The Auswine Forum

There's been some interest to start a new thread on this topic for 2017, so here it is.

My list of resolutions are:

• Quality over quantity. Cut down on number of purchases, but raise the bar.
• Balance the Chi in my cellar. Bottle count of Pinot Noir exceeds Shiraz.
• Drink as much wine as apparently all my friends and family think I do!

What's your wine resolutions for 2017?

Quality over quantity - both in purchasing and consumption
Install proper cooling to the cellar as the missus and kids are sick of freezing in the middle of summer as I leave the a/c on to keep the cellar temp down (Currently have goosebumps on my arms as I sit and write this in the study!)

Quality over Quantity, avoid FOMO pointy-point hype and drink some of my better stuff before buying more!
Be ruthless and sell a bunch of wines that no longer align with my palate. If I'm not excited to open it or share it, why is it there.
Use said money to add more Champagne, Chardonnay, Semillon, Riesling plus a few Loire Reds & Northern Italian Reds to cellar.
Accept that buying wines that need 20+ years to show their best is a bit futile so either get older examples or buy wines that drink better in their youth.

Most of all... Continue to enjoy the privilege of tasting great wines with great friends. You never know what's around the corner so carpe diem. (or carpe annum!)

Happy New Year everyone and thanks to Gavin for continuing to host this wonderful community of wine lovers.

stick to my wine budget....

Find more people to drink quality wine with.

-- George Krashos

Same as last year... flog some of the dross and load up on 2008 Champers

Learn more about and drink more single malt whisky. After wasting many decades not knowing about them there's a lot of time to make up. And smoke more Cuban cigars. They match SMW perfectly.

Carl

More Adelaide offlines. Had my first which i enjoyed but it's been tumbleweeds since then.
Maybe we can hold the next Ade offline in Craig's cellar.

As far as wine goes...
I'm still miles off old world wine. 2016 was a lot of reading and studying french wine regions.
Trying to get a handle on it. Same with Barbaresco and Barolo. Reading a lot online including the auswine
thread on the subject. So MUCH to learn. Miles off, but I'll keep chipping away.

Pay less attention to BIG wine scores. More and more I'm trusting my palate and paying less attention to
to scores that suck me in.

More grape picking! After my day at Marius I'll be back in a flash. What a hoot!

Drink more French and Italian wine.

Try and stay away from Auctions. Apart from Wickmans I'm always getting stuffed around.

Scotty vino wrote:More Adelaide offlines. Had my first which i enjoyed but it's been tumbleweeds since then.

Not wanting to offend, but the simple answer is to organise one yourself!! If you organise it, they will come. I see GeorgeK is keen. Ok mostly they will come, you do put yourself out there and take the risk, usually it's awesome, other times it can be this....

Chuck wrote:Learn more about and drink more single malt whisky. After wasting many decades not knowing about them there's a lot of time to make up. And smoke more Cuban cigars. They match SMW perfectly.

Carl

If you end up liking the aged whiskies, stock up. I visit various distilleries in Scotland every year and virtually all of them have said that 'age statements' on the bottle will be a thing of the past sooner rather than later. They are struggling to keep up with demand and so they create new labels with no age statement and the uninformed consumer is none the wiser....

Mike Hawkins wrote:

Chuck wrote:Learn more about and drink more single malt whisky. After wasting many decades not knowing about them there's a lot of time to make up. And smoke more Cuban cigars. They match SMW perfectly.

Carl

If you end up liking the aged whiskies, stock up. I visit various distilleries in Scotland every year and virtually all of them have said that 'age statements' on the bottle will be a thing of the past sooner rather than later. They are struggling to keep up with demand and so they create new labels with no age statement and the uninformed consumer is none the wiser....

And hence the prices of the 'proper good old stuff' has gone through the roof.

Stay way from Barossa Reds and cellar some more Italian varieties whilst sticking to the budget.

Stay away from blockbuster reds.

Reduce my collection to around 400 bottles (currently just over 500 bottles).

Cheers Ozzie - many thanks for starting this thread again.

I found last year's detailed look pretty successful in focusing buying on what I wanted, not what was a great price, a grand name or just more of what I already had enough of. An intentionally limited storage capacity is essential for me in containing what I buy, but also helps focus the mind!

So here's this years 'shopping list'. I won’t get everything and I will buy other stuff, but will avoid buying a mixed case unless the majority of the case is on the list. I might update the list if my interest shifts - no point in being stubborn . Some stuff is also more hopeful than realistic – not typically available here or price-inflated if it is, or in the case of the Primo, only available in half case sizes - not ideal for the Primo Sparkling Shiraz where I seem to be the only fan amongst friends / family.

Aussies & NZ (In relative priority – the lower ones being case fillers more than a justification. More included here than I intend to buy, to allow a specific focus for the Auswine forum)
• Delatite Riesling
• Primo – Moda, Joseph SRS, or anything else from them
• Alkoomi Wandoo if still made
• Houghton Jack Mann
• Explore Aussie Nebbiolo (just had the Stephen Pannell to date)
• Te Mata Elston for populist Chardonnay fix, but also Church Road reserve if ever available for the full butterball experience.
• Tahbilk Marsanne / 1927 vines Marsanne
• Explore ‘new’ trends but with a hard focus on the more elegant / radical end of the spectrum
• Wynns Black Label CS
• Wendouree Shiraz / Mataro
• Woodlands Margaret
• Best’s reds

Italy (in no particular order)
• Try more Cascina degli Ulivi, esp. their Gavi
• La Biancara. I loved the Masieri red I tried from them, so try some others
• More Timorasso
• More Fumin
• Vino Santo from Trentino
• Taurasi, but avoiding high oak/alcohol
• Foradori (Teroldego, or any of their others)
• More Antoniolo Gattinara and Ghemme/Gattinara from Torraccia del Piantavigne (but open to other producers)
• Try another Lacrima Morro d’Alba
• Drei Dona and San Patrignano from Emilia Romagna
• Hauner Hiera (plus other wines from them)
• Explore off the beaten track regions / grapes
• Tiefenbrunner Feldmarschall (to explore ageing it)
• Occhipinti reds + explore other producers not pushing oak / alcohol
• A bottle or two of Brachetto
• Cantine Del Notaio reds, rose or sweet wine
• Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
• Isole e Olena Syrah

ROW and generic (in no particular order)
• Keep the Ch Lamartine Cahors topped up, including the odd magnum
• A little more Pinon sparkling Vouvray
• A little more Madiran / Bandol or similar from Southern France
• Traditional / Rustic Gigondas
• Keep drinking sweet wines, and backfill esp. in halves
• Occasional German Riesling, ideally with a little age and continue tentative interest in German Pinot Noir
• More halves, including fizz
• Keep exploring Spain & Portugal – perhaps including some Buçaco red
• LdH 2005 Rioja reserva reds
• Musar Rosé
• Any interesting mature wines, but not too many over-mature
• Grab 2-3 other left-field natural wines to explore the genre a little more
• The odd purchase off the beaten track e.g. Greece, Romania, Slovakia

Scotty vino wrote:More Adelaide offlines. Had my first which i enjoyed but it's been tumbleweeds since then.
Maybe we can hold the next Ade offline in Craig's cellar.

As far as wine goes...
I'm still miles off old world wine. 2016 was a lot of reading and studying french wine regions.
Trying to get a handle on it. Same with Barbaresco and Barolo. Reading a lot online including the auswine
thread on the subject. So MUCH to learn. Miles off, but I'll keep chipping away.

Pay less attention to BIG wine scores. More and more I'm trusting my palate and paying less attention to
to scores that suck me in.

More grape picking! After my day at Marius I'll be back in a flash. What a hoot!

Hi all currently stuck in Heathrow with a fog delay to Prague. Should be a memorable Nye but will keep away from market squares and large trucks. Looking forward to a few drinks. Like the idea Scotty v re another offline but you would just be stuck with old Riesling cab and shiraz at my joint...some would say quite boring. Would like to get mjs and n4sir along and whilst we are at it Mr Hawkins needs to bring a bit of 02 fizz...Krug will suit.
For 17 I want to see a bit of realism with wine prices 40 quid for 13 John riddoch... In the bloody Harrods wine hall...that makes it aud 75...where it f*cking should be!!!
For 2017 I will try and keep buying what I can afford, simple as that. Have a great new year auswiners and Jamie will think of you as I am quaffing a few Italian numbers over the next two weeks...but wont be I expect at your price point.
Cheers
Craig

I don't usually do this but I genuinely do have resolutions for 2017:

No more trophy hunting. The only reason I have ever bought things like Musigny or Chambertin is so I can get a seat at the table to drink Musigny or Chambertin. Not worth it.

Drink what I have. I'd love to stay "stop buying" or "shrink the cellar" but that's the outcome, not the root cause. Also - forget the notion of a constant stream of quaffers for every day, and special wines for occasions that never come. That's how the cellar got so big in the first place!

Keep trying new things. Its a big wine world, having too narrow a view of it would be a waste. But don't fall into a FOMO trap either...

AB

Ian S wrote:Cheers Ozzie - many thanks for starting this thread again.

I found last year's detailed look pretty successful in focusing buying on what I wanted, not what was a great price, a grand name or just more of what I already had enough of. An intentionally limited storage capacity is essential for me in containing what I buy, but also helps focus the mind!

So here's this years 'shopping list'. I won’t get everything and I will buy other stuff, but will avoid buying a mixed case unless the majority of the case is on the list. I might update the list if my interest shifts - no point in being stubborn . Some stuff is also more hopeful than realistic – not typically available here or price-inflated if it is, or in the case of the Primo, only available in half case sizes - not ideal for the Primo Sparkling Shiraz where I seem to be the only fan amongst friends / family.

Aussies & NZ (In relative priority – the lower ones being case fillers more than a justification. More included here than I intend to buy, to allow a specific focus for the Auswine forum)
• Delatite Riesling
• Primo – Moda, Joseph SRS, or anything else from them
• Alkoomi Wandoo if still made
• Houghton Jack Mann
• Explore Aussie Nebbiolo (just had the Stephen Pannell to date)
• Te Mata Elston for populist Chardonnay fix, but also Church Road reserve if ever available for the full butterball experience.
• Tahbilk Marsanne / 1927 vines Marsanne
• Explore ‘new’ trends but with a hard focus on the more elegant / radical end of the spectrum
• Wynns Black Label CS
• Wendouree Shiraz / Mataro
• Woodlands Margaret
• Best’s reds

Italy (in no particular order)
• Try more Cascina degli Ulivi, esp. their Gavi
• La Biancara. I loved the Masieri red I tried from them, so try some others
• More Timorasso
• More Fumin
• Vino Santo from Trentino
• Taurasi, but avoiding high oak/alcohol
• Foradori (Teroldego, or any of their others)
• More Antoniolo Gattinara and Ghemme/Gattinara from Torraccia del Piantavigne (but open to other producers)
• Try another Lacrima Morro d’Alba
• Drei Dona and San Patrignano from Emilia Romagna
• Hauner Hiera (plus other wines from them)
• Explore off the beaten track regions / grapes
• Tiefenbrunner Feldmarschall (to explore ageing it)
• Occhipinti reds + explore other producers not pushing oak / alcohol
• A bottle or two of Brachetto
• Cantine Del Notaio reds, rose or sweet wine
• Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
• Isole e Olena Syrah

ROW and generic (in no particular order)
• Keep the Ch Lamartine Cahors topped up, including the odd magnum
• A little more Pinon sparkling Vouvray
• A little more Madiran / Bandol or similar from Southern France
• Traditional / Rustic Gigondas
• Keep drinking sweet wines, and backfill esp. in halves
• Occasional German Riesling, ideally with a little age and continue tentative interest in German Pinot Noir
• More halves, including fizz
• Keep exploring Spain & Portugal – perhaps including some Buçaco red
• LdH 2005 Rioja reserva reds
• Musar Rosé
• Any interesting mature wines, but not too many over-mature
• Grab 2-3 other left-field natural wines to explore the genre a little more
• The odd purchase off the beaten track e.g. Greece, Romania, Slovakia

Wow! A great deal off thought has gone into that. Well done!

- I had to cancel a trip to Piedmont in 2016 so will ensure i get there in 2017.

- Hunt for classic old Aussies at Wickmans auction and keep presenting them abroad.

- Buy for my wife's 50th, though still a fair way off, if left to the last few years to run prices rise steeply.

- All extra money I make from compulsory overtime ( which I loath ) is spent on Barolo and Barbaresco. Keeps me sane!

JamieBahrain wrote:- I had to cancel a trip to Piedmont in 2016 so will ensure i get there in 2017.

Not exactly a resolution, but am now planning our trip to Italy, wine and food regions, of course, for later in 2017.

Piedmont is a certainty, Tuscany, parts of Sicily and more still to be decided, planned and organised, but already as excited as can be.

Will be seeking some advice and assistance from those of you who visit regularly, what to see, do, what not to miss, where to eat, where to stay etc etc etc

Couple of years ago did the wine and food tour of France, this year, Italy!

.

Gavin Trott wrote:

JamieBahrain wrote:- I had to cancel a trip to Piedmont in 2016 so will ensure i get there in 2017.

Not exactly a resolution, but am now planning our trip to Italy, wine and food regions, of course, for later in 2017.

Piedmont is a certainty, Tuscany, parts of Sicily and more still to be decided, planned and organised, but already as excited as can be.

Will be seeking some advice and assistance from those of you who visit regularly, what to see, do, what not to miss, where to eat, where to stay etc etc etc

.

Please do ask, and I'll be very happy to throw ideas/suggestions in. We usually have a holiday in Italy every year, sometimes even twice in a year. I presume you're aware that flights can be booked 'open jaw' so you fly into one airport and out of another. That can really help with avoided wasted travel 'backtracking'.

In general I'd say Tuscany is easy tourism, with English widely spoken (It's not nicknamed Chiantishire for nothing). There are plenty of famous sights (ask me about Pisa if at all interested in going there - it is a real 'tale of two cities'), Siena, San Gimignano, Firenze (Florence) and much more. Rolling hills makes for picturesque scenery and it is very easy indeed to find villas in the countryside.

Piemonte/Piedmont is more than just the Langhe wine region, but that is always going to be a draw. Torino is our favourite city by a distance, and we've been many times now. Plenty of other brilliant places, many effectively untouched by tourism - but much helped by having some Italian language skills.

Sicily will offer a wonderful contrast North of Italy vs. South of Italy. You'll get a start here in understanding Italy is only reasonably recently 'one nation' (~ 160 years), and accents, food, attitudes will be noticeably different. Sean (of this site) should be your guide for Sicily, having made wine for a large producer near Palermo a few years ago. He'll have invaluable advice for enjoying Sicily and in particular Palermo, without being intimidated by the vibrancy. I'll throw in one suggestion, partly away from wine. That is the Aeolian Islands (Isole Eolie) including the active volcanic islands of Stromboli (with it's constant natural firework display - great on an evening/night boat trip) and Vulcano (with it's charmingly basic mud baths). Island hopping is fun and the wines under-appreciated - Hauner's Hiera red is our value discovery of the year - like a volcanic Musar/Southern Rhone red.

Plenty of other wonderful regions, and a very good / cheap train service to connect them (Trenitalia.com)

Some resources:
- Agriturismo.it for farmstays, often involving wonderful multi-course banquets for the price of a modest a la carte elsewhere, and often using their own produce.
- For food shops, the Golosario app is as naff as they come, being just a scan of the book, but the book is well-researched and seems to highlight the vast majority of interesting food shops. It's in Italian, but symbols & pictures give plenty of clues as to what's available. The app was available for free last time I checked and on both Samsung and Apple.
- langheroero.it is a wonderful tourist site run out of the rather professional Alba tourist office. Wonderful listings and they'll book accommodation, including offering ideas / advice. They even have a winetasting booking service - free but with a charge for no-shows which seems fair. Other places have their own tourist sites, and they are often good, but these guys always impress

Anyway, that's a few thoughts. Feel free to throw any questions/challenges my way, but there are also a number of others who have experience on this site.

regards (or should I say "Cordiali Saluti")
Ian

Sounds like a bit of a challenge - Auswine in Piedmont 2017?

- Buying was somewhat reduced in 2016 and will be this year also, so need to continue improved discipline in buying wines I really want rather than get distracted by discount deals.

- Continue exploring Italian wines in more breadth, and get some more Piedmont wines into the cellar.

- Start to explore German Riesling.

- Buy more Pinot.

- Write, and post, more tasting notes to try to improve note-taking skill.

- Hopefully can fit in a few more offlines this year, might try to organise one for late Feb...

Will

Keep my purchasing focus on Piedmont and Etna.

Buy more Pinot.

Cellar some Champagne.

And like every year, drink better wine.

1. Buy less, drink more
2. Be less afraid to open a "trophy" wine on a Tuesday night
3. Find more wine drinkers with decent cellars in Auckland to share wines with
4. Continue to sell the big Aussie reds I don't drink so much of any more
5. Drink more Vintage Champagne
6. Drink more Sauternes
7. Drink more Vintage Ports

Ozzie W wrote:There's been some interest to start a new thread on this topic for 2017, so here it is.

My list of resolutions are:

• Quality over quantity. Cut down on number of purchases, but raise the bar.
• Balance the Chi in my cellar. Bottle count of Pinot Noir exceeds Shiraz.
• Drink as much wine as apparently all my friends and family think I do!

What's your wine resolutions for 2017?

I'm going to add one more:

• Don't buy wines just because they're on special.

Not to buy anything more from Lucy Margeaux... blurgh

pc79 wrote:Not to buy anything more from Lucy Margeaux... blurgh

He he
That is so funny
I liked the wines the first year I tried them
But subsequently find them very car crash blurry funky tragedies!

Nearly 1/4 of the way through the year - has the focus been good? I write this with a little trepidation as I've not been referring back to this list

Ian S wrote:Cheers Ozzie - many thanks for starting this thread again.

I found last year's detailed look pretty successful in focusing buying on what I wanted, not what was a great price, a grand name or just more of what I already had enough of. An intentionally limited storage capacity is essential for me in containing what I buy, but also helps focus the mind!

So here's this years 'shopping list'. I won’t get everything and I will buy other stuff, but will avoid buying a mixed case unless the majority of the case is on the list. I might update the list if my interest shifts - no point in being stubborn . Some stuff is also more hopeful than realistic – not typically available here or price-inflated if it is, or in the case of the Primo, only available in half case sizes - not ideal for the Primo Sparkling Shiraz where I seem to be the only fan amongst friends / family.

Aussies & NZ (In relative priority – the lower ones being case fillers more than a justification. More included here than I intend to buy, to allow a specific focus for the Auswine forum)
• Delatite Riesling
• Primo – Moda, Joseph SRS, or anything else from them
• Alkoomi Wandoo if still made
• Houghton Jack Mann
• Explore Aussie Nebbiolo (just had the Stephen Pannell to date)
• Te Mata Elston for populist Chardonnay fix, but also Church Road reserve if ever available for the full butterball experience.
• Tahbilk Marsanne / 1927 vines Marsanne
• Explore ‘new’ trends but with a hard focus on the more elegant / radical end of the spectrum
• Wynns Black Label CS
• Wendouree Shiraz / Mataro
• Woodlands Margaret
• Best’s reds
Zip, nothing, Zilch, nada, etc. The Elston is the one I do need to remedy and the Jack Mann almost happened but I got distracted by other wines. Some of the others are listed more in hope than expectation that I'll see them


Italy (in no particular order)
• Try more Cascina degli Ulivi, esp. their Gavi
• La Biancara. I loved the Masieri red I tried from them, so try some others
• More Timorasso
• More Fumin
• Vino Santo from Trentino
• Taurasi, but avoiding high oak/alcohol
• Foradori (Teroldego, or any of their others) :) (6 of the Forador- Teroldego)
• More Antoniolo Gattinara and Ghemme/Gattinara from Torraccia del Piantavigne (but open to other producers)
• Try another Lacrima Morro d’Alba
• Drei Dona and San Patrignano from Emilia Romagna
• Hauner Hiera (plus other wines from them)
• Explore off the beaten track regions / grapes
• Tiefenbrunner Feldmarschall (to explore ageing it)
• Occhipinti reds + explore other producers not pushing oak / alcohol
• A bottle or two of Brachetto
• Cantine Del Notaio reds, rose or sweet wine
• Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
• Isole e Olena Syrah


ROW and generic (in no particular order)
• Keep the Ch Lamartine Cahors topped up, including the odd magnum
• A little more Pinon sparkling Vouvray
• A little more Madiran / Bandol or similar from Southern France
• Traditional / Rustic Gigondas
• Keep drinking sweet wines, and backfill esp. in halves
• Occasional German Riesling, ideally with a little age and continue tentative interest in German Pinot Noir I'll cheat here and include a South Tyrol Pinot Noir
• More halves, including fizz
• Keep exploring Spain & Portugal – perhaps including some Buçaco red :) but no Buçaco (or Colares) yet
• LdH 2005 Rioja reserva reds
• Musar Rosé
• Any interesting mature wines, but not too many over-mature :) (got some older Portuguese wines recently, organised by a friend who went over to his house over there & has found a good little wine shop with older wines)
• Grab 2-3 other left-field natural wines to explore the genre a little more My 1st Pet Nat bought!
• The odd purchase off the beaten track e.g. Greece, Romania, Slovakia A fancy Chilean Carignan

In addition, a couple of bottles of Cornas which should always be on my buying horizon, a Chianti and a Chinon, plus a Guigal Cotes du Rhone for the Wine Pages 'Palate Calibration exercise (PCE) which is running until the end of the month, where people buy a bottle, write a tasting note, plus answer a few simple questions, sending the form in to be collated and discussed.

So overall not brilliant (nor awful), but we've not been drinking much, hence not buying that much to replace stocks. Hoping to get a few interesting bottles on an upcoming trip to Torino

Following Ian's format...

winetastic wrote:Keep my purchasing focus on Piedmont and Etna. (30 bottles from Piedmont ranging from quaffers to upper end aged Barolo, 6 single cru Passopisciaro)

Buy more Pinot. (3 bottles of Punt Rd)

Cellar some Champagne. (4 bottles of Jérôme Prévost, making up for lack of quantity with quality there imo)

And like every year, drink better wine.