Grape Grazing in the Yarra Valley Love this cartoon by Matt Golding that accompanied an article in the Age newspaper of 9th October 2016 about deer damaging Yarra Valley vineyards. Apparently deer have a taste for Yarra Valley chardonnay and pinot noir vines which they nibble on nocturnally. These frolicking, furry, four-legged grape-grazers have a penchant […]
Author: Michael Hince
Out with the Schramsberg – In with the Trump.
Out with the Schramsberg – In with the Trump. I suspect the Schramsberg 2007 Reserve Sparkings will be replaced by a few Trump 2009 Sparkling Blanc de Blancs in the White House Cellar. Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed teetotaller, owns a handsome winery in Virginia not far from the famous Jefferson Vineyards at Charlottesville near Monticello. […]
Main Ridge Estate, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Main Ridge Estate. – Pinot without ego. What can you say about Nathaniel (Nat) White and his Main Ridge Estate wines that has not already been said? The quality and character of the former shines through in the latter. Both are inseparable, both are impeccable and both deserve the praise that’s long been bestowed on them. […]
Koshu wine – Quintessentially Japanese.
The Japanese love their shōchū, sake, whisky and beer, and lately even their wine, especially if it’s made from the emerging and increasingly popular Koshu grape grown in Katsunuma in Yamanashi Prefecture (the Bordeaux of Japan) among the foothills of Mount Fuji. I visited Yamanashi recently and was both surprised and impressed by Koshu’s delicacy, […]
Liquid Red Caviar
For many sparkling reds remain a bit of an enigma, relegated to an occasional novelty when served chilled at Christmas dinner on a boiling hot summer’s day or when accompanying a lamb chop at an Australia Day barbecue – Mr.Lambassador Sam Kekovich take note! I used to be a closet sparking red drinker for yonks, […]
Rutherglen – more than you imagine.
‘Dig gentleman dig, but no deeper than six inches, for there is more gold to be won from the top six inches than from all of the depths below’ Lindsay Brown of ‘Gooramadda Run’ In the late 1870’s and early 1880s Victoria reigned supreme as the capital of Australian wine so much so that it produced […]
Seville Estate – sharing the future with the past.
The Yarra Valley’s renaissance as a premium, cool climate producer in early 1970s owes much to the likes of Peter McMahon (Seville Estate), Bailey Carrodus (Yarra Yering) and John Middleton (Mount Mary). About the same time as Max Lake founded Lakes Folly in the Hunter, the entrepreneurial Reg Eagan planted Wantirna Estate’s first vines and […]
From Bacchus to Bordeaux and Beyond.
There’s something immediately engaging and inherently attractive that imbues Oz Clarke’s wine writing. It’s like drinking a fizz with finesse, it’s bubbly, exuberant, entertaining and evocative. Besides, it’s easy to warm to someone who likes Dickens, a d’Arenberg red and who would spend part of his ideal fantasy day swimming at Port Willunga, followed by […]
