My fascination with Italian wines is not of recent creation. It was probably 15 years ago that I found myself in the country shaped like a boot in order to attend a legal conference, yet still found time to taste my way through a decent cross section of their local varietals. Some of their whites…
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Wine is many different things to individuals. To some, it’s a social lubricant while to others it’s a digestive served with a meal or even just an end of the week anaesthetic! But whatever it is, there’s no doubt that is used accompanies a conversation or a story – and sometimes the wine can be…
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There’s no doubt that gold medals, wine show trophies and high ratings from wine critics and judges are worth big dollars to wine makers and wineries. And it’s not just in Australia that producers scramble to attract the attention of the influential critics and “experts”. Around the world, wine companies compete, jostle and hustle for…
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We’ve all heard them, often believed them and sometimes even republished them; but the sad reality is that urban myths about wine seemingly spread faster than coronavirus in a Wuhan wet market! Some of the lines my dear sister comes up with have made me choke on my chardonnay over the years, but the one…
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Entrepreneur, restauranteur and all-round great bloke, Tony Kelly is synonymous with the Sunshine Coast’s dining scene. Having started out as a chef, the trade he first fell in love with, in his mother’s kitchen has led him to design, create and run a range of successful restaurants and bistro’s over the years culminating in him…
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I’ve often heard self-deprecating winemakers profess that 90% of the quality of a wine is derived from what happens in the vineyard. Having recently sampled the Brockenchack Jack Harrison 2016 Shiraz ($60), and with all due respect to the winemaker, Shaun Kalleske, I suspect they might be right! After another ideal growing season in the…
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When we think of pinot noir, I suspect that most of us drift towards wines from Burgundy in France, Oregon in the USA or Central Otago in New Zealand’s southern isle, but there are a number of Australian districts that are producing stunning examples of the style and creating what is almost a cult following…
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If you’ve ever been to a wine appreciation night or wine club meeting, you’d be well familiar with the “blind wine” or “wine options” challenges that entertain, beguile and often confuse those sampling the vino on offer. These games, in which a bottle of wine is wrapped in alfoil to conceal its identity and then…
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When our Easter long weekend trip to the Adelaide Hills had to be cancelled due to a global pandemic, so too were my plans to write up an array of the best wineries from the region – places like Bird in Hand, Nepenthe and Shaw and Smith. The anticipation of the Hills’s best chardonnays, sauvignon…
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Chardonnay was one of the varietals to arrive in the James Busby collection in 1832 but initially the grape was mostly cultivated in the Mudgee region in New South Wales before it eventually spread across the wine producing regions of Australia. And despite being a long time favourite in the Burgundy Region of France, it…
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