Category: Wine Reviews

Guillaume at Bennelong

Last weekend I had dinner with friends at the soon to be closed Guillaume at Bennelong. I hadn’t been to Guillaume previously, so when this dinner came up I was super keen as I probably wouldn’t have another chance at its current location. Some brief comments on the restaurant – the food was very impressive, […]

A stunning array of wines - Jayer, DRC, Rousseau, Chave, Raveneau, Harlan, Haut-Brion and more

Five years ago our group had the opportunity to buy a bottle of 1993 Henri Jayer Cros Parantoux with excellent provenance from a local source, we split the bottle 8 ways and have been waiting for an appropriate time to open it since. Earlier this year we decided that 20 years from vintage was as […]

Hunter Valley Sunset

A recent long weekend provided an overdue opportunity to spend some time tasting in the Hunter Valley. I’ll just give some general impressions on some of my favourite wines as I was writing quick notes rather than any great detail. There are plenty more brief notes on Cellartracker for the wines I didn’t include in […]

I organised a tasting recently with the intent to compare two top-tier Australian cooler climate Shiraz, both from the Grampians region in Victoria (plus a few ring-ins, here and there). The Seppelt St Peters Shiraz was originally released as Seppelt Great Western Hermitage in 1964 (winning the Jimmy Watson trophy in 1965, a prestigious award, […]

Rare Burgundy Dinner - 1919, 1923, 1928, 1929, 1937, 1947 and more!

An amazing night two weekends ago as we gathered at Marque restaurant in Sydney, Australia for a Burgundy themed event, organised by a friend as part of his RareWineDinners business. The attendees included some familiar local faces as well as people that had flown in from Adelaide, Tasmania and even San Francisco! I can happily […]

I recently attended this new release tasting for Torbreck at North Sydney Cellars. I am generally a fan of David Powell’s wines, but one of the big surprises for me on the night was the quality of the two white wines on offer, as I have previously either disliked or been very underwhelmed by the […]

Screaming Eagle

Just some quick TNs on a great set of wines with a few friends over dinner. I haven’t had a Screaming Eagle before, I have to assume very few end up in Australia, so it was a privilege to try one. 2002 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année – France, Champagne Toast, talc, apple and lemon […]

Not much preamble to this one, this was a great tasting hosted by a friend recently. All the white burgundy were served blind and provided by our host and one guest. After that it was on to the various “backup” bottles, they were a mix of blind and not and brought along by the various […]

JJ Prum Goldkapsel

Last Thursday I headed into the recently opened QT Sydney Hotel and its Gowings Bar & Grill in order to attend the annual Joh. Jos. Prüm frühstück, a breakfast tasting hosted by the Australian wine importer Bibendum. On this occasion the wines tasted were from 2011, a year in which the winery celebrates its 100th […]

US wine is not something that we get a huge amount of exposure to in Australia, probably at least partially due to the prices for the wines ending up sky high by the time shipping and taxes (in the region of 40%) are applied, so whenever I get a chance to try some I am […]