Category: Margaret River

What a great night and opportunity this was to taste wines from the two leading big name Cabernet producers in Margaret River from some generally good to great vintages. These wines were all from the same cellar and only the Mount Langi ring-in was tasted blind. Lanson Black Label NV The nose is fresh and […]

Some quick notes from an excellent evening hosted by David Lole in Canberra. All wines were tasted and scored blind except for the Curlewis, the St. Henri and the Petaluma Essence. Rockford Sparkling Black (Sept. 2005 disgorgement) – (Barossa Valley, South Australia): Bright, clean raspberry, cherry, pepper, vanilla and blackberry aromas as well as a […]

A quick get together at Borelli’s Italian Restaurant in Epping. The restaurant was good for what it is, a small local place that has food with good flavour and large servings, with fairly priced meals (for us it was around $50 AUD per person for three courses and tip) and corkage at $4 a bottle. […]

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 […]

Sydney experienced a 45° celsius (113° fahrenheit) New Years day this year, so we did what any sensible group of wine lovers would do – go ahead with the dinner anyway and celebrate the New Year with some great wine. This was my first visit to Elio, an Italian restaurant which is based in Leichhardt […]

Some notes taken at a dinner attended by some fellow wine lovers – Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz 1990 – (Grampians, Victoria): A nice way to start the proceedings. Blackberry, cherry, spice, violets and earthy characters on the nose. Nice rich mouth-feel, with a bit of sweetness on the palate. Good, long finish. 88/100 Dry River […]

I wrote recently about my first bottle of this wine here. There have been some reports of bottle variation from the case purchased at auction earlier this year by some of the other syndicate members. My first bottle was good but looked a little bit tired, this second (and final) bottle displayed better freshness and […]

Last month Australia’s largest wine company Southcorp (now part of Fosters and even bigger) put on its annual road-show to showcase its wines across major capital cities. In Sydney, this was held at the completely refurbished Hilton hotel that was reopened in July. As often happens at these public events it didn’t take long to […]

Fast Facts: Variety: 100% Chardonnay Region: Margaret River, Western Australia Country: Australia Winemaker: Bob Cartwright Closure: Cork Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series Chardonnay is one of Australia’s most highly regarded wines. Leeuwin Estate has said that the secret behind the Art Series Chardonnay is an exceptional block of vines that they call “Block 20”. The grapes […]

Once again a merry band of men and women from the Winestar Forum met up in order to enjoy some food and wine. The Restaurant: I quite liked the restaurant; my entree of Balmain Bug Raviolo was excellent and was perfect for the white wines. Wasn’t quite as impressed with the main of Char-grilled Sirloin […]