The Auswine Forum

I mentioned this in another thread when Crusty hinted at it, but it looks like nobody's taken the bait...

Okay guys, the Brisbane gang in their first year of existence had over three times as many offlines as our crew last year, and that's a disgrace. I know we're only just into the new year, but it's time we started talking about the first offline for 2007, and it should happen in the next month (and not in August after five months of procrastination).

Yeah I know the weather's still hot, and a few of us are planning an absolutely huge one in May/June when vintage is over, babies have popped out, we have an extensive list of dreamy wines on tap and everyone is keen as mustard, but until then we need the practice.

Who's interested? I was thinking of something simple and cheap like T-Chow to get started, and if it works really well maybe keep it as a regular monthly date, except for when someone wants (and arranges) a different venue for a change. What does everyone else think?

Cheers,
Ian

Great, good, fantastic, I'm there. I'm keen as mustard, should be able to find at least one dreamy wine & definitely don't need the practice after the festive season.

Let's start the possible dates rolling with maybe Friday 9th February or Friday 23rd February.

Cheers
Nick

Nick wrote:Great, good, fantastic, I'm there. I'm keen as mustard, should be able to find at least one dreamy wine & definitely don't need the practice after the festive season.

Let's start the possible dates rolling with maybe Friday 9th February or Friday 23rd February.

Cheers
Nick

I'm in too. Can probably make it down for the 9th.

Nick - you a daddy yet??

Hi Nayan

Not a daddy yet, got a few months to go, so still relentlessly stockpiling wine in anticipation of future budget cuts! All going well so far...

Your life getting crazy yet in the lead up to vintage?

I'm always cautious about planning wine dinners in summer coz you may just snag a 40+ day then you're stuffed for reds.

But if there's going to be one I'll be there.

What about you Martin J C, can you get away for a Friday night?

Nick wrote:Great, good, fantastic, I'm there. I'm keen as mustard, should be able to find at least one dreamy wine & definitely don't need the practice after the festive season.

Let's start the possible dates rolling with maybe Friday 9th February or Friday 23rd February.

Cheers
Nick

The 9th looks good to me - Chinese New Year is the 18th so I think it's just far enough away not to be a problem at T-Chow.

If the weather's stinking hot I've got a few interesting whites and lighter style reds and stickys to suit - not to mention a few sparklings too. For the first one it's mainly a case of getting people together to catch up again and kick things off, hopefully it will then become a habit.

Speaking of which, we haven't seen Steve & silkwood since the last T-Chow offline - are you guys interested? What about you rooview? (he's always got a good selection of Champers to suit any occasion). Shadrach, Jordan, Gavin & markg? Crusty, you started this up by dropping a hint in an earlier thread, so are you interested in breaking your offline cherry at this one?

Cheers,
Ian

I'm with you Adrian, I find Ian's new avatar vulgar too.

He doesn't just limit it to online forums either, I believe it is also paraded in public on shirts worn by some of his equally vulgar mates!

707 wrote:I'm with you Adrian, I find Ian's new avatar vulgar too.

He doesn't just limit it to online forums either, I believe it is also paraded in public on shirts worn by some of his equally vulgar mates!

The shirt looks amazingly like this one, doesn't it Steve!

Ah yes, that old doctored photo that fools no one since I wouldn't be drinking white and certainly not Jacobs Creek!

I reckon the shirt has been doctored too as it's only got one white sleeve?

At least the photo is lifted by the lovely Miranda in the background

Nick wrote:Hi Nayan

Not a daddy yet, got a few months to go, so still relentlessly stockpiling wine in anticipation of future budget cuts! All going well so far...

Your life getting crazy yet in the lead up to vintage?

Actually having a bit of a break in India to catch up with the Fam prior to vintage. Heading to Goa to spend a couple of days on the beach doing nothing.

Desperate for a decent glass of wine. The local stuff is terrible (over acidified and noticeable residual sugar; and that's just the reds...)

I am there.

Have you thought of any other venue's?
I know Soho on Melbourne Street has a fantastic courtyard area that has an air conditioner to freeze your proverbials off. It seats about 30, how many people are interested? The food their is fantastic.

Bring out the filthy booze,

Cheers, Wine Bloke.

wine bloke wrote:I am there.

Have you thought of any other venue's?
I know Soho on Melbourne Street has a fantastic courtyard area that has an air conditioner to freeze your proverbials off. It seats about 30, how many people are interested? The food their is fantastic.

Bring out the filthy booze,

Cheers, Wine Bloke.

No argument from me about just how good Soho is: we had the Blacktongues mid-year dinner there in the indoor courtyard last year, and the food and service was absolutely top notch. So much so it's now taken over as the regular slot for that particular dinner. They also have nice private booths for small groups/couples too, and the set menu format there is excellent (although the corkage is $15/bottle - I think this can be negotiated).

The Sauce and Cos are also excellent venues that have looked after us pretty well with set menus/corkage in the past, and holding some of these there during the year is definitely a possibility. The reason I suggested T-Chow for the first one was that I was thinking of a location which would draw as many forum lurkers as possible out of the woodwork:

- it's cheap (the last offline banquet including corkage cost the astounding sum of $26/head),
- it's centrally located in the heart of Adelaide, so it's easy to get to and get home,
- it's very informal, which again hopefully encourages more participants (like we had last July).

This may sound weird, but a lot of people out there find the prospect of going to an offline with strangers quite daunting, and it's a still little surprising to hear them say "this isn't intimidating like I thought it would be" when they finally get to one. The key part is getting them there.

Cheers,
Ian

n4sir wrote:

wine bloke wrote:I am there.

Have you thought of any other venue's?
I know Soho on Melbourne Street has a fantastic courtyard area that has an air conditioner to freeze your proverbials off. It seats about 30, how many people are interested? The food their is fantastic.

Bring out the filthy booze,

Cheers, Wine Bloke.

No argument from me about just how good Soho is: we had the Blacktongues mid-year dinner there in the indoor courtyard last year, and the food and service was absolutely top notch. So much so it's now taken over as the regular slot for that particular dinner. They also have nice private booths for small groups/couples too, and the set menu format there is excellent (although the corkage is $15/bottle - I think this can be negotiated).

The Sauce and Cos are also excellent venues that have looked after us pretty well with set menus/corkage in the past, and holding some of these there during the year is definitely a possibility. The reason I suggested T-Chow for the first one was that I was thinking of a location which would draw as many forum lurkers as possible out of the woodwork:

- it's cheap (the last offline banquet including corkage cost the astounding sum of $26/head),
- it's centrally located in the heart of Adelaide, so it's easy to get to and get home,
- it's very informal, which again hopefully encourages more participants (like we had last August).

This may sound weird, but a lot of people out there find the prospect of going to an offline with strangers quite daunting, and it's a still little surprising to hear them say "this isn't intimidating like I thought it would be" when they finally get to one. The key part is getting them there.

Cheers,
Ian

Hi Ian,
daunting for some people, but not me. To get the chance to look at someone else's dirty, filthy bottle of outstanding booze is a privilidge. If anything it should be a highly sought after event that showcases what the knowledgable wine consumer enjoy's when like minded individuals come together.
Come on Adelaide, show some intestinal fortitude and make it happen!

Cheers, Wine Bloke

i will endeavour to attend.
has anybody thought of Bartons Restaurant at the Caledonian Hotel, North Adelaide. they have a small glassed of room available that seats 10 to 12. corkage used to be free on Tuesdays. not sure about the other days.

Would love to come down from the Barossa with my wife Pam. What should we bring.

David, whatever you want to bring but from your location I'd be bringing the local product!

We normally bring high quality stuff from better vintages. There's usually alot of fully mature vintages but younger stuff is also most welcome.

Look forward to catching up.

I've booked T-Chow (68 Moonta Street, Adelaide) for Friday February the 9th, 7:00pm arrival for a 7:30 start. I've made it for roughly 10-15 people to allow for any extras and those who drop out, and will call again to confirm and make any adjustment closer to the day.

At the moment those who've expressed interest are:

n4sir (+1, maybe 2-3 more)
707
David (& Pam)
Nick
Nayan
Wine Bloke
crusty2
John #11
Gavin Trott (& Shadrach?)

I'll get a few emails out and see if I can drum any more of the Blacktongues and the other usual suspects. Anyone else interested please speak up in the next week, and then we can all work out what we're taking.

Cheers,
Ian

n4sir wrote:I've booked T-Chow (68 Moonta Street, Adelaide) for Friday February the 9th, 7:00pm arrival for a 7:30 start. I've made it for roughly 10-15 people to allow for any extras and those who drop out, and will call again to confirm and make any adjustment closer to the day.

At the moment those who've expressed interest are:

n4sir (+ maybe 2-3 more)
707
David (& Pam)
Nick
Nayan
Wine Bloke
crusty2

I'll get a few emails out and see if I can drum any more of the Blacktongues and the other usual suspects. Anyone else interested please speak up in the next week, and then we can all work out what we're taking.

Cheers,
Ian

Ian

I should be able to make it, so book me in for 1, and am probably seeing Chas Sunday so will see if he too is interested and available.

Will inform.

Jolly good of you Gavin to bring a Mollydooker Carnal of Luuuurv too !

Is there room for one more?

I don't drink much

John #11 wrote:Is there room for one more?

I don't drink much

There's definitely room John - welcome to the forum! I hope to see many of your tasting notes here like the other forum.

I'm still waiting on a couple of replies so we'll try to finalise who else is going with about a week to go, and then we can start talking about what we're bringing. Probably more by accident than design, the last two had a pretty diverse range of wines which has worked out very well:

http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=5875
http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=5294

Cheers,
Ian

I think I've sobered up from the last one!
Please book me in for one, Ian.

Cheers,

Mark

Sounds good Ian.

Im in.

See you all on the 9 th.

Cheers Martin

Hi,

It's been a while... but, I'll be there unless I say otherwise!

--Steve.

Updated list:

n4sir (+1, maybe 2-3 more)
707
David (& Pam)
Nick
Nayan
Wine Bloke
crusty2
Gavin Trott
John #11
silkwood
MartinJohnC
Steve
Shadrach (maybe)
Lagare Lout (maybe)

Still haven't heard anything from markg, Jordan, or any other of the Blacktongues, but there's still plenty of time for them or anyone else to decide to come along. Looks like this is going to be a huge one!

Cheers,
Ian

n4sir wrote: Looks like this is going to be a huge one!

Might be worth asking about the private room if it is looking at running to more than two tables (table sits 10 comfortably, if I remember)

Nayan wrote:

n4sir wrote: Looks like this is going to be a huge one!

Might be worth asking about the private room if it is looking at running to more than two tables (table sits 10 comfortably, if I remember)

I had another thought last night in regard to the relatively large number of people we've already got going to this one.

Blacktongues is limited to at the very most 16-17 people per session to get a modest glass out of every 750ml bottle (that's using XL5s with 40ml pour lines - likewise for the 32 person dinners it's one magnum or two bottles of the same wine per couple). We're getting pretty close to that standard bottle limit already, so unless there are any cancellations (or Chas & Duane can't confirm they're going) I've made an Executive decision to limit the number to 15-17 people, which is who's indicated they're going already:

n4sir (+1, maybe more)
707
David (& Pam)
Nick
Nayan
Wine Bloke
crusty2
Gavin Trott
John #11
silkwood
MartinJohnC
Steve
Shadrach (maybe)
Lagare Lout (maybe)

Sorry to those who've missed out at this stage - you'd better hope that someone drops out, or that I score free tickets to the sold-out Eric Clapton concert (as if... )

Does T-Chow have a private room Nayan, and do they charge extra for it? Otherwise it looks like a two table job.

Cheers,
Ian

There is an area at the back, which is more a partitioned off are with those dividers that would fall apart if you sneezed on them than a private room; but it does give a sense of privacy. I actually don't mind the whole conspicuous consumption thing though.

And I think I meant worth the private room if it is running to more than a table. I like the idea of everyone around the same table.

I'd love to come and share and taste some interesting wine.
cheers chris

ck wrote:I'd love to come and share and taste some interesting wine.
cheers chris

Hi Chris - welcome to the forum.

I'll see if my +1 definitely wants to go. If they bail out you can have their spot, otherwise I'll have to see if Lagare Lout & Shadrach are definite starters - watch this space.

Nayan wrote:There is an area at the back, which is more a partitioned off are with those dividers that would fall apart if you sneezed on them than a private room; but it does give a sense of privacy. I actually don't mind the whole conspicuous consumption thing though.

And I think I meant worth the private room if it is running to more than a table. I like the idea of everyone around the same table.

If we cordon ourselves off from the rest of the restaurant, then it signifcantly reduces our chances of scoring another 1990 Basket Press off another table, doesn't it?

Cheers,
Ian