All About Wine

In the late 60s, innovative Winemakers, including John Vickery, Karl Stockhausen and Jim Barry, produced delightful Aromatic White Wines that Australians embraced. They were particularly liked by women. The seventies and eighties saw a steady growth in wine consumption from 8.9 litres per person annually in 1970 to 22 litres in 1988. Much of this increase was in White Wine. In fact, for every bottle of Red Wine, Australians drunk eleven bottles of White. We obviously had a lot to celebrate because a large percentage of this White Wine was Sparkling. A steep increase in tax on wine coupled with

hese delightful summer sensations are at long last being seen, tasted and enjoyed for what they are - highly diverse, complex and charming delicate pink wines.
The original success of Rosé was the wines of Portugal and Spain, we all recall “Mateus Rose’ in the round bowl shaped bottle. This wine was easy to find and generally reliable, but usually, if were talking about the bottle shops of the 80’s and early 90’s, it was the only one. Today in a Dan Murphy or First Choice store you’ll see a whole row of Rosé, so how do you choose?

What's on the drawing board for summer in 2010? According to the gurus of style embroidered jeans, fake nails and book store coffee houses are OUT. Hot Pink, Coffee at the car wash and wine education are IN. Here Paula Tewksbury tells us all we ever wanted to know about the latter, but didn't like to ask.....
The two girls sniggered in the corner as their glass of wine swirled wildly leaving a large mark on the front of one of their skin-tight white T-shirts. The rather serious executive on the other side of the room was forgiven for thinking he was watching a wet T-shirt contest as a jug of water was used to combat the tell-tale stain. The middle aged lady in the front row, oblivious to the electrifying atmosphere, spat loudly into the metal spittoon.
Wine appreciation classes ... that sounds too serious and stuffy; introduction to wine ... too simplistic. What we really have is a match-making session, between the senses!
According to some of our popular wine educators, attendees fall into one of four distinct stereotypes and you can spot them by the sort of questions they ask.

It has always amazed me that the best wines for warm weather dining come from cold climates and the wines that best suit cold winter nights and the suitable cuisine come largely from warm climates. February is generally our warmest month, at least the most steamy and the varieties I find most refreshing and suitable to the meals I select, or prepare in these summer days are Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling.
Sauvignon Blanc is currently one of the most popular wine styles. Five years ago airlines would offer you a Chardonnay or a Riesling, today you will be offered Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay or a Sauvignon Blanc blend. A recent hospitality survey found that Sauvignon Blanc and blends were generally the wines chosen. Exports from Australia and particularly New Zealand of Sauvignon Blanc are at an all time high and in London the biggest selling supermarket wines are Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, Chili, France or Australia.

We all know the combination of perfectly matched wine characters and tasty morsels can be a match made in heaven. This is what I discovered at “Brent’s, the dining Experience” on Miskin Street, Toowong. The wines that provided the perfect marriage were from a new Geographic Indicator Zone for wine growing in Australia. The area is known as “New England Australia”, at 950 metres above sea level, its one of the highest altitude regions in Australia and the vineyard “Blickling Estate” is one of the most successful in the region.
There are about 40 boutique vineyards in the area, halfway between Armidale and Tamworth. “Blickling Estate” for the second year has been rated 4 stars out of 5 and “consistently produces high quality wines” as quoted by the 2007 James Halliday Wine Companion. The higher altitude of the region means that the wine grapes have a slower ripening process which results in crisp, fruity whites and mellow flavorsome reds.

A truly iconic Australian Wine is a “Shiraz”. Nothing else expresses Australian wine production as completely as “Sunshine in a bottle”, that is Shiraz. Other countries produce Shiraz or Syrah as it known in its European home, which is The Rhone Valley in Southern France, but the Shiraz of McLaren Vale is a truly unique wine easily recognized by wine connoisseurs all over the world.

The white Rhone grape Viognier and her sisters Marsanne & Roussanne are fast becoming the white wine alternatives to Chardonnay. McLaren Vale best know for reds is also looking good for these whites.
McLaren Vale is on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia. Bordered by the Gulf of St Vincent, it has a Mediterranean type climate, meaning warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters with ocean breezes moderating the climate. Grapes love these conditions. Like the Rhone Valley, McLaren Vale has the red varieties of Shiraz Grenache and Mourvedre and white varieties of Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier.

The Magnificent Seven
Australian wines are popular; statistics have shown they are now more popular than beer. Consumers, whether they are in the cities, the beaches or on the farm are interested in wine, but in most cases they’re knowledge is limited to having heard about “Grange”. Times are a changing; it’s becoming almost embarrassing if you don’t know about Wine. This is where I introduce “The Magnificent Seven”, the Seven Classic Grape Varieties and a guideline to assess quality.

The fledgling Queensland wine industry is being tipped to take on areas like the Hunter Valley and the Barossa according to the Australian Tourist Commission.

Only a short bus ride from Florence you can find yourself in the village of Mercatale Val di Pesa in the heart of Tuscany’s famous Chiante Classico wine region. Less than a kilometre from the village is the wine estate “Castello di Gabbiano”. Early records indicate that the construction of the defence tower and wine cellar of the castle began in 1100AD.