The Auswine Forum

Luke W brought up in another thread that he will be in Adelaide late September, and would like to catch up with some of the local forumites at an offline either Friday the 28th or Saturday the 29th.

It could end up being a tough couple of nights to try find a venue and negotiate a deal (being AFL Grand Final eve/night), but we've got well over a month to come up with something. So who's interested, any ideas for themes/venues, etc? Luke mentioned about bringing a 1991 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Centenary for openers, so I'm expecting a fairly high standard to match.

Cheers,
Ian

Well with Centenary as the starting point, we are going to have to go pretty hard or go home so to speak. Count me in. I am thinking a vintage champagne from a better year, plus maybe a 96 Mount Mary Pinot, 97 Bests Bin 0 or 2000 Wendouree Shiraz.
As for a restaurant, d'Artagnan is nice if someone could negotiate an acceptable price. If we are going to uprate the wines, it would be a shame to pair them with cheap Chinese.
Cheers
Mark

Not too sure if my lack of stellar wines is going to preclude me from this one, but I'm in for the Saturday night, and happy to try and organise the venue etc.

Understand entirely if my inability to match means it would be unfair of me to attend!

PaulG wrote:Not too sure if my lack of stellar wines is going to preclude me from this one, but I'm in for the Saturday night, and happy to try and organise the venue etc.

Understand entirely if my inability to match means it would be unfair of me to attend!

I would really like to meet you all and would be upset to think that my wine is putting any pressure on you to match it. Please don't make this more about the wine than the company - its always nice to drink great wine but the establishment of great relationships is far more paramount for me.
I have a couple of friends who may be able to come and can access some old wines as well and it may be good to bring a 1991 Wynns Black Label as well (although I do worry a bit about how the centenary and the 91 BL will travel). The other wine I'll bring down will be a surprise (I know that it's very unlikely that many of you will have tried it and I hope it's wonderful - I know it's rare). It may be better to send these wines down prior to our travel to ensure they recover?

Anyway we'll be available to come anywhere in Adelaide and meet with you anytime from the Friday thru to the Monday.

Cheers

Luke

PaulG wrote:Not too sure if my lack of stellar wines is going to preclude me from this one, but I'm in for the Saturday night, and happy to try and organise the venue etc.

Understand entirely if my inability to match means it would be unfair of me to attend!

I'm sure you can bring something to suit Paul - if you need some advice or help, you're always welcome to ask.

Cheers,
Ian

Count me in. I'm paying attention this time! As for wine, I'll have a dig through some of the older stuff and see what I come up with.

-- George

In that case, I'm in if it's on the Saturday!

Is someone already sorting out a venue, or shall I start doing some investigations?

PaulG wrote:In that case, I'm in if it's on the Saturday!

Is someone already sorting out a venue, or shall I start doing some investigations?

I'd be grateful if you (and others) can do the looking around - I'm going to be flat out at work the next couple of months, and don't like the prospect of trying to negotiate with a new venue at short notice (especially that weekend).

No problem at all.

Venues I'm planning on approaching thus far are:
1. D'Artagnan
2. Villeroy (I think they have changed managers, so their policy on BYO may have changed)
3. Pizza e Mozzerella on Pirie Street
4. Celcius
5. Chloe's

Any other suggestions to contact?

Nuts. I'll miss out by a week. Have fun!

After numerous enquiries, I have narrowed our list of potential venues for the 29th down to the following:

1. Tin Cat Cafe:
$60 for Entree platter, Main course, dessert and cheese plate, inc corkage.

2. Etica - Pizza and Mozzerella bar:
$55 Shared cheese plate entree, pizzas, pastas and dessert inc corkage (downside is we have to be there for a 6pm start)

3. D'Artagnan:
$75 entree, main, dessert and corkage

4. Auge
$75 for entree, main, dessert and corkage.

My current preference is Tin Cat, as it seems a good balance of convenience, price, and food, but am open to other thoughts.

Tin Cat seems to get great reviews - have you eaten there before?

Of the four, I've only eaten at Auge, although I had been planning to get to Etica. I'll leave it the more knowledgeable to choose the venue while I hunt through boxes to find another wine to pad out Mark's quest to drink through the Langton's Classification.

-- George Krashos

Paul, thanks for your efforts in obtaining deals from the restaurants. They all look pretty good. For what it is worth my votes would be D'Artagnan no.1 and Etica no. 2. Looking at the respective menus, I would have thought that D'Artagnan might make for a better food/wine match for the bigger reds which tend to be brought to offlines than Tin Cat or Auge.

Cheers

Mark

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

From Luke's enthusiasm, I this morning confirmed with Tin Cat (Can always cancel if there are strong objections). I will be posting their menu up when I get home tonight

Cheers,

P