Paid to proselytise.... or planes, trains, more trains, a bus and even more trains and a car....

I am a lucky man - I've said it before and I'll say it again at some stage. I've just spent two great days teaching WSET Level 4 Diploma students in Belgium and Holland about Australia. Getting here was tricky but, after some wild train rides all across Holland I made to Antwerp Sunday evening (13th Nov. 2016) and the following morning had the first of two classes.

Thank you so very much....

A trip like this is a costly thing, for all concerned. Every MW on the trip paid GBP 750 to be there as well as flights to and from Australia. Our sponsors in Australia all paid varying sums of money to cover wines, venues, food etc. There’s also the cost of time off work and away from family. Since we have paid we have a right to be critical of the wines we taste and what we hear but that in no way diminishes our gratitude to our hosts. 

When you’re in the dark don’t strike a match

In which I explain my views on some trends and why they may not be important.

Along the way we were given a list of new trends, which was essentially a buzzword bingo lexicon. Cooler sites, early picking, natural acidity, good sulfites, reductive handling, struck match and so on – a range of phrases representing the current trends in relation to new wine styles in Australia.

At last we're on duty...

The Institute of Masters of Wine Australia Trip 2015 started off on a lovely Sunday morning with breakfast at the Sydney Opera house.

The views are stunning and we were treated to a lovely breakfast there, some scene-setting presentations and then a range of tastings designed to show, as briefly as possible, what Australia is all about.

A good start is...

So, once breakfast and emails etc were done and dusted I met up with a good mate ad the day started with a Jasper Hill George's Paddock 2004 and a J. J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese 2004. Mmmm both seriously good. From there on to a great bottle shop called 5 Ways to taste some yummy Yarra whites and reds.

 

From there onto The Waterman's in Pott's Point for lobster rolls and an interesting roussanne and a funky nebbiolo, before moving to Aki's for some gorgeous indian food (goat curry) with a Tassie sparkler and a Gamay!

Along the way some lovely beers and great chat. Honestly, it is work...

How many Hawaiian shirts can you pack?

#MWOz2015 - well, the trip has started as I type this little piece in the departures lounge of Dublin airport on a beautifully sunny day. The suitcase is full of Hawaiian shirts (the dress code is smart casual) and we have a breakfast alert: the trip starts with a 6 course breakfast at the Sydney Opera House at 08:30 Sydney time. Which means a lot of disappointed English MWs having to taste fine Australian wine on the day they exit the Rugby World Cup! Unless, of course, they can win...

Countdown to Australia

On the 1st of October 2015 yours truly will get on a Qantas plane and fly to Sydney. Why? Because I'm taking part in the Institute of Masters of Wine's Australia Trip. This is an intense, hectic trip, more or less non-stop for 12 days - you can view the itinerary to see exactly how gruelling it will be. Cricket on the beach? That's the way you do it, wine for nothing and your wines for free...

Sad news

The Drinks Business has a small piece about the death of Peter Lehmann who was one of the biggest characters in the Australian wine industry over the last 40 years. He single-handedly saved a lot of small growers from financial ruin in the early 1980s and was a champion of Barossa semillon - his top wine, Margaret, is a gorgeous wine.
Also, Wine Australia have decided to close their Irish operation, run so well by John McDonnell. When John returned to Ireland in the early 1990s we were the 5th biggest market for Australian wine and Australian wine had a far higher percentage of the market here than in the UK. Now we are far less important and so John's services are no longer required. Shame.

Australian fortified wine terms

Just a brief note relating to an article in Hospitality Magazine in relation to terms introduced a few years back for Australian fortified wines. Like many countries, Australia has a long tradition of making wines in both the Sherry and Port styles and, as with other countries, these wines were often referred to using Sherry, Port etc. Naturally, the European Union has been negotiating for countries not to use protected terms so the Australians came up with two new terms: Apera, which is a fino-style fortified wine, and Topaque, which covers wines formerly known as Liqueur Tokay. To see what these wines can be like, why not read one of my posts from Landmark 2009?

John Avery MW RIP

The last post was about the passing of Trevor Mast, this is about the passing of John Avery MW, who died today. John was a big, bluff man, with a booming voice, strong opinions and a great sense of humour and of history. I first met John on the MW West Coast USA trip in 1999, then again on the Australia trip of 2001 and the Portugal trip of 2002.
On the Australia trip, we spend Anzac day travelling from Coonawarra to Melbourne, via a morning tasting and lunch at Best's Great Western (and an afternoon visit to Mt Langhi Ghiran). On all MW trips every event has 2 MWs with specific duties - one is the scribe, who writes up the event for the trip report, the other is the official thanker, who thanks the hosts and organisers on the day. This day, it was John's turn and he gave an intensely moving speech on the topic of Anzac Day and Gallipoli. It was simply marvellous. John Avery RIP, 23/03/2012.

Sad news

News today that Trevor Mast, of Mt Langhi Ghiran, has died. Trevor became ill with Alzheimer's some years back. He was a pioneer, in many ways, and a really nice guy. One of his innovations was enclosing a vineyard block in a wire net frame - four walls and a ceiling. This reduced wind flow and increased vineyard temperature resulting in riper fruit.

Three snippets

Caveat Emptor (which means "buyer beware" and not "empty cave", as I recently saw on another blog!) is the most important rule when thinking about investing in wine. Why? Well, read this small piece from the indefatigable Jim Budd, who spends a lot of time exposing fake investment companies.
Jamie Goode has an interesting piece about some additions to the Jacob's Creek range, which I would love to see arriving in Ireland.
Finally, for those who are investing in China, or for those who think Australia should only promote big brands, here's an interesting piece about how the Chinese believe Australia should market its wines in China.

Sour gripes?

Max Allen, one of Australia's top wine journalists, has an interesting pice about wine in restaurants. Could we say the same here?

Barossa beauties

On a day of high winds, US presidential visits there were two excellent tastings in Dublin. The first was the Wine Australia A+ tasting, held at Croke Park. The quiet hour was good and I tasted some nice wines but then the Nowhere Man arrived and, as I cannot stand him and wish never to meet him again I decided to skip off early. However, help arrived from an unexpected corner: Mr James Marsh, formerly Landmark wine-elf (along with P J Charteris) and he allowed me to sneak into the tutorial room where a venerable range of Barossa beauties was lined up for a later tasting.

The bigger they are...

News today that Constellation has finally managed to sell off some of its Australian assets, including the historic Leasingham winery in Clare Valley. For those of you who don't follow the business of wine, Constellation was, not so long ago, the biggest wine company in the world. Formed by a series of mergers (Canandaigua and Beringer, I think) it bought up BRL Hardy in Australia (itself a merger between Berri Renmano Ltd and Hardy's) and acquired gigantic status. However, its fervent acquisition of both production and distribution channels in the period leading up to a major recession left it in a fragile position.
I guess big isn't always better!
PS there's a very interesting contrast with Gallo (see my post from 9th October) who are now back in the position of being the biggest winery and, possibly the biggest wine company in the world. They just kept on doing what they always did!
PPS It's seriously good to see that Tim Adams has acquired Leasingham as he was really exercised about it when I visited in June 2009.

Let's do lunch

In the dim and distant past the now defunct Wine Board of Ireland had enough class to throw a decent graduation party for those who completed their WSET Diploma. Now, in these straitened times all I can afford is a good lunch so, starting last year and in conjunction with John McDonnell of Wine Australia, I host a lunch at L'Ecrivain. John is involved as Wine Australia sponsor the prize for the best overall Diploma mark and he sponsors the wine for lunch while I pay for the food.

Where does a decade go?

And I'm not talking about rosaries LOL! It seems hard to believe but it is ten years since the winemakers of the Clare Valley, in South Australia, decided to switch more or less en masse to using Stelvin closures rather than cork. Since then, a lot has changed in the world of wine for the better and we really should appluad their foresight and bravery.

Back to the land of Oz

Well, well - Diploma hits Oz, home of Landmark, Skippy and lots of realy great wines - even if the DipStuds did seem underwhelmed by them at times! My colleague and fellow Spurs fan, Martin Moran MW, led the way and gave the students a good review of what is too big a subject for the paltry one day it gets. As always, stockists/suppliers in parentheses, details at the end.

Landmark Masterclass

Yesterday, Tuesday 3rd November, Wine Australia hosted a Landmark Masterclass at which I was asked to present a range of wines which represented Landmark for me. In all, we had 18 - so it was a pretty severe selection from the 578 tasted in Australia!
The Masterclass was held in the Constitution room of the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin - a lovely setting for the event. The selected guests included those who had applied last year as well a handful of journalists.

More Aussie oddballs

Further to my post about the alternative varieties tasting last week, here are the wines tasted:

Oxford Landing Pinot Grigio 2008, €10.99 - good, nice weight of fruit with crisp acidity;
Lindeman's Pinot Grigio 2008, €10.99 - nice, lighter in style than the Oxford;
Guerrieri Rizzardi Pinot Grigio IGT 2008, €12.95 - good, quite mineral on the mid-palate, but also with good fruit depth;
Brown Brothers Pinot Grigio 2007, €13.95 - good, nice fruit, quite citrus style;
Thorn Clarke Pinot Gris 2008, €17.50 - good to very good, big, full wine with rich, ripe fruit;
Tim Adams Pinot Gris 2008, €15.95 - good, mineral but almost riesling!

Yalumba Y Viognier 2007, €13.99 - good, peachy ripe fruit, nice weight;
Yalumba Eden Viognier 2008, €18.99 - very good, elegant peach fruits, rounded, well-balanced;
De Bortoli Viognier 2007, €23.95 - good, with nice fruit weight but some oak notes;
Yalumba Virgilius 2007, €34.99 - excellent, very aromatic, quite intense mid-palate, but elegant and well-balanced, long;
Rutherglen Estates Marsanne Viognier 2007 - fair, off-dry, slightly herbaceous and lacked real depth;
Heartland Viognier Pinot Gris 2007, €15.50 - good to very good, really ripe and quite big;
Yering Station Marsanne Viognier Roussanne 2005 - good, slightly talcy or soapy but nice enough fruit;

Peter Lehmann Tempranillo 2006, €12.99 - good to very good, ripe and supple entry, nice berry fruits on palate, smooth and long;
Campo Viejo Reserva 2005 - quite good, quite soft and round but lacks depth of a Reserva;
Running with Bulls Tempranillo 2008, €18.99 - good to very good, especially as it was bottled only in September! Rich, ripe and big fruits but still quite elegant - made by Yalumba;
d'Arenberg Sticks and Stones Tempranillo Grenache 2004, €21.99 - good to very good, still quite deep colour but with lovely berry fruits, round, rich and smooth;

Rutherglen Estates Nebbiolo 2005, €14.95 - good, lovely berry fruits and leaf notes on nose, juicy berry fruits on palate and well-balanced;
Thorn Clarke "Morello" Nebbiolo 2005, €19.95 - good to very good, deep, rich nose, fresh acidity, dark earthy fruits and long;
Ricossa Barolo 2003, €24.99 - fair, closed nose, sour palate, firm tannins.