The Auswine Forum

Hi

We have our wedding in 3 weeks and need to decide this weekend on the wines, the choice is limited to those that can be catered for by the venue.

Default choice is Rothbury Estate which are only available through industry and we.ve not tasted them before so wondering if anyone knows these wines and whether they compare or stand up against the other choices, which we.ve narrowed down to the ones below:

either
Rothbury Estate
Sparkling
Sem Sav Blan
Shiraz Cab

versus


Devil's Lair Fifth Leg - Sav Blanc Sem
Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cab or Saltrams Mamre Brook Cab Sav (a lot more expensive)

Any opinions/tasting experience would be greatly appreciated, many thanks

Congratulations

The Devil's Lair white and the Mamre Brook would certainly be the quality picks.

Hard to tell regarding the Rothbury wines without vintages. Best thing to do would be try the wines yourself. Ask the place if you can try them (most would let you for free but may have to pay) and you will be able to determine whether you think them nice enough. Don't need to know anything about wine even. Just whether you like it or not.

cheers

Carl

The Rothbury wines would most likely be the on premise only wines that would cost wholesale only around $5 or so a bottle. These wines are usually marked up 300 - 400 %+ and are pretty ordinary IMO. The other wines mentioned will cost more but are most likely to have not been marked up so highly and definitely better quality.

Hope this helps

Jester

Depends on how many of your guests are wine savvy. The Devils Lair would probably suffice for any but the reds, well, there's Mamre Brook or daylight. If you're lucky it's a 2004, even better a 2002.

Congratulations, may you both live in good health, peace and prosperity in the union.

Cheers

daz

G'day GD,

I was in a similar predicament a couple of years back for our wedding. We had actually agreed with the caterers of our wedding reception that we would arrange the wines and they would discount their normally inclusive package cost for the cost of the alcohol. Long story short, I thought they were quite unreasonable and only wanted to subtract $5 per head for the wine, making the cost to supply the wines we wanted (less our "discount") prohibitive.

The only real option was to have their supplied wines, begrudgingly I asked for samples of what they would serve instead. It was Tyrrells and Rothbury. I was genuinely surprised at how good they were - I wouldn't suggest they were gold medal winners all but they were perfectly fine. At weddings (unless all present are big wine buffs) I think you need wine that is inoffensive at the least and pleasant to many at best. It is also true that most people aren't wine buffs and won't know the difference.

As griff suggested ask for a tasting and decide for yourself - most providers will be prepared for this.

And best of luck for the big event.

I'm getting married a week on Saturday at a winery, so we're limited to what they make. I would mention that you should have the option of getting some special stuff for the top table - for instance, we're giving the horde the (perfectly acceptable) entry level red and white and having a case of some choice vintages for us lot. Perfectly acceptable I reckon, given the cost of catering the whole do...

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions, its really helpful getting tips on this forum.

We finally got our hands on some Rothbury and so far not soo good.

The Rothbusy Estate Shiraz Cab - $16 retail - is not something I would wish my wedding guests to be drinking. It had a highly alcoholic finish on the very back of the palate and really it left nothing nice to say about it.

We have also tasted 2 sparking wines.

Yellow Glen - vinatge, we had fairly high expectations, however this had overpowering floral and apple bouquet, and one was enough - low drinkability - although this may keep the crowd on their best behaviour.

The Rothbury estate - Sparkling Cuvee $16 retail, was more subtle, lighter tones of vanilla and green apple, with a crisper slightly yeasty finish, one we thought would make a reasonably good fallback.

We have the NV Seppelt Fleur de Lys, pinot noir chardonnay to try tomorrow and also the 2006 vintage of this. The staff in the Sth Melbourne wine store also suggested we try the Seaview 2006 pinot noir chardonnay as a good alternative, which we will do.

We are actually restricted to Fosters owned brands as the venue is owned by Fosters.

Our likely selections so far then are:

Red - Saltram's Mamre Brook - Cab Sav or Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cab
White - either Devil's Lair or Secret Stone Marlborough Sav Blanc
Sparking - Rothbury or the Seppelts or Seaview


thanks again, I think we're getting closer, and so is the big day,.....2 weeks to go.

GD

I actually had the Rothbury Estate shiraz can and sem sav blanc last week in a pub. The pub that I was outraged about the prices on the wine list. They were both drinkale. The white in that bland sem sav generic way and the red in that slightly sweet very young, very little complexity way. The others at the table thought they were fine. For the masses they aren't going to offend people so if price is an issue, it could be worse.

Saying all that, if it was my wedding, there's no way it would be served but I am a complete wine snob. Clearly the Mamre Brook is the go for the reds and in fact it's even a good choice and even the Koonunga Hill in it's current form would be better than the Rothbury Estate. I personally don't mind the Seppelt Fleur de lys NV or Vintage. Salinger is obviously a big step up if it's available but, at venue prices, this could get ridiculous.

I think either of those whites you've got should be OK although not everyone likes Sav blanc these days so a chardy choice might not be a bad idea but that also depends on the menu. If it's seafood, go the sav blanc (or a riesling, which can also be cheaper and good) or if chicken then chardy or sem sav blanc might be a better choice.

Good luck, congratualtions and don't forget to have fun.

Out of those selections, for me:-

Saltram Mamre Brook Shiraz (is preferable to the cabernet for early drinking)
Devils Lair Fifth Leg White Blend
Seppelt Fleur de Lys Vintage (far better than N/V)

+1 (or 3)

Rothbury seem to specialise in undrinkable wines that turn up at functions you cant avoid (like weddings) - please steer away from these if you can.

I'd also comment that Fleur De Lys NV (if that is your budget) will be light, frothy and innocuous for the majority of your guests, but I agree with Davo that the Vintage is a big step up in quality.

Fifth Leg White (although I personally don't go for it anymore) seems to be a real crowd pleaser in the unwooded white stakes, and probably has enough grunt to carry chicken dishes and creamy sauces (well, for wedding purposes) when I would be screaming 'bring me an oaked chardonnay!'

I agree with Kris on a couple of things. If you can stretch to Mamre Brook for the reds then you might keep a lot of people happy. And, if the menu is not seafood, then the Fifth Leg (being SSB with a bit of Chardonnay) might be a good compromise - but why not provide both an SSB and an oaked Chardonnay (but not a Rothbury )

Regardless, I hope you have a fabulous day - and wine is not the most important thing on the big day (but maybe the second for people like me )

My wedding venue also had these fosters only wines. Did a tasting at the venue, and after way too much thought, I went for the 2nd cheapest bracket- the 2nd level of rothburys. Wine I would never drink at home as a quaffer.
In the end, no concerns and no issues from anyone. I paid much closer attention to the wines at the tasting than anyone did at the reception. Great night had by all.

End of the day, I'm far more likely to open a nice bottle with a small group, than with a larger group of people where might only get a small glass. call me selfish
Spend the money on a good band, that will get the party happening.