The Auswine Forum

I'm glad to hear that my Grenache Challenge has raised the level of interest in Grenache. My passion for this variety has not abated and I now have about 130 bottles of straight grenache from 80 different labels. Some of the more interesting recent acquisitions have been: 2009 Singular Onkaparinga H...

If you live in Melbourne, or have occasion to visit there, it's worth stopping at Hotel Agencies in Nicholson St. m They often have stemware on sale that is a fraction of the normal retail price. Not quite sure what you may find online. I live in Adelaide and bought three dozen Spieglau glasses for ...

Went to Artisans of the Barossa yesterday. Along with the lovely wines they had soup! This is a first at a wine tasting for me. As usual got caught up with the grenache on offer and got some: 2008 Kalleske Grenache 2007 Schwarz Grenache Then dropped in at Two Hands and was treated to a taste of the ...

2006 Old Faithful Sandhill Grenache 2006 Old Faithful Northern Exposure Grenache 2006 Charles Melton Richelieu Grenache 2006 Cirillo 1850 Grenache 2007 Yelland & Papps Grenache 2008 Ochota Barrels Grenache (new find!) 2006 Glaymond El Abuelo Grenache 2008 Rusden Driftsand Grenache Shiraz I'm in ...

A remnant of my American upbringing: A margarita made with a genuine 100% blue agave blanco tequila such as Herradura or Casa Noble (not the Cuervo crap that is usually served in Australia) and fresh lime juice, with agave nectar to take the edge off. Excellent in summer, but good anytime. Sweet and...

I'm on a diet so I'm not drinking (well - very little, anyway) so I'm trying to curb my buying as well. 1 x 2008 Craggy Range Te Muna Pinot Noir 1 x 2008 Craggy Range Calvert Vineyard Pinot Noir 1 x 2007 Michael Hall Eden Valley Syrah 1 x 2009 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling 1 x 2004 P eter Lehmann Wigan ...

Mahmound Ali wrote: I have to disagree with Tristam Shandy's comment about Grenache wines not being able to age. If he's referring to single varietal wines then he may have a point as I've yet to have an old one. But if "Grenache wines" includes blends, even those with a high component of ...

Michael wrote: Two questions 1 - What is good in the sub $30 range? 2 - Is there anywhere that does good examples besides Barossa and Mclaren? (obviously there is the CDR and Spanish examples) I feel compelled to chime in here. I'm biased towards straight Grenache wines, or at least Grenache dominan...

Ian, is this your usual tasting group as your impressions seem to be almost diametrically opposed to that of the group, which is usually not the case. Tristram indicates there were a few winemakers there so this skew the results with everyone voting for their own wine or something? I'm sure the cro...

I'm in Adelaide and I bought a some Epis pinot noir from Boccaccio last summer and they shipped it right in the middle of a heat wave in both Melbourne and Adelaide. The bottles arrived, to my dismay with the capsules pushed out a bit by the corks. Very worrying for a wine that I wanted to put down ...

Michael McNally wrote: In this price range I'm in favour of: NV Yalumba 'D' As far as I'm aware, the Yalumba D Black is a vintage sparkler, not NV. And if you can find it for under $30 these days I'd like to know about it. The best price I've seen is around $36. It's a favourite of mine - nice combi...

Last Saturday, our annual wine challenge focused on grenache blends - those modelled on the wines from the southern Rhône valley. As usual, we decanted all the wines into 24 numbered bottles. The evening was planned for the backyard, so I had prayed that we wouldn't have another day of 40°+ he...

The love using numbers in a rating system derives from the advent of modern technology through the use of the scientific method. This was fairly straightforward concept when applied to most scientific and enginneering pursuits. It's relatively simple to measure right and wrong in a mathematics exam ...

I'm a fan of NZ wines and I was planning to go (having attended previous years), but discovered that the list of wineries was almost completely dominated by Marlborough wines. Hardly any representation from Martinborough or Otago, not to mention Hawkes Bay, etc - especially given the high profile an...

Don't know if waiting will help this one. I had some of the 2002 Reynell Grenache earlier this year and it had completely fallen apart. Truly undrinkable - and I'm a grenache lover. I'm beginning to wonder about the value of letting straight grenache age. I've had a few examples from both McLaren Va...

1 x Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1994 2 x Rudderless GSM 2005 2 x Petagna Dio GSM 2006 2 x Massena The Moonlight Run 2007 2 x Neagles Rock The Misery 2007 2 x Rockford Moppa Springs 2004 2 x Kabminye Grenache Carignan 2005 2 x Kalleske Old Vine Grenache 2007 6 x Seppelt Chalambar 2007 2...

It's a long drive to Victory and back. Has anyone thought about organising bus transport from the city down to the Victory? It would make for a much safer outing.

Tristram

Last Friday I tried my first straight Grenache, the 2004 Cirillo 1850 Old Vine Grenache with some friends. We were all quite surprised how nice it was and it has inspired us to try a few more straight Grenache wines. I have been looking at the Grenache Challenge Post on this forum for some idea on ...

Still on a grenache bender: DiLisio Grenache d'Arenberg Ironstone Pressings Cascabel Monastrell Yangarra High Sands Grenache Yangarra Old Vine Grenache Dog Ridge Cadenzia Grenache Tscharke The Potter Grenache Vinrock Grenache Petaluma Shiraz Yalumba FDR1A Astrolabe Awatea Sauvignon blanc St. Clair W...

6 x 2006 Clos Clare "The Hayes Boy" Grenache 6 x 2005 Hutton Vale Grenache Mataro 6 x 2007 Delamere Pinot Noir 3 x 2007 Nautilus Sauvignon blanc 2 x 2007 Muddy Water Pinot Noir 4 x 2006 Charles Melton "Voices of Angels" Shiraz 2 x 2007 Wild Earth Pinot Noir 4 x 2007 Nautilus Pino...

I do a blind tasting once a year with friends who are not wine fanatics. I limit the range to a single grape variety (last year was grenache) and everyone is astonished by the diversity. And then even more surprised to find out what they liked and they didn't. As a rule, the more expensive wines do ...

Some very important additions to your existing list

Barossa Valley - Grenache, Mataro
McLaren Vale - Grenache

TS

Various quantities of: 2006 Te Mata Cape Crest Sauvignon blanc 2007 St. Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 2006 Farr Rising Mornington Pinot Noir 2005 Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2007 Pennys Hill Grenache 2008 Allan Scott Sauvignon blanc 2006 Radford Dale Shiraz 2005 Laughing Jack Shiraz 2006 Teusner Avatar 2005 Te...

I was visiting my sister there last July and went out looking for Australian and NZ wines, in particular. The best shop I found was Astor Wines and Spirits 399 Lafayette St, which is way downtown in Manhattan. They had a reasonable selection at very good prices - well, they seemed very good back in ...

6 x 2004 Penfolds St Henri 3 x 2008 Joseph La Magia 4 x 2006 St Hallett Blackwell 2 x 2007 La Curio Grenache 2 x 2006 La Curio Shiraz 2 x 2007 Epis Pinot Noir 2 x 2005 St Peters Shiraz 4 x 2004 Voyager Estate Cab Merlot 3 x 2007 Astrolabe Sav Blanc 3 x 2005 Paracombe Cab Franc Have to slow down next...

Did you purchase it through auction?

Deceased estate.

Tristram Shandy

Bin 138 => Samuel's Gorge Grenache, La Curio Grenache, Yangarra Grenache
Bin 28 => Tim Smith Shiraz
Bin 389 => Yalumba Signature
Bin 128 => Seppelt Chalambar
Bin 407 => Voyager Estate

Tristram Shandy

Hello everybody: Avid reader but 1st time poster! I was given a btl of this from a client last week and probably thought it is past its best as it wasn't a 'great' vintage....would that be correct? My other experience with St Henri was a 1995 last yr which hadn't been stored well and was dried out ...

How many hours in the day in Aussie? Try this in a day and you will be up for staring at road for 99% of the day jeez look at how many km he is travelling already in 12 days!!

I believe that Dave tends to travel by Ferrari when he's on the road.

Tristram Shandy

PostPosted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject: Maybe something like this: Day 1: Fly into Welly Day 2: Welly Day 3: Ferry to Picton - Blenheim visit a couple of wineries - Drive to Nelson Day 4: Drive Nelson - to Franz Jospeh via Westport, Punakaiki and Hokatika Day 5: Drive to Queenstown via F...