It was with great excitement that I was able attend this fascinating event with the 6 houses that comprise the Trait-d-union Champagne group and their Australian importers. The Sydney tasting was held at Utopia Art and had a theme that examined the common “sense of place” that exists both with indigenous Australians and these producers […]
Category: Wine Events
After a successful inaugural Sydney Burgundy Celebration in 2014, the event returned with a series of tastings and dinners that looked to be excellent. Unfortunately due to my work schedule I was only able to attend one, the Iconic Wineries master class. This tasting was fantastic and I’m glad I was able to get along […]
The Riesling Down Under festival kicks off tomorrow in Melbourne but for those of us in Sydney that can’t make it, an exciting week of tastings with some of the top Riesling winemakers and producers in the world will be on offer next week. I’ve listed the tastings I know about below (plus one producer […]
I’m a few months late with these notes but this was the gala dinner at the end of a week of events for the Sydney Burgundy Celebration, organised by sommeliers Franck Moreau MS, Amanda Yallop & Michaël Engelmann MS. I also attended a large walk-around tasting the night prior and may post some quick notes […]
Another great tasting put on by Greg and Shannon from Rare Wine Dinners earlier in 2013. The undoubted highlight of the night for me was the chance of a second encounter with the 1964 Cheval Blanc, a legendary wine that floored me the first time I tasted it, as well as a 1928 Chateau Lafite […]
I organised a tasting recently with the intent to compare two top-tier Australian cooler climate Shiraz, both from the Grampians region in Victoria (plus a few ring-ins, here and there). The Seppelt St Peters Shiraz was originally released as Seppelt Great Western Hermitage in 1964 (winning the Jimmy Watson trophy in 1965, a prestigious award, […]
An amazing night two weekends ago as we gathered at Marque restaurant in Sydney, Australia for a Burgundy themed event, organised by a friend as part of his RareWineDinners business. The attendees included some familiar local faces as well as people that had flown in from Adelaide, Tasmania and even San Francisco! I can happily […]
Last Thursday I headed into the recently opened QT Sydney Hotel and its Gowings Bar & Grill in order to attend the annual Joh. Jos. Prüm frühstück, a breakfast tasting hosted by the Australian wine importer Bibendum. On this occasion the wines tasted were from 2011, a year in which the winery celebrates its 100th […]
US wine is not something that we get a huge amount of exposure to in Australia, probably at least partially due to the prices for the wines ending up sky high by the time shipping and taxes (in the region of 40%) are applied, so whenever I get a chance to try some I am […]
I recently attended a dinner with winemaker William Downie at The Oak Barrel in Sydney. He has built a solid reputation for his Pinot Noir, first at De Bortoli and then starting in 2003 with his small production self-named label. Recently he has attracted further attention as the winemaker for the “Thousand Candles” project (label […]