The Auswine Forum

Hello everyone

I was just browsing Penfolds on YouTube and found this awesome video:

[Link Removed]

Do many of you attend events like this in Melbourne? Any pointers on where I can start looking? I love the atmosphere!!! drinking fine wine, meeting new people.

Thanks so much,
savingforgrange

Hmm maybe this isn't spam but a tip for a "newbie" that doesn't want to get roasted- making your first and only post a link to to an openly stated marketing agency promotional video for Penfolds, under the moniker "savingforgrange" could not look more like an example of ham handed search engine optimisation if it tried...

It is a perfectly well executed PR video, but "awesome" goes a tad far.

Now, this video loaded straight after ... a very serious explanation of how to decant red wine from the Sommeliers' Guild... But how unhappy do the "guests" look? Seriously, if you are a somm and your guests look like that emotionless about your restaurant experience- you got bigger problems than a bit of sediment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XujXNDTTep0

First 'pointer', (albeit off topic) would be to save your money for wines other than Grange. Respect for their history and place in Australian wine, but there's nothing even remotely awesome about Penfolds these days (apart from their awesome price inflation), but hey, just my opinion.

Looks very spambot to me too, but if not.... Wine forums are a good place to start if you're looking to attend offlines, tasting events etc. Also try a few of the higher quality retailers (i.e not Coles or Woolies owned) and see if they have any events coming up that interest you.

Agreed - A rather bad look for TWE to be associated with spamming, so hopefully they have plausible deniability with regards to the OP.

Maybe it's a revenge attack for us bemoaning the appalling value of Penfolds wines these days

sjw_11 wrote:...could not look more like an example of ham handed search engine optimisation if it tried...

If it's SEO they're after, they haven't done a good job. The Auswine Forum is excluded from search engine indexing.

Ummm.. wow ok. No, that wasn't my intention at all. I would've been happy to post that original post even without the video. Please don't jump to conclusions. I am in fact asian and found that video interesting. I live in Melbourne and wanted to find out more about wine tasting events. I'm genuinely new to wine, hence my only conception of fine wine is grange- and yeah, ok, savingforgrange probably isn't the best name to choose but I did.

savingforgrange wrote:Ummm.. wow ok. No, that wasn't my intention at all. I would've been happy to post that original post even without the video. Please don't jump to conclusions. I am in fact asian and found that video interesting. I live in Melbourne and wanted to find out more about wine tasting events. I'm genuinely new to wine, hence my only conception of fine wine is grange- and yeah, ok, savingforgrange probably isn't the best name to choose but I did.

Well you might have come to the right place...your only conception of fine wine is Grange, how very very sad. Pennies no doubt would be happy that they have you already.
Cheers Craig

Ps. perhaps change your handle and delete the video

Thank you TiggerK for the benefit of doubt. I would never post anything unsolicited.

I've tried a few wineries and purchased directly from them. I'm still learning, I don't have enough vocabulary or skill to describe wine but I love meeting new people (meeting offline).

TiggerK wrote:First 'pointer', (albeit off topic) would be to save your money for wines other than Grange. Respect for their history and place in Australian wine, but there's nothing even remotely awesome about Penfolds these days (apart from their awesome price inflation), but hey, just my opinion.

Looks very spambot to me too, but if not.... Wine forums are a good place to start if you're looking to attend offlines, tasting events etc. Also try a few of the higher quality retailers (i.e not Coles or Woolies owned) and see if they have any events coming up that interest you.

Haha. Advice taken. Thanks Craig. I've removed link. As for my handle... too late.. I'll embrace it lol

Please, please, please do broaden my knowledge. All I've heard and believed is Grange is the pinnacle of fine wine (in Australia)??

phillisc wrote:

savingforgrange wrote:Ummm.. wow ok. No, that wasn't my intention at all. I would've been happy to post that original post even without the video. Please don't jump to conclusions. I am in fact asian and found that video interesting. I live in Melbourne and wanted to find out more about wine tasting events. I'm genuinely new to wine, hence my only conception of fine wine is grange- and yeah, ok, savingforgrange probably isn't the best name to choose but I did.

Well you might have come to the right place...your only conception of fine wine is Grange, how very very sad. Pennies no doubt would be happy that they have you already.
Cheers Craig

Ps. perhaps change your handle and delete the video

Thanks sjw_11. I understand why you would think like that. Sorry for that impression. Your comment made me laugh though

sjw_11 wrote:Hmm maybe this isn't spam but a tip for a "newbie" that doesn't want to get roasted- making your first and only post a link to to an openly stated marketing agency promotional video for Penfolds, under the moniker "savingforgrange" could not look more like an example of ham handed search engine optimisation if it tried...

It is a perfectly well executed PR video, but "awesome" goes a tad far.

Perhaps this confirms my "plausible deniability" - surely the corporation would've done better if they tried

Again, my bad for misleading you guys. Good roasting

Ozzie W wrote:

sjw_11 wrote:...could not look more like an example of ham handed search engine optimisation if it tried...

If it's SEO they're after, they haven't done a good job. The Auswine Forum is excluded from search engine indexing.

savingforgrange wrote:Do many of you attend events like this in Melbourne? Any pointers on where I can start looking? I love the atmosphere!!! drinking fine wine, meeting new people.

There's plenty of wine events in Melbourne. Some of the bigger ones which occur annually are:

Game of Rhones
Pinot Palooza
Royal Melbourne Wine Awards
SIPNOT

You get to taste a lot of wine, meet winemakers, and fellow vinophiles. The 2018 events have already occurred, but keep your eyes open for the 2019 ones.

Many wine stores also run regular tasting events, but I won't mention them here on the forum out of respect for Gavin, our gracious host. PM me if you want some suggestions.

Many wineries also run tasting events. The Yarra Valley and Mornington Penninsula are not far away from Melbourne.

We also have AusWine offlines now and then as well, so watch out for the next Melbourne one.

Ozzie W wrote:

savingforgrange wrote:Do many of you attend events like this in Melbourne? Any pointers on where I can start looking? I love the atmosphere!!! drinking fine wine, meeting new people.

There's plenty of wine events in Melbourne. Some of the bigger ones which occur annually are:

Game of Rhones
Pinot Palooza
Royal Melbourne Wine Awards
SIPNOT

Thanks Ozzie, great starting point. I'll read up on them

Welcome SFG!

There's as many opinions on wine as there are people drinking it, and wine forums are good places to gather a lot of information.

For many decades, Grange was certainly regarded as Australia's best wine (perhaps equally with Henschke Hill of Grace), and of course there are many traditionalist buyers for whom Grange is a yearly 'must buy', it's certainly a wine that can age very well, and really should be well aged before opening. I've had a some tremendous old bottles from the 60's, 70's and 80's. When stored well, and (for me) over 30 years of age or so, it can be a very impressive wine. But I'm not convinced that Grange from 1990 onwards will be as exciting as the ones from earlier decades, the style became even more decadent and ripe (otherwise known as 'Parkerised') thanks largely to Robert Parker and subsequent winemaking / points chasing fashions. A young Grange is certainly wine turned up to 11, no doubt there, but it's lacking elegance, poise and just too aggressively fruity and oaky for my tastes. Plus the price is way out of touch nowdays, you can get so many other greater wines from Aus and around the globe for the same price (or much less) as Grange, and I know where my money would go.

Anyway, enjoy your wine journey, get out to events, read lots of wine forums and wine websites, and most of all, taste taste taste a wide selection of wines, not just from Australia, but from all around the world. Your tastes will change over time as you taste more and more, keep an open mind to different styles and slowly find out what you enjoy. Don't listen to wine critics and buy based on their points too much, they can be a good starting point, and always interesting to discover new wines and new producers, but one persons 97 point stunning wine is someone else's 88 point yuck. Decide for yourself after tasting it!

Cheers
TiggerK

TiggerK wrote: ... the style became even more decadent and ripe (otherwise known as 'Parkerised') thanks largely to Robert Parker and subsequent winemaking / points chasing fashions. A young Grange is certainly wine turned up to 11, no doubt there, but it's lacking elegance, poise and just too aggressively fruity and oaky for my tastes. Plus the price is way out of touch nowdays, ...

... Your tastes will change over time as you taste more and more, keep an open mind to different styles and slowly find out what you enjoy...

Thank you TiggerK! I'm learning so much already from your comment I think this is a great start to my wine appreciation journey.

This forum hosts a fantastic community. Despite my initial blunder , I certainly do feel welcome here! Cheers, SFG.

savingforgrange wrote:Thanks sjw_11. I understand why you would think like that. Sorry for that impression. Your comment made me laugh though

sjw_11 wrote:Hmm maybe this isn't spam but a tip for a "newbie" that doesn't want to get roasted- making your first and only post a link to to an openly stated marketing agency promotional video for Penfolds, under the moniker "savingforgrange" could not look more like an example of ham handed search engine optimisation if it tried...

It is a perfectly well executed PR video, but "awesome" goes a tad far.

Hi SFG, OK my apologies! Welcome to the forum
I am sure you will find a lot of good resources on this site and you will find people here are very happy to offer advice to people still learning about wine (we are a pretty accepting and non-exclusive bunch) ... it just happens bashing Penfolds is a frequent past time here
(read the thread about the Penfolds 2018 release to see what I mean!)

sjw_11 wrote:

savingforgrange wrote:Thanks sjw_11. I understand why you would think like that. Sorry for that impression. Your comment made me laugh though

sjw_11 wrote:Hmm maybe this isn't spam but a tip for a "newbie" that doesn't want to get roasted- making your first and only post a link to to an openly stated marketing agency promotional video for Penfolds, under the moniker "savingforgrange" could not look more like an example of ham handed search engine optimisation if it tried...

It is a perfectly well executed PR video, but "awesome" goes a tad far.

Hi SFG, OK my apologies! Welcome to the forum
I am sure you will find a lot of good resources on this site and you will find people here are very happy to offer advice to people still learning about wine (we are a pretty accepting and non-exclusive bunch) ... it just happens bashing Penfolds is a frequent past time here
(read the thread about the Penfolds 2018 release to see what I mean!)

Thanks sjw_11, no hard feelings taken at all
Yes absolutely, everyone is so accepting and I've been learning a lot already!
Haha, I read the long Penfolds 2018 thread just now... lol @ my handle name

Ozzie W wrote:We also have AusWine offlines now and then as well, so watch out for the next Melbourne one.

Highly recommended SFG!

Get along to the next one.

Cheers

Michael

I'll put my apology in as well.

Penfolds/TWE have invested in a huge amount of marketing, but hopefully we can offer some suggestions to try that are cheaper, more interesting, and when shared with friends, offer a different insight into the Aussie wine scene. It's a vibrant period for Aussie wine at the moment, with strong threads of new grape varieties, wine styles and a good number of producers bringing alcohol levels down by a % point or two, yet still there are stalwarts in the (more recently) traditional style. New favourites will emerge, and the first I read about them is often on these pages.

Cleanskinlover turned out alright so I guess saving for grange might take the same way, hope so!

savingforgrange wrote:I am in fact asian and found that video interesting.

Welcome SFG! but what does being Asian have to do with anything??

Anyway, as you are in Melbourne, taking a shortish drive to the Yarra or Mornington Peninsula and doing some tastings at various wineries would probably be more interesting and insightful if you want to learn more. Drinking a winery wine at the winery, and having a chat with staff and possibly the wine maker is always fun and interesting.

Good luck on your wine journey!

Michael McNally wrote:

Ozzie W wrote:We also have AusWine offlines now and then as well, so watch out for the next Melbourne one.

Highly recommended SFG!

Get along to the next one.

Cheers

Michael

Thanks Michael, will keep an eye out!

Ian S wrote:I'll put my apology in as well.

Penfolds/TWE have invested in a huge amount of marketing, but hopefully we can offer some suggestions to try that are cheaper, more interesting, and when shared with friends, offer a different insight into the Aussie wine scene. It's a vibrant period for Aussie wine at the moment, with strong threads of new grape varieties, wine styles and a good number of producers bringing alcohol levels down by a % point or two, yet still there are stalwarts in the (more recently) traditional style. New favourites will emerge, and the first I read about them is often on these pages.

Thanks Ian, no need to apologise!! Onwards and upwards.

Yeah I'm reading deep into this forum. Starting with the "what are you drinking tonight" thread, familiarising myself with tasting notes written by sjw_11 yesterday

Bobthebuilder wrote:Cleanskinlover turned out alright so I guess saving for grange might take the same way, hope so!

Cheers Bob!

deejay81 wrote:

savingforgrange wrote:I am in fact asian and found that video interesting.

Welcome SFG! but what does being Asian have to do with anything??

Anyway, as you are in Melbourne, taking a shortish drive to the Yarra or Mornington Peninsula and doing some tastings at various wineries would probably be more interesting and insightful if you want to learn more. Drinking a winery wine at the winery, and having a chat with staff and possibly the wine maker is always fun and interesting.

Good luck on your wine journey!

Thanks for the welcome deejay81!

Haha, the original video I found on YouTube and posted here was heavily targeted towards Asians. So that was just me saying I related to that video

Thanks for the pointer, will check out at the moment I've done.. ermmm... Shadowfax in the west side K Road Shiraz for the win!!

Bobthebuilder wrote:Cleanskinlover turned out alright so I guess saving for grange might take the same way, hope so!

pffft!!! I thought he was a knob!

This might be construed as "racist" in our 21st century snowflake society but..

It seems to be an asian status thing the old Penfolds

I see heaps and heaps of literally clueless asians at my local supermarkets automatically picking up penfolds 28, 389, 407 and paying stupid money for them too

I actually think Penfolds has done a great job at snaring the easily led!!

Craig(NZ) wrote:This might be construed as "racist" in our 21st century snowflake society but..

It seems to be an asian status thing the old Penfolds

I see heaps and heaps of literally clueless asians at my local supermarkets automatically picking up penfolds 28, 389, 407 and paying stupid money for them too

I actually think Penfolds has done a great job at snaring the easily led!!

All good, not a snowflake here. Valid observation. Asian culture is fiercely competitive socially (and academically). Life is always about comparing to others.

Someone turning up to a dinner party with a well recognised expensive bottle of wine will up their own 'prestige' - overpricing works in their favour!

Anyway that was a bit off topic. Maybe we'll see more of these types of events popping up, which I'm all for attending too

Welcome to the forum, savingforgrange!

I won't bag Penfolds, as they were a fantastic entry for my wife and I to the world of wine when we first seriously began drinking wine back in the early 1980s. For many years we regularly bought Bins 707, 389, 128 and 28 which were affordable in those days, and even the occasional Grange and some extras such as the RWT.

These days the only Penfolds we regularly buy each year is the Koonunga Hill (the original shiraz/cabernet blend, not any of the straight varietal Koonungas), because we believe it's the only value-for-money wine in their line-up anymore. Well OK, sometimes we can't resist the Kalimna Bin 28 or the Bin 389, but they are seriously pricing themselves out of reach in our opinion.

Enjoy your wine journey: just get out there and try things; you'll quickly learn what you like and what represents good value according to your taste. It's hard to go wrong. Focus on wine you can afford and don't worry about wines that are out-of-reach; they are great to buy once in a while for a special occasion, but really aren't worth the money for regular drinking.

Let us know how you progress!