August 2018 Purchases

[Ozzie W]

2 x 2015 G.D. Vajra Barbera d'Alba
2 x 2017 Dr Edge Pinot Noir North
2 x 2017 Dr Edge Pinot Noir South
2 x 2017 Dr Edge Pinot Noir East
2 x 2017 Dr Edge Pinot Noir

[rooman]

6x2016 Seppelt Chalambar shiraz - there is some seriously crazy pricing going on for this wine at present. As a midweek option it is fantastic value.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Plenty of excellent olive oils from Europe, one just needs to buy the right stuff. Avoid the bulk made Italian olive oils that are really nothing more than bulk purchases grown elswhere and packaged in Italy. I've had a field day the last few years buying olive oils from Spain, Portugal, Greece and Tunisia, some of them single varietal olive oils with names like Albequina and Pical, others from specific locations like Crete or the island of Djerba. Lovely stuff and very individual. Many wine estates in Italy also grow and sell olive oils. No reason to supposse they are under-handed. Many years ago I spotted some half bottles of Sassicaia through a restaurant window. Turns out it was olive oil from the estate. The staff had no idea where they got it. I offered to buy a bottle so that I could use it when serving up my own Sassicaia wines but to no avail.

Cheers .................. Mahmoud.

[Ian S]

I do love the first press olive oils of the new season c. start of October. The first one that got me onto this, was the colour of gatorade(!) but wonderfully grassy. Tasty enough to drink, though typically destined for dipping bread (but without the seemingly ubiquitous dollop of balsamic vinegar, which I feel detracts froma good oil). The only catch with such oils, is they deteriorate much quicker than normal EVOOs

[michel]

La Spinetta has a beautifully perfumed EVO and have their own cold press to process their old olive trees at optimum time- it's racey grassy and moreish as you describe Ian.

[George Krashos]

Moulin Touchais 96
Moulin Touchais 02
Garagiste La Stagiare Pinot 16
Ch. Mont Redon Cotes du Rhone 16

-- George Krashos

[brodie]

It was the BIG Loire Binge this month!

3 x 2017 Guiberteau Saumur Blanc
2 x 2016 Guiberteau Saumur Blanc Guichaux
1 x 2015 Guiberteau Saumur Blanc Breze
3 x 2017 Roches Neuves l’Insolite Saumur Blanc
3 x 2016 Francois Chidaine Vouvray Clos Baudoin
3 x 2016 Francois Chidaine Montlouis Les Bournais

3 x 2016 Guiberteau Saumur Rouge
3 x 2015 Guiberteau Saumur Rouge Motelles
3 x 2016 Roches Neuves Saumur Rouge Champigny Marginale

Both the Guiberteau and Roches Neuves are fairly tightly allocated in NZ. Can't get Clos Rougeard in NZ!

Brodie

[JamieBahrain]

Plenty of excellent olive oils from Europe, one just needs to buy the right stuff. Avoid the bulk made Italian olive oils that are really nothing more than bulk purchases grown elswhere and packaged in Italy. I've had a field day the last few years buying olive oils from Spain, Portugal, Greece and Tunisia, some of them single varietal olive oils with names like Albequina and Pical, others from specific locations like Crete or the island of Djerba. Lovely stuff and very individual. Many wine estates in Italy also grow and sell olive oils. No reason to supposse they are under-handed. Many years ago I spotted some half bottles of Sassicaia through a restaurant window. Turns out it was olive oil from the estate. The staff had no idea where they got it. I offered to buy a bottle so that I could use it when serving up my own Sassicaia wines but to no avail.

Cheers .................. Mahmoud.

Yes, thanks. Mine was an Asian perspective and not North American. I'll stick to the Australian oils in quantity for the household and bring the odd European one home that can be vouched for.

Sassicaia's oils are relatively common.

[JamieBahrain]

12 x Cappellano Pie Rupestris 2013 Barolo

3 x Cappellano Pie Rupestris 2013 Barolo en magnum

6 x Cappellano Pie Franco 2013 Barolo

Perhaps my last buy as the frenzy takes hold. I mentioned on TWF the Australian pricing not unreasonable as secondary pricing of Cappellano through the roof.

2015 x 2 of the Albino Rocca Barbaresco Crus

72 bottles of various Italians just air freighted in. I have to on sell many due capacity constraints.

[winetastic]

x2 Benanti Nerello Mascalese 2012
x2 4 Monos Tinto 2014

[Mahmoud Ali]

I'm a big customer of his olive oils. I order a case every six months and bring them home to HKG- don't trust the Europeans and its nice to support agriculture in Australia. I'm no olive oil expert but they're pretty nice oils!

I didn't know there was an "Asian perspective" regarding "not trusting the Europeans" as you so quaintly put it but you live there so I suppose you know better about what Asians think. Good thing for the Europeans that those sentiments don't apply to European wines.

Mahmoud.

[Diddy]

72 bottles of various Italians just air freighted in. I have to on sell many due capacity constraints.

Happy to offer $90 per bottle for the Cappellanos.

[JamieBahrain]

I'm a big customer of his olive oils. I order a case every six months and bring them home to HKG- don't trust the Europeans and its nice to support agriculture in Australia. I'm no olive oil expert but they're pretty nice oils!

I didn't know there was an "Asian perspective" regarding "not trusting the Europeans" as you so quaintly put it but you live there so I suppose you know better about what Asians think. Good thing for the Europeans that those sentiments don't apply to European wines.

Mahmoud.

Yes. Food safety is quite an issue in Asia especially for oil. So you mix rampant fraud in the European olive oil industry with local Asian scams and its not a bad idea to source your oils carefully. Of course I carry back boutique European oils. But the baulk of it is made up of Australian oils which have a good quality control reputation. So yes there is an Asian perspective. It drives a thriving daigou business and Australian olive oils are starting to feature.

[JamieBahrain]

72 bottles of various Italians just air freighted in. I have to on sell many due capacity constraints.

Happy to offer $90 per bottle for the Cappellanos.

Hahaha.

[Rossco]

Small toe in the water. Looking for some Approachable 2011 Italians

1x 2011 ELIO GRASSO Ginestra Vigna Casa Mate
1 x 2011 PAOLO SCAVINO Carobric
1 x 2011 VIETTI Castiglione

[Mahmoud Ali]

I'm a big customer of his olive oils. I order a case every six months and bring them home to HKG- don't trust the Europeans and its nice to support agriculture in Australia. I'm no olive oil expert but they're pretty nice oils!

I didn't know there was an "Asian perspective" regarding "not trusting the Europeans" as you so quaintly put it but you live there so I suppose you know better about what Asians think. Good thing for the Europeans that those sentiments don't apply to European wines.

Mahmoud.

Yes. Food safety is quite an issue in Asia especially for oil. So you mix rampant fraud in the European olive oil industry with local Asian scams and its not a bad idea to source your oils carefully. Of course I carry back boutique European oils. But the baulk of it is made up of Australian oils which have a good quality control reputation. So yes there is an Asian perspective. It drives a thriving daigou business and Australian olive oils are starting to feature.

That's fair, since many people do worry about food safety. I've heard similar things being said said by people worried about food products from China and other Asian countries. However I find it a vey different thing to say "don't trust the Europeans" or "don't trust those Asians". But I see what you're trying to say.

In any case no local olive oils here in Canada so we have to rely on careful reading of the labels. My go to is to look for olive oils from smaller regions. A recent purchase was an olive oils from Crete. Another was a Tunisian olive oil from the island of Djerba with some sediment at the bottom. The local merchant said the oils with sediment appeals to the older immigrants who say it's just like the village olive oils they remember from the "the old country".

Mahmoud.

[deejay81]

Various Jura - Savagnin, Vin Jaune, Chateau Chalon.... looking forward to it!

[Ian S]

Various Jura - Savagnin, Vin Jaune, Chateau Chalon.... looking forward to it!

Brave man!

FWIW Vin Jaune / Chateau Chalon isn't my thing. Glad I've tried it, but I'm sure I'll give away my other bottle of Chateau Chalon (1983 Henri Maire reserve Catherine de Rye). Far from the best producer, but the style very difficult for my palate.

[JamieBahrain]

However I find it a vey different thing to say "don't trust the Europeans" or "don't trust those Asians".

"I'm a big customer of his olive oils. I order a case every six months and bring them home to HKG- don't trust the Europeans and its nice to support agriculture in Australia. I'm no olive oil expert but they're pretty nice oils!"

There's clear inference I'm referring to the scandal ridden European olive industry and not Europeans- even from the most oblique PC considerations. Best we ignore each others posts.

[Michael McNally]

6 x 2017 SC Pannell Basso Garnacha
To round out the case:
1 x 2014 Best's Sparkling Shiraz
1 x 2016 Yangarra OV Grenache
1 x 2016 Yangarra GSM
1 x 2016 Woods Crampton Cab Sauv (new label for me
1 x 2016 Woods Crampton The Big Show

12 x 375ml 2015 St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz (for a song) - great for those non-AFD mid-week occasions.
6 mixed Singlefile Estate wines

[Polymer]

Various Jura - Savagnin, Vin Jaune, Chateau Chalon.... looking forward to it!

Which producers did you get?

[Deano]

The Australian Olive Association is a good reference...i never trust the Italian oils sold through supermarkets, plenty of testing has been done in the past and they are not what they claimed to be. "Extra Virgin Olive Oil" is used on their labels, but they have been proved to be so far removed from the highest claim and price point. Not sure if they have improved, i gave up 10+ years ago and source local growers within SA now. All oils go off/rancid...so why buy something from so far away that may have been pressed years ago and been pumped and exposed to light and heat for months/years.
https://australianolives.com.au/
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/groceries/olive-oil
Australia also has a standard published on it as well...AS 5264-2011.

[deejay81]

Which producers did you get?

Mostly the range of Les Dolomies whites. Michel Gahier and Frederic Lambert vin jaunes.

[FredericoWines]

Round 1:
3x Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Rouge 2015

Round 2:
To be continued ...

Round 2:
3x Chateau Ruzan-Segla 2015

Round 3:
To be continued ...

[Ozzie W]

6 x 2017 Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir 1er

(Released to the mailing list this morning)

[Cloth Ears]

Hit Tahbilk for their warehouse sale on Saturday - now I know what a Boxing Day Sale looks like.
Picked up some cheap white quaffers (2016 SB), plus a dozen 2015 Viognier, half a dozen 2016 Shiraz and another half dozen of their 2014 Sparkling Shiraz.
The real bonus was some pot-luck boxes containing a half dozen (each) of the entries into the Shiraz Challenge 2018:
2014 Gomersal
2012 Thorn-Clarke William Randall
2012 Brown Brothers Ten Acres
2012 Shingleback D Block Reserve
2012 ekhidna rarefied
2013 Trifon Estate Humble Vine
2013 Serafino Sharktooth
2014 Lannister Old Vine
2013 Chain of Ponds Graves Gate
2014 Haselgrove Col Cross
2014 Watershed Senses
2013 Yarnbomb by Corinna Wright
I figure that was $360 well-spent. At least 4 of the Challenge bottles will be tucked away for a few years. I'll be doing an Arnie next year!

[Ozzie W]

Just when I thought I was done for the month, another offer I can't refuse.

6 x 2017 Benevelli Piero Langhe Nebbiolo

(Now under screwcap )

[Willard]

Just when I thought I was done for the month, another offer I can't refuse.

6 x 2017 Benevelli Piero Langhe Nebbiolo

(Now under screwcap )

What's the word on 2017 as a vintage? Mailer I got compared this wine to V2011. Any other info?

Will

[Ozzie W]

Just when I thought I was done for the month, another offer I can't refuse.

6 x 2017 Benevelli Piero Langhe Nebbiolo

(Now under screwcap )

What's the word on 2017 as a vintage? Mailer I got compared this wine to V2011. Any other info?

Some good info about the 2017 vintage here:
[url]http://www.langhevini.it/filemanager/news/C ... NGLESE.pdf[/url]

[Chuck]

12 x Capel Vale 2017 Cellar Exclusive Cabernet Sauvignon
12 x Peos Estate 2017 Four Kings Manjimup Chardonnay
1 x Oban 14 Years Old Single Malt Whisky
1 x Glenmorangie Lasanta Single Malt Whisky
1 x Macallan 12 Year Old Double Wood Single Malt Whisky

Carl