The Auswine Forum

I've not used it myself, but CT does have a bar-coding feature, allowing you to apply a bar code label to every wine going in, and perhaps most usefully, simply swipe the barcode when opened to remove it from the collection. Always felt like too much effort to me! I’ve also wondered whether this ba...

Sounds terrible. This article has a good summary for each French region: [url]https://www.wine-business-international.com/ ... age-france[/url]

Really thoughtful posts. Con - I agree with Ozzie - tasting groups are more fun with you in them. You also regrettably introduced me to Clos St Jacques Hopefully this extreme experience in Melbourne ends very soon. It is not good. I have the opposite issue of buying more in lockdown - small joys.

Here in Napa today spotted just walking around Bindi pinot noir, Ochota Barrels, Tyrells semillon and Clare riesling on the shelf. Really up to date staff. Styles/expectations seemingly moving on or already moved on. Also attended interesting Wine Australia tasting in California - showed Tyrells vat...

Con J wrote:I'm not following what we are trying to prove here anymore.

Cheers Con.

+1 Con

Cheers
Sean

+1 aged Moss Wood, well stored aged Mt Mary (not so much young), Yarra Yering No 1, Lakes Folly Not easy to think of Aus cab franc/merlot blends in league of Cheval Blanc. Wantirna can be of interest if elegant style sought. Other - Interested to see more older Coonawarra recommendations given exper...

Like sub $20 French:
Guigal Cotes du Rhone
Deboeuf Beaujolais
Cremant de Bourgogne

Lovely to see the Taltarni show so well at 38yo. Have thought for some time that cabernet sauvignon is eminently suited to the Pyrenees.

From memory 2009 was the Black Saturday bushfire year, with the firefront going through the Punch vineyard, less severely through Sticks and on the doorstep of either Yarra Yering or Yering Station... not what I would automatically think of as a benchmark vintage.. That too is my recollection. I wo...

I think the usual reason given for the lousy showing of merlot in this country is the clone. Specifically the D3V14 clone that was sourced from UC Davis in California and widely planted throughout most wine areas. This is very different to the way Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon were introduced. Appar...

If curious about new release abv levels, they are:
'15 cab sauv: 15.0
'16 grenache: 16.0
'15 mataro: 14.0
'15 Casey shiraz: 17.5
'15 Alices shiraz: 17.0
'15 Apricot shiraz: 16.0
'15 Seven Acre shiraz: 16.5

Punt Road, Yarra Valley and Pyren Vineyard, Pyrenees make a fresh, Saumur style of cab franc. Jamsheed's Yarra Valley cab franc looks of interest, but haven't tried.

Outstanding wines and company; I can't recall attending a more interesting and high quality tasting of Australian cabernet. There's a lot to be said too for tasting the wines blind; the grand labels here more than held their own. The differences between the two regions proved fairly slight - Coonawa...

Good to go

Also arrived about a week ago (Melbourne). Just out of interest, can anyone remind as to the "hierarchy of the crayons"?

If there's space, very happy to be your 9th!

Oh, great idea. Happy to be a reserve.

An excellent tasting and thanks too to Liam for organising a great group, tasting and venue. Here are a few very rough notes that I typed as I went (correct away...) and impressions on the wine in the order served. No wine of the night declared, with consensus being that this was a very even group o...

Sounds great. Put me down as a tentative, but hopefully can make it

There are some studies in this area. Here's a couple:
http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.a ... 2Whole.pdf (see p88ff and findings on pp103ff)
http://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/TN09.pdf

Studies have their limitations but they do suggest that storage matters.

There are four other phylloxera declared zones in Victoria currently I think - King Valley, n/e Victoria (Rutherglen), Nagambie and Mooroopna (near Shepparton). I am not sure what the current official status of Yarra Valley is, though once phylloxera has struck it can always return and never be tot...

Agree Bordeaux is a large topic, and love left-bank Bordeaux so have given this something of a go. For left-bank similarish styles, candidates include (when on song): Cru classé style: Yarra Yering Dry Red No.1 Moss Wood Cru bourgeois style: Domaine A Wantirna Estate The Mcalister, Gippsland Moun...

Cullen in the better vintages outshine MW IMHO. I'm definitely of the opposite view! Me too. Recent personal experience indicates that older vintages of DM can be suspect, even though when drunk young they are gorgeous (but who wants to spend $100 to drink a 2-year old wine?). The 2013 in my view i...

An interesting summary. I suppose an unasked question is whether we need to worry locally. The scale does seem alarming as do Ponsot's comments. Hopefully there are a few local Maureen Downeys casting a sceptical eye. Caveat emptor as always seems a sound rule of thumb.

Unfortunately I can't make the 5th either. Would have loved to come along. Scopri is a great venue, and very wine group friendly.

Yes, I think the WSET courses are most certainly worth doing. I completed the Level 3 course some years ago which involved a not small amount of work, and then completed the WSET diploma (level 4) last year, which has 6 units and more closely resembles a university course and took a couple of years....

To the above list, I'd add Barbera d'Alba or Barbera d'Asti. Mostly well priced too.

Good topic. Supplementing the great comments from dingozegan, since it's on the shelf behind me, from Jamie Goode, Wine Science (2014) pp199-201: 1. The main organic acids found in grapes are tartaric, malic and citric. Tartaric acid is the key grape acid, and is a strong/hard acid. Malic is "g...

I've had some outstanding bottles of the 2000 Murdock cabernet sauvignon as well (purchased mid 2000s), and still hold some in the cellar. Some bottles purchased a couple of years ago in the secondary market were less good, showing previously unseen herbal characters some mentioned and slacker colou...

I share the sentiment, but I think the impact of WET tax and GST shouldn't be underestimated. My understanding is that (very broadly, exceptions apply, circumstances differ etc), it's a 29% rate applied to a wholesale price + GST is then added at 10% onto the WET inclusive price. This adds up and it...