The Auswine Forum

Would have liked to post detailed notes of the tasting, but most unfortunately, I didn't get to take any!!

It was 34C in Melbourne at the time of the tasting, which was held in a non-airconditioned room with the wines at room temperature!!! Unbelievable stuff, surely they could have at least kept the wines a little cooler.

Needless to say, attempting to taste any of the wines at this temperature was a pointless exercise, save for a rather good Scarpantoni sparkling shiraz which they did manage to chill.

I left after 30 minutes of futile assesment, disappointed by the conditions, but certainly looking forward to reading what the Divine experts had to say about the wines!!

Dear Aussie,

I would like to clarify that all the venues that Divine uses are air conditioned and the air conditioning was cranked up to maximum for the duration of the Melbourne tasting. I too thought the room was unpleasantly hot and went to open the balcony doors to let some fresh air in and then realised how well the air conditioning was coping (obviously the doors remained closed).

Also, all the whites, roses and sparkling wines were chilled in the freezer for an hour before the tasting and were placed on the tables five minutes before the tasting commenced. Unfortunately not many people tasted the whites, so a chilled second or third bottle was not called for (except the sparkling reds). Placing the wines into individual icebuckets would a logistical nightmare, and then you have the problem of the wine being too cold.

One comment I would like to make is after spending a week in McLaren Vale tasting most of the wines on show in much cooler conditions, the heat accentuated the "mintiness" in a lot of the red wines as well as the alcohol (as you would expect). It will be fascinating to retaste the wines in Sydney/Canberra next week.

Andrew Wood
Divine Food & Wine[/i]

Andrew,
Thanks for those comments. We were, however, told that the air con had been turned off.
I realise the difficult logistics, but the second bottles of each wine stood behind the bottle being consumed. Perhaps these second bottles could have been cooled in the freezer rather than being allowed to sit at (the frighteningly hot) room temperature awaiting their turn??

Yes, all the wines were flabby and alcoholic, as you would expect with a serving temperature of about 30C!!I am not surprised at the negative sentiment expressed on the various forums, which is being unfair to the region. IMO, under these circumstances, you are best enjoying a couple of glasses of cold sparkling shiraz, catching up with a few old acquaintances, and heading out to dinner, which is exactly what we did!!

If there is one suggestion I can make to wine makers and show organizers, it is to make sure that your red wines are served at a reasonable temperature.

You're there to show your wines, for goodness sake!!

Whether your wine is art or a simple consumable, you owe it to yourself and your audience to take on board what so many passionate wine drinkers are telling you. We don't want warm red wine. It's bad. Any temperature above the low 20 degrees, and your icon flagship generally starts to fall to pieces, becoming 'hot' with alcohol warmth and 'thin'. Don't waste our and your time by serving hot red wine.

At least with the white wines, those who drink them ( not that there's anything wrong with that ) can warm them up to their ideal if served too cold. Might I put forward that the same side should be erred on with reds? A red wine served slightly too cool can easily and quickly be warmed as required in the glass, especially considering tasting quantities.

It is simply heartbreaking to see and taste red wines suffering from heat stroke. Must we really resort to the formation of a R.S.P.C.R.W??!!

Jakob wrote:If there is one suggestion I can make to wine makers and show organizers, it is to make sure that your red wines are served at a reasonable temperature.

Outside the issue of wine fairs (and CDs, I should add) I find that, with the exception of the dead-of-winter, I invariably put red wine, decanted or otherwise, in the refrigerator - often for up to an hour before serving. It'll warm up quickly enough in a room at 23C - it should at least start somewhere below 20C. (Straight from the cellar is OK - but often it's been in a warmer environment for a few hours first.)

Drinking hot red wine is a most unpleasant experience indeed. I tasted some 2001 Wynns shiraz which must have been at least 28C some months ago, and it was very nearly unrecognizable as wine... McLaren Vale reds at over 30C sound indeed like a vision from purgatory!

cheers,
Graeme

Divine wrote: Unfortunately not many people tasted the whites

Red Bigots Rule in Melbourne!

(Or just maybe McLarenVale is more reknowned for it's reds than whites...)

I agree it was a joke. I for one will never attend another Divine tasting again

Anonymous wrote:I agree it was a joke. I for one will never attend another Divine tasting again

Well guest you are a twit then as they are normally outstanding.

GW

Brian

If I am going to a McLarenvale tasting, I only taste Shiraz or blends of the same - if I want to taste whites I would look for a cooler climate and the same goes for Cabernet. So for me, RB's reign in the vales !

General baggers

The temperature was an anomaly. I have been to several Divine tastings at that venue and they have all been fine. So maybe someone at the venue did not have the aircon up full blast on this occasion (beyond Andrew's control) or maybe the venue is not good in hot weather (which does not seem right as it is designed for numbers).

Andrew - maybe you can post-mortem the aircon problems with William Angliss to ensure they don't repeat the problem. It would be a shame to move away from that venue.


regards
Chris

Yep I agree with you Chris. Divine have always done a great job, and Andre Wood's dedication and time (and of course) money that he puts into these roadshows always mean that they are spot on. Just like Carlton, evreyone can have a day when things don't go rights. Let's not hang and try him over one event considering that the previous 10 events have been great.
The Howard Park Retrospective was one of the best tastings I have ever been to: and I have been to a few.

cheers
anthony

Not anymore, we have the messiah now. I mean Nick Stevens.

Gary W wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree it was a joke. I for one will never attend another Divine tasting again

Well guest you are a twit then as they are normally outstanding.

GW

so it doesn't matter that this one wasn't? very easy to say when it's not your money.

Anthony wrote:The Howard Park Retrospective was one of the best tastings I have ever been to: and I have been to a few.

Anthony what about this tasting made it stand out?

Anonymous wrote:

Gary W wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree it was a joke. I for one will never attend another Divine tasting again

Well guest you are a twit then as they are normally outstanding.

GW

so it doesn't matter that this one wasn't? very easy to say when it's not your money.

"I for one will never attend another Divine tasting again"

I agree, usually the Divine tastings are first-rate.
I really don't know how the experts will be able to assess the wines for publication- I can only asume that they will rely on the NSW tastings to obtain their scores. Seriously, absolutely nothing can be gleaned from tasting any wines in those conditions, so surely judgement must be deferred at this stage.

The Sydney tasting last night was great.
Top wines IMO, in no particular order
Kays 02 Shiraz
Kays 02 cabernet
Kays 01 Hillside Shiz
Ingolby 01 Reserve shrz
Tattachilla 00 Foundation

Bruce,

What were the room conditions like?

Hmmmm.....Some wines were OK but overall a lot of V.A.
The Kays were very volatile all except the Hillside, Arkanoon Doyen was very good as was the Cascabel Grenache,...Olivers Taranga 02 was very good.
Crackers next to low spit-buckets wasn't such a good idea.

Lot's of over-oaked wines as well the Tintara Shiraz just smelt like coffee and lots of coconutty ones.....