I’ll get the ball rolling. I’m an unabashed beer snob, but wine is something I’m mostly ignorant of. I have lately started getting cravings for champagne/sparkling wine. So, any recommendations?
I’ve had a couple of the Clover Hill’s and they weren’t too bad. Bollinger Grand Cru is great, but hard to find and exxy, and the Special Cuvee is $70 a bottle but I don’t reckon it’s worth much more than $25. Can’t remember which other ones I’ve had a go at, which suggests they weren’t worth the pricetag.
Anything good out there? I like acidity. Favourite beers are things like Cantillon, Fontane and Boon, but they are so fricking hard to find out in the sticks that I have to settle for the far more expensive and far inferior sparkling wines for my acidity hit.
I’ll get the ball rolling. I’m an unabashed beer snob, but wine is something I’m mostly ignorant of. I have lately started getting cravings for champagne/sparkling wine. So, any recommendations?
I’ve had a couple of the Clover Hill’s and they weren’t too bad. Bollinger Grand Cru is great, but hard to find and exxy, and the Special Cuvee is $70 a bottle but I don’t reckon it’s worth much more than $25. Can’t remember which other ones I’ve had a go at, which suggests they weren’t worth the pricetag.
Anything good out there? I like acidity. Favourite beers are things like Cantillon, Fontane and Boon, but they are so fricking hard to find out in the sticks that I have to settle for the far more expensive and far inferior sparkling wines for my acidity hit.
There’s a sparkling white from Foxey’s Hangout (Red Hill, Peninsula way) which is amazing.
Love the Sparkling Shiraz from Chandon (or pretty much anywhere, who am I kidding…). And their normal sparkling white is good too. All of these are about $25-30 IIRC.
I’m generally a lot easier to please with sparkling, even though I generally go for Shiraz more often than not.
I’ll get the ball rolling. I’m an unabashed beer snob, but wine is something I’m mostly ignorant of. I have lately started getting cravings for champagne/sparkling wine. So, any recommendations? .
I’ve had a couple of the Clover Hill’s and they weren’t too bad. Bollinger Grand Cru is great, but hard to find and exxy, and the Special Cuvee is $70 a bottle but I don’t reckon it’s worth much more than $25. Can’t remember which other ones I’ve had a go at, which suggests they weren’t worth the pricetag.
Anything good out there? I like acidity. Favourite beers are things like Cantillon, Fontane and Boon, but they are so fricking hard to find out in the sticks that I have to settle for the far more expensive and far inferior sparkling wines for my acidity hit.
A pregnancy test?
But seriously…try Jansz …not overly expensive but yummy
As fate would have it I was reading Peter Ackroyd’s “Foundation Vol 1”, a history of Britain, last night when the following passage tickled me.
“A twelfth century philosopher, Alexander Neckam, stated that wine should be as clear as a penitent. He also declared that a good wine should be as sweet-tasting as an almond, as surreptitious as a squirrel, as high-spirited as a roebuck, as strong as a Cistercian monastery, as glittering as a spark of fire, as subtle as the logic of the schools of Paris, as delicate as fine silk, and as cold as crystal. The language of the wine connoisseur has not notably diminished in fancifulness over the centuries.”
Ackroyd famously puts away plenty of claret whilst writing so he should know.
I’ve just helped my better half polish off a bottle of Hazyblur Kangaroo Island 2013 basket pressed Shiraz which I scored in the Hastings Richies for the very nice price of $15 and it had lovely hints of vanilla but I couldn’t detect any squirrel or roebuck.
P.S. Zebba, I’m pleased you’ve set up this thread but it might work better if you renamed it the wino thread or something.
Bubbles, some of the non vintages are good from
Jansz
Clover Hill
Mumm
If you like it sweet, try Prosecco.
Pinot $$$$
Stefano Lubiano (?)
Bannockburn
I don’t drink much wine, but I reckon best option is to buy from Dan Murphys, check out their ‘reserve’ Section i think it’s called, where they have stuff with a red sticker that’s actually been cellared, rather than buy something that’s been in a bottle for 6 weeks.
I’m not generally a fan of lighter style wine but I have been looking forward to trying Aldi’s El Toro Macho 2013 Tempranillo, partly because it won an silver or blue gold award at the recent Sydney International but mostly because it costs $5! The Hastings’ Aldi had sold out of it until this week but they’ve just restocked so I took the risk and bought one.
Unlike most Spanish wines it’s in a screw top, always a positive, and it’s juicy and smooth, if a little light for my palate, and not dissimilar to some of the overpriced Pinots from around my Peninsula way. Probably go well with a lunchtime antipasto platter but we used it to wash down a vegetarian pizza from Peppy’s Pizza in Bittern, which I also heartily recommend, and it did the job with panache.
As fate would have it I was reading Peter Ackroyd's "Foundation Vol 1", a history of Britain, last night when the following passage tickled me.
"A twelfth century philosopher, Alexander Neckam, stated that wine should be as clear as a penitent. He also declared that a good wine should be as sweet-tasting as an almond, as surreptitious as a squirrel, as high-spirited as a roebuck, as strong as a Cistercian monastery, as glittering as a spark of fire, as subtle as the logic of the schools of Paris, as delicate as fine silk, and as cold as crystal. The language of the wine connoisseur has not notably diminished in fancifulness over the centuries."
Ackroyd famously puts away plenty of claret whilst writing so he should know.
I've just helped my better half polish off a bottle of Hazyblur Kangaroo Island 2013 basket pressed Shiraz which I scored in the Hastings Richies for the very nice price of $15 and it had lovely hints of vanilla but I couldn't detect any squirrel or roebuck.
P.S. Zebba, I’m pleased you’ve set up this thread but it might work better if you renamed it the wino thread or something.
That quote is a great get, GRR!
The last red I drank that I was most impressed with was a bottle of Barossa Valley Estates, 1983. I bought a few in 1984 in California for US$3 each. A group of us at the time had a masked tasting - this one came a close second in the voting to a very expensive French wine. Nevertheless, it was the first bottle emptied.
After crossing the Pacific twice, and 30 years in the bottle, this one was close to the Grange I had last year.
I think BVE may be no more. That wine was made by Colin Glaetzer. His son Ben now has his own winery and acclaimed wines.
I aim to keep under $20 a bottle.
Current drops are:
De Bortoli Estate Grown Pinot Noir ($16.50 from Crackawines - fantasic value).
Leo Buring Clare Valley Reisling ($12 from TWE Staff Cellar).
Hoddles Creek Chardonay (was $19 from Boccaccio).
Wynns Black Label Cab Sav ($25 from TWE Staff Cellar).
For French Champagne, you can sometimes pick up Piper Heidsieck fom Dan’s for $33.
Thought I would share this with the wine-appreciating Blitzerati.
With no Bombers on this weekend, I just opened up a 1985 Baileys of Glenrowan Hermitage (sic). Getting on for 35 years in the bottle and is as good as a Grange. Not a bad investment at about $5 a bottle back in the day. Could be cellared for another decade at least.
Was about to post about Piper.
■■■■■■ good drop for the price.
A little more expensive than Janz, but a hell of lot more tastier
Become a member of Kay Brothers in the Mclaren Vale.
They do a Basket Press Shiraz for $25-30, absolute value for money. I’d happily pay $50-60 for it
Can be cellared for years or if your not into that, drinks beautifully now
A great value fresh White is Pike’s Riesling, available at Dan Murphy for about $20. Goes with just about anything and is lovely and refreshing on its own.
