The Auswine Forum

G’day The first part of this write-up is taken from a similar vertical tasting I hosted in 2020. The full report can be found here: https://forum.auswine.club/viewtopic.php?p=162777&hilit=ashbrook+cabernet+vertical&sid=fc88721898077744643d45046d745ae6#p162777 My Story My history with Ashbroo...

G'day After visiting the winery for lunch today, and tasting/buying the 2023 Malbec, I rummaged aroundthe cellar and found a few back vintages. Worth opening one, I thought. Purple black in colour. The nose is quite vibrant, with sweet blackberry, ripe dark plums, tobacco, vanillan oak, spices (mayb...

G’day Durif is well known in Australia as a staple in Rutherglen, Victoria. Myattsfield planted the first Durif vine in W.A. in 2004. Named ‘Dudley’, this vine has been the progenitor of Myattsfield’s plantings from then on. 14.6% alcohol. Deep purple in colour. A powerful nose, with blueberries, bl...

WineRick wrote: ↑Thu Oct 02, 2025 12:07 pm Is it under screw cap? Sounds as if it is!

Indeed it was under screwcap. Craig may be right about cork until 2005 - certainly most of mine in the cellar are screwcaps.

Allan, thanks for the note, and between all the posters here, we probably have 40 vintages of Black label covered. I think its a 15 year minimum for any vintage, and another 15+ on top of that. I'm trying an '89 on Monday, not a great vintage, but the bottle has been well looked after, ullage is mi...

G'day I've not looked at one of these for some years. Decanted about 4 hours before service. Even during decanting, the primary blackcurrant and eucalypt flavours were climbing out of the decanter. The decanter was stoppered and put back in the cellar. It's settled down a little since then, but the ...

Great notes Allan. Way above my pay grade. I checked out Lulu and it looks great for a meal and BYO is a bonus. I'm getting tired of paying exorbitant prices for average wines with no age. Paying 3 to 4 times bottle shop prices is wrong. Much prefer to dine in these days although there are a few re...

G’day We celebrated a dear friend’s 50th birthday with a long lunch at our ‘regular’ – the fabulous Lulu’s Little Bistro. Mark prepared a buffet style lunch that matched the wines perfectly, and the wines were chosen (and supplied) by the birthday boy. The wines were entirely from Marchand and Burch...

G’day I was privileged to attend a tasting of selected vintages of two of Cullen’s top wines – the Kevin John Chardonnay and the Diana Madeline cabernet blend. Cullen Wines is one of the original wineries in the Margaret River region, and they have built up a national and international reputation fo...

Two years on, and time to have another look at this wine. Decanted about an hour before service. Purple in colour, although the colour has lightened slightly. Vanilla, cedar, dark and red plums, cloves, a little cinnamon, blue and blackberries on the nose. The palate remains full, with licorice and ...

G'day My last bottle of this wine, and interesting to see whether my 2-5 year prediction held up. It did. Purple red in colour. The nose still holds the dark fruits seen 5 years ago, and these have held up well. There's still vanilla and leather, and some signs of further development in the form of ...

A couple of years later, and time to open another bottle. The colour has lightened very slightly, and I am surprised at how much fruit is still dominant on this wine. Developed, yes, but lots of blackberry, black and redcurrant, mulberry, and a fair whack of eucalypt on the nose. Some graphite and m...

G’day A small group of us assembled at the wonderful Lulu’s Little Bistro for our monthly themed tasting. This month, the theme was wines from France’s Cotes Du Rhone. We tasted 10 wines in total – 4 whites and 6 reds. The notes below are mostly a composite of the group’s comments, and not purely my...

G’day Thirteen of us got together at our favourite Lulu’s Little Bistro for a quiet afternoon of wining and dining. At least, that was the intention- it got rather raucous indeed. Fortunately, we had Lulu’s to ourselves. We started in the best possible way – with a magnum of 2008 Billecart-Salmon Ni...

G’day My last bottle of this wine. Decanted an hour before service. Purple black in colour, and light purple at the rim. No sign of bricking. A dusty nose, showing graphite, leather and savoury notes over some developed blackberry fruits. The palate is a little more expressive, with some fairly thic...

G’day A moderate yellow colour, and light for its age. A delightful nose with vanillan oak, white peach and some lemon on the nose, along with cashew and toasted grains. The palate is slightly more citrus dominant, with lemon, lime and grapefruit alongside those white peaches. The texture is slightl...

G’day I was thrilled to host this vertical tasting and dinner, in partnership with Howard Park’s David Stredwick. I’ve been a fan of the Allingham Chardonnay for some years now, and have built my collection to the point where this tasting was able to offer every vintage of Allingham released to date...

G’day I bought a few of these following a Tasmanian visit nearly a year ago. After quite a few Margaret River Chardonnays in the last couple of weeks, this is surprisingly my second Tasmanian Chardonnay in two nights. Pale lemon colour. A clean and surprisingly intense nose opens with some struck ma...

G’day I had the pleasure of attending a vertical tasting of Deep Woods Reserve wines. The event took place at the light and airy Orangery Gallery in Shenton Park and was hosted by local wine enthusiast Leigh Gerreyn. Leigh is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic wine lover, and his events are always inf...

G’day This wine comes from Margaret River fruit, although the winery is in the Geographe wine region. Medium yellow in colour. Nectarine, cashew nut, preserved lemon and warm grains on the nose. The palate is finely balanced, with the fruits and acid meshing well together. The wine shows some lightn...

G'day Whicher Ridge is located just north of the Margaret River boundary, and is in the Geographe GI. The fruit for their Shiraz, however, has almost always come from Frankland River. I suspect this is where the ‘Long Road’ moniker comes from, given the distances involved. The shiraz consistently ce...

Six years on from my last note, this has lightened in colour to crimson. No shortage of red fruits (raspberry, cherry, even a little cranberry) on the nose, with oregano, thyme, a little cocoa powder and just a touch of leather. The palate has a powdery texture (cocoa again), with more red fruits, m...

G'day We tried two wines from Montefalco last night, and both impressed. We will buy more of these. Scacciadiavoli Montefalco Grechetto 2024 : 13% alcohol. Pale lemon and bright in the glass. Fragrant nose of fresh cut ripe pears and some florals. The palate mixes the pear with a strong apricot flav...

felixp21 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 22, 2025 9:12 am thanks Allan,
2018 a fabulous vintage for MR cabs, the Moss Wood is sublime. Thought you guys would have piled on MR cabs given where you live!!!

The reverse! Some of us deliberately avoided MR cabernets on the assumption that everyone else would bring one!

ay This month, we met at Mayfair Lane in West Perth. The brief was Cabernet Sauvignon from the 2018 vintage. These could be from anywhere in the world, but being a W.A. based wine group, I’m not surprised that all of the wines were Australian. There were 11 wines in total, and all were 100% Cabernet...

G’day To celebrate the 25th vintage at Faber Vineyard, John and Jane hosted around 80 lucky wine lovers for a Sunday afternoon of current and back vintage wines, along with a four-course lunch. I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon …. With 25 vintages under their belt, there was a lot of v...

G’day The Millard vineyard is just up the road from Faber’s home vineyard in Baskerville, and in most years fruit from this vineyard is made as a separate bottling. On the eve of tomorrow’s Faber 25th vintage celebration I thought it was timely to crack this wine. Decanted a couple of hours before s...

Restaurants in Launceston we enjoyed are Black Cow Bistro and Mudbar. But you can't go past Stillwater.

I can confirm the majority of the Tamar Valley wineries mentioned as well. I would also recommend Small Wonder and Moores Hill.

Cheers
Allan

G’day Last month, I opened a magnum of this for a dinner party. This was the note at the time: Ruby colour with no signs of bricking. The nose is still a little closed and shows cloves, stewed red and black plums, and a touch of vanilla. No leather or other obvious signs of ageing. The palate is mor...

My first 2025 vintage wines:

6 x Seppelt Drumborg Riesling
6 x Dukes Vineyard Magpie Hill Reserve