The Auswine Forum

Hi All

Rather than hijacking Mishy's thread, thought I would start a new one.

This is just to give you some idea of what lengths us Australian wine lovers in Canada sometimes have to go to to get our fix. Oh for my Canberra days when I could pick up a phone, call the winery (or independent retailer!!) and have a case delivered from anywhere in Aus in about a week!

Anyway, after reading uniformly fantastic reviews on this and the "other forum dealing with Australian wine" I decided to buy a case of 2002 St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz. In my neck of the woods (Saskatchewan) if the govt doesn't sell it you have to ring a toll free number and they will get back to you with a case price if they can track it down. Primarily they will order it from somewhere else in Canada, but sometimes they cant. If not, then they do the following:

Anyway, they (The Saskatchewan Liquor Board) got back to me about a week later saying they were ordering some stuff from St Hallett and could add a case of the 2002 Blackwell to their order for me. The cost was $29 per bottle including shipping and taxes which is a superb price.

When it arrived I opened the case and found staining on the underside of the case lid where the wine had clearly leaked from the tops of most of the bottles. I decided to open one and the cork was moist about half way up, but the ullage level was good. (Can anyone explain this staining? Is it common..what might it suggest..air pressure? heat?)

Mercifully, the wine was outstanding, and I'm glad I bought it, the price was a bonus. However, I did notice that according to the shipping label, it left Adelaide 21 days after it left St Hallett, so lord knows where it sat in the interim.

So, perhaps the problem with buying Australian wine in Canada is that sometimes all manner of nefarious things might happen in shipping. I'm not getting into the debate about whether 2002 South Aus shiraz is over-rated or Parkerised, but just trying to suggest a possible alternative reason as to why clearly knowledgeable pallates have diff opinions on the 2002 Filsell. Hopefully no-one will take offence from this, as absolutely none is intended. ( I note that Mishy said the wine wasn't faulty just not to her taste)

PS While I said I won't get into the debate, I recently had a 2002 Mitolo Jester (McV I know!!) and a 2002 Kaesler Stonehorse (both theoretically early-drinkers) which I found way too sweet and syrupy and hard going to drink more that 1 glass. Complete contrast was a 2002 Faith Shiraz from St Hallett which was balanced and delicious and very moreish.

PPS Just one last point, some of you expressed suprise at the pricing of the Filsell 2002 that Mishy purchsed ($C40). The pricing here is crazy too. I got the 2002 Blackwell for $29 a bottle flown in from Aus, and the 2002 Faith which I can go to the store and buy is $26 a bottle! Bizarre.

Sorry for the length of this, hope no-one mind but I guess the dilemma for us here is that you sometimes take a risk when buying a wine "on spec." I couldn't get a taste of 2002 Blackwell anywhere here if I tried so I had to take the plunge.

Cheers

Martin

Martin,

21 days from the barossa to Adelaide; boy that mule moved fast.

In all seriousness, it would probaly go to a freigh company (like Schenker in Adelaide) where loads of wine comes in from all over the country; the wine is consolidated into a shipment and then sent.

Given that they are going to the expense of using airfreight rather than a reefer on a ship which is far less costly, one would tend to think the wine would have been well stored in the interim at the shipper.

Schenker is a very big organisation and handles masses of wine out of Oz thats bound for North America. I could not imagine them leaving the stuff out in the heat; the US importers who use them would not put up with it.

The stuff that goes in unairconditioned reefers is a different story.

In the case of your wine, its pretty cool here now, so I can't imagine the wine being cooked at this end at this time of the year - frozen possibly!

Quoted by Martin Phillipson:
PS While I said I won't get into the debate, I recently had a 2002 Mitolo Jester (McV I know!!) and a 2002 Kaesler Stonehorse (both theoretically early-drinkers) which I found way too sweet and syrupy and hard going to drink more that 1 glass. Complete contrast was a 2002 Faith Shiraz from St Hallett which was balanced and delicious and very moreish.

Yeah, I'm with you on the Jester and the Stonehorse, but loved the Blackwell, now someone finally understands me . (Don't buy the Fisell !!)
I encounter many cooked wines here, sometimes I don't quite realise it untill I post my TNs on the wine BBs as the wine just taste weak, acidic and insipid - then I usually get comparison notes where the nose is similar to my TN, but the palate is the exact opposite.
Remember the California dockworker strike a couple of years ago, in the summer ! That brought us a lot of duds for 2 solid years and continuing......
But I certainly wouldn't want to be a winelover in Saskatchewan !
Do you have to do roadtrips to Calgary and Edmonton......?

Hi Martin...Long time,

Your cork condition certainly sounds like heat during shipping but I often find it doesn't effect the wine too much.

BTW If you have a look at some notes Wizz posted a few weeks back on a Dutschke Shiraz tasting, you'll find we both thought the 03 Filsell and 03 Stonehorse were both nicely made but OTT...High alc, vanilla milkshakes...Can't comment on the 02 Filsell.

Cheers,

MartinE

Hi All

Thanks for the replies. Some thoughts.info

Ric, the shippers on the case are Hillebrand and McKenzies International, not the flash sounding outfit you mentioned but I am sure they are OK. The second bottle opened tonight was just as delicious as the first.

Mishy:

Being a wine lover in Saskatchewan is better than you might think. The selection isn't the greatest, and as a Province we sell vast amounts of beer and hard liquor BUT the good stuff we get is always available (cos only a few of us want it) and always very cheap as the prices are subisidised by the beer sales! We only ever get a few cases of certain stuff but the local store manager always gives sends me an e-mail when higher end Aussie stuff is coming in. A few examples:

2001 Bin 707 $80
Old Block 1999 $42
Noble One 2002 $22

A load of these are just sitting on the shelf. Even Grange sits there for a while. But we really win on Champagne and Italian goodies which are always cheap and in good supply. Current releases of Tignanello, Solaia, Veuve Cliquot 1996, and several good 2000 Vintage Ports are still on display at very good prices and loads of 1998 Brunello's. But don't tell anyone my secret! Also, where can I find fellow Canadian wine lovers to converse with online...send me a message!

The flipside is that Rosemount Diamond Label Swill Range is about $19 a bottle..bizarre pricing but good for the enthusiast. Having said that..I always bring a fair bit of stuff back from Calgary and Edmonton,,and never speed on the way home!!

Martin E, yes long time etc..will do better I promise! And glad that I picked the Blackwell not the Filsell. I am disappointed in a lot of the 2002's I have picked up because they are just too much. Recent wines that I have comsumed a lot of are the Faith Shiraz, I think I might leave the other Blackwell's but they are awful tempting, but a real treat we got here and that I have been devouring is actually a 2001 Hunter from Rothvale called Luke's Shiraz..eventually came down to $19 a throw and I bought a ton of it..absolutely delicious drinking and instead of having to have a lie down after half a bottle, it's a rush down to the basement to open the second one..oh for a bit of restraint from winemakers with lots of ripe fruit at their disposal!

Thanks again for the comments and promise to provide more TN's.

Cheers

Martin

Martin Phillipson wrote:Martin E, yes long time etc..will do better I promise! And glad that I picked the Blackwell not the Filsell. I am disappointed in a lot of the 2002's I have picked up because they are just too much. Recent wines that I have comsumed a lot of are the Faith Shiraz, I think I might leave the other Blackwell's but they are awful tempting, but a real treat we got here and that I have been devouring is actually a 2001 Hunter from Rothvale called Luke's Shiraz..eventually came down to $19 a throw and I bought a ton of it..absolutely delicious drinking and instead of having to have a lie down after half a bottle, it's a rush down to the basement to open the second one..oh for a bit of restraint from winemakers with lots of ripe fruit at their disposal!

Martin

Glad you like the 02 Faith...I've got a case in the cellar which I was leaving until 06/07 but it sounds like I should check it soon.

Finished a couple of 96 Blackwell recently which were very good.

MartinE