Despite living in the shadows of South Australia’s high profile wine regions, Langhorne Creek boasts a remarkable history and has been a prolific contributor to the development of the Australian wine industry. The region is thought to have first been settled by cattle drover, Alfred Langhorne in about 1840 and by 1981, the first Shiraz…
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Australian wine consumers are a fortunate bunch. Not only do we have a wide range of varietals to choose from, but we are blessed with remarkable quality for the prices we are asked to pay. And no more so than amongst our vigneron’s Shiraz offerings where the Brockenchack Zip Line Shiraz 2014 is one of…
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What was once a small apple and cherry orchard near Seville in Victoria’s Yarra Valley is now Seville Hill Estate; a six-hectare vineyard producing low volumes of high-quality pinot gris, chardonnay, cabernet and shiraz grapes. Agriculturalists John and Josie D’Alosio removed the fruit trees and planted cabernet sauvignon vines in 1991, then expanded their range…
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The $15 to $20 price point is a crowded and competitive space amongst Australian wines. And our iconic Aussie varietal, Shiraz, is no exception. At least in my house, it is normally the Barossa and McLaren Vale Shiraz that dominate the quaffing space in the cellar, but having recently sampled the Heartland 2012 Shiraz, all…
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Australia’s most widely recognized wine brand, Penfolds, have generally made their wines in three different styles. There’s the single vineyard approach (like the Magill Estate Shiraz), the single region (aka Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz) and the multi-region blends such as their iconic Grange and Bin 707. But since 2008, winemaker Peter Gago has also been…
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The Barossa Valley is synonymous with Shiraz and while there are any number of sub-regions around the townships of Lyndoch, Tanunda, Williamstown and Nuriootpa, it’s impossible to fault any of them for the quality of their vineous produce. So, when I recently visited the Langmeil Estate near Tanunda, the reasoning behind the creation of the…
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You’ve got to love Australian wine regions and more so, their diversity. From the gravelly loam soils of the Margaret River to the cool windy climate of Tasmania and the temperate Mediterranean feel of South Australia’s McLaren Vale. The regional traits of the wines our country produces are remarkably varied, but their wildly different character…
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It’s been years since I last braved the cool westerly winds and Dagwood Dog fuelled crowds of the Brisbane “Ekka”, but this year I’ll be there with bells on! And not because of sideshow alley, the 350 different show bags on offer, or the fashion and farm animals, but rather, simply to indulge my love…
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There are a lot of tricks and traps in this wine buying caper and it’s true that a lot of new players often overlook the fact that seasonal variations can have a dramatic impact on the quality of the same wine year by year. So when a region experiences a season with perfect climatic conditions…
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I’m the first to admit that I was probably a little judgmental, but I’d always thought that any creator of Certified Organic and preservative free wines would have dreadlocked hair, red beaded necklaces and have a proclivity to wear ripped T-shirts with five-leafed clover emblazoned across the front, and tie themselves to trees as the…
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