The Auswine Forum

If you're headed to the Vale, I'd recommend Yangarra for sure, maybe Coriole and Samuel's Gorge. Also there is a communal cellar door at 148 McMurtrie Road (I don't think it has a name?) which houses Lino Ramble, Sherrah and Bondar, all small producers who put out some good and interesting wines.

Clare does tend to be a bit more traditional, not quite so many innovative new producers flocking in. I can't recommend the Watervale Hotel enough for meals. It's a lovely spot and the lunch I had there post-renovation perhaps a year ago was fantastic. I haven't visited Adelina myself but that sound...

My girlfriend and I have one day in the Hunter - Mother's Day, Sunday 8th May. I'd like to visit a few cellar doors. Of course good wine is a consideration, but pretty cellar doors with a view are also desirable. I had my sights set on Mt Pleasant, but according to their website they are closed for ...

TRIP REPORT Well, I've returned from the trip. I took some suggestions on board (from Waiter's Friend mostly as I had time to note down his reply before reading) but ended up haphazardly doing my own thing at the time as well, which is how it should be I stopped at Capel Vale from the way down from ...

Hi Allan, I dont have any accom booked but am travelling solo and have just turned 35 so I can still stay in hostels without appearing creepy. Or whatever cheap accom really, I'm not fussy. Thanks for all the winery recommendations. I have not heard, or have barely heard, of a lot of those so it see...

Long time between posts on here. Hope everyone is keeping well. I'm headed off to WA for a week on Tuesday. The plan is a loop from Perth through Margaret River and Albany, out to Esperance, and an all day drive directly back to Perth stopping only for a squizz at Wave Rock. Or the opposite directio...

I tried the Alex Munro yeah. I don't remember it that clearly but I remember feeling that the price jump over the Hell Hole wasn't worth it. The Hell Hole was already pricey but I stretched for it because the woman at CD was nice and I'd enjoyed their wines across the board. I almost went for two of...

Thanks to everyone who gave me assistance in this thread . As a thankyou I thought I should provide a trip report. In New England I went to Peterson's (just outside Armidale) and Wright Robertson (Glencoe). Peterson's did not impress me. Wright Robertson was pretty good though. The 2011 Black Poll s...

I think we're a very long way away from monopolies in either wine production or retail. Many other retail outlets (online retailers, various fine wine stores) are thriving. There are an enormous number of small wineries out there. I don't see any evidence it's not possible to make it in the industry...

I don't understand what the article is driving at at all. A company involved in selling mass-produced wine is also involved in producing that wine, so everybody panic? I don't really understand what the charge against Woolies is. The "fine wine experts" were presumably sacked because they ...

I'm out of New England. I can recommend Wright Robertson to anyone passing through, it's on the main road near Glencoe. The woman at the cellar door was very pleasant and they had a Pinot Gris/Gewurztraminer blend which was really rather good. The blend seemed good to me as Pinot Gris generally has ...

Perfect, thanks guys. Small winemakers centre sounds good, there's one of them in the Barossa and I would definitely recommend it to people going there.

Cheers Phil, very helpful. Timeframe shouldn't be an issue so I should be able to get to all of them if I'm still up for wine touring after I've been in the Hunter. I've sorted myself out as far as what's available midweek in New England - not much. I should be able to get to Wright Robertson though...

I am in Armidale, NSW at the moment and have my car with me. I'm interested in checking out some wine regions in NSW. I'll be flying solo and I have never visited a winery in NSW before. My wine knowledge is good. My destination from here is Yamba, so if there are any New England wineries along the ...

I had a half bottle at Christmas 2010 I think (possibly 2009?). It's the only aged Noble One I've had. It was a decent wine but I felt it had probably gone downhill since release as young Noble Ones I've had have been a lot better.

Argentinian Malbec has been a bit of a fad in the US the last few years actually. But all at the lower end of the market, rather than as serious wine as Parker predicted.

Interesting range of opinions. I finally tried most of these today and was underwhelmed for the most part. The 389 was very unapproachable and inscrutable but could end up being a very good wine. The 407 was good again, but it would want to be considering what the price is now. Nothing else stood ou...

Thanks for the note, I have a few of these and was thinking of popping one soon. Based on this I might sit on them a little longer.

I have my bottle of this open now. I can certainly see the issue they had - there's a definite acetic acid component to the wine, which is somewhat intrusive as I drink the wine by itself. The thing about Gewurztraminer though it it's frequently broad, sweet and lacking focus, so the acetic acid kic...

Ah so it's a fancy name for acetic acid/ethyl acetate? I fancy I can detect both of those. Interesting.

Doesn't make me any less confused about the Skillogalee wine though. I haven't opened my bottle so maybe I'll make a report when I do.

btw odyssey, I can't find the link, but I read somewhere that several "inspectors" have to reject the wine independently before it gets disallowed, but really I couldn't care less. If you set up a tasting panel with members of this forum, I bet we would reject a lot of the Sav Blanc coming...

I wonder if maybe they allow greater leeway in the case of cheap industrial wine, under the rationale that it is cheap industrial wine. Really the question is moot since it's pretty obvious to me we don't need such a regulatory authority at all. We don't have an Australian Literature Board who regul...

As the article points out, one of the major problems Australian wine faces internationally is the perception that it is all undifferentiated industrial wine. The last thing we need is style police. I wonder how many of the wines France exports would not pass muster at the Wine Australia board. I'm g...

Fair enough Ian. Probably I am projecting my own perception of Schild Estate and Wine Spectator onto other buyers. I would be pretty surprised if Schild had much brand recognition amongst the general public, but it sounds like they have more of a reputation amongst savvy buyers that I'd thought. Whi...

I would have thought that the release of the 2nd Blend only in Oz would have stirred up a hornet's nest over there? Its the Aussie wine drinker they are screwing with, not the US. Are the Schild wines popular in Oz? Not really, no. Schild is not a winery that your average wine consumer here has hea...

I tasted through some of the Skillogalee range at an instore yesterday, thought their 2010 Gewurztraminer just the ticket for some Thai food, and snaffled a bottle. Then a fellow taster clued me in to this article from The Weekend Australian, published the very same day: m Summary: A bureaucracy I b...

I'm running a blind tasting event next weekend and as part of it I want to put the wines into empty bottles, so people can pour the wines themselves without seeing what they are. Any ideas where I can acquire some? Worst case scenario I'll buy a 6 pack of cheap cleanskin and sink them all

In 2009 the Journal of Wine Economics published a paper studying correlation of results across 13 major US wine shows. This is the abstract: An analysis of over 4000 wines entered in 13 U.S. wine competitions shows little concordance among the venues in awarding Gold medals. Of the 2,440 wines enter...

My girlfriend and I will be doing a trip to the Barossa soon. Thing is, the only wines she enjoys are fully oxidised fortifieds such as tawnies, muscats, tokays etc. Who should we visit in the Barossa who make good examples of such things (other than the obvious Seppeltsfield)?

"Linear" is an understatement. A bit too straightforward and simple for me. Nice enough wine but I expect more at the price. Edit: May have spoken too soon... posted that just after I popped it. Starting to open up a bit more now. Another Edit: Yeah, I definitely did Goes to show you shoul...