Great Australian Wine Tasting - London - 19th May

[Ollie]

On Saturday My Father and I took a trip up to London to attend for what was my forth time in a row the ‘Great Australian Wine Tasting’ hosted by UK Seller and Importer of good Australian Wine ‘OZ Wines’

The Event has been held for the past 17 years and for a reasonably priced ticket attendees can taste over 200 wines from Australia & NZ and then have the chance to purchase those shown.

Running from 12 – 5pm I reckon at least 500 people avoided the lure of watching the Footbal FA Cup Final(By all accounts not much in the way of decent football was missed!) and made it through the door in that time frame for what was and is a relaxed and informal tasting.

Below is a selection of some of the winemakers that were there in person:
Mark & Wendy Hastwell(Hastwell & Lightfoot)
Joch Bosworth(Battle Of Bosworth)
Paul & James Lindner(Langmeil)
Mike Brown(Gemtree)
John Retsas(First Drop) – Apparently Matt Gant was holed up in a rainy Barossa
And occasional contributor to this Forum Tim Smith(Tim Smith Wines) who I feel could do with a haircut – Only joking Tim!

Other winery representatives included:
Anthony Jeffrey(Hope Estate)
Bec Hardy(Geoff Hardy-K1/Pertaringa)
Hannah Cluts(Tamar Ridge)
Thanks go to all the makers/promoters who made the long trip to London and then have to put up with our weather and field questions from me about the ’07 Vintage(apparently low yielding by generally decent quality) amongst other things!

I spent a little over 3 hours tasting quite a few of the wines on offer and towards the end although a little palette jaded was still able to do a quick circuit and sample some of the Stickies / Fortifieds!

Below are some of the wines that I enjoyed the most:
Sandalford Cab.Sauv ‘04
Grove Estate Semillon ‘03
Tim Smith Shiraz 04
First Drop Minchia Montepulciano ‘05
Turkey Flat Rose ‘06
Turkey Flat Shiraz ‘04
Turkey Flat Pedro Ximinez
Tim Adams Aberfeldy ‘04
Ferngrove Wines Dragon Shiraz ‘04
Gapstead Wines Ballerina Cab.Sauv ‘02
Gapstead Wines Petit Manseng ‘05
Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz ‘05
Mitolo Jester Cab.Sauv ‘06
Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier ‘05
Gemtree Uncut Shiraz ’04 – Now I didn’t know much about Gemtree before this tasting(They’ve only been in the UK for about 18 months) but I knew that Ian N4sir had been talking them up in recent weeks and the praise is justified, great wine at a great price, I was hoping to try the Phantom ‘05 as Ian N4sir had raved about it, but unfortunately it wasn’t shown, I’ll have to try and track some down but apparently Ian the ’07 is going to be a Jet black monster that looks like it may eclipse the ’05!
Allegedly Gemtrees grapes in the past had been used in the likes of the ‘Balmoral’?(Might explain the dramatic decline in quality in recent vintages?!), Wolf Blass Black Label? And Pennies Bin 389? But now the best fruit is kept back for their own wines and I would expect Gemtree to go from strength to strength, certainly a label to keep and eye on.

So all in all a worthwhile, educational and enjoyable afternoon, thanks to Andrew and Mark of ‘OZ Wines’ for organising the event and for continuing to showcase quality and exiting Aussie Wines.
Maybe next year some of you other UK based forumites could attend, come on Ian S drag yourself down from East Anglia I think you would enjoy it!
Cheers

Ollie

[Ian S]

Ollie
Ta for the write-up.
I've attended a few tastings in London (Decanter, Taste Oz, etc.) over the years. The size of this one is manageable (200 wines can be easily whittled down to a shortlist of 40-50 to taste - when there are 600-700 wines, it's difficult to narrow it down). Next time you see an event advertised, by all means flag it up here (I don't buy Decanter or Wine Mag these days so their events will likely by-pass me). Timing is often an issue, but if the whole weekend is free it's a good excuse to make it down for a weekend in London.

Whereabouts in West Sussex are you based? I used to work in Worthing and in 2005 & 2006 did regular weeks working at RSA in Horsham. Brighton (Preston Circus) Oddbins (just across the border in East Sussex) were a major reason I got into wine. They put Grange, Bin 707, Bin 389 and three other non-pennies wines on at a tasting back ~ 1990. It was either a fiver or a tenner to attend and I recall being so impressed with Grange that I reckoned it wasn't unreasonable to spend £25 on a wine if it was that good. I never did buy the Grange though (more fool me!).

regards

Ian

[n4sir]

Gemtree Uncut Shiraz ’04 – Now I didn’t know much about Gemtree before this tasting(They’ve only been in the UK for about 18 months) but I knew that Ian N4sir had been talking them up in recent weeks and the praise is justified, great wine at a great price, I was hoping to try the Phantom ‘05 as Ian N4sir had raved about it, but unfortunately it wasn’t shown, I’ll have to try and track some down but apparently Ian the ’07 is going to be a Jet black monster that looks like it may eclipse the ’05!
Allegedly Gemtrees grapes in the past had been used in the likes of the ‘Balmoral’?(Might explain the dramatic decline in quality in recent vintages?!), Wolf Blass Black Label? And Pennies Bin 389? But now the best fruit is kept back for their own wines and I would expect Gemtree to go from strength to strength, certainly a label to keep and eye on.

Cheers

Ollie

I'm glad you enjoyed it - the 2004 Uncut has been widely replaced by the 2005 here now, and it was definitely one of those over achieving wines that hit way above its price range. The Phantom is a miniscule production and cellar door sales only, so I don't know how else you can get hold of it.

Gemtree is still a relatively new winery that looks to be steadily going from strength to strength - I think Mike Brown said last month they're up to about 50,000 cases produced and a fair amount of that is for export, and all that (I think) is without a huge dose of the Parker factor.

Mike's a hell of a nice bloke and dead honest - his biodynamic practices raised a few eyebrows (and some rather unfair & cynical comments/sniggers at the API club presentation, something else that didn't impress me with along with the lack of attendees) but as weird as they may sound the results are there in the drinking.

Cheers,
Ian

[Ollie]

Ian n4sir,

Gemtree must export a small amount of 'The Phantom' as I've seen it listed at a major UK wine retailer, although their website lists it as out of stock it maybe available in one of their stores, I'm going to try and find out....

Ian S,

I live in Horsham. Shame you turned down the Grange, £25 is a bargain compared to todays prices!

Cheers

Ollie