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...

I receive a small trickle of mail from customers commenting about the wines we sell and they also ask other questions. I have listened attentively to customers for many decades so I know pretty well the type of issues that are likely to be raised. Recently though I received this mail: more...

An article, 'The secrets of stylish women', Paula Joye, Sydney Morning Herald, April 25th 2012, caught my attention as I thought these secrets can be reworked and applied to the wine business. Style after all does not stop at fashion and I have noticed over the years how some consumers with only a small budget spend it rather well and what they buy and how they serve it shows style. They have a knack to produce, just at the right moment, a simple, inexpensive wine which is just perfect for the occasion. more...

A few months back I was in Brisbane and by late afternoon needed a glass of wine. Being in Fortitude Valley I was taken to Belle Epoque (Emporium) which was expensively done up in the French bistro look. I gather this has not been successful and perhaps the locals are looking for the taste of modern Brisbane. more...

Opinions differ about wine so debates are common and these reveal strongly held views. When handling upset customers it is best to remember the old adage that the customer is always right. Occasionally I rise to the bait and do so with this customer who purchased one of our wines on eBay. more...

Hi Glug; I like your view on the value of starting and maintaining a cellar, plus the advantages of not having to shop on the run etc for wine. A cellar in my 30 year experience of collecting wine is now morphing into a different proposition from that which I originally started out. more...

Recently a Sydney customer building a house with a cellar asked for some suggestions for Glug wines to 'lay' down. This is such a simple request but the more I thought about it the more complicated it became. more...

I was astonished to learn that the tasting of wines for export approval goes back 40 years (early 1970s). Wine Australia's chief executive Andrew Cheesman says; "When the current export controls were first introduced four decades ago, Australian table wine was hardly known overseas and there was a risk that even one faulty wine could hurt our reputation." more...

The UK supermarket chain Waitrose wishes to help customers buy wines they will like. To assist you they have developed a simple 'taste test' which directs you to these wines. The company takes up the story... more...

Over the last 15 years the view has spread among wine writers in English speaking countries that wine should portray its place of origin and wines that are true to this ideal taste better. This is largely an embrace of the European and particularly the French concept of terroir. Some writers go further and enlarge this idea to include trends about 'natural-authentic' wines, and organic and bio-dynamic viticultural and winemaking methods. more...

In days not long ago it was easy to be seen as a wine expert and it only took one further step to be a wine snob. I'm still learning that final step. Recall that a wine snob is different to a wine-wanker; the latter being reserved for those who talk a lot but who know little. There is also the anti-wanker or awanker who talk a lot about the fact that there is nothing to know, a trait which is quite likeable, though they get exposed at events by returning regularly to the best bottle thus revealing that they are wine snobs. As you can see this is a very complex area of human behaviour. more...