Shiraz
Seabrook The Merchant Shiraz 2016
The Seabrook name is synonymous with wine in Australia. From expert wine judges to negociants, exporters and in the last few generations as winemakers with Hamish Seabrook being the 5th generation involved in the wine industry. His range of Seabrook wines have expanded from originally being a Victorian Shiraz to now cover wines from his own family vineyards in the Barossa and fruit from contract g...
Huntington Estate Special Reserve Shiraz 2015
One of the bonuses of all this COVID madness is that its given me time to clean up around the place. Last week I moved a box to find a sample wine from Huntington Estate that had somehow escaped and become hidden away under a pile of stuffed toys. The timing was perfect for our regular Wednesday tastings, and cracked the top off the Huntington Estate 2015 Special Reserve Shiraz, more commonly refe...
What makes a wine “Premium”
what makes a premium wine "premium"
Chateau Tanunda
Chateau Tanunda is one of those names that have been synonymous with wine in Australia, especially the Barossa. Constructed in the late 1880’s by some of the first winemaker’s in the Barossa, its vineyards are home to some of the oldest plantings in the Barossa, dating back to the 1840’s, and its Chateau is Australia’s largest and oldest wine Chateau. Built 40 metres into a Tanunda hillside to pro...
Magic Box Wines
I’ve often remarked in these columns how marketing departments dictate what wines the winery make. Sometimes I think they get it wrong, the marketers are aiming for a certain segment and just miss it. It’s either a touch too soon, too late or the final product they are aiming for just didn’t line up with what was available for the winemakers to work with. But every now and again they get it right,...
Healthy Drinking? Does it exist?
Drinking healthy? The phrase sounds like an oxymoron, however every time I look at the news there seems to be some new link with health and alcohol, a glass of wine here or a gin there and suddenly we all live to a ripe old age. It’s all rather hard to believe, but I slept through most of my high school biology classes. I personally think that the key here, as with anything in life, is moderation....
Casella Family Wines
Growing up on his family’s farm in NSW’s Griffith, John Casella wanted more than just to run the little winery with a hand turned wine press. Over half a century later, Casella now oversees Casella Family Brands (CFB), a vinous empire that sells hundreds of bottles of wine around the world every minute of the day. In fact in the time it takes you to read this article, wine drinkers around the glob...
Peter Lehmann VSV
In 2014, the family behind one of Australia’s most successful wine brands, [yellow tail], purchased the famous Barossa winery Peter Lehmann Wines from Swiss based The Hess Group. It followed the death of Peter Lehmann in 2013, who had founded the winery in 1979. It continues the rise and rise of Casella Family Brands, who produced their first bottle of wine in 1969 at their Farm 1471 near Griffith...