Category: Australia

Clonakilla is a well known, but still relatively small winery in the Canberra region, close to Australia’s capital city. I had a less than ideal experience with one of the wines that I purchased last year from the cellar door and I wrote to the winery expressing my concern over the problem that night and […]

Fast Facts: Variety: Pinor Noir Region: Canberra Region Country: Australia Winemaker: Rob Howell Closure: Cork Alcohol: 13% Cost: $18AUD Source: Cellar Door Purchase Winery Website: Jeir Creek The area surrounding Australia’s capital city Canberra has a small but ever growing number of wineries. Jeir Creek was established in 1984 and they make a wide range […]

Fast Facts: Variety: White Frontignac Region: Barossa Valley Country: Australia Winemaker: Matt Wenk Closure: Cork Alcohol: 6.5% Cost: $18AUD (500ml) Source: Purchased from friend Winery Website: Two Hands This is one of the first wines to appear from the 2006 vintage, having just been bottled mid last month. I had a look at the 2004 […]

An excellent dinner hosted by friends Gavin and Gen. I’ve included the menu items interspersed throughout the notes. I won’t post too detailed impressions on the food, but in general they were good matches, especially the Salmon with the Champagne and the smoked Duck with the Pinot/Burgundy. Smoked Salmon, mayonnaise and avocado Franck Bonville Grand […]

A few short notes from a free tasting with Torbreck winemaker David Powell at North Sydney Cellars late last month. These wines are favourites of the powerful American wine critic Robert Parker, hence the prices of the top wines are beyond the budget of most people. This was a good chance to taste these wines […]

To balance the night of French legends that I spoke of in the last post – it was decided that we should come together again in early April to have a dinner that would be a tribute to some great Australian wines. We gathered at Restaurant Atelier at Glebe – another restaurant with an excellent […]

While French wine doesn’t match the theme of this site, I think it’s important for me to look beyond Australian wine from time to time. Without doing this, I can’t put Australian wines in context with the rest of what the world has to offer. So, along with 11 others, I made my way to […]

The Nepalese Kitchen is a busy restaurant in Surry Hills. The food and spicing wasn’t ideal for wine matching, but I thought it had good flavour and there were lots of vegetarian options. Plus, at $121AUD for 6 people, the value was excellent. The downsides were that we were shifted from place to place, initially […]

Fast Facts: Variety: Riesling Region: Clare Valley, South Australia Country: Australia Winemaker: Brian Croser Closure: Cork Alcohol: 12.8% At the time that this was initially released, Brian Croser said that he thought that this was the best Riesling made from the Hanlin Hill vineyard since the famous 1980 Petaluma Riesling. This was the 23rd consecutive […]

Zilzie Wines (Murray Darling) – Chardonnay 2004 – Melon, lemon and some toffee. Palate is creamy and mouth-feel is good, there is also some slight sweetness on the palate. 86/100 Viognier 2004 – Apricot dominant as well as peaches and lemon rind. Palate is simple and length is slightly short. 84/100 Pinot Grigio 2005 – […]