The Auswine Forum

JamieAdelaide wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2026 2:31 pm Two Star Magill Estate $100 BYO.

Cheers Craig

6 Noon Reserve Cabernet
6 Noon Reserve Shiraz
2 Noon VP

Cheers Craig

Carl, in the current guise, it never will. The business model ensures that the Brady's could sell every bottle five times over. With a reported production of somewhere between 200-300 dozen for each of the wines (24b may be less), its a nice problem to have. I'll stick with it as long as the Brady's...

Spotted in the AFR today, CEO Sam Fisher indicating no fire sale of TWE brands. Could have fooled me. Rosemount, Secret Stone and Seppelts combined realised just $50M. Yes I say that quickly, but a back of the envelope calculation puts Seppelts at $20-25M...this seems somewhat reasonable. Yes the pu...

Sean wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2026 5:15 pm Thanks for the write up on the Rockford wines Craig.

Keen to see which vintages I get when my Rockford order turns up later this week - the ones I was invoiced for or the new ones.

Yes Sean agree, hard to keep up, wines across 5 vintages...hope I haven't mixed them up
Cheers Craig

Yes what is happening now, should never have happened, or should have happened 10-20 years ago. The one downside is that I have/had access to these brands at reasonable prices, (that's the nature of when bastardisation occurs), but for these brands to be competitive now, they will probably need to a...

Flying visit to the BV on the weekend Greenock pub food was fair, not quite as good as previous visits but having two parties of 50 each probably swamped the kitchen staff, oh well always next time. Eperosa Brett Grocke is a great bloke even gave me a couple bottles of a sold out wine. Jack of all t...

Thanks Matt, tried the 2021 Merle at last month's Pikes club members event in Adelaide... absolutely magnificent. Think there's a sixer somewhere. Just ordered the 2026 Merle. The '26 Traditionale also excellent.
Must get to the CV wine show one day.
Cheers Craig

Thanks Sean informative as always. I once had a beer with Brett Sharpe and Andrew Hales (former winemaker for Jamieson's Run and made the excellent Rothwell plus a slew of other Coonawarra reds, O'Deas Alexander's, McShane and now with Pennies). They both lamented how a beer company completely fu*k...

Thanks Sean informative as always. I once had a beer with Brett Sharpe and Andrew Hales (former winemaker for Jamieson's Run and made the excellent Rothwell plus a slew of other Coonawarra reds, O'Deas Alexander's, McShane and now with Pennies). They both lamented how a beer company completely fu*ke...

Do they not still own Rosemount as well? I mean, how could you destroy the brand value in that...? I guess you practice on Lindemans, Seaview, Wolf Blass, (Seppelt), Tollana, Leo Buring... It seems like only only brand to survive NOT being the "golden boy Penfolds" is Wynns... I cut my wi...

Not such a crazy idea Graeme.
I wonder what Stonier actually stumped up for Seppelts?
Cheers Craig

Opened a bottle of Seppelt Benno Bendigo Shiraz 2003 last night. Will this wine ever come around? Absolutely primary. Travis, don't know if your observations are either a good thing or a bad thing...have a sixer of this wine. Just out of interest I had an '03 Chalambar and like your observations on...

Great minds think alike right? Had the 2003 Wendouree Cabernet Malbec over the weekend too! Decanted for 2 hours. I liked it a lot. Not a popular Aussie vintage though often I’m drawn to Wendouree vintages in this regard. Lots happy happening! Wildflowers, lavender, ferrous, truffle, blood….. all t...

Yes indeed and certainly a priority for me. There's definitely enough bottles to get through. Clearly the Wynns were the crowd pleasers.
Thanks again for dinner, chicken was excellent.
Cheers Craig

A few with a delicious dinner 2008 Balnaves Tally...this is right in the slot, still inky black, lovely black blue fruits long persistent finish, great drinking with years to go. 2008 Wynns BL similar to the Tally, inky purple just entering its window, blackberry blueberry a touch of spice, generous...

Thanks for the note on the WDC YHH, have the last 8 or so vintages... absolute bargain and a wonderful wine. 2017 Mt Pleasant Philip Shiraz HV. Only brought these due to the winery doing a deal, $100/dozen, but should have known better. The late 90s and 2012-14 vintages of this were cracking quaffer...

Big article in today’s Australian. The wine heists were over National Storage facilities in three states with many collectors losing 100K worth of wine. I’d be seriously looking at moving as that’s an inside job across multiple facilities. The article claimed National Storage has “abandoned” its cu...

Shiraz $230, 2-3 current release wines still available but a few back vintage wines are sold out. I know East End Cellars and Ed Cellars have stocked Wendouree for years but are there a few flippers who pass bottles off to other retailers. Certainly was par for the course in the 1980s and 90s. Cheer...

Thanks for the notes!!
It was the 02 vintage where I first purchased a few bottles of each of the wines. Prior to that it was just the Shiraz, Cabernet and Pressings. I'm glad based on your drinking windows that I've picked up a full allocation ever since.
Cheers Craig

who is going to this event in Coonawarra? Join the Redman Family on Friday 23rd of October for an initmate dinner at our Coonawarra winery to re-launch Rouge Homme. With the Rouge Homme label back in family ownership after 60 years, this is an exceptional opportunity to share stories as we look bac...

JDSJDS wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2026 8:13 am Thanks again for writing up your annual Coonawarra comments Craig - it is very much appreciated!

Thanks JDSJDS, its a lot of fun.
Hope to be down again in a couple of months.
Cheers Craig

Hi Allan, 2016 Cabernet in general is just hitting the sweet spot. Such a good vintage. I wouldn't be worried at all about Coonawarra Cabernets, the wine's would be just getting started. I hope to get down in October for the 2016 Decadence tasting, we'll see. Had a Rockford 2016 Rifle Range the othe...

Comprehensive write-up, thanks. I'm also not convinced by Wynns 23 O'Dea. Interesting, your comments on Menzies - will have to keep an eye out. Thanks Graeme, appreciate it! I'll have to be careful here, as there are people who may take offence, but I call it as it is. I think punters get the palat...

The annual epistle. It appears that there is a bit of renewed interest on the forum and in the region. A challenging year for me health wise but chugging on, wines that put a smile on the face, and as said many times over a great place to visit. A collection of events, dinners, tastings, with potent...

It’s fairly easy to see how this will be turned around. Keep flogging labels and wineries, retain the decent vineyards, and reallocate those grapes to Penfolds given the decent margins. I can see a time where Penfolds volumes will double or triple, particularly at the lower ‘bin’ levels. It will be...

Allan, thanks for the note. Think there's a couple of old HP's made by the legendary John Wade, in the cellar somewhere. BTW, spotted a news story on TV that HP is ripping out vineyards and MR's crush is down 40% this vintage. Sign of the times I guess, the wine lake has turned into an inland sea no...

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Great notes as usual, Graeme - yours are some of the notes I enjoy reading the most on this forum. The Noble Rotters sounds like a fascinating collective, too. Thank you. Allan Fully concur Allan, the NR's sound like they have a lot of fun and drink a lot of good stuff! Hopefully when I retire, I c...

Hi Allan, thanks for the comprehensive notes as always. In the next life, I probably need more WA wine in the cellar, too biased with Coonawarra and YV. Is Luke Skeer still there, he's a born and bred Penola boy apparently and was suddenly let go by Wynns. I thought his contributions to BL were very...