March Sydney Offline

[catchnrelease]

Hello Sydney forumites, how about another offline? Date TBD, probably mid March-ish, so during the week of the 16th? What dates are good for others, as I'm very flexible.

As a theme, no theme! F*ck it just bring what you want, that'll probably ensure we get the best selection of wines possible.

Numbers? Let's say aim for 8, but if interest is there expand to 10?

Location? I'm pretty easy, so anyone have suggestions? I did quite like Rubyos, but if others want a change then I'm all ears. Maybe Watts on Crown?

Update: 13/05/15

Location: The Devonshire, cost $80-100p.p.

Date: 6:30pm, Tuesday 17th March

Attendees/Wines:
catchnrelease - '13 Hoddles Creek 1er PN & '14 Clonakilla Riesling
krusty - '12 Hoddles Creek 1er PN & Sauternes
hacker - Bereche Champagne
tiggerk
pc79 - '10 Hoddles Creek 1er PN & Something else
polymer
ufo - '03 Kalleske Shiraz & Mystery wine
mjs - Adelaide Hills PN & Coonawarra Shiraz Cab
dave vino - '93 Maurice O'Shea & '95 Lindemans Pyrus
bobthebuilder

[Krusty]

Love to, might even make it this time

If we keep it smallish I vote for Watts on Crown, happy with any theme.

[Croquet King]

I'm keen.

I might have to travel on that date but can always move it for a wine dinner.

[Hacker]

I'm keen too depending on date....Michael R I need to call you, about this Watts is also good, upstairs next to the balcony if we can grab that table.

[TiggerK]

I'm in if it's the 18th or earlier......

[catchnrelease]

Okay guys how about picks out of the 16th, 17th or 18th?

[TiggerK]

Tues 17th ideal, but can do any.

[pc79]

Keen as Alex.
Pencil me in. Will confirm when we firm up dates

[Polymer]

Should be a probable...but depends on the date....

Do we want to do 10 years or older or older than that? Maybe 15 or 20? I guess 10 years of bottle age would put some of these 12 or so from vintage..but too hard to figure that out .

[maybs]

That week 16-20 March is no good for me. Enjoy fellas!

[ufo]

I am keen too, how about Rocket in Chatswood?

[Krusty]

My preference is for the Wed night, but am free on all of them, so happy to go with consensus (not sure how many decent restaurants are open on a Mon night tho - that is usually the hospi Sat night)

[pc79]

Has anyone tried Citizens Corner - just a short walk from central station. http://citizencorner.com.au/restaurant/menus/
alternatively The Devonshire (a little further up the rd) does great food. No corkage on Tuesdays http://www.thedevonshire.com.au/

[mjs]

I am still working in Sydney, so would be keen to attend

[catchnrelease]

Okay guys so looks like we have potentially nine people so far, maybe space for one more!

Sounds like it's either going to be the 17th or 18th. David and Kev - preferences between the two?

Has anyone tried Citizens Corner - just a short walk from central station. http://citizencorner.com.au/restaurant/menus/
alternatively The Devonshire (a little further up the rd) does great food. No corkage on Tuesdays http://www.thedevonshire.com.au/

The Devonshire is great, the food and service is superb, but is expensive at $80-90 + tip per person. If others are happy with spending that much, though (no corkage on Tuesdays is nice), then that's fine by me! I would like to go back. Never heard of Citizens Corner.

I am keen too, how about Rocket in Chatswood?

Is it good? Do they charge corkage?

[Hacker]

17th would suit me, just can't do Wednesdays, sorry. Rocket or the Devonshire would be good. But I will go with the flow....

We had quite a few offlines over the last couple of years at Rocket, good food, private room. Not amazing, but ticks all the boxes.

[pc79]

Second the 17th if that works with others.
Theme - old vs new? - are we talking same wine, or just old wines and new wines?

[Polymer]

I think our last offline at Devonshire the food was just ok...

I'm ok with anything though....Rocket is always nice if we get the private dining room...A lot of space for wine, buckets, etc, although the size of the table (it is big) makes it harder to talk across it...and they have decent glassware..

Personally, I don't really care where we eat...the food is just there because I need to eat and it is nice to have something in between trying wine...I think ideally we'd want to be there until almost midnight but if we know they're going to kick us out at 10:30, it is pretty easy make sure we stay on track..

If someone else has any other ideas as well...always looking for a good place to go...

[dave vino]

I'd be keen. Just tell me when and where and what theme.

[catchnrelease]

No worries Dave, that makes ten and we'll cap it at that.

Okay so date will be the 17th. Looks like Rocket is popping up a bit as well, so I will investigate to see what their options are. How have previous offlines gone there? Did you have to organise special byo charges or anything like that?

Regarding theme, I just figured old vs new would be interesting, you can bring two of the same wine if you like or something different, whatever you guys see fit and what you have in your cellars. Seeing how offlines are usually skewed towards older wines, thought it'd be nice to see some younger wines make a show. Not so much wines where it'd be infanticide, but stuff like pinots, rieslings, other whites, sparklings etc etc

[Polymer]

Rocket I think charges 10/person for BYO which ends up being good because we tend to average more than 1 bottle/person...

[catchnrelease]

Rocket I think charges 10/person for BYO which ends up being good because we tend to average more than 1 bottle/person...

$10 is a bit steep. In that case I may look into Watts on Crown. Or even The Devonshire considering corkage will be free and price will be comparable to Rocket (I know your experience was okay, but every time I've been there at least it's been great!).

[TiggerK]

$10 a bit steep?? I reckon that's fine, considering it's per person and Rocket supplies good glassware, decanters etc It's hardly a cheap and cheerful indian or thai restaurant which often charge $5 or more, with tiny, thick crap glasses, serve your own wine and no decanter in sight. Be surprised if Watts are any cheaper, and I don't personally think Watts is that well suited to a bigger group. Up to 6 is great, bigger... not so sure, but happy to find out! Have had mixed food at the Devonshire (never poor, always average to excellent), and do enjoy the venue, so very happy with that, esp with free corkage on the Tuesday.

Anyway, Rocket is nice, ticks all the boxes, but while I consider the corkage very reasonable, the food is just a touch pricey for the portion size, which may not appeal to all attendees. Like Kevin said, food is just a necessary thing, it's about the wine and the company. Main thing I look for is some elbow room, not too noisy and a nice spread out pace of food service. So anywhere so far suggested should be good!

I'm happy with whatever you choose Alex, as original organiser, it's up to you!

Cheers
Tim

[TiggerK]

So you're think a 'Wines that are drinking well now' type theme? Good young stuff which is already in it's window, and older stuff which has now come into it's drinking window?

[catchnrelease]

Pretty much. Early drinking style wines or wines that are approachable now (I'm thinking of bringing one of the '13 Hoddles 1er Pinots).

As for location, I'm probably fretting too much. I'll call Rocket and Devonshire and see what their prices are/can be for a wine tasting group of 10. Devonshire is what I'm leaning on due to free corkage and all my experiences there being great, and their glassware is also good (entry level riedels from memory).

[Polymer]

I'm fine with whatever...Free Corkage is always nice....We can do the Dego too at 90/per which isn't too bad (we'd spend that if we did entree, main, dessert plus sides).

10/person is relatively cheap...depends on the group. For most people where they might split 1 bottle/2-3 people, that is probably expensive. For us, we probably average out close to 2 bottles/person which makes it really cheap...

I think I'm just mentioning Rocket as an alternative since the private dining area in the back is nice and it isn't too noisy (so we can really get our geek on) but really, I'm fine with whatever...I'm fine with Pizza and chips...or snacks...We've had a couple of meet ups where the food was just little snacks like cheese, etc....and that was just as nice. If you really think about it, we could probably get away with 150 dollars in snacks easily (and they'd be good) and spend the other 850 (if we did 100 each) on some crazy bottle of wine...Hmm...Maybe one day if PWS opens their area to letting us rent it...

[Hacker]

The good thing about Rocket is that it is not too noisy in the back room, unlike some restaurants we have been to (typical over 50 year olds comment).

[TiggerK]

I do think the Devonshire is pretty peaceful too, FWIW.

[ufo]

Okay guys so looks like we have potentially nine people so far, maybe space for one more!

Sounds like it's either going to be the 17th or 18th. David and Kev - preferences between the two?

Has anyone tried Citizens Corner - just a short walk from central station. http://citizencorner.com.au/restaurant/menus/
alternatively The Devonshire (a little further up the rd) does great food. No corkage on Tuesdays http://www.thedevonshire.com.au/

The Devonshire is great, the food and service is superb, but is expensive at $80-90 + tip per person. If others are happy with spending that much, though (no corkage on Tuesdays is nice), then that's fine by me! I would like to go back. Never heard of Citizens Corner.

I am keen too, how about Rocket in Chatswood?

Is it good? Do they charge corkage?

Well, a lot of people replied before I could on Rocket. As they said, you get private room, excellent service, decanters, glasses, food is good, cost is reasonable for what you get, right next to train station.

[catchnrelease]

As an up date guys, after speaking to both places I've decided on The Devonshire. Better value, easier to organise and free corkage. Win win win.

Also forget the theme, just bring what you want. Having tried some awesome wines in the 5-9 year bracket it's probably best to allow people to bring whatever they think will be drinking best. So new theme: F*ck it, no theme.