The Auswine Forum

A few nice wines on Saturday xmas dinner at a friends: Vinden Estate Semillon 2005... Clean, grassy, some lemon peel, a hint of lanolin, and finishing clean and crisp. Needs more time to develop richness, still very youthful looking at this stage. Leconfield Cabernet 2006... Dense brooding red, a r...

Chuck wrote:Nice chair Ian.

What is nice about it, Chuck? Looks neither comfortable nor terribly stable to me.

Returning to the topic at hand, it would be good to see more straight PV, as it has great colour, an enticing nose, and vibrant fruit, when it is right.

Yes, I tasted a barrel-sample of petit-verdot on Waiheke in NZ last year. It was destined to be part of a Bordeaux blend, but I thought it was pretty interesting on its own; excellent, vibrant colour, lively fruit.

Without naming the wine or the price (out of deference to AWC), I was caught in the CBD without a bottle I wanted for tonight, and looked online at a few of the retailers who are in the city (not that many, actually). I found a reasonable (but not brilliant) single-bottle price at Vintage Cellars. I...

Who wants to join a class action ? I'll pass. I might prefer a more transparent system, but for many of the wines I want I don't have other avenues to pursue them. Yes. I haven't used Langtons for several years. There is too much discounted wine available from various sources to tempt me back.

I guess the difference is in a house auction, the auctioneer states that he is making a vendor bid. In an Internet auction such as Langtons, you have no idea who you are bidding against. Ian, is it law that the auctioneer must state that it's a vendor bid? If so, I can see why the Langtons approach...

If they "auto-bid" up to the reserve after accepting bids below the reserve, then that is misleading and deceptive, because it appears to the bidder that there is a competitor for the wine, and a market for the wine at a higher price than their opening bid. If this practice continues to o...

If they "auto-bid" up to the reserve after accepting bids below the reserve, then that is misleading and deceptive, because it appears to the bidder that there is a competitor for the wine, and a market for the wine at a higher price than their opening bid. If this practice continues to oc...

The original level shown for an item is $1 less than the reserve. So make one bid and it is yours, unless someone outbids you. So you know in advance what the reserve is, as opposed to the 'old' system where you were bidding against the Langton's computer until the reserve was met. While they are s...

Yes, that's what they are doing, and I agree, it is fair enough.

I think the reserves are often a bit high.

That doesn't make sense, Dave. They are putting them on the exchange at the reserve price set by the seller, plus 15%. So they are still going to hang around in storage.

A few auction purchases: 1x Wolf Blass Black Label 1984 1x Wolf Blass Black Label 1989 1x Seppelt Vintage Port 1974 2x Leasingham Bin 61 Cab Malbec 1998 1x Petaluma Coonawarra 2002 SJW, there are four possibilities I can think of, and possibly more; 1.) The bottles of Leasingham you have purchased ...

Yes, Michael, you might be right, I'm not sure. Certainly I wouldn't buy this to cellar. I might buy it as an every day wine, at the price it used to be discounted to, by the dozen (probably still is). The old Bin 56s (1996 particularly springs to mind; I bought a few dozen, and 2000 as well, I thin...

Away in Canberra over the weekend, so made do with local bottle shop, single purchases. Never prepared to lash out, in those circumstances, because of the price. That said, so happy with the QPR of the Leasingham Bin 56 Cabernet Malbec 2008, I bought it both nights. This is an excellent, middle rang...

Yes, Mahmoud, the French captain pretty well summed it up.

BTW, I think that the ref had another good game, in that he kept out of it as much as possible.

This meant some infringements in the ruck went unpenalised on both sides, but I don't think either side had a basis to complain.

If there were a RWC for refs, I'd give it Joubert.

Line out average Scrum average Kicking below average Defense Awesome If Dan Carter had been there it would have been more comfortable. Piri handed the goal kicking duties over as soon as Donald arrived. But at end of day its a win. If you want to remember All Blacks for flair just replay their pool...

Congratulations to the New Zealand team on winning the World Cup but on the night the French team almost stole the show. They were more exciting to watch and on the night were a slightly better team. The AB's played a lot of rubbish last night but were good enough and disciplined enough in defense....

Forget the French. They stumbled into the final by accident. The ABs, on the other hand, have planned their campaign with absolute precision, injuries notwithstanding.

If the French put half the effort they put into making wine into rugby, it might be a different story.

2001 Chateau Tour du Haut Moulin ... Went to Felix in Sydney CBD for dinner on Friday night. This was a lovely accompaniement to a lovely dish of slow cooked lamb shoulder. Nice deep colour, classic Bordeaux nose, cassis, cigar box, with everything nicely in balance. 2000 Turkey Flat Shiraz (Magnum...

2001 Chateau Tour du Haut Moulin ... Went to Felix in Sydney CBD for dinner on Friday night. This was a lovely accompaniement to a lovely dish of slow cooked lamb shoulder. Nice deep colour, classic Bordeaux nose, cassis, cigar box, with everything nicely in balance. 2000 Turkey Flat Shiraz (Magnum...

Hard to believe that one can get a '96 Pavie Macquin for $40, that's an excellent price. I'm not surprised that it needs a few more years, I've yet to open a 1990. What's next, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah? Mahmoud. Mahmoud, if you look closely at the thread, you will see that Syrah has (reck...

Excellent vintage to chose, as this really shows what a wine's potential is long-term. Perhaps you are right about the Pave Macquin. The same thing seems to be true of the Australian 96s from South Australia, they are still very tannic, and you just have to take the proposition that they will come i...

qwertt wrote:

Craig(NZ) wrote:While watching the only unbeaten team remaining in the world cup hit the semi finals....

Every team will have to lose at least once

Didn't see that in the rule book anywhere....

While watching the only unbeaten team remaining in the world cup hit the semi finals.... 2005 Passage Rock Reserve Syrah . Still quite primary but drinking well. Fantastic marshmellow texture, rich full silky fruit. Really good, this has improved since release even. 2000 Stonyridge Larose . The one...

Yes, thanks for leaving it for the rest of us, Jafa. YOu have obviously drunk a fair bit of it, and I wouldn't condescend to try to convert you. As for prefering Merlot to Syrah (particularly Antipodean Merlot), this is, I think, perverse. NZ's perseverence with this grape is reckless, if the merlot...

Go up to about $90, and do a NZ syrah v. Rhone (syrah) comparisons. Syrah/Shiraz wines not greatly admired by me . Next to nothing in the cellar, so getting a price and vintage match probably impossible. Should check out the 2007's; a few potential targets. cheers jafa Have you tried the Craggy Ran...

Go up to about $90, and do a NZ syrah v. Rhone (syrah) comparisons.

NZ should hold up well in this one, if the best wines are chosen.

If you go up to a top Cote Rotie, you will be in a price bracket at which it is hard to find a NZ competitor, but you will also experience a great wine!

Yes, Newtown is a good option. Oscillate Wildly is in a different league to Linda's though, which is just your standard fair (IMO). SOfritto's, which I mentioned earlier, is a better bet than Linda's, but with all of these restaurants (except, perhaps LInda's), your best chance of securing a booking...

Yes, Michael, I suppose a riot is unlikely given that most of our members are not in London.