by Chris | 19 Apr 2014 | Australia, New South Wales, Red Wines, Shiraz
Could not wait to open another of these, just over one year since we tried the first. So what has changed? Now 12 months on, is the hype created by the rave reviews including Halliday’s 97 points, justified? Well in a word (actually two), emphatically yes. It is...
by Chris | 16 Nov 2013 | Other Reds, Red Wines, Spain
It pays to have neighbours like these! Our dear friends and neighbours, John and Jeanette, brought this back from their recent visit to the magnificent Ysios Winery (google it) in Spain just for me to try. Battling pirates, highway robbers, conmen and barmaids, they...
by Chris | 27 Oct 2013 | Australia, Chardonnay, Tasmania, Victoria
Was I An ABC Wine Drinker? In truth I think I still am (anything but Chardonnay), but occasionally you get to drink something like the 2008 Eileen Hardy Chardonnay that changes your thinking. There was a great deal of hype about this wine at release; 97 points from...
by Chris | 22 Oct 2013 | Italy, Red Wines
Chianti on Steroids! Brunello is the name given to Sangiovese by those that grow the grape in Montalcino, and Sangiovese is the grape used to make Chianti. And there are two Chianti appellations, Chianti and Chianti Classico. Confused?, we’re only starting. The...
by Chris | 22 Oct 2013 | Australia, Pinot Noir, Victoria
This wine is made by Timo Mayer, who is also the winemaker at Gembrook Hill Vineyard – more on that later. The colour is sparklingly clear and bright, but light, red. The nose is complex, elegant and enticing … dark and red cherries, some fine spice as well as...
by Chris | 27 Sep 2013 | Australia, Shiraz, South Australia
A blast from the past; yes from way back in the days when we still used the appellation name of Hermitage in the Rhone Valley to describe our Aussie Shiraz. So here we go on its 20th birthday. I still have a bunch of these in the cellar but open them reluctantly as...
by Chris | 12 Jul 2013 | Cabernet, Red Wines, USA
I purchased this from Daniel Braun at the Princeville Wine Market on the north shore of Kauai. Finally the island has a real fine wine merchant; Daniel not only knows a great deal about nearly all the wines he sells, you will not be automatically led to the most...
by Chris | 7 May 2013 | Australia, Semillon, South Australia, White Wines
Huon Hooke’s SMH Wine of the Week this week is this wonderful Semillon from the Barossa Valley. Huon writes … ‘This is simply a beautiful wine. Its low alcohol, un-oaked, early picked style does a good impersonation of a classic from the Hunter...
by Chris | 27 Apr 2013 | Australia, New South Wales, Semillon, White Wines
I wrote about this wine after a tasting trip late last year to the Hunter Valley; but in a day of tasting so many wines, though this wine made me stand up and take notice, there was always another wine we needed to look at. So here we are now 11/03/2013 pulling one of...
by Chris | 10 Mar 2013 | Australia, Red Wines, Shiraz, Victoria
This is Winestar’s 2012 wine of the year and they are still drawing out last supplies to the market. Bert Werden has a lot of customers (including me), so he is not known for putting out something just to sell it, although of course he must in order to stay...
