The Auswine Forum

Yes the big corporations good at screwing over a once prestigious name, but very rare for them to rescue anything. In private hands, there's greater hope, especially as Redman can use double branding to show it's in more responsible hands again. Maybe one day we'll see the return of the Woodley trea...

I've never seen, nor tasted the Brown brothers wine, but it's one I've always wanted to try (and indeed try it with some age on it).

Best wishes for your recovery Craig. The wine can wait until you're ready.

Those names are new to me as well, but the CW wines site gives some info, including them being based out of the old Stonehaven winery. As you say, $30 / £15 a bottle seems fair for a punt if you enjoy MV/BV shiraz.

A very interesting quandary on wine prices escalating way beyond what we paid, and way beyond our thoughts on what they are worth. Pure logic says to sell them, and buy more wine to replace them. We ought to be confident that we have the insight to end up with more wine that's at least as good, if ...

A very interesting quandary on wine prices escalating way beyond what we paid, and way beyond our thoughts on what they are worth. Pure logic says to sell them, and buy more wine to replace them. We ought to be confident that we have the insight to end up with more wine that's at least as good, if n...

FWIW I've enjoyed swimming against the tide, giving up on plenty of wines I used to like, but are now priced higher than I can accept. Instead my attentions have moved to Portugal (esp. Dao, vinho verde and Bairrada), more under the radar Italian wines, and Loire Cab Franc, along with a greater will...

Some wine related stuff in there. You may see greater detail in Aussie press. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly6g6l6lq7o Some points of note - Not sure what wine tariffs there were either way, but moving to zero tariffs should be a good thing for wine enthusiasts and the wineries. - 'Prosecco' c...

Retsina. Tastes as good as it looks. Which is unfortunate.

As an amusing data point, a friend was (joke) gifted a 187 ml screwcapped bottle of 2004 (IIRC) Jacob's Creek Shiraz. When we met up for a tasting last week, we opened it and tasted it. Utterly primary, albeit just a touch weird (but that might be just how the wine is/was). Presumably seals on these...

Produttori del Barbaresco used to be super value, and I recall buying their single vineyard wines for €20 in Alba at some point between 2000 and 2010. Now I reckon it's fair to average value, possibly boosted by the cachet they enjoy in US wine forums, which tends to promote interest without underst...

I think I may have got the 2002 Monprivato confused with the 2002 Monfortino

Monprivato apparently bizarrely good in 2002 as well, those seasons providing tough and very contrasting challenges for winemakers

A fun little tasting last night with friends, so no formal notes, but the theme was classic wines... made elsewhere. The theme inspired by a recollection of Penfolds St Henri 'claret', and as I have some in the cellar, I was up for it. We had a new style restrained Grenache from South Africa, and al...

I gave up on Lindemans when the brand was being used and abused for cheap overseas wines, assuming they'd given up on any quality aspirations. I've since seen plenty of tasting notes like this, quashing that assumption... at least for the trio of this, St George and Limestone ridge. Not sure if they...

Back in the day, when buyer's & seller's premiums were modest, auction houses used to be able to apply a hard stop on request for individual buyers e.g. I want a max of 4 lots, so cancel my remaining absentee bids if I hit that mark. Now they're charging more, I doubt they offer such service... ...

Paying for the Ornellaia name? Yes, that's normal.

That said, in times gone by, when the price was something I could stomach, Ornellaia was a wonderful guilty pleasure. No sharp edges, or anything to especially trouble the mind, just lush. Totally lush.

FWIW I've always thought of the standard Tahbilk marsanne as a reasonably substantial / sturdy wine. Hence a not unreasonable expectation that the 1927 vines would be more so, yet from my limited experience of the latter, it's felt the opposite - more vibrant, with a leanness that encourages longer ...

How much is too much? Not sure. I think having a rough plan helps with this quandary, including being aware of how much we drink. e.g. it's fine to have a cellar in the thousands, if you're planning to sell much of it, and it's wine that will likely make some money that at least pays purchase price...

I'm definitely on the downslope of wine buying, and to a lesser (but still noticeable) degree drinking. The net result is a steady contraction of the cellar size. I'm glad that I focused strongly on wines that shine with cellaring, even though the early days had me battling the old cliche of 'so man...

I love Wynns Black Label, it is a fabulous wine at the price point, but I'm not sure many here would pick it if some guy walked up to you and said he'll buy you any case of wine in Australia, it is yours, nothing to pay. Based purely on how much they'd be worth for resale, then you'd be absolutely ...

Always interesting to put Aussie examples up against Italian ones, and especially so served blind. I recall being impressed by a Langhe producer, that they had some foreign wines in the line-up of wines they'd tasted the previous evening. Awareness of other wines and styles is a positive in my mind,...

Grange for sure still has immense cachet, and especially amongst those with a more casual interest in wine than us lot. If you want a bottle of Australian wine that is widely recognised as prestigious, it's always been the one. I doubt that is going to change in our lifetimes. It's also been seen as...

I love your thinking Sean, and FWIW I absolutely agree on the Wynns Black label being both a legend, and very surprisingly not destroyed by the marketing team / decision makers at TWE. I do like the Jack Mann as well, another that risked getting destroyed in corporate shenanigans, yet it's still goi...

I really couldn't offer up any opinion: - I've only tasted 3 out of the 5 listed, and each many years ago - I don't believe in top 5s, 10s, 100s in matters of taste. - My own tastes diverge significantly from leading Aussie critics, most notably in their continued love for Barossa / McLaren Vale, an...

For sure, and the risk to life can escalate very fast.

Outside of that, there's plenty of really good wines, and with great diversity e.g. - If you love tannins, try Cahors or Madiran - If you like rich bold reds, dive into Languedoc / Roussillon, plus other areas of South-West France. - Northern Rhone for leaner, more smoky Syrah, or Southern Rhone for...

Pomerol well appreciated in this household. Plenty of decent but not earth shattering options. At the moment it appears we just have Ch. L'Enclos and Ch Nenin in, both IIRC bought on a cross-channel raid across the Channel. CT says I've drunk the following, as I posted a TN for them (there are some ...

1996 Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano, is in a nice spot for me, where sweet and savoury meet, and the tannins are subdued enough (though still a much better wine with food, as acidity and residual tannins give it decent grip, even at almost 30 years old). IIRC I picked this up in Alba...

I hope it's better than that, but fear you're correct. Both China and the US offer 'potential' for riches, but both with genuine risk of ending up with massive write-offs. The catch is that once they chase the global dream, it's a massive decision to cut back to the traditional core markets. Few CEO...