The Auswine Forum

Although I've enjoyed a drop of plonk since my late teenage years(viz Cold Duck, Mateus, Black Forest, Seppelt Sprietzig ), I didn't really develop much more interest in wine other than subscribing to Cellarmasters then later TWS regular tasting cases. Although I did buy some of the Australian's cases and prior to that explored a bit, found McWilliams Elizabeth, Seaview, Clare riesling, Hardy's Signature but never developed any real understanding of wine. Discovering Winepros through regular reading of JH's Weekend Australian column was my intro to the real world of wine.

Through posting on the Clink Tank, I met Ric who referred me to two other fora. *forum was the first with the basic format that was soon after introduced to Auswine. This format is much more user-friendly than the original Auswine forum.

The fora have contributed greatly to my knowledge and appreciation of wine and I'm grateful to have had access to the wonderful pool of knowledge and experience that the internet has made available. Well, at least as far as Australian wines are concerned because I have no real interest in "first-world" wines or other "second-world" (or pinot noir from wherever, for that matter).

It seems to me that some posters have a thing about the newest and the bestest reputation - a bit like RPJ points chasers. Of course when I first got really interested in wine, I was largely guided by Halliday, bought Winepros' Halliday's Top 100 premium dozens and think I still have several bottles from those. I was a JH points chaser to a degree.

Having gone straight to the top end in my early days of collecting but mostly drinking wine e.g. Cullen, Jasper Hill, Penfolds, I've backed off on the more expensive wines and now look for mid-range wines that are good quality for the money. Not necessarily best quality but as good as I can afford for day-to-day wines.

My usual buy these days would be $12-$18, though I've told one of the guys at the local barn to hold 3xSt Henri 02 for me from it's next delivery - only because it seems to be well-regarded and these days, to me, irresistable at $54.95.

Wine keeps me in debt!

Cheers

daz

(I'm becoming a red bigot)

Started drinking wine in my mid-20's but Preece was up-market for me back then.

The 2 wines that started me looking at better quality stuff was a 15 year old bottle of Anne Riesling (Lovedale Semillon) and my first taste of Moet & Chandon Champagne.

I only developed a taste for red after I had been drinking port.

Then in the early days of my red drinking I was spoilt because my father-in-law got a couple of dozen reds every year as a Xmas bonus so we would drink them at family gatherings and they were good. Langi Shiraz was a typical case.

The first time I bought wine to cellar was on a Wynn's Day in the early 90's - God I wish I had bought a lot more.

In the early days my staple purchases were Wynns, Tollana, Taylors, Wolf Blass. If I wanted to order something fancy at a restaurant it was Penfolds Kalimna or Clare Estate.

The thing that got me totally hooked was when my wife gave me a Penguin Wine Guide she got from the discount books in the tea room at work. I bet she wishes she could have that decision over again.

From that I discovered all the great wines out there that were not found in my local couple of shops and also the great cellaring bargains there were so I started exploring.

I discovered the fora by searching for a tasting note on-line. Not sure if the link took me to torbwine and from there I discovered Auswine or vice versa.

I'd looked at Winepros too but didn't find the format very user friendly.

I'm the same as you Daryl. I'm looking for stuff that will last a few years in the cellar at $14 - $25 and will stretch up to about $60 for something I really want.

If I had to name my one wine that I would buy every time there is a good vintage, I too would say St Henri. 2nd - Wynns Cab.

I don't mind Chardonnay but I don't love it. I do like Riesling and Semillon. Hate Sauvignon Blanc

Have never drunk a straight Merlot that wowed me. I don't mind Pinot but enjoyment level vs price rarely impresses.

I've recently started a little mini collection of VP's.

I have only been drinking Red wine since 02 after being introduced to it at a couple of afterwork tastings, but have developed quite a taste for those gutsy Aussie Shiraz, Cabs

At only 25 years of age I have alot of learning and Red wine to drink to start understanding this complex subject. Hav'nt had the Pleasure of enjoying any aged Quality Reds yet with the cellar only been started about a year ago but looking forward to it in the future. This site has been Great for me someone new to the Game.

Cheers,

Nick [Another Kiwi]

There is a "who am I" section here already, however this is a good prompt for me to do one.

Early wine drinking was very limited, though a foreign language student from Germany did bring over a stunning 1976 riesling which I recall the family (and I) quaffed with undue haste. The other early experiences were unfortunately german sugar water.

An Oddbins wine tasting organised by the social club at work brought "real" wine to my attention (prior to that real ale was the drink of choice). Ended up joining the newly formed Oddbins wine tasting group at the Brighton Preston Circus branch. 1st tasting involved three Penfolds wines and 4-5 others, including new releases of (Bin 389 I think) Bin707 and Grange (possibly 1986). Bin 707 wasn't to my taste, but the Grange changed my perception of value in wine forever. Before then £6 was as high as I'd spent (more than 15 years on, that's still well above the average spend in UK ). Tasting Grange convinced me that a wine priced at £25 could still be a bargain - and I thought it was good value. Sadly I never actually bought a bottle (hindsight eh!).

From there, the classic years of Oddbins (they're still around, but with none of the spark of old) fuelled my interest and aussie wines were such good value it gave me a great start.

Mixed in with Oz, was the odd frenchie, occasional Alsace and one that's stayed with me throughout - Chateau Musar.

Wine interest dipped a bit in mid 90's, as Oddbins started to lose they're way and aussie wines started rising in price. Towards the end of the decade it kicked off again and a blind wine tasting challenge at work (which I won ) together with a very good South African Cape Dutch restaurant in Norwich (with a passionately compiled wine list), got things back on track. Thelma (Thelema), Bertie (Buitenverwachting), Allie (Allesveloren) were all favourites, but we ended up tasting through much of the list courtesy of a clever expenses arrangement (we got a room rate inclusive of dinner, hence £25 per head nightly allowance went on wine ).

On a visit to "Winegate" wine shop I asked the guy in charge (now a good mate called Tym) if he had by any chance a wine from Lebanon called Chateau Musar. "Yes, which vintage do you want?" was his reply and a friendship started off on the right footing!

Sadly Tym ended up having to sell the shop, but before then we'd attended a few of the in-store tastings, which opened up a wider world of wine to us (including Krug and Roederer champers, Ornellaia and plenty of other stars). Still meet up with Tym and a few others from those days in an irregular wine tasting circle. I'm planning to organise a few gatherings in the not too distant future to expand the circle a little wider and see if we can get a more regular scene going.

Tastes over this time have changed, but the cellar is still strong in Australian wine. Italy is probably our region of choice (off to Piemonte again next month ), though still sampling across France, Spain, NZ, Germany and of course Musar still holds it's corner of the cellar. Looking to try more from Spain, US and take advantage of cheap prices for aged german rieslings.

Generally buy from independant merchants, but not really loyal to any one. The closest I get to this is forumite Noel Youngs shop in Trumpington, Cambridge. Had plenty of good recco's from him and his team and they've been one of the better sources for Oz/NZ over the years.

Took 1st step into auction purchases this year and was very happy to get 6 bottles of 99 Tower Estate Coonawarra Cab; 5 bottles of 2000 Tower estate Hunter Shiraz and 10 bottles (was 12 but 2 broke in shipping) of 98 Craiglee Shiraz for an all in price of just short of £95 (about £4.50 a bottle). I think it's downhill from there .

regards

Ian

I became fascinated with wine while still in the Navy. Surprisingly, not many of my 21-25 year old peers were interested at all . Having lived in NSW my whole life, we ventured to the Hunter Valley with some friends one weekend and the adventure was made more enjoyable by some cellar door folk - especially from Lindemans, Wandin Valley Estate and Tyrell's. Others tried to put us off (McGuigan's to mention one!).

From here I casually mentioned at work one day that we were going to the Hunter (again) and one of my colleagues asked me about this wine and that wine from other Australian regions. I showed complete ignorance and Andrew shared a half bottle of Jasper Hill Georgia's paddock (a 90's vintage) shortly after. It is he who I have to thank for some of my subsequent purchases from places like Jasper Hill, Wild Duck Creek, Rockford and others .

These days we live in Victoria and have only been to a couple of Yarra Valley wineries in the 3 1/2 years we've lived here. It is made a little more difficult by living interstate from our family and not being able to duck up to the local wine region alone while leaving the kids with the grandparents.

My wife was not as keen as early as I was and for years wouldn't touch a drop. She progressed from here to drinking Brown Bros. Crouchen and Riesling. This was a 'phase' that she passed in about 2 years. She could not drink such a sweet table wine these days and prefers a riesling like Petaluma or Tahbilk and even ventures to the occasional SSB. She has also found A red wine she likes - the Alicante Bouchet from Rockford. She has very expensive tastes too. If I open a 2002 Wynns Shiraz she'll turn her nose up - but if I open up a 1998 Wynns Shiraz or a Rockford BP she'll sniff it, swirl it taste it and say 'I could drink that'. Aaargh!

Anyway, I used to love getting the occasional bargain at Wineplanet before it went the way of the dinosaur and now most of my purchases are from mailing lists and the ocassional special from friendly e-tailers.

In purchasing from some mailing lists I have felt the need to split the load to be able to make the minimum purchase and keep on the list. This has led to my informal job as the local 'wine pimp' at my previous place of employment. I enjoy sharing wine both at the table and from the mailing list.

I started reading and posting on the original Auswine board (that was organised chaos) and have dabbled here and there. I enjoy reading the ramblings of others and have surely learned a lot from many of the discussions.

Keep on truckin'

Michael,

Although I haven't had any for a couple of years, I like Tahbilk riesling too. Those I have had have been consistently very good and it's a style I like a lot.

Cheers

daz