Australia

News, Reviews October 14, 2013

Grape Expectations – Eight Wines that Pair With Summer and Fall.

Ok, first-things-first, I didn’t write the title for this article. “Grape Expectations” is way beyond my reaches of my creativity. Secondly; I wrote this article a couple of months ago for the Jacksonville Magazine “Taste” Edition…and I know we’re out of Summer now….but I think it still has relevance…since the weather here is Florida is so bloody-warm well into November! 4 Summer Wines Taltarni “Tache,” Brut Sparkling, Australia Description The term Tache (meaning “stained” in…

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News October 29, 2012

World’s Most Expensive Wine Goes on Sale.

 Ok, so I’m a little late on this one! This is a news story from June, that seems to have slipped me by until now… Aussie winemaker Penfolds has unveiled what it says (correctly so) is the world’s most expensive bottle of plonk. The 2004 Kalimna Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon, that the vineyard claims are from the oldest continuously producing vines in the world, will set you back a staggering $168,000 and comes completely encased…

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News August 25, 2012

Government Report Finds Wine to be Cheaper than Water in Australia.

A Government-funded report in Australia has found that the price of wine needs to be raised to combat growing levels of alcoholism, after it was found that wine can be purchased for as little 30 Australia cents a drink (about the same in US$), making it cheaper than water. The report comes in the midst of growing public concerns about Australia’s binge-drinking culture. The Australian National Preventive Health Agency has been asked by the Government…

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News July 31, 2012

One Australian Winery Ditches Screw-caps and Returns to Corks.

  Rusden Wines, (a winery located in the Barossa Valley region of Australia) has announced it’s giving-up on the screw-cap, and will return to bottling all of its wines under a cork. Rusden winemaker Christian Canute cited “persistent quality control issues” for the reason behind the move.“Our wines are handmade and bottled without fining or filtration. Under a screw-cap I have noticed the wines ‘sweat’, producing overly dominant reductive characters, a problem we have never…

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Uncategorized May 30, 2012

Peter Lehman “Layers” White Wine Blend, Adelaide, South Australia.

Grapes 36% Semillon, 20% Muscat, 20% Gewürztraminer, 20% Pinot Gris and 4% Chardonnay.   Facts I’ve been a big fan of the Peter Lehmann brand for a few years now. Their “Art Series” represents some of most value-driven, well-distributed and thoroughly “glug-worthy” wines coming out of Oz…. The same kind of “kitchen-sinky” blend as Conundrum, and I’m taking a wild-stab-in-the-dark guess that “Layers” refers to the layers of flavor achieved through the blending of these…

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News March 21, 2012

Jacob’s Creek Winery Adds Kangaroo Cruelty to its Repertoire.

Wildlife volunteers have stated that 23 kangaroos used by award-winning Jacob’s Creek winery to bring in tourists, were found in what they believed to be a malnourished state. Some were so apparently neglected that they were in “shocking” pain from untreated injuries. Jacob’s Creek, owned by French company Orlando Wines, is one of Australia’s best-known international brands, and just recently won the Australian Tourism Award for best tourism winery. Volunteer group Fauna Rescue said that…

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Reviews February 13, 2012

Yalumba “Y Series” Viognier, South Australia.

Grape 100% Viognier [Vee-ohn-yay]   Facts I’ve never felt that Viognier gets the attention it deserves, both in retail stores or restaurants. What first needs to be understood is that it shouldn’t be compared to any other grape, and so if you’ve grown weary of the “usual suspect” white wines, you might want to pay attention to this review! In 1980 Yalumba planted 1.2 hectares of Viognier in the Barossa Valley, this was Australia’s first…

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News December 11, 2011

This Week in Wine – 12/11/11

Wine Critic’s Representative Defends Deals The Spain-based representative for an influential Baltimore wine reviewer defended himself Wednesday amid accusations that he asked wineries for money in exchange for a visit from the critic. The wine world has buzzed for days over news that respected oenophile Jay Miller, former co-owner of Bin 604 in Harbor East, had resigned from The Wine Advocate after accusations that his Spanish contact had strong-armed payments from local wineries in exchange…

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News November 27, 2011

This Week In Wine–11/27/11

  China Basketball Star to Sell ‘Yao Ming’ Wine Months after retiring from basketball, Chinese sporting hero Yao Ming is venturing into business by setting up a wine company to meet a growing thirst for the tipple in his home country. Yao, 31, is China’s first global sports superstar with a personal brand valued at more than US$1 billion. Yao Family Wines will sell vintages using grapes from the famed Napa Valley region of California,…

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Interview October 29, 2011

Mollydooker Winemaker Sparky Marquis

Believe it or not, me and Sparky go waaaaaaaay back! I’m talking 2009, here! Mollydooker winemaker Sparky Marquis was actually the first ever winemaker I interviewed when I started blogging. This week he came back to Jacksonville for the release of his 2010 wines. The interview was supposed to last about 15 minutes. We ended up talking for closer to an hour.   <Sparky starts pouring every-single one of his wines into glasses lined up…

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Reviews August 19, 2011

Raconteur Cabernet, South Australia. A Wine by Vinaceous.

Grape 100% Cabernet Sauvignon   Facts Vinaceous is a fairly new Australian brand which has fairly recently started gaining some traction on the US market, so I thought their Raconteur Cab was worth reviewing. Name development and design behind Vinaceous apparently took 2 years of development, and they have a beautiful website, so make sure you check it out.   The Cabernet Sauvignon grape was never discovered growing wild in nature. It’s actually a hybrid…

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