I flew to Melbourne a few weeks back and to keep busy purchased the current wine magazines. In the 'James Halliday Wine Companion' magazine, June/July 2013 the article 'Cork Versus Screwcap' by Ralph Kyte Powell continues an old debate which examines the difference of these closures. more...

"While most of those who receive this newsletter would not normally (or ever?) buy a wine with a price of less than $10, there are occasions when knowledge of some of the best can be useful. Gifts to relatives (if they don’t know better), beach barbecues, fishing trips and the like are obvious purchase circumstances". James Halliday, The Australian Wine Companion, 13th March, 2013. more...

A reader alerted me to this article; "Alcohol spilling into young minds", Madonna King, Courier Mail, June 8th 2013, about the sale of Coopers Ultra Light 0.5% alcohol in the soft drink section of a Coles supermarket, in I gather, Brisbane. It was positioned between the lemonade and the ginger beer. more...

Farmer Bros opened its first liquor store in the Canberra suburb of Manuka in June, 1975. The store was long and narrow and was fitted out in the usual manner though in the middle was a square coolroom with glass doors displaying beer and wines. The idea was that when you walked beyond the coolroom, you entered a private area, full of fancy wines, like a cellar. more...

It is true that faced with a wall of bottles I have a better chance than most at making the right pick though I still curse all and sundry at my regular misfortunes. French Champagne was once my great specialty but these days I'm just another punter. Avoid the cheapies as that is what you will get. Avoid the non vintage bottlings of the big name brands as after the joy of watching the bubbles burst in the glass there is not much else. more...

Once a year in Bordeaux, around about April, they hold the grand final of wine. It was reported in Bloomberg (Elin Mc Coy, 22nd April) that 6000 wine buyers, opinion makers and those learning the ropes gathered to taste what the wine makers made from the difficult 2012 vintage. This depresses me no end as I doubt Australia has been visited by 6000 wine buyers and opinion makers in the last 10 years. more...

I have little interest in golf though as a young man read the golf column of Henry Longhurst in the Sunday Times UK as he was a writer. There are not many wine writers but there are hundreds of wine journalists and bloggers and I wonder how they do not die of boredom writing article after article about what they found when they visited winery ABC and always ending with half a dozen tasting notes. more...

The meaning and thus the worth of a tasting note is at best problematical and thus they are not much help when buying wine. Yet they are widely used, appear in many wine articles and are the main prop of specialist wine magazines. Because of this, tasting notes are seen as displaying expertise and perhaps sophistication and at the very least suggest a higher quality wine as consumers do not expect tasting notes of run-of-the-mill wines. more...

This is a story about one of the great heritage family brands, Lindemans, and its long drift looking for a meaning. To more easily understand this story it helps to see the wine business as being made up of two halves. more...