bought the wines in the "slightly damaged labels" bin @ $72! Still, they were the best wines we tasted in MR by a country kilometre (and at $72 not the most expensive), they have power, structure and balance, a complete package.

And, yes, the RPjr poster is still there. We enjoyed the wines too much to be crass and mention it.

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:00 pm

Glen wrote:Forget the typos, this one takes the cake...

Brian thought a bit of exercise was a good idea, so we hopped in the car...

Ah, the master of the selective and incomplete quote... :-)

Wait until chapter 3 when we walk around the local area admiring the "bush shacks" that are about double the size or more of my house. You'd want to be religious to live there though and pray for no bush fires three times a day in summer as well as keep the insurance paid up.

TORB · Post by **TORB** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:31 pm

parb wrote: I agree, the wines at Grayln are very good indeed, but $90 each!! I can think of better ways to spend my hard earned.

parb,

Value is a relative thing. Is a top end BMW at $200K five times better than a Holden Commode at $40,000? Nope, there is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to quality.

If you never spend more than say $40-$50 on a bottle of wine then it looks expensive, but if you buy some wines that cost up to $150 occasionally, its good value for the quality.

The telling indicator about the value of Gralyn will be showing in Chapter Three next week.

roughred · Post by **roughred** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 2:09 pm

Value sure is a relative thing....

Relatively speaking those scratched labels cost Gralyn about $18 each.

Good buying!

LL

parb · Post by **parb** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:24 pm

TORB wrote:
parb wrote: I agree, the wines at Grayln are very good indeed, but $90 each!! I can think of better ways to spend my hard earned.

parb,

Value is a relative thing. Is a top end BMW at $200K five times better than a Holden Commode at $40,000? Nope, there is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to quality.

If you never spend more than say $40-$50 on a bottle of wine then it looks expensive, but if you buy some wines that cost up to $150 occasionally, its good value for the quality.

The telling indicator about the value of Gralyn will be showing in Chapter
Three next week.

TORB,

Yes, as you say it is all relative, although the 200K beamer has a little added thing called 'import tax' that makes it soooo exy. I think walking into the Grayln tasting room, which looks more like a tasting 'space', with its expensive fittings and highly manicured staff on hand (were the Ladies there that looked like they'd stepped of the movie set of Gladiator?), made me feel like I was paying for more than the wine in its asking price. From memory I think they were even trying to push a $45 current year SSB c-through!!

TORB · Post by **TORB** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:36 pm

parb,

The staff were anything but highly manicured; the first time we were there it was just Gary and the second time, I think a family member was there too and whilst she was well turned out, no more so than other CD staff and looks about as much like a member of Gladiator as Davo! :shock:

As to the expense of setting up the CD, I am willing to bet that whilst it looks stylish, it cost a lot less than many other CD's in the region. Its simple, there is not a huge amount of fittings, and there is loads of glass which is why it looks classy.

As to the tax arguement, the tax on Oz wine is close to 43%, how much on a top end BMW (as a percentage)?

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:10 pm

parb wrote:
TORB,

Yes, as you say it is all relative, although the 200K beamer has a little added thing called 'import tax' that makes it soooo exy. I think walking into the Grayln tasting room, which looks more like a tasting 'space', with its expensive fittings and highly manicured staff on hand (were the Ladies there that looked like they'd stepped of the movie set of Gladiator?), made me feel like I was paying for more than the wine in its asking price. From memory I think they were even trying to push a $45 current year SSB c-through!!

Can't comment on the SSB. :-)

Well @ $72 (or even $81, allowing for only 10% case discount) I thought the top reds were much better quality and value than current vintage Howard Park Cabernet or Best Barrels Merlot ($75), just better than the top Woodlands Cabernet, far better than Vasse Felix Heytesbury 2002, better than Moss Wood Cabernet, much better than Leeuwin Estate Cabernet, Cape Mentelle Cabernet 2001 or 2002, better than the $90 Sandalford Prendiville Cabernet and yes, better than Cullens 2003 Diana Madelaine Cab-merlot. There were no WA shiraz that we tried that came within coee of the Gralyns other than the wonderful 95 Houghton Show Shiraz that shone at the Perth Dinner before we drove down to MR (even their "entry-level" $60/$54 Old Vines Shiraz 2003 was excellent). It was only a recent unexpected largeish expense that stopped me buying on the day, but the monthly pension payment arrives on Monday, so who knows, I might be able to call and see what's in the "damaged labels" bin.

Only my opinion of course, but I think Ric and Davo will mostly agree.

platinum · Post by **platinum** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:30 pm

Red Bigot wrote:
parb wrote:
I thought the top reds were much better quality and value than current vintage Howard Park Cabernet .

Is that the 2001 or is it now 2002 Brian?

Davo · Post by **Davo** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:20 am

The current reds at CD Howard Park were uniformly poor, mostly green and acidic. So bad that I did not bother taking notes and cannot recall the vintage. The Best barrels Merlot was bloody terrible IMO. You will have to wait for Ric's diary for the vintages as only he could be bothered with notes.

Davo · Post by **Davo** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:21 am

TORB wrote:
parb wrote: I agree, the wines at Grayln are very good indeed, but $90 each!! I can think of better ways to spend my hard earned.

parb,

Value is a relative thing. Is a top end BMW at $200K five times better than a Holden Commode at $40,000? Nope, there is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to quality.

If you never spend more than say $40-$50 on a bottle of wine then it looks expensive, but if you buy some wines that cost up to $150 occasionally, its good value for the quality.

The telling indicator about the value of Gralyn will be showing in Chapter Three next week.

Now Ric, no telling tales out of school.

TORB · Post by **TORB** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:44 am

platinum wrote:
Is that the 2001 or is it now 2002 Brian?

2002

Davo wrote:Now Ric, no telling tales out of school.

To late mate; it already written! :lol:

And some of your "classic quotes" have been included too. :wink:

mphatic · Post by **mphatic** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 12:11 pm

TORB wrote:As to the tax arguement, the tax on Oz wine is close to 43%, how much on a top end BMW (as a percentage)?

Luxury car tax is 25% of the GST-exclusive portion over $57,009.

So of your $211,500 BMW 750i purchase price, about $28,609 is Luxury Car Tax, and $16,626 is GST for a total of $45,235 in taxes. This equates to 21.4% of the purchase price.

When doing the same calculation for your weekend car (the Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster) this jumps up to 24.6% of the $714,475 bill. Considering you just paid the Govt $175,000, you'd want to hope they fix those damn potholes in your street that keep on tearing off your $30000 front spoiler...

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 7:33 pm

Red Bigot wrote:
parb wrote:I noticed in the Diary, no mention of the 3m high homage to RPJnr & and his bestowment of greatness on the Gralyn wines, or is it no longer on display in the tasting room. I agree, the wines at Grayln are very good indeed, but $90 each!! I can think of better ways to spend my hard earned. But credit where it's due, its good to see a winery letting the mortals taste the exy stuff.

That's why the cheapskates bought the wines in the "slightly damaged labels" bin @ $72! Still, they were the best wines we tasted in MR by a country kilometre (and at $72 not the most expensive), they have power, structure and balance, a complete package.

And, yes, the RPjr poster is still there. We enjoyed the wines too much to be crass and mention it.

Why didnt they just change the labels??? surely that would have only taken them 5 minutes and earnt them an extra $18??!

Handy · Post by **Handy** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:21 pm

Maybe they couldn't sell the bottles with the unripped labels at those high prices.

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:26 pm

Adam wrote: Why didnt they just change the labels??? surely that would have only taken them 5 minutes and earnt them an extra $18??!

Well, maybe only an extra $9 compared to the case price. There were only two of the 4 top reds in the bin, all bottles are tissue-wrapped as well and I suspect removing modern labels cleanly would be a bit difficult.

Maybe it's partly a marketing ploy as well to sell a few extra bottles to people who see it as a relative bargain. One of the two bottles I bought seemed to have a small gouge in the label, the other one was pristine as far as I could tell.