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Ahead of our first real world wine tasting event this Saturday March 13 at the Seddon Wine Store we thought we’d look at two of the wines that are the theme for the tasting. So Brad kicks off with a Riesling from Frankland Estate, one of the Western Australian producers who are doing great things with our favourite white grape. Danny looks at a Pinot from Dog Point, a New Zealand producer, proving his bias isn’t anti-Kiwi, just anti average wine. And although it’s not on tasting this weekend we round out the week with a wine from Rymill in the Coonawarra that’s blended to be drink worthy right now.

Tasting event details:
Where: Seddon Wine Store. 2/101 Victoria St. Seddon Vic 3011
When: Saturday 13th March, 2pm-5pm.
What: Rieslings and Pinot Noir – More than 2 dozen wines on tasting.
How much: Free!
RSVP: Via Facebook or just turn up on the day

This week’s recommendations are:

• Frankland Estate Poison Hill Riesling 2009 ($25-28)
• Dog Point Pinot Noir 2008 ($40-$45)
• Rymill MC2 2005 ($15-$18)

Download the video: (4 min 56 sec)
Windows Media (15.9 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (28.6 Mb) | Mpeg4 (15.5 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

Three different vintages and three very different wines this week. Wines from the 07, 08 and 09 vintages.

The first is one of Australia’s gifts to the wine world: Hunter Valley Semillon. Andrew Thomas, “Thommo” to his mates, shows just how good the region can be with this grape. Brad follows up with a red blend from Margaret River producer Voyager Estate, the Girt by Sea. To round out the week Danny looks at a wine from Spinifex. Blended to make a super approachable wine for everyday drinking using Cinsault and Mataro to soften the boldness of Barossan Grenache. And the art of blending is definitely on show here.

If you’re in Sydney and want to score one of 5 double passes to the Taste of Sydney festival you can go into the draw one of two ways. Either send us an email at info@wineweek.com.au with the subject line “Taste of Sydney tickets” or post on Twitter using these all of these three phrases; i) “@WineWeek”, ii) “Taste of Sydney”, iii) “win” or “winner”. So your twitter post might look like “I want to win tix to the Taste of Sydney fest, pls pick me @WineWeek!”.

If you’re in Melboure then set Saturday March 13 aside and join us for our first real world wine tasting. Held in conjunction with the Seddon Wine Store it should be great fun and we’ll be showing off a bunch of great Rieslings and Pinot Noirs that we’ve featured on the show, plus a few that are favourites that we haven’t told you about yet!

This week’s recommendations are:

• Thomas Wines Braemore Semillon 2009 ($25-28)
• Voyager Estate Girt By Sea 2008 ($22-$24)
• Spinifex Papillon 2007 ($25-$28)

Download the video: (5 min 00 sec)
Windows Media (16.2 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (29.5 Mb) | Mpeg4 (15.7 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

The hot days down under aren’t done with just yet. And vintage, when vineyards are picking their grapes, is in full force too. With both those things going on at once we look at a sparkling wine from Blue Pyrenees which is picked in the cool of the night to make sure they get the best from their grapes.

We also look at a super bargain priced Rosé from Angoves great for warmer days, and a classic quaffer from Pepperjack perfect for matching with lamb on the BBQ.

This week’s recommendations are:

• Angoves Nine Rows Rosé 2009 ($8-14)
• Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvée 2002 ($22-$26)
• Pepperjack Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 ($18-$23)

Download the video: (4 min 31 sec)
Windows Media (14.9 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (26.8 Mb) | Mpeg4 (14.7 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

Most weeks the wines we have on our desk are bottles that are full of wine. This week we’re looking at bottles that we opened very recently, and haven’t gotten around to replacing yet!

We look at one of Australia’s best gamays, produced by Sorrenberg. Barry and Jan’s very special winery is located in Beechworth at the foot of the Victorian High Country. Brad then recommends a McLaren Vale shiraz from Ingoldby. It’s a great red at bargain prices which is ready to drink right now. To finish this week Danny looks at one of the best riesling’s that Australia makes. The Leo Buring Leonay isn’t just great now, as it will happily age for a decade and improve every year.

This week’s recommendations are:

• Sorrenberg Gamay 2008 ($37-40)
• Ingoldby Shiraz 2008 ($13-$17)
• Leo Buring Leonay High Eden 2008 ($38-$40)

Download the video: (4 min 41 sec)
Windows Media (15.2 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (27.7 Mb) | Mpeg4 (14.7 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

Sometimes wines we intend to review get overlooked. Not for any good reason other than there’s lots of good wine about. So this week we say ’sorry’ to a couple of great wines by finally getting around to looking at them on the show.

The first is a lovely Pinot Gris from Yabby Lake’s second label, Red Claw. Following up is a bargain priced Cabernet from Kingston Estate that proves it’s not just Shiraz that can be done well at under $10. To round things out we also check out a Sangiovese from a great King Valley producer, Pizzini.

This week’s recommendations are:

• Red Claw Pinot Gris 2009 ($23-25)
• Kingston Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 ($9-$13)
• Pizzini Sangiovese 2008 ($24-$28)

Download the video: (3 min 58 sec)
Windows Media (12.6 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (23.2 Mb) | Mpeg4 (12.3 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

When a winery can charge, $60 to $100 for their best know wines you known they’re doing something right. But not all of us can afford three figures for a bottle of wine everyday. So many of the most respected wineries have wines commonly referred to as ’second’ wines. But don’t let the fact that these aren’t their most expensive offerings suggest that they aren’t up to scratch.

The first wine we look at is the ’second’ Chardonnay from Leeuwin Estate, maker of arguably Australia’s best from the white grape. Next up is a Pinot Noir from Kooyong that comes in at half the price of their most renowned Pinot. The last wine we recommend is the ’second’ from Moss Wood, one of the the greatest Cabernet producers from the Margaret River region in WA.

We also recommend you visit http://boozemonkey.com.au/ and http://www.empireauctions.com.au/ to check out the Wine For Haiti auction, raising much needed funds and giving you great wine in return.

This week’s recommendations are:

• Leeuwin Estate Prelude Chardonnay 2008 ($30-35)
• Kooyong Massale Pinot Noir 2008 ($28-$30)
• Moss Wood Amy’s Cabernet 2008 ($30-$35)

Download the video: (4 min 44 sec)
Windows Media (15.3 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (28.4 Mb) | Mpeg4 (14.9 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

This week we announce the two lucky winners of our Best Dozen of 2009 competition. They each receive a complete set of our favourite dozen wines from the almost 150 wines we reviewed in 2009!

As well as announcing the winners we look a couple of bargain options for everyone who didn’t win. We kick off with the Teusner Riebke Shiraz, a great offering from a winemaker who has been a favourite since before Teusner even existed. We also look at a Pinot Gris from Delatite, an Upper Goulburn producer and a red blend from Thorn Clarke that has some split opinions from the wine scribes.

We also recommend you visit http://boozemonkey.com.au/ and http://www.empireauctions.com.au/ to check out the Wine For Haiti auction, raising much needed funds and giving you great wine in return.

This week’s recommendations are:

• Teusner The Riebke Shiraz 2008 ($18-20)
• Delatite Pinot Gris 2008 ($17-$20)
• Thorn Clarke Shotfire Quartage 2007 ($18-$20)

Download the video: (6 min 10 sec)
Windows Media (20.0 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (36.5 Mb) | Mpeg4 (19.4 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

This week is the last chance for you to be in the running to win our Best Dozen of 2009! But before we draw the winners over at http://wineweek.com.au/ we check out three wines hoping to make it to the top in 2010. The first is a great Riesling from Pipers Brook in Tasmania. Next is a “jam explosion” in the form of the Miss Harry from Hewitson in the Barossa Valley. The last wine we check out this week is a lovely Shiraz from one of the very best Margaret River producers in Cape Mentelle.

Want to win the Best Dozen of 2009? You’ll go into the draw if you’re a subscriber. If you’re a Twitter follower or a fan on Facebook then you’ve got another chance to win! Retweeting on twitter, or posting on your facebook wall with a link to the competition will get you another entry too! There are heaps of ways to give yourself the best possible shot at taking home one of the Best Dozen of 09 packs!

This week’s recommendations are:

• Pipers Brook Riesling 2008 ($25-28)
• Hewitson Miss Harry 2008 ($18-$23)
• Cape Mentelle Shiraz 2007 ($30-$32)

Download the video: (4 min 55 sec)
Windows Media (15.9 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (29.1 Mb) | Mpeg4 (15.5 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

Sometimes a little bottle is all you need. It might be you’re out to dinner and one or two glasses each is enough. This week we kick things off by looking at a big, powerful wine from Henschke that’s also available in a little bottle. In the spirit of sharing, we also check out the Taylors Jaraman Rielsing. The Jaraman range grabs fruit from two great regions in order to share the best results. Rounding things out is an inexpensive Cab/Merlot from Gramps – a name that’s being shared around a bit.

Don’t forget you can still win one of our Best Dozen of 2009. You’ll go into the draw if you’re a subscriber. If you’re a Twitter follower or a fan on Facebook then you’ve got another chance to win! Retweeting on twitter, or posting on your facebook wall with a link to the competition will get you another entry too! There are heaps of ways to give yourself the best possible shot at taking home one of the Best Dozen of 09 packs!

This week’s recommendations are:

• Henschke Keyneton Estate Euphonium 2006 ($25-27 375ml)
• Gramps Cabernet Merlot 2006 ($15-$20)
• Taylors Jaraman Riesling 2008 ($22-$25)

Download the video: (5 min 11 sec)
Windows Media (16.8 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (30.5 Mb) | Mpeg4 (16.3 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny

2009 is done, and we’ve started a new decade. And what better way to kick things off than with three bottles you might open at the start of a an afternoon or evening with good friends and good food.

But, not everyone starts off with a wine… so this week we kick things off with that most Aussie of aperitifs, a beer. But not just any beer! This is brewed on the grounds at one of the great wineries of the Clare Valley, Knappstein. We also look at a lovely rosé from Yering Station that isn’t just ‘cotton candy in the mouth’. And we round out the starting field with a great, inexpensive, bottle of bubbles from Jansz.

Don’t forget you can still win one of our Best Dozen of 2009. You’ll go into the draw if you’re a subscriber. If you’re a Twitter follower or a fan on Facebook then you’ve got another chance to win! Retweeting on twitter, or posting on your facebook wall with a link to the competition will get you another entry too! There are heaps of ways to give yourself the best possible shot at taking home one of the Best Dozen of 09 packs!

This week’s recommendations are:

• Knappstein E.B. Premium Larger ($13-17 per 4 pack)
• Yering Station E.D. Rosé 2008 ($18-20)
• Jansz Premium Non Vintage Cuvée ($20-$23)

Download the video: (5 min 39 sec)
Windows Media (18.0 Mb) | Quicktime/iPod/iPhone (33.6 Mb) | Mpeg4 (17.6 Mb)

Cheers… and happy wine buying!

Brad and Danny