Wine
Save the World!
I went camping for St.Patricks Day to catch up with a few mates a few weeks ago. It was a little wet so most of the time was spent chatting, and while we were having a few beers a thought hit me like a lightning bolt out of the blue: “As a Nation of Beer drinkers, we have it within our power to stop the collapse of foreign nations from national debt, by the simple action of…drinking beer” T...
Camping Drinks
Ahh ‘tis the New Year and I’m busy marking off all the long weekends with camping and fishing. And with that in mind I thought I’d share my top Four FOR Camping. These are just something a little different from taking the usual Bundy or Bourbon or UDL. Things that just help to make more room; are lighter or just make things go easier while the kids are fighting, the boat won’t start and the sand f...
McGuigan Shortlist Chardonnay 2009
I’m the first one to admit I’m a bit slow to take up fads or trends or to even throw things away. In fact I’m so bad that I still wear my Bronco’s “Back to Back Premierships” t-shirt with pride….that’s from 1993 for those of you that don’t follow the footy. Late last year the McGuigan Shortlist Chardonnay was brought to my attention, and I thought it was probably about time I picked up the b...
Yalumba The Cigar Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
A few weeks ago, while out for lunch with a mate, I snuck into a wine tasting for Yalumba’s Rare and Fine wines, and learnt two things. The first was that Yalumba’s 2008 The Cigar Cabernet Sauvignon is going to be winning a few wine medals this year, and the second was that it’s not a good idea to take somebody else’s glass when you’re not even supposed to be there in the first place……...
Penfolds Bin 389 and 407 2010 releases
I was looking at the Port Douglas Carnivale website the other day and noticed that it mentioned they will feature the first ever North Queensland release of the Penfolds Bin 389 and Bin 407 wines. This will be Queensland’s first public release of the “baby Grange” outside of Brisbane. This would be an awesome way of trying these wines along with several others all matched to fine food…..I’d book a...
To Breathe or not to Breathe
“To Breathe or not to Breathe ….what was the question?” Recently I was asked about decanting wines and why do it. I thought there might be others out there that were interested in this too, and thought I’d use this week’s column to answer. Decanting can be a vague issue. If I was to ask 20 wine people their opinion on it, I’d probably get 25 different answers, plus a lecture on “Why I prefer...
The Killer Pinot Grigio laced with Dreams and Talladega Nights
I often sit around at night, pondering the big questions of our times. And this week while arguing my points on the biggest question of my generation, was Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth the better lead singer of Van Halen, I got to try this week’s Drop, The Killer Pinot Grigio 2007. “The Killer Pinot Grigio” is the first in a series of wines that will bear the Killer label. The 12%, 2007 vintage is...
Matilda Bay Fat Yak Pale Ale
I was a little surprised by the name on the side of the bottle of this weeks’ Drop, Fat Yak Pale Ale, if only because of Aussie slang terms for “having a yak”. Yet even now, a week or so later, I still can’t work out whether I like this or not. I’ve even forked out for another six-pack to get my head around it. Let me go off on a sidetrack for a minute. My final test of a beer is simple; I want to...