 While we're very good at whining, we also love a good glass or seven of wine. So, for all our drinking pleasure, here's the Tribune's reviews and tasting notes.
Follow El Wino on Twitter: @The_Wino
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Election 2010
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I was fortunate recently to have the chance to get a wonderful refresher course and status update on some New Zealand wines. The occasion was the Hot Red Hawke’s Bay Australian Roadshow, which landed in Melbourne and Sydney in late July, with a cornucopia of artisan Kiwi wine makers in attendance to discuss and sample their work. New Zealand does not make a lot of red wine on a relative basis (total New Zealand wine production does not even equal the output of the Barossa Valley alone) and what they do make does not always make its way to Australia (a good percentage of the wineries at the show were looking for Australian distributors) so it was a rare and privileged opportunity to re-acquaint my vinous palate and friendships.
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April 2010
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I have recently started working at Armadale Cellars, one of the great independent wine stores in the Melbourne region (see November 2009 article for a detailed list of the other folk doing great wine work).
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February 2010
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I had the great pleasure recently of spending time in two of Australia’s most wonderful wine regions – Margaret River and the Mornington Peninsula. Wonderful for a number of reasons, but the combination of fantastic food and wine scenes, magical scenery and awesome Aussie beaches and surf is hard to beat.
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Village Idiot Issue - October 2009
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Though it has most definitely not felt like Spring lately, my editor Jane asked if I could write an article on the sparkly stuff which I hope will slam Winter up side the head and let the right weather through the door.
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Children's Issue August 2009
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With my imminent move to Melbourne I have been confronted with the sorry state of affairs called Australian Customs. They are stubbornly sticking to their guns (i.e., stupid policy) and threatening to charge such an outrageous tariff on my wine cellar that I will either leave most of it in New Zealand or have a big drink up.
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Drinking Issue - June 2009
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 Almost 90% of wine made in New Zealand is sealed with a screwcap, which is the fastest uptake and most extensive use of screwcaps of any winemaking region in the world. But is that a good thing?
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Pet Issue - April 2009
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If you have not seen the movie Sideways yet, you should. It does a great piss take of the hoity-toity world of wine, but one amazing feature of the film was the main character, Miles, trashing Merlot and effusively praising Pinot Noir.
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Body Issue - February 2009
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One of the things that has been happening in the wine world that I find fun & interesting is that the New World wine makers are experimenting with some different Old World grapes.
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June 2010
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It may be a wee bit early to call it a definite trend, but I believe that Chardonnay is on its way back as a preferred white wine of consumption. Chardonnay has always been one of my favourites and it has never really gone away as it is one, if not the, white grape that makes the white wine world go round.
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Farch 2010
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Whether or not you believe in climate change, many people (including winemakers and viticulturists) whose livelihood directly relies on Mother Nature have to, at a minimum, hedge their bets in some way, shape or form.
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Media Issue - Nov 2009
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I have a general theory that the world can be divided into two types of folks (a gross generalization but let it slide): those that like everything to be essentially the same, or in other words no surprises, and those that totally crave and love surprises - the unique, the one of, even the weird.
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Money Issue - September 2009
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Second labels are about as old as wine making itself. There are a variety of reasons for wineries to produce a second label, but a couple of the primary ones are to make some money on young vines that may be considered too young for the flagship wine; and to offer the consumer a chance to try a winemaker’s wine style without having to break the bank buying the platinum top tier label.
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Bring Back Jeff Issue - July 2009
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I was reading a wine column in a magazine recently, where the author was whinging about being served his wine in a nice glass. The writer was a Master of Wine, a title that is not handed out willy-nilly; it is a moniker that requires years of hard study to successfully pass multitudes of exams.
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Digital Age Issue - May 2009
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I have been to two very interesting wine tastings in the past month; they both focused on Cabernet Sauvignon, but offered 2 very different perspectives on this great grape variety.
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Education Issue - March 2009
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First off, for those of you who did not know, Shiraz and Syrah are the same grape but given different names, mostly for marketing purposes. That said they do produce distinctly different styles of wine depending upon the climate and soil they are grown in.
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