The Auswine Forum

“Depression is a very bad thing”. Basil Fawlty said that, or something similar to it. He knew what he was talking about. I know. That’s because I have depression. And alcohol dependency. You now have two choices - skip to the next post because this probably is 'off topic', or continue reading. There...

Yep, 8 - 9 is fairly cold but we buy whites for immediate consumption and like them new and fresh so keeping them at a lower temp holds them better. There is the odd exception where we'll go for a Semillon with a bit of age but I don't want to cellar wine for too long in case I drop dead and miss ou...

We keep all our wine in fridges. The red fridge sits at around 13 to 14 and the whites at around 8 to 9. Occasionally there are a few reds in the white fridge for a few weeks over summer and all I do is pull them out about 30 to 60 minutes before drinking to warm up a bit. Room temperature at our pl...

Wines worth a try: Banca Ridge Verdelho 2015 Symphony Hill SB 2015 and Danying 2012 Ballandean SSB 2015 and Fiano 2015 Golden Grove SB 2015 and Vermentino 2015 (although not as good as last years) Robert Channon Verdelho 2015 Savina Lane Graciano 2013 There are a few others too that we tried and dec...

That's a very unfair comment about Golden Grove. I've never had a problem with spitting out a wine there, especially as I'm usually driving, and their Vintage Grand Reserve range is bloody stunning. Their Chardonnay is the only one I don't like, although there is no Chardonnay that I do like anyway....

Pretty much everything on the 'Strange Bird Trail' is good drinking. Actually, pretty much everything from the Granite Belt is good drinking. We haven't been up there since last November but will be there in a couple of weeks. Accommodation proved to be a problem as the races are on that w/end but m...

I have just done a stock-take in the wine fridges and have noticed that I am almost out of wine that I have picked up cheaply for cooking with. Not that it is necessarily “cheap wine”, I just got a bargain when I bought it. Which has got me wondering (and seeing Crusty2’s post), w...

Try these wineries at the Granite Belt for some fortifieds: Hidden Creek Ballandean Golden Grove Pyramids Rd Jester Hill Bangawarra Mountview Severn Brae We’ve had something from all of them in the last year and they aren’t too dry at all. For the price point all are pretty good value....

An aerating pourer will definitely de-gas a wine and will help oxygenate it. It’s going into a glass which you are going to swirl around anyway. An aerating decanter will expose the wine to a much greater surface area while it is being decanted and will therefore shorten the time you need to ...

Decanting should do 3 things: Remove sediment – leave it in the bottle. Oxygenate the wine. De-gas the wine. Maybe 4 things – present it nicely. We use an aerating decanter. If you haven’t got one try pouring the wine carefully into the decanter and letting it run down the side ...

Customs will charge you 5% duty on the cost of your wine. This will include the cost of shipping. Volume duty (as at July last year, may have gone up since then) is $76.37 per litre of alcohol - calculated on the actual alcohol content (pure alcohol). GST = cost of purchase inc shipping + 5% duty + ...

Agreed, but I guarantee you that the cellars of most Aussie winemakers will be mostly full of Italian, German, Spanish and French wine.... I support the whole world in my buying! You may be right. My point is to buy local as opposed to imports unless you either can't find anything local that you li...

And Chateau Tanunda.

There are a lot of Aussie winemakers producing very good wine from Italian varieties at very good value for money.

The Granite Belt have some extremely good Italian varieties.

From what I've seen of Italian imports I prefer the local interpretations and much prefer supporting our Aussie winemakers.

Chateau Tanunda 100 y/o vines shiraz - outstanding.

Linfield Road Wines definitely worth a look.

Serving bogan wine drinking friends anything that costs more than $5.00 per bottle.

I have to agree about Shaw and Smith - we walked out after being told we had to taste what they wanted us to taste and not what we wanted to taste. They have good wine but seem to have forgotten who the customer is. That's me, who is the person with the money. Which Shaw and Smith aren't going to be...

If anyone is in Brisbane tomorrow and hasn't tried anything from Clovely Wines cellar door at Redhill, they have a sale on - Saturday only. Even if you miss it their wine is cheap enough anyway and worth a try. Their whites tend to be our "go to" wine for a weeknight drink and when we have...

Be careful about the warranty - it may be a "return to vendor" which means that you are liable for the cost of transporting it back to them. Basically not worth the trouble, especially if you don't live near them. I have heard anecdotal evidence that Kitchener aren't that great with after ...

Linfield Road. Consistently good wine. Rates well too.

A bit of knowledge is probably dangerous and I'm certainly not an expert. Queensland wines have rocketed ahead in quality and varieties in the last 10 years and are largely ignored by the majority of wine drinkers, possibly because of their past reputation which wasn't all that good and the fact tha...

Not in any order: Kersbrook Hill 2008 Adelaide Hills Shiraz Robert Channon Wines 2013 Granite Belt Verdelho Chateau Tanunda 2009 100 Year Old Vines Shiraz Pressing Matters 2012 R0 Riesling Ballandean 2012 Viognier Audrey Wilkinson Vin de Vie That's 6. Linfield Road 2011 Grenache should be there too,...

I eventually bought a De Longhi single zone 166 bottle fridge, based on price, back up and size. No problems with it so far but it does run at 2 - 3 degrees warmer than what it's set at. Not a problem as I have a thermometer inside it to monitor the temp. Unfortunately I filled it up before deciding...

Try http://www.winesonthegreen.com

They may be an Irish site but we were sent some wine 12 months ago from them and it was sent from the UK.

It arrived within a couple of days from dispatch (albeit with a slightly dodgy customs dec) in perfect condition.

We bought 7 bottles of a 2002 Chambourcin from a Hunter Valley winery this year, which had been stored at the winery. The first one was great, 5 of the next 6 went down the drain and 1 was salvageable. They are now using screwcaps so hopefully the other later wines we bought will be drinkable. I'd ...

How big was the microwave?

We bought 7 bottles of a 2002 Chambourcin from a Hunter Valley winery this year, which had been stored at the winery.

The first one was great, 5 of the next 6 went down the drain and 1 was salvageable.

They are now using screwcaps so hopefully the other later wines we bought will be drinkable.

Mt Lofty Ranges Vineyard is worth a look.

I can't recall ever seeing a damaged screwcap in a retail outlet. The only times I've ever seen damaged caps is once due to poor handling in transit and twice when I've belted the top of the bottle accidentally myself. Why would anyone buy a bottle with a damaged screwcap anyway? No one would buy a ...