Old Bastards Wine Tasting

Blogspam / Posting Drought / Wineblogs

2006-12-04T20:13:00.000+11:00

I feel all dirty, nasty and just a bit violated...I'm getting Blogspam. Just because I'm not posting dosnt mean spammers can take up residence...it feels a bit like having a parasite move in! I'll combat this by turning on moderation for a bit.

Summer is the silly season for me and the fire season is here in Victoria so my spare time is going to spent working in the bush for the foreseeable future. In the mean time why not pop over to regular reader Salil's new wine site and see his notes on the plonk he's drinking while not watching the cricket.

Campbells Classic Rutherglen Tokay - Liquid Gold

2006-11-02T16:59:00.000+11:00

Fortified wine and I have a checkered history that runs way back to my young (stupid) days. See, we discovered pretty early that you get get more bang for buck buying fortifieds than by buying beer. Understand that this was drinking for one reason only, to get drunk, there was certainly no taste involved and certainly no decorum! And it was cheap too; 3 litre casks of port for about $5, bottles of muscat for about $3, this was powerful drink at dirt cheap prices. I suppose you can guess the outcome, almost everyone has a similar story in their history, as I got over this stage of my life I found that I could no longer enjoy fortifieds and as such avoided them for many (many, many,) years. Fast forward from stupid young drunk to mature wine appreciator (like I said, many years) and I found myself cycling around Rutherglen stopping at various wineries and having a great old time and FINALLY got to taste a GOOD fortified. I was sold on the spot and cursing the (many) wasted years in between I have since developed a deep love for good Tokay.

Not knowing much at all about Tokay, or fortifieds in general, I have found the Rutherglen classification system a usefull guide to determining where a certain type of Tokay fits into the hierarchy. Basically this grading slots a Tokay (or Muscat) into one of four levels:

Rutherglen - Average age 2-5 years, inexpensive, fresh (dare I say consumer level) wine

Classic - Aged in barrel (5-10 years), richer and beinning to show some complexity

Grand - Aged 10-15 years, more intense & more concentrated

Rare - 20+ years, fully developed "these are wines of breathtaking complexity, texture and depth of flavour" .

"Liquid Gold" is graded as a 'Classic', so the second level of the scale; I've also tried 'Grand' rated Tokays (never had a 'Rare') but across the Tokays and all the levels of the scale that I've tried, I rate Campbells Classic Rutherglen Tokay ("Liquid Gold") as my personal favorite. This Tokay maintains a deep golden brown color and has a lovely viscous feel in the glass. Strong aromas of toffee and honey with citrus and tea leaf. To taste this wine is a delight, it is thick, rich and sweet, wonderfully intense. Powerful mouth filling flavours of toffee and malt leaving a clean, slightly acidic, mouth smacking finish. Does this sound like a good rap; it should be as I just love this wine.

In other tasting notes for this wine I have seen the term 'rancio' and I must admit that I had no idea what it meant so in prep for writing this entry I had a quick look for some of the descriptors. Along the way I found a really good description of the process used in making some of these fortifieds on Wikipedia. Without regurgitating Wikipedia I suggest that you have a quick read (I found it interesting). Understanding the process makes it easier to understand the claim from Campbells that "the wine that provides the basis of this blend dates back to the 1950's", part of this blend dates back to the 50's, this just blows my mind. Dip into history and do your taste buds a favour over your next desert, grab a great Tokay from Rutherglen.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Tokay, Rutherglen,

Red Duck Amber Ale

2006-10-28T19:01:00.000+10:00

Just a very quick update tonight with a few notes on the Red Duck Amber Ale. The Red Duck line of beers comes from the Purrumbete Brewing Company in western Victoria smack in the middle of some terrific lake fly fishing country. Pours cloudy copper brown in the glass with a reasonable head that faded quickly leaving only minimal lace. Lots of toasty malt, caramel and yeast scents dominate the nose. Surprisingly sweet with low carbonation the flavors are all about the malts and fades to a bitter hoppy aftertaste. Overall a bit on the light side but still a very nice beer, I would certainly buy it again.

Tags - Beer, Beer Tasting, Beer Reviews, Australian Beer, Red Duck

Moo Brew Wheat Beer

2006-10-26T16:14:00.000+10:00

Some time back I tasted and reviewed the Moo Brew Pale Ale and I was ultimately a little disappointed in the result. At the same time that I bought the Pale I also grabbed some of the Moo Brew Wheat beer and recently sat down to try a couple. I'm very pleased to say that the result for the Wheat is a very different story from the Pale.

The Moo Brew Wheat pours cloudy pale yellow in the glass, no head to speak of but maintains a fine lace and is very lightly (finely) carbonated. It is a very sweet smelling beer with pleasant bannana and citrus notes showing through. The Wheat exhibits typical wheat beer characteristics (wheat malt, yeast) and is a very light and summery beer. There is no significant aftertaste to speak of. The thing that struck me about this beer was the very fine texture and it has a very soft and light mouth feel that I quite liked.

I really liked the Moo Brew wheat beer but I'm not sure of the market segment, recall that this is a winery beer, gloriously packaged and priced accordingly. The Wheat as a standalone beer though is a bit of a summer evening quaffer and I'm not convinced that Joe Average is going to be prepared to lash out the extra shekels to buy the Moo Brew for a session. I guess the market for this beer is the outdoor fresco café style environment and I'm not convinced that this a big enough segment to support the continued production. In any case, if you stumble on the Moo Brew range go for the Wheat over the Pale, it's a much better beer.

Tags - Beer, Beer Tasting, Beer Reviews, Australian Beer, Moo Brew

2004 Cockatoo Ridge Shiraz

2006-10-24T14:25:00.000+10:00

Recently I was having a long Sunday arvo session in the kitchen preparing a long overdue meal for my better half. As I recall it was slow roasted Lamb Shanks with peppers in honey & chilli. The recipe called for a bottle of shiraz (for marinade and sauce) and I only had a couple of bottles of good shiraz in the cupboard, certainly nothing that I wanted to consign to a recipe, especially considering the way that I cook. I raced down the local bottle shop to see what I could find and came away with the cheap Cockatoo Ridge Shiraz at all of $9. Ever watchful for post fodder I thought perhaps a review of a cheap wine might just be the order of the day.

Initially pouring the Cockatoo Ridge Shiraz it was a deep purple tending to red but was disappointingly hazy. On the nose the wine shows masses of pepper and spice smells with a plum/redcurrant undertone. The wine was surprisingly soft for such a cheap wine, big fruity plum and cherry flavours dominate and there is a long peppery aftertaste. All in all this wine rated 'as expected' for a sub $10 shiraz, it wasn't mind blowing but I was certainly not disappointed in it esspecially considering the price. For drinking, I will be sticking to the wines in the higher price brackets but if I had to recommend a cheap and cheerful, good quality quaffing shiraz (is that a contradiction in terms) you could do a lot worse than this Cockatoo Ridge cheapy.

PS. The shanks were fabulous and the Shiraz made a perfect marinade/sauce for this dish.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Shiraz, Cheap Wine

2005 Lawson Dry Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

2006-10-21T20:47:00.000+10:00

A while back, Salil from "The Man on the Outer" and "Off Wandering" quite enthusiastically recommended the wines from Lawsons Dry Hills. I happened on a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc in a beer buying trip of all things and so grabbed it with the view of opening it that weekend and wrapping out a quick review. One thing lead to another and quite a bit of time has gone past since then and while the LDH has come under threat of consumption many times I just struggled to find the time to open it. So tonight, finally, I have a quiet evening at home, the first in many weeks and have grabbed the LDH to keep me company. This better be good stuff Salil or I'm going to camp out at the MCG on Boxing Day and hunt you down!

Pours a pale yellow. Typical fruit salad driven bouquet of tropical fruit, passionfruit and gooseberry, as always a good SB is a delight on the nose. Clean, crisp flavours of lime passionfruit and some tightening hints of capsicum. All in all a very typically pleasant Marlborough Sav Blanc that I'd be more than happy to drink more of. Also of note is the price, when I checked back I found that I had gotten this wine for $16 and at this price the LDH Sauvignon Blanc is very good drinking indeed.

So I guess Salil is safe; the 2005 Lawson Dry Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was a good recommendation and I have quite enjoyed it. I'm off now to enjoy the rest of the bottle.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Sauvignon Blanc,

1988 Lindemans St. George (Museum Release)

2006-10-08T19:40:00.000+10:00

I had the opportunity last night to try the 1988 Museum Release of Lindemans St. George Cabernet Sauvignon. The St. George is one of my sentimental favorite wines. Many years back I was doing some work with the (then) Southcorp group and this had the run on effect of providing much cheaper access to many of the companies different brands. From that time I managed to collect quite a collection of the different vintages of the 'Trio' wines, mostly from vintages between 1994 and 1996. The downside was that I very quickly became accustomed to opening a Pyrus, Limestone Ridge or St George at any old occasion and once the work stopped, so did the cheaper access to my favorite wines. Very sad!
A few months ago one of the other members of the (local?) wine blogging community wrote about the Lindemans Pyrus and in post-Post discussion there was a comment that suggested that the quality of the 'Trio' wines may not be what it once was. I must say that I bristled a bit because I had very fond memories of my stash of well loved wine long since guzzled and soon after went and bought some of the most recent vintage to test the water and my memory. While it was a very good wine it didn't blow my socks off & I was a little disapointed. Approaching the 1988 St. George I was a little concerned, would this wine live up to my memories or would it let me down like the recent vintage? I need not have worried, it blew my socks off, I loved it and only wish that the other Old Bastards had not been there so that I did not have to share.

Brick red in the glass with lovely warm aromas of cassis, blackberry and plum. In the mouth the wine was silky smooth (oh sooo good) and soft, a sweet and juicy mouthful of berry fruit and blackcurrant with a long lingering aftertaste. This was so very nice I only wish that I could have had more.

Now a question, this bottle was noted as a 'museum release', to my understanding that means that the wine is from the original labeled vintage, but not from the original bottling, it is a more recent bottling of the 1988 vintage. Do I have that right? Confirmation or clarification gladly accepted in the comments. . Many thanks for the responses to this query.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Lindemans, Cabernet Sauvignon

Avoid Alzheimer's - Drink more red wine!

2006-10-03T10:27:00.000+10:00

While the Old Bastards would probably concur on the notion that increased red wine consumption has an inverse relationship with memory retention, scientists are actually studying whether there may actually be a positive relationship between Cabernet Sauvignon and the reduction in the occurrence of Alzheimer's. This report indicates that 'moderate' consumption may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. I've always said that CS is my favorite...now where did I leave leave that opener...

Technorati tags - Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, Health

Hanging Rock 'S'

2006-10-02T22:07:00.000+10:00

'S' is my missing link, my holy grail (ok, may be a step to far), my mystery wine and there is something poetic about the fact that it comes from Hanging Rock. Years ago on a winery trip out to the region I tasted the 'S', a late harvested dessert style wine and then for years after I was never able to find the wine again no matter how hard I looked. Recently however I was lucky enough to find a bottle of 2003 'S' and this inspired me to chase up the winery to find out where I could lay my hands on the current release on the wine and so managed to get a bottle on the 2006 vintage. When I first tasted this wine at the winery I am pretty sure that the wine was made from a Sauvignon Blanc, when I found the 2003 release I found that it was actually a Verdelho and then later still when I found the 2006 the wine was based on a Riesling.

2003 Hanging Rock 'S' (Verdelho)
Dark yellow, gold. Distinct muscat notes, lemon ,honeysuckle and tropical fruit smells. Sweet, light and juicy flavours of pineapple and citrus. Spectacularly yummy. Sealed under cork.

2006 Hanging Rock 'S' (Riesling)
Golden yellow, a lighter shade than the 2003 (ageing or variety?). The bouquet from this wine is all about the fruit and is a wonderful mix of lemon and citrus. Again, it's a sweet and juicy dessert wine with fabulous lemon, lime and pineapple flavours. Sealed under screwcap.

I've scoured the 'net but cannot find a photo of this wine to save myself which is a real shame because its as sexy damn thing. The differences between these two wines are pretty minor, for my taste the late harvest Riesling is a better dessert wine than the Verdelho but that said I'd be more than happy if either of these wines were available. I love the 'S' brand and wish I could get a more consistent supply, it's delicious.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Hanging Rock

Flash Beer - Warning advertising ahead

2006-09-21T15:23:00.000+10:00

A while back CUB made me laugh with their brilliant "Big" beer commercial. They have followed this up with a new commercial "Flash Beer" a take on the 80's Flashdance movie and made with the same tongue in cheek humour. I dont rate the beers but the adverts do make me smile.

Tags - Beer, Australian Beer

2003 Zontes Footsteps Cabernet Malbec

2006-09-20T21:55:00.000+10:00

The 2004 vintage of Zontes Footsteps Cabernet Malbec has won any number of awards in the quaffing stakes so it was a nice surprise to find the 2003 vintage being served as the wine of choice on this weeks domestic flight from Sydney. The first thing that jumps out at you is the bottle; the wine is served in a 187ml plastic bottle sealed under screwcap. While it is a little tacky it is nice to have my very own teeny bottle of wine, so mixed feelings on this one.

The wine pours opaque, dark purple and has aromas of spice, pepper, plum and blackcurrant. The palate is soft and mild with plenty of fruit flavours (again blackcurrant and plum) with chocolate, coffee and some spiciness. A smooth finish but with no real length. It's not great but hey, it's not bad either, it's a very good sub $15 wine. I'd really like to see a pure Cab Sav served but that's just a taste thing.

It's interesting to note that unlike my recent business flights where all the reds were over chilled, the Zonte's was served at cabin temperature which is a really good thing to my mind, but then that's all old ground isn't it.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Qantas

Grapes II - More grapes on a plane

2006-09-17T19:43:00.000+10:00

Made it back from OS after a lovely overnight flight. I must say that I'm not mentally suited to flying and a soothing glass (or two) of red goes a long way to calming the nerves. The return leg offered two new alternatives that were not available on the flight over so in the interest of the blogosphere and to settle my own jangled nerves I set to sample them.

2003 Torbreck "The Steading"
A blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Shiraz and 20% Mataro the 'Steading' is a nice bright ruby to purple colour. Aromas of cherry and raspberry and some pepper. Flavours of Plum, cherry, blackberry and pepper. Lingering bitter finish let this wine down to my tastes.

2002 Leconfield Cabernet Sauvignon
Aromas of blackcurrant, tobacco and vanilla. On first taste the Leconfield Cab Sav was light, watery and disapointing but it really is the fault of the Qantas staff in this case as the wine was way too cold; given 15-20 minutes to come up to cabin temperature the picture changed significantly. At the correct temperature the wine really opens up with flavours of black-fruits and vanilla, mild grippy tannins with a lingering sweet finish. A faultless wine that will appeal to many but unfortunately it didn't ring my bells.

Again (as with the last flight) Qantas are serving these reds far too cold and it really is an injustice to the wines (and winemakers) being served. I think the average punter is going to grab a glass of red and drink it with dinner at whatever temperature it is poured. When this happens Joe Punter goes away with a diminished view of the wine and the winemaker and it could be completely avoided by just a little forethought on Qantas' part.

These two 'Grapes' posts have been fun to put together and I'm pleased to say that I am really quite happy to see the quality of wine that Qantas is serving, at least in business class. I've got one more trip next week but it's in the back section of the plane instead of the front bit so it will be interesting to see if there is a difference in the wine.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Bad Puns, Qantas

Slip, Slop, Slap, Slurp

2006-09-15T10:22:00.000+10:00

Australian readers hopefully remember Sid the Seagull from the Anti-Cancer council and the catchy little jingle that wormed it's way into our collective consciousness. It seems now that we can take Sid's song one step further with Slip, Slop, Slap, Slurp!

By now international readers may be shrugging shoulders saying WTF! Take a look at this article regarding the use of sunscreen for grapes in the Napa Valley. The report puts a silly spin on the idea up front (much like me really) but then moves into the concept and implementation which is an interesting read (if you like that sort of thing).

BTW, Qantas did manage to provide me with more "Grapes on a Plane" on my return flight. Notes pending.

Technorati tags - Wine, Napa Valley, Silly

Grapes on a Plane

2006-09-13T00:21:00.000+10:00

Yep, it's been a bit quiet at OBWT HQ over the last few days. The issue being that I have been packed off to Tokyo for a few days for work. On the surface this may sound like fun but the reality is 2 10 hour flights in a week and four or five 16 hour working days in between...in short anything but fun. So there I was on Monday morning tucked up in my seat on the Qantas flight to Tokyo wondering wether to read a book, do some 'pretend' work or watch a movie when the attendant (is that the PC term now) came past offering wine. Now I may not be the sharpest tool in the box but my mind immediately jumped to the OBWT blog screaming POST FODDER so I figured I'd take one for the team and start my drinking early and work my way through the in flight wine list.

2001 Voyager Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
Dark purple in the glass with blackberry, blackcurrant and some spicy aromas. A full mouth feel with flavours of plum and blackberry, mild grippy tannins with a very nice lingering savoury finish. Overall my favourite of the four wines on offer, I'd happily buy this for drinking at home.

2002 Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz
Deep purple (Smoke on the water anyone?) to red, perhaps a little hazy/dull. Loads of smoky oak with black fruits and plums, pepper and spice. Again black fruit and oak dominates the flavours here. Firm but not over the top tannins but disappointing length. Nice wine, not fantastic but I need to remember that I'm 36,000 ft in the air and beggars cant be choosers.

2005 Shaw & Smith Sauvignon Blanc
Pale straw almost clear in colour. Extremely fruity nose with kiwifruit, melon and passionfruit, this smells just terrific. Flavours of pineapple and citrus with a tangy lingering acidity in the aftertaste. This struck me as a straight forward example of a good Sav Blanc, it was very nice indeed. The best of the two whites on offer.

2004 Sticks Chardonnay
I had a bugger of a time describing this wine, my less than educated palate letting me down again so apologies in advance. Bright and clear, light yellow in the glass with a green tinge. Flavours of peach/stone fruit with honey undertones, very pleasant. Sharp toasty oak flavours, buttery with tropical fruit. There’s something underneath that I just cant place, like a veggie, perhaps capsicum, I know it doesn’t sound right and it faded as the wine warmed a little, this wine was much better after it sat in the glass for a while, I think Qantas may be serving it a bit too cold.

That's it, enough is enough, I've had it with these motherf%&king grapes on this motherf%&king plane! And to think, I have to do it all over again in a few days, I hope they rotate the wine list.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Bad Puns, Qantas

2005 Devils Lair Fifth Leg White

2006-09-06T21:22:00.000+10:00

It's my dirty little secret...promise you wont tell anyone? I'm only going to tell you because I know you can keep a secret and no one else is watching. OK, here goes ... sometimes, when I go out to dinner with SWMBO, I drink Fifth Leg White even though there are better, fancier wines on the list. There it is, it's out now and I feel so much better. You see the problem is that I really know bugger all about white wines; well I know which regions are meant to produce the best examples of certain varietals and I have an appreciation of different types of white wine, but compared to the amount of red I drink, the occasional white really is a drop in the ocean. What I've found though is that I drink white wine only in certain circumstances (warm nights, spicier food or seafood etc) and when I go that way I'm always looking for consistency and that's where Fifth Leg comes in. The Devils Lair Fifth Leg label offers me a safe haven, something that I KNOW I'm going to enjoy without twisting my brain sweating over a white wine list about which I know bugger all!

The '05 Fifth Leg is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay from Western Australia, while the winery is in the Margaret River region I am unsure if the grapes are also sourced in that area. The wine pours a very pale yellow/green. It smells FANTASTIC, the nose is all about the Sav Blanc elements and I just love those smells. Huge aromas of pineapple, melon, kiwifruit an passionfruit really mouth wateringly good. Bright crisp citrus and melon flavors dominate the palate, only slightly acidic, this is a very refreshing wine.

Just from the brief notes it should be pretty clear that I'm a big fan of the Fifth Leg White (also like the Red on occasion) and every vintage that I've tried over the last 6 years (or so) has always been very good, not astounding, just always very good. To be honest, if I can always have this wine as a back up I really don't care if I'm a complete white wine nonce, I'll just sit in the corner and enjoy the Fifth Leg.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Devils Lair, Margaret River

Moo Brew - Pale Ale

2006-09-03T20:02:00.000+10:00

Moo Brew is a beer made by the Moorilla Estate winery in Tassie. The first thing that you notice about this beer is the bottle, it's stunning and unfortunately my dodgy photograpy just does not do it justice. I saw these funky stylish bottles in a fridge in a stall at the Vic Market in Melbourne and (since I was in a beer buying frenzy anyway) I grabbed a couple of bottles.

I noted before opening that there was significant sediment that had settled out of the beer and since I usually see this in the home brews that I drink I let the bottle sit for a bit before opening. The Moo Brew Pale Ale is a darker gold, cloudy beer in the glass and it generates a very firm head that did not dissappear at all during drinking. This beer smells terrific, all floral and citrus and is very reminiscent of the Little Creatures beers. Not surprising given my comments on the beers head, the carbonation is very active indeed. The Moo Brew Pale has a very light body and is strongly driven by hop flavours and is very very bitter with undertones of yeast that detract a bit from the experience. I felt that this beer could be improved by more malt flavors to provide some balance but that's just a personal taste opinion.

I dont think that this beer lived up to its presentation. It looks fabulous, smells divine but to my taste failed to deliver when it comes to the crunch and was ultimately a little dissappointing. I also grabbed a Moo Brew wheat beer from the same place so I hope that this one will be a little better. The brewers have done a brilliant job packaging this beer and have obviously drawn on their experience packaging wines (the stubby design really does break the mold in my mind) and it would be great to see this beer develop further with perhaps a few changes to the recipe.

Tags - Beer, Beer Tasting, Beer Reviews, Australian Beer

Its no small beer - Willi Simpson article (29/08/06)

2006-09-03T16:30:00.000+10:00

Willie Simpson has written a great article published in the Sydney Morning Herald. It profiles a number of the micro-breweries (including one of my faves at Hargreaves Hill), the lifestyle (or lack of it) of the brewers and discusses the recent high growth in the market. It's an interesting read for beer lovers.

Of particular interest for me is the list of micro beers with Willie's (I assume) tasting notes.

Tags - Beer, Beer Tasting, Beer Reviews, Australian Beer

Meme: 5 Things to eat before you die!

2006-09-02T20:21:00.000+10:00

Edward at Wino Sapien tagged me today for a meme floating around the food blogs on "Five Things to Eat Before you Die" that was started at the Travelers Lunch Box. Thanks, I think.

I must admit that this thought has really had me pondering some of the meals that I have eaten over the last 15 years and I am finding it really bloody hard to actually restrict myself to only FIVE things! I consider myself incredibly lucky in that my day job requires me to do a great deal of traveling all over the world. As a result I have been incredibly fortunate to indulge in some spectacular meals in some wonderful places around the world in the name of client entertainment and blessing the advantages of a corporate credit card. That said, when it comes down to it though I am finding that if I'm forced to narrow down my choice to just FIVE things, it's the things that I LOVE that come top of the list. SO, without further waffle or consideration for political correctness I'd like to add my 5 cents.

1. Smoked wild trout that you have caught yourself in the bush camping beside a river. My favorite 'get away' is solo trip into the mountains fly fishing. It is rare that I keep my catch but on occasion I will keep the odd fish and when I do my favorite way to prepare and eat the trout is after its smoked.

2. Slow roasted marinated Greek lamb on the spit cooked under a gum tree. The Old Bastards tend to get away into the bush a couple of times a year but when we do we rarely suffer any deprivation. In fact, in our favorite private spot we have installed a spit roast pit and now when we go we take away a vacuum packed lamb roast marinated in a Greek garlic and herb dressing that our local butcher prepares for us. There is nothing better than enjoying a couple of lubricating reds while we enjoy a slow cooked spit roast. These are usually the high point of the trips!

3. Good blue cheese with fig paste on a wafer cracker. Simple, sweet fig paste, creamy and bitey blue cheese on a light crunchy wafer. This combination covers such a huge range of textures and flavors and rates as one of my all time favorite ways of spoiling myself.

4. FRESH Sashimi from Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. A trip to Tsukiji is a must do on every travelers list in Tokyo, the place is an absolute riot of noise and activity. The sashimi is the freshest in the world short of pulling the damn thing out of the water yourself.

5. Peking Duck pancakes from the Flower Drum in Melbourne. The Flower Drum has long been known as one of the best restaurants in Melbourne and to my mind the highlight of a trip to the Flower Drum is their Peking Duck pancakes. This is not a regular trip, in fact for us, it is a special event that we really need to save up for well in advance but the memories of these tender flavorful parcels is one of my fondest culinary experiences.

Bonus Food: OK, this one is an extra, as it will not translate outside of Australia, and perhaps not even outside of Melbourne. Another local 'must eat' experience is a hot meat pie with sauce eaten at half time at an AFL Grand Final at the MCG where Essendon are winning. Not something that I am going to get to experience any time soon I think.

Technorati tags - Food

Slow Food Wine Beer Tasting

2006-08-31T10:32:00.000+10:00

I'm a 'wanna-be' chef <gasp>, no really I love to cook! I'm not going to compete with the good Doctor Edward, some of his stuff could be classified as food 'porn' BUT I do like to dabble in the kitchen and I have been flirting with the Slow Cooking movement over the last year. Imagine, if you will, my delight when I found out about the Slow Food exhibition at the Abbotsford Convent. Slow food, a farmers market, tea, wine tasting and beer (YES BEER) tasting. It all sounds like a little bit of hog heaven to me and this little piggy will be snuffling his way through the Convent on Saturday. Wine & Beer review stocks should be dramatically increased and will get posted assuming that my belly still allows me to reach the keyboard.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Australian Wine, Slow Food, Beer

Web 2.0 Wine Logging

2006-08-29T10:09:00.000+10:00

Michael Stajer has provided a very brief rant on technology, Web 2.0 and community driven wine sites. From my perspective however Michaels article is valuable as it points to sources of Wine and Webby goodness that I had not seen before. So (in order of appearance) let me introduce:
- wineLog.net
- cork'd.com - the only one of these that I knew about.
- buyersvine.com
- WineCommune Spy - this looks really interesting.

Guess how I'm spending the morning instead of working?

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Reviews,

Update 30/08
- Log a Bottle
- Tasty Drop
- Open Bottles

8 Years Apart

2006-08-27T20:40:00.000+10:00

I have really appreciated the recent vintages of the Cabernet Sauvignon from Water Wheel in the Bendigo region. The wine just seems to go from strength to strength. It was quite fortunate when I found a back vintage of this wine in Nicks and I knew that I had a recent Cab Sav in the cupboard so when I saw the 1996 vintage I grabbed it. This gives me an opportunity to taste two vintage of this wine, side by side, and eight years apart.

2004 Water Wheel “Bendigo” Cabernet Sauvignon
Lovely cherry plum colour in the class. Scents of smoky earth and oak with plum and dark cherries. Blackcurrant and “Juicyfruit” (don’t know if that translates outside Australia) flavours with mildly grippy tannins. A mellow lingering finish with an aftertaste of blackcurrant rounds out the wine. It is a well balanced and well rounded Cabernet Sauvignon that I would expect to develop very well in the next 5 to 10 years (if the 1996 vintage is any example). Sealed under a Stelvin closure and at 14% (and $15) this wine has won the Frangos and Frangos Trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon at the Daylesford Wine Show 2005.

1996 Water Wheel “Bendigo” Cabernet Sauvignon
This wine is a dark brick red colour and is slightly hazy in the glass showing aromas of plum, stewed fruits, cherry and spice. Nice and smooth on the palate again with plenty of fruit flavours, plum and blackcurrant. Very well balanced with a lovely mouth feel. Slightly astringent finish lingers in the mouth with some pepper. Not being well experienced in this area I might be wrong, but I think that perhaps this wine may have gotten as good as its going to get. Sealed with cork (which was dry and crumbly) at 13.5% (and $25) I’m buggered if I know whether this wine has won anything but I don’t care, because I’ve still got another half bottle to drink.

It was great to have the chance to have these two bottles to drink side by side. Without a doubt I preferred the 1996 but what it has shown me is the value of getting a case of good wine in the current vintage down in storage. The 2004 vintage was a very nice wine but I expect it will be an exceptionaly nice wine if I get to taste it again in another eight years.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Water Wheel, Cabernet Sauvignon , Bendigo

Outback Country Ale

2006-08-25T22:04:00.000+10:00

When you experiment with new and unknown stuff every now and then you are bound to trip up, it’s part and parcel of the process. It’s the trial of the beer taster, some are good, some are, well… not so good. Tonight I may have tripped.

I’m drinking, the Country Bitter from the Outback Brewery. Outback is not really so outback, it’s actually in Sydney. Apparently the Country Bitter is not a regular brew for these guys, with one other seasonal/specialty beers (Chilli Beer) it is an occasional brew. The Country Bitter pour a very nice dark gold/amber in the glass, perhaps a little bit hazy. Active carbonation provides a strong foamy head that dissipates to a thick lace. Aromas of straw, yeast and plenty of hops. Strong hops and yeast flavours dominate this beer with some malt and it is very sweet, I swear I can taste porridge. Bittersweet aftertaste is a bit to cloying for my taste. I’m not all that impressed by this one, it is a bit like an overworked home brew, for me it’s just to sweet to be really enjoyable. I think if the sweetness was cut this would be a much nicer beer.

My impression looking at the breweries website is that it is more a home brew brewery that has bulked up on steroids. Now this should never preclude anyone from producing a good beer, certainly some of the best beers I drink are made by avid home brewers. I guess that scaling from a ‘home’ operation to a commercial operation would have significant challenge, so props to the Outback boys for getting out there and giving it a shake.

I’d love to be able to give Outback a strong review so I’m going to try and lay my hands on some of their main stream (regular) beers. I’m a big fan of the smaller brewer and really would like to see these guys do well as it is only with blokes like these pushing the barriers and starting to cut into the market that the big brewers are going to up their game and stop churning out swill. Far from being bad, it’s unfortunate that the Country Bitter is just not to my taste.

Tags - Beer, Beer Tasting, Beer Reviews, Australian Beer

2002 Henschke Henry's Seven

2006-08-23T21:54:00.000+10:00

My affair with Shiraz Viognier continues and this one is my current favorite. The Henschke Henry's Seven is blended 60% Shiraz 35% Grenache and 5% Viognier fruit grown in the Barossa. Despite being a very difficult vintage year the 2002 Henry's Seven is (apparently) one of the better vintages for this wine. The wine is a deep crimson and carries the aromas of berries, apricot and spices (pepper/clove) . Extremely smooth and silky on the palate again carrying the sweet fruit flavours. Very fine tannins provide a lingering and exceptionally smooth savoury finish with hints of aniseed.

Henry's Seven is one of my very favorite examples of Shiraz Viognier and never fails to impress. Sealed under a screw cap, I picked up this bottle for $27.

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews, Australian Wine, Henschke, Barossa

Wine Journal II - Another approach

2006-08-20T13:44:00.000+10:00

Recently I posted a few notes on one of the wine journals that I had tried to use. Salil commented that he uses a standard spiral bound notebook to record his tasting notes. To illustrate this approach to note taking I asked Salil if he would like to send me a couple of photos of his journal to put up on the blog and he has kindly agreed.

Salil says...
"The pages in the first attachment (with the list of Tempus Two wines) were actually written (or should that be scrawled?) while I was doing a tasting at the Tempus winery a few weeks ago in the Hunter Valley. And as you'll see, I normally don't go too deep into annotations or ratings usually go with an Exceptional/Excellent/Very Good/Good/Decent/etc... system, which is easier to track/think about than going with numbers)."

Note: Click pics to see bigger versions.

So apart from the fact that Salil is tasting WAY to much wine (is that even possible?) my immediate impression is that he has a good approach that works for him. I tend to agree with his comments regarding scoring because in this case the 'grade' that is applied is a personal assessment and not necessarily one that will be sent out to the wide world. Like Salil, I hesitate to score wines (though I have tried in the past); I find that my palate is just not up to the task of making such low level distinctions that are reflected in a 100 point scale.

I know I was a bit hamstrung by pre-printed note books when I first started writing about wines and even now my tasting notes are short and choppy things. It's dumb but I never thought to just grab a note book and write stuff down. Perhaps I need to buy another Moleskine and get "freeform"!

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Tasting, Wine Reviews

R.I.P. Len Evans (1930 - 17/08/2006)

2006-08-17T20:39:00.000+10:00

I was stunned to hear tonight that Len Evans (OBE) has passed away. Len was one of the founding fathers of wine reviewers in Australia and one of the industries leading lights. In his years as a judge, writer, winemaker and industry advocate Len was instrumental in the promotion and development of the profile of Australian table wines both in Australia and around the world.

He will be sadly missed.

Winepros has a nice bio that details some of Lens achievements.

Some other posts at
- Winefront
- The Oz Wine Show
- Vinosense

Technorati tags - Wine, Wine Reviews, News