The Secret Ingredient in Wine

Wine is made from grapes, and there is a basic process for how white wines and red wines are made.  Yeasts are used to start the process in almost all cases.  Many wine makers use sulphar dioxide to help the process along, while others use organic techniques.  And the grapes are effected by their terroir, which provides unique characteristics to different grapes from different regions with different growing conditions.  But none of these are the secret ingredient in wine.

The secret ingredient in wine is the fellowship and company with which the wine is drunk!

"Eating is an intelligent act, or it's merely an animal one. And what makes it intelligent is the company of other mouths and minds," says Adam Gopnik from The Table Comes First.  Well said indeed!  I believe that applies equally well to a table of food and wine and to just sharing a bottle with friends.  In my earlier blog post "Wine Snob versus Wine Enthusiast - which one are you?" I point out one of the differences between a

Wine Snob

• They bragged about the excellent wines they had, but never found the opportunity to share the wine with friends or to give a bottle to a friend

Wine Enthusiast

• They are happy to share wine, either by contributing a bottle, or by asking all who share to chip in for a special bottle of wine, or by setting some rules to have each person bring a bottle according to the rules established 

Wine (and food) goes better with people, and the better the people, the better the wine tastes!

We have a lot of work colleagues away from home during the week, so we regularly have a 'singles and strays' dinner to get them together and make sure they get both some good company and a good home-cooked meal.

When I was at (a Catholic) university, I had a priest teaching an honors course who said that "if you cannot find time to break bread and enjoy a meal with family or friends, then something is drastically wrong with your life."  I believe this to be true and and something 'busy' American families and many others do not appreciate.  We tend to grab a meal on the run, getting our daily bread where we can find or buy it, and each family member does so according to their own schedule.

There is great joy in sitting together, drinking together and eating together which is the essence of life.  We have made a point to have people over regularly, to find reasons to commune over a good meal and wine.  We are all better for it, and the wine taste better because of it!

Spectacular Shirazes with fish!

Once again, we broke the conventional rule of "white wine with fish!"

In my recent posting "1998 Lindeman's Verdelhao - one of the best white wines I have ever drunk", I make mention that this wine was one of several to start a brilliant dinner party.  This brilliant example of Verdelho was enjoyed with an opening cheese platter and great conversation, while the two reds where decanting.

Owen and Lucie had prepared the menu for the evening, with two fish courses to follow the cheese platter and an apple strudel for dessert.  The entree was a lightly seared tuna steak with a side of guacamole (with chili on the side which we could mix into the guacamole for taste - which we all did!), with the main dish being lightly battered and fried flathead, which is a denser and meatier type of fish.

Owen wanted to impress with a bottle of 15 year-old Pinot Noir, which would have been a nice match for the tuna and gaucamole, but most Pinot Noirs, no matter how well structured they are, are unlikely to last past a decade or so.  Unfortunately, this bottle was off and had to be disposed of.  While we were fortunate the 1998 Lindeman's Verdelhao was still a stunner, we were not as lucky with the Pinot Noir.

Not to be deterred, Owen had replaced the Pinot Noir with a 1997 Hungerford Hills Hilltop Shiraz and that was followed by a bottle of the 1991 Grant Burge Mesach Shiraz, which is considered one of the best Shiraz in Australia, if not the world.

The wines went brilliantly with the food because both the wines and the foods were brilliant on their own!  But what really made the Shirazes go well with the fish was the following:

• Both the tuna and the flathead were denser, meatier fishes instead of a lighter style and texture to the fish
• The tuna flavor was enhanced by the guacamole and chili, and the seasoning in the flathead batter had some nice, bold spices
• Additionally, lightly battering and frying the flathead was a push into a Shiraz instead of a more traditional choice of white - had this fish been grilled, a more traditional white wine selection may have been more appropriate

These are importance nuances of flavor and texture that allow you to "turn the tables" on what type of wine matches well with the food you are having.  The slight differences in terms of the seasoning and sauces you use, the sides provided, or the texture of the main ingredient (in this case the tuna and the flathead), and the style of cooking provide you with a much wider selection of wines that match up brilliantly.  Therefore, don't be shy in terms of experimenting with a more diverse set of options for the wine.  With a little practice, you will stumble upon some great combinations that will truly surprise and excite.

The wines themselves were superb and given the iconic stature of the Mesach, we started with the 1997 Hungerford Hill Hilltop Shiraz with the tuna, followed by the 1991 Grant Burge Mesach Shiraz to go with the flathead.  Either Shiraz would have worked beautifully with either fish, but given the complexities of the wines, it was important to drink them in this order.

I have sampled Hungerford Hill wines over the last several years, and while I believe them to be decent wines, I must admit to not having tried their better wines or better vintages.  I was amazed at the quality and beauty of the 1997 Hungerford Hill Hilltop Shiraz!  It far exceeded my expectations, and has made me excited to go back to the winery and find out more.  This wine is a perfect example of how you can buy an inexpensive, yet good bottle of wine and how it can turn into a great bottle of wine if cellared properly for a decade.  (Beware, that is not possible with all inexpensive bottles of wine - you need to have the right grapes and structure to start with!)

The 1991 Grant Burge Mesach was superb.  Frankly, by this point, I was just enjoying the wine and the flathead, and the co-mingled tastes were starting to border on being "over-satiated!"  This is a truly superb wine and if you are a fan of the Henschke Hill of Grace, you will enjoy the Mesach at 20% of the price of the Hill of Grace!  The Mesach is smooth, flavorful and balanced with medium to large tannins.  Having had the 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 vintages of the Mesach, I would go with the 1991 and 1994.  They are superior vintages and still have some cellaring on them, whereas the 1992 and 1993 vintages do not.

To finish off the evening, we had a 2005 Château Haut Bergeron dessert wine to go with the apple strudel.  This is another great example of where the a $35 bottle of wine improves with each year in the cellar.  This is a great, great wine at 1/10th the price of Château D'Yquem, and most people in a side-by-side tasting cannot tell the difference!

What's With Weird Wine Decanters?

I recently wrote a blog entitled "What's in a Glass" which describes the aesthetic beauty and noticeable improvement in the wine drinking experience by using proper glassware.  I am certain for most of us who care even a little bit about improving our drinking experience, that the investment in good glassware is well worth it. 

However, I do not believe that applies to wine decanters.  There is, of course, real aesthetic value in using a decanter that borders on being a piece of art.  Reidel has a great selection of different and unique decanters to be able to choose from, and I was gifted a beautiful Reidel Black Tie Smile decanter for my last birthday which I use to distinguish that special bottle of red, different from all the other 'more common' wines for the evening.

The presence in this decanter says "I am a special wine!"  And I have seen some really over the top decanters which sell in the $4,000 range such as the Etienne Meneau Album Caraffe #5 available from
Top Australian Wines.  This decanter is certainly unique and a conversation starter, but not sure of the practicality of it for decanting - or pouring into a glass!

I know several people have bought these and I expect they are getting great joy from them.  However, I must question how useful they are for decanting when the air - wine interface is so limited.  The whole purpose of decanting is to oxidize the wine and bring it to completion for drinking.  Initially, removing the cork from a bottle will allow some pent up smells to evaporate, and unless it is a very old and fragile wine, further decanting continues to improve it slightly.

While decanting, I love to put some wine immediately into the proper glass and to test it every few minutes to see how quickly it changes during the initial decanting.  I find it interesting as to how for some wines, the change is noticeable and almost immediate, yet for others - for example the 1987 Lindemans Pyrus - the wine needs to sit for 6 - 8 hours or even longer before the process is complete.

The main purpose of decanting is to expose the maximum amount of wine to air for the agreeable amount of time to optimize the wine's flavor and character.  And for this, I find the most traditional wine decanter shape does the job best.

This is the most sensible shape for a decanter, and this one is the Maxwell and Williams Diamante Decanter for $29.95.  I have found this on sale previously for $19.95 at Meyers.  I have about a dozen decanters which come in handy when you are having a larger dinner party with multiple wines, or doing a vertical tasting of multiple wines.  For such an evening, I am glad to have my set of decanters and to have only paid $20 for each one instead of $250 - $700, let alone $4,000!  Again, there are some great decanters out there and some have magnificent character and are aesthetically appealing.  Yet, unlike the glassware from which you are drinking the wine and where the shape of the glass makes a significant difference in taste, a $20 traditional decanter, used as an interim vessel for holding the wine while it mixes with air, is as good or better solution than more expensive decanters available.

I am not trying to steer you away from more expensive decanters, especially if you get joy from the embedded art and aesthetics.  I love using and get great pleasure from my Reidel Black Tie Smile decanter, but to get the job done as well as with any other decanter, you don't need to spend more than $20.

(The decanting  process, what types of wines to decant, and the timings will be discussed more thoroughly in a future posting.) 

A Cloud with a Silver Lining!

The night before last I became sick with a viral infection in my lungs and yesterday it felt like I was ripping my lungs apart every time I coughed.  I have had the shivers and a small head cold also.  I finally went to the doctor this morning and got a script of antibiotics for the bacterial infection that was in my lungs (in addition to the viral infection).  Needless to say, I have been drained of energy, sleeping most of the time, and certainly have not had a desire to drink wine, nor the energy to write about it.

However, like most passions, I found I was really missing both (1) drinking wine, and (2) writing about it.  While I have had a number of topics about which I wanted to write, I just could not get focused enough to turn out a column.  Last weekend, I cranked out four blog postings of some size and complexity to have available for publication during the week.  This weekend's efforts are limited to this one post.

But I found myself constantly thinking about wine, and was able to pull up memories of how different wines tasted.  And that is the silver lining in the cloud!  I realized that even if I am at the point health-wise where I do not have the physical ability to ever enjoy wine again, I will always have memories that I can draw upon to continue to savor the experience.  And a great part of enjoying wine, is not just the tasting but sharing the experience with others!

I recently found out from one of my MW (Master of Wine) friends that we start to lose our palate around the age of 65.  This greatly concerned me as I am 59 and have more wine than I can drink in the next six years!  However, he assured me that the loss of capabilities is minute and really of concern more so for wine judges and 'super tasters.'  For example, James Halliday, the great Australian wine critic is in his mid-70s and still able to perform his avocation at the highest level.

I plan on drinking wine regularly for the next 20 - 30 years (God willing), and hope that my taste buds are up to the task.  However, if they are not, then I am still certain that I will enjoy the experience, but utilizing my memory more than my taste buds!  And it might be a real blessing as I may no longer be able to discern that small, but quite noticeable difference between the 1997 Château D'Yquem (at $300 per half bottle) and the 1998 Château D'Yquem (at $180 per half bottle)!

Another darn risotto and wine post?

Yes!  (But I promise this will be the last one for a while!)

My wife made a very pedestrian, yet delicious bean and bacon risotto the other evening (if you follow the link to her post, you can get the recipe).  We were a bit skeptical about how it would work, but it turned out divine.  Yet, when you pick up a little fat and extra juice from the bacon, you wonder "is there any wine that will go with that?"

The wine needed to be nice, but not overpowering, and this was a situation where many of the wines I would otherwise choose, would fit in that category - they would have dominating and minimized the risotto.  I needed to open a red wine to be used in the cooking process, and figured that the wine I choose would have to work for that (pretty much most wines - even ones well past there peak do!) and for serving with the risotto.

The 2006 Gabbiano Riserva was a great match and the blending of the food and wine were perfectly balanced.   

Wine Texture is a big part of of how I perceive how good a wine is, especially when served with food. 

A wine can range from tepid (usually a very old wine or a poorly made wine in the first place with poor grape selection) to smooth (like some beautifully aged Pinot Noirs or Cabernet Savignons) to having a bit of friction on your cheeks (usually from the tannins in a wine built to last a long time, but where the tannins are not completely integrated yet), to gritty (where the tannins are big and far from integrated).  A good example of a superb, yet 'gritty' wine was the 2006 Seppelts we had with lasagna.  Both the food and wine were gritty and matched beautifully.  I needed to accomplish the same with matching a wine to the bean and bacon risotto.

I needed a wine for the bean and bacon risotto which was smooth, yet still possessed some character and fruitiness, and would still compliment the bit of fat and extra juice.  The 2006 Gabbiano Riserva was a perfect match.  Like Goldilock's, "not too big and not two small, but just right!"

1988 Lindeman's Verdelhao - one of the best white wines I have ever drunk

"Yes", that's correct - Lindemans' spelled "Verdelhao"  that way back in 1988.  Most Verdelhos will not last more than several years in the cellar.  But somehow we got our hands on two bottles of this great wine back in 2006, and had one in 2008 which I remember as being superb.  This Verdelho was definitely built to last!

Our friends, Owen and Lucie, recently got engaged and we have been looking for a time to have a great meal together, which is far too infrequently, and our next meeting for dinner was scheduled for 1 September!  But a class they were scheduled for over the weekend was canceled and we happen to be free which provided the opportunity to get together this last weekend, and we jumped at it.

They wanted to treat us to a meal at their house because we had recently given them a bread maker we were no longer using.  Owen and Lucie are really nice people, great cooks and have a great palate for good wine.  Therefore, it is always a pleasure to share a meal and wine with them and I put 'extra' effort into selecting wines we can drink together.

Owen really wanted to provide the wines that evening and we were going to just bring a bottle of the 1998 Pommeray Louise Champagne as a celebration of their recent engagement.  This is one of the world's best Champagnes and the celebration was worthy of such a fine wine.  And I was glad to have an easy time of it, by selecting a great wine to match the celebration, not the meal - that would be Owen's job that night!

However, Owen called me in the afternoon, and informed me that we would be having a very slightly seared tuna steak with guacamole and chili (which could be added in for taste) followed by a fried lightly battered flathead fish.  He had some great reds picked out (which I will describe in another post as to how well they went with the tuna and flathead!), but wanted to start with a white for the cheese platter before the meal, and have an option of a white with the fish if we so wanted that choice instead of the reds.

I had to put on my thinking hat and see what I could come up with.  It would have been very easy to pick out a good Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon / Sauvignon Blanc blend, but there is nothing special in either of those choices.

Fortunately, I came across my last bottle of the 1988 Lindemans Hunter Valley Verdelhao.  I knew this would be a magnificent treat regardless of what food we matched it up with, assuming the bottle was still good.  I had been keeping it stored for the last four years between 2 - 6 degrees Celsius and ready for drink instead of the normal 14 degree Celsius of my cellar.  I believe this helped 'save' the wine as it maturation process would have slowed to a trickle.  Also, knowing the cork was almost 25 years old, I found a back-up bottle (1999 Moss Wood Semillon) if needed, and brought along my Ah So cork screw.  The Ah So cork screw is about the only way to get old cork out of an old bottle.  It is designed to be able to get old and soggy corks out of the bottle, but you still need to be careful and use only a small amount of pressure when putting the Ah So around the cork.  I have had several incidents where the cork has been pushed into the bottle when not careful.

As delicate as I tried to be, the cork broke half-way through.  Fortunately the cork did not appear compromised, just weak and soggy.  Then I had the issue of not being able to secure the bottom half of the cork without pushing it into the bottle.  It was not my intent to filter or aerate the wine since the structure of a 25-year-old wine is fragile at best.  However, at this point, we decided to do that with a slightly larger mesh which was able to remove any cork from the wine without causing too much damage to the little remaining structure.  To stop the cork in the bottle from catching in the neck and slowing or stopping the flow of the wine when pouring, I used a chopstick to hold the cork away from the neck, a method that works really well if you ever find yourself in that situation.

I was certainly excited to find when pouring the wine into the decanter that it had a rich, golden hue to it, without any indication of a brownish or other "off" color which means the wine is past its best drinking period.  And once I brought the decanter to my nose, I knew we had struck "liquid gold!"

Starting off the evening with this bottle of wine set the stage for everything that followed - it was a magnificent evening and meal overall.  The wine was huge and robust with great flavors of mandarin and tangerine, and a texture which seemed to float over the tongue.  Just holding the wine in my mouth was a thrill, experiencing everything the wine had to offer.

I have drunk a lot of wine in my time, but this would have to be in my Top 3 white wines ever along with the 1971 Chateau D'Yquem and the 1991 Lindemans Sauvignon Blanc.

My Top 3 viewed wine posts and how social media shaped their success

There are three blog posts which have generated almost double the views of my other 40 or so posts.  These being:

• Why I think Château D'Yquem is the best wine in the world
• What's in a glass?
• Wyndham Estate Wine and Chocolate Masterclass

Surprisingly, the post on Wyndham Estate Wine and Chocolate Masterclass is the oldest post of the three, but still generating regular viewing.  This may be because it is linked to and visible from the Wyndham Estate Facebook page.

Wyndham Estate

The Why I think Château D'Yquem is the best wine in the world post was far in the lead until recently.  And the post on What's in a glass? seems to have the most lasting educational value and has been shared around more than other posts.

Each post is currently within two views of each other.  It is interesting to see how and when people view different posts and try to understand "why?".  I was surprised to find out that almost half of the more recent views being directed to SAZ in the Cellar come from the "Stumble Upon" website, more so than from Network Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

There are a lot of fascinating principles underpinning the success of social media and I am just starting to figure out some of them and also to be surprised by and learn from others!

The perfect wine with Lasagne

A few weeks ago, my bride made lasagne for the first time and it was brilliant!  Usually, I don't post pictures of her food as the link will take you to the photo, but I needed to this time as it was just brilliant!  Every time I look at it, I get hungry!

I mean, "how good is that?"  Of course, I still needed to decide what wine to drink with it.  A safe choice would have been Chianti, the light Italian wine made from the Sangiovese grape.  Another easy, choice could have been a Cabernet Sauvignon.  But I had a concern that with the richness I knew my bride was putting into the bechamel sauce in particular, that a Chianti or Cabernet Sauvignon might be a bland choice and not stand up to the lasagne.  The lasagne was going to be heavy, meaty, spicy and deserving of a big wine to match, but not so big a wine as to overpower it.

I thought a Shiraz might be a decent, yet not perfect match, but a bold and potentially good choice.  Shiraz is often highly influenced by it's terroir, and I love some of the great Victorian Shiraz' for that reason.  However, I was concerned that a refined, delicate Shiraz would not be sufficient, and that some of the more robust aged Shiraz' could be overpowering.

When I started to think about the lasagne and reviewed my bride's recipe, I knew the lasagne was going to be very flavorful, have a lot of different tastes blended together with a bit of hot spice (we add chili to almost everything!), and have some crispiness in the baked pasta slices to give it a munchie and grittier texture to it.  But this would be interlaced with layers of a rich bechamel sauce also.  Therefore, I did not want a wine that was overly complex and mature, or one that was too elegant.  I needed a wine I could chew on!  One with lots of big tannins - but not completely integrated yet.  A wine that had great flavor with both fruity and spicy tastes.

As I thought through my cellar (yes, I am sufficiently aware of the contents and placement to be able to do that in my mind!), I eliminated wine after wine, and then settled onto the 2006 Seppelt's St Peters Shiraz.  Year-in, year-out, this is an amazing Shiraz, but the 2006 was particularly good.  The first time I tried it was at the end of ten days of heavy wine tasting and frankly my palate was destroyed.  I think I had the tannins of the last several days affixed to the inside of my cheeks and could not pick up on how beautiful a wine this was.  My lovely bride though insisted we buy some, but I only got six bottles.  However, a couple of months later and with a restored and workable palate, I tasted it again and realized what a truly unique and wonderful wine this was.  And as Treasury Wine Estates was trying to rationalize their inventory, I was able to pick up another 18 bottles at a really good price!

When eating the lasagne and drinking the wine, they provided a perfect combination in my mouth.  As I state at the end of my blog on "Wine with Risotto", a perfect match of food and wine is when both are fighting for primary attention, but neither wins.  And that is what we achieved with my bride's lasagna and the 2006 Seppelt's St Peter Shiraz.

I am so lucky to have a wife who loves to cook and provides me both the pleasure of her cooking and the pleasure of choosing wines to match.  Thank you and love you hon (and you too Seppelt)!

Selling Wine - it's a tough market but still possible!

I have accumulated far too much wine over the last decade.  The pleasure of 'securing' some amount of great wine was alluring and I felt it difficult to pass on really good deals.  Especially after having been denied access to good wines, good choice, and good value when living in Qatar, I came back to Australia very excited (probably too excited!) and was presented with a plethora of great choices.

About six months ago, I had finally inventoried all of my wine and realized I had way, way too much!  I looked at several options for selling wine.  I looked at Langton's as a method of selling off a lot of wine, but did not like their service or attitude, and especially did not like the prices and low clearance rates they were getting.  One reason for the lack of sales I believe is they charge exorbitant fees to both the seller and buyer!  While they have previously represented a premier brand for buying and selling wines in an appreciating market, I am not sure their model is all that successful in today's marketplace.

We keep a cellar (two actually and it is expensive which is why I want to sell off a lot to get back into one cellar) at Wine-Ark.  I love the service there, meeting other wine collectors and the attitude and service from the local staff in Chatswood, NSW where we store our wine.  We put 60 bottles up on their Wine Exchange though and in six months, have had only one sale of four bottles!  Things just aren't moving.

I then decided to take things into my own hands and did an email distribution and put up some posters advertising wine for sale.  Through this process, I sold off about 500 bottles, plus about 5 bottles of the 150 year old Grand Mariner.  This worked quite well, and I got decent prices (considering the market), but only addressed a limited potential following.

However, through the benefits of social media, over the last year, I have developed a good relationship with Mark Wickman, another real fan of wine and owner of Wickman's Fine Wine Auctions.  (This is a link to Wickman's FaceBook page.  His website where all the action occurs is Wickman's Fine Wine Auction website.)  I have been monitoring Mark's monthly auctions and have been impressed by the manner in which it is conducted, and especially his clearance rates.  There are several reasons I believe Mark does so well, one being that he charges far less commission on selling his wine than other wine auction houses, and another is that he is a really helpful and nice guy.  He is always willing to take the time to share his knowledge about wine.  Mark also now has a YouTube channel WickWineAuction where he shares a lot of his wine knowledge.

Mark is also realistic about establishing the right price point for the wine and ensuring that both the buyer and seller are happy with the transaction.  It is a terrible market for selling wine these days.  Most of us have too much debt, the global financial crisis continues to take a bit bite out of everyone, massive job lay-offs in investment banking and other industries have far too many people 'dumping' wine to turn what they can into cash.  It is important if you want to sell off some of your wine, you need to be realistic regarding the price you can get for it.  However, Langton's and others have not seemed to adjusted for this and their customers are suffering for it.

I have been researching different channels to sell my wine and am now sending a palette of wine to Mark to auction off for me over the next couple of months.  I have been monitoring his results and also have checked him out in the industry and found he is both a very likable and high integrity individual.  He also goes to extremes to ensure the provenance of his wine which is really important.  I bought three bottles of the 1992 Grant Burge Mesach from another wine auction house only to find the bottles were not stored properly and hardly worth what I paid for them.

If you are buying or selling wine, check out Wickman's Fine Wine Auctions!  I have looked at and used a number of channels for selling wine and believe Wickman's is the best!  Possible ways of selling off wine include:

• Using Wickman's Fine Wine Auctions
• Using another wine auction such as Langton's
• Use Wine-Ark Wine Exchange
• Selling though want ads, listings, etc.
• Trading wine or bartering other goods

It is a tough market to move wine, but Wickman's I believe is one of the best ways to do so.

[Note:  Like all of my recommendations and criticisms of people and products in the wine industry, I have no commercial relationship to any of them, including Wickman's.  I am just sharing my experiences and likes / dislikes with others who may be interested.]

Wine with Risotto

One of the things I love about risottos is that (like curries) there are so many different ways to make and flavor risotto.  My wife also has a method for making risotto now using the Thermomix, that produces a great risotto in 20 minutes instead of the hour it was taking before, using more traditional methods.

While this is not a blog on making risotto, I am going to take a minute to cover off making risotto the traditional way versus using the Thermomix as I did not believe risotto made in a Thermomix could be nearly as good, but it is.  It did take her several trials to get it right in terms of exact timing and amount of ingredients to put in and some risottos work better in the Thermomix than others.  However, for the working couple who does not have the time upon returning home from work later in the evening, using the Thermomix to prepare a mid-week risotto meal is a real treat!

You can look to my bride's blog "DAZ in the Kitchen" to find out more on her risotto recipes and making them the traditional way and with the Thermomix.  Now back to the question of "which wine goes best with which risotto?"

One of the basic principles I try to follow when selecting a wine to go with food is to ensure that the wine and food are "in balance."

What does this mean?  For me, it means that neither the food nor the wine overpowers the other nor minimizes the other's role in the meal.  If food is smooth or creamy, then the wine (usually) should be also; if the food is more gritty (like lasagna), then the wine should be more gritty (have more tannins, be unfiltered, etc.) like the 2006 St Peter's Shiraz I recently had with a good meat lasagna;  if the food is complex with many ingredients, the wine should be complex (usually this means more time in the bottle); if the wine has some sharp tastes (sometimes with fish or seafood for example), then the wine should have a bit of an edge to it also.  There are entire books written on this subject, but hopefully you get the idea.

Risotto becomes creamier in texture as it is cooked and creates a bit of sauce to go with it.  We often make a chicken and mushroom risotto using white chicken meat and button mushrooms.  I have found that a medium-bodied Chardonnay goes well with it.  I would recommend something like the 2009 or 2011 Two Rivers Reserve Chardonnay.  While there are certainly many different Chardonnays in this category that would work, the Two Rivers is simply one of the very best Chardonnays you can get for the money.  I would recommend it over all others for this type of risotto.

But if the risotto is made with a combination of white and dark chicken meat or dark meat only and you are using multiple types of mushrooms, such as portabella and shiitake, or you are mixing in a bit of truffle oil, then I would use a more aged and complex Chardonnay.  Chardonnays in this league would include the Penfold's Yattarna, the 2000 Waverly Estate Chardonnay, or even a Puligny or Chassagne Montrachet.  But note these wines are three to ten time more expensive than the Two Rivers, which would still go very nicely with a more complex chicken and mushroom risotto!

Last night I tried the 2009 Pepper Tree Pinot Gris with the chicken and mushroom risotto and it did not match as well as the Chardonnays I have had with the dish previously, but I believe it was the particular Pinot Gris.  I think a true Italian Pinot Gris such as the 2010 Jermann (which is a far better Pinot Grigio on its own!) would have matched beautifully as it is a bit smoother, yet much more intense and flavorful than the Pepper Tree.

However, the Pepper Tree, being a bit more bland and metallic, would have gone very nicely with a (non-spicy) pumpkin risotto, which is something I plan to verify the next time we make a pumpkin risotto.

My bride also makes a magnificent prawn and gorgonzola cheese risotto, with both the prawn and cheese bringing out a more metallic and sharper taste than the chicken and mushroom risotto.  Therefore, I match up a nice Riesling with that risotto.  I would recommend the 2009 Hugel Alsace Riesling or any good Riesling from the Clare or Eden Valley in South Australia.  There are so many good Rieslings in the $15 - $30 range that would go well with the prawn and gorgonzola risotto.

The important thing again is "balance".  Had I matched the Riesling with the chicken and mushroom risotto, the Riesling would have overwhelmed the risotto and had I matched the Chardonnay with the prawn and gorgonzola risotta, the wine would have been overpowered by the food.

When eating and drinking wine, if either the food or wine is dominant, then you have made a poor choice in the matching, but if both are in balance and blending nicely together, then you have made good choice.  And if they are competing back and forth without either one winning, then you have made the perfect choice!

The Many Faces of Semillon - Part 2: Museum-Released and Aged Semillons

In my post entitled Overview of Australia's Wine Regions - Part 3 where I described the Characteristics and Grapes of Australia's Larger Wine Regions, I extol the unique and symbiotic relationship between The Hunter Valley and the Semillon grape.
 
Hunter Semillons are un-paralled anywhere in the world.  A multitude of Hunter wineries make great, great Semillons, in three styles which really relate to their age in the bottle and when they are released.  They are:

• Crisp, new Semillons a year or two in the bottle
• Semillons stored for 5 years before being released
• "Museum" Semillons being bottled and stored 10 years before being released 

The discussion of young and medium-aged Semillons is covered in the previous post "The Many Faces of Semillon:  Part 1 - Young and Medium-Aged Semillons".  In Part 2, we will now discuss the beauty of Museum-Released and Aged Semillons.

While I like my young and medium-aged Semillons, "museum-released" and aged (10 years or older) Semillons are in a class by themselves.  The older Semillons can still have a bit of acid, but have soften considerably, and developed a complexity and balance of tastes which is ethereal in experience.  The golden color, followed by nosing such a wine (I actually use Riedel Montrachet glasses instead of the Riedel Semillon / Riesling glassware for my truly aged Semillons.  See recent post on "What's in a Glass?") and flavors in your mouth provide one of life's most precious pleasures!

I find an aged Semillon is best matched by scallops, either fried in butter, or made into a scallop boudin.  The food needs to have some richness to balance the richness of the aged Semillon.

My favorite three Museum Semillons are the 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1, the 1999 Meerea Park Alexander Munro, but top of the list is the 1990 Waverley Estate Semillon, their second vintage.  Unfortunately, there is no more to be found and I have only two bottles of the 1990 Waverley Estate left in my cellar.  However, the 1992 and 1996 Waverly Estate Semillons are magnificent also, and the 1998 and 2000 vintages are coming into their own.

I have done a tasting of the 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1, the 1999 Meerea Park Alexander Munro, and the 1999 Waverley Estate Semillons and it was difficult to pick a winner.  Each was truly outstanding in its own right.

A 10 - 20 year old Semillon can be truly magnificent.  The only problem is that there is some variability in the taste caused by difference in cork.  I had to pour a 1994 Waverley Estate down the drain because of a poor cork.  They have been good and always replaced a bad bottle for me, but is can still be a disappointment when you have had one great bottle and open a second one of the same vintage to find a small and discernible difference.  That is why I am a fan of moving from cork to screw-top.

As so often is the case when researching material for a post, I came across something already written which does a good job of describing what I wanted to say.  A review of the Semillon grape from Wine Knowledge is worth a read and entirely matches my view on Semillon.

I have not recommended any Semillons from regions other than the Hunter Valley.  There are certainly some great Semillons produced in Margaret River and the Barasso Valley, and certainly some magnificent Semillons produced in the Sauternes and Barsac regions in France, but my deeper knowledge and appreciation of Hunter Valley Semillons makes me favor the Semillons from that region over all others.  My only exception to that would be the great dessert wines made from Botrytis Semillon from Sauternes such as Chataeu D'Yquem.  (See my post on "Why I think Chauteau D'Yquem is the Best Wine in the World", my most-viewed post of all time!)

The Many Faces of Semillon - Part 1: Young and Medium-Aged Semillons

In my post entitled Overview of Australia's Wine Regions - Part 3 where I described the Characteristics and Grapes of Australia's Larger Wine Regions, I extol the unique and symbiotic relationship between The Hunter Valley and the Semillon grape.
 
Hunter Semillons are un-paralled anywhere in the world.  A multitude of Hunter wineries make great, great Semillons, in three styles which really relate to their age in the bottle and when they are released.  They are:

• Crisp, new Semillons a year or two in the bottle
• Semillons stored for 5 years before being released
• "Museum" Semillons being bottled and stored 10 years before being released 

Because of the many different faces and tastes of Semillon, it has a multitude of uses.  It can be enjoyed on its own, with cheese and crackers, with Indian or Thai food, with eggs such as when serving an omelet or fritatta (one of the reasons I think of Semillon as the ultimate breakfast wine!), a Tandoori chicken pizza, or many other foods.  I also find when you need that 100 ml of white wine for cooking that Semillon fuses beautifully and enhances, but does not overpower the food with which it is blended.  My bride has a number of recipes in her great blog DAZ in the Kitchen where wine is required to cook the perfect meal.

But the real question is "Which age Semillon goes best with what type of food?"  With sharp cheeses such as a Blue Cheese or a Gorgonzola (which my bride uses when making a prawn Risotto and is outstanding!) demands a newer and crisper, more acidic Semillon.  I personally would almost always rather drink an aged or Museum-released Semillon.  However, with a sharp cheese and when a bit of acid is required, you should try a younger Semillon.  I have found two younger Semillons that in my opinion stand out (the rest are just not that interesting yet).  They are the Andrew Thomas Braemore Semillon and the Tyrrell's Johnno Semillon.

Andrew Thomas is one of finest wine makers in the Hunter Valley, if not one of the finest in the world.  And he is a really nice guy also!  I have had the pleasure of sitting next to him at a degustation affair with matching wines a few years back, and others have told me how pleasurable he was to meet and talk to when watching sport in a bar!  A great guy making great wine!

I have been surprised to to learn after buying some excellent Shiraz' such as the 1998 Tyrrell's Vat 9 Shiraz and the 2007 Pokolbin Estate Shiraz, that Andrew was the wine maker for both of those wines.  But that is a topic for another post.  Back to Semillon.

I have had the 2009 Braemore and it is brilliant.  Crisp, a touch of acid and a bit of lemon flavor.  Many young Semillons taste flat to me, but the 2009 Braemore is ripe with flavor.

The Tyrrells' Johnno is the other young Semillon I enjoy.  I have had the 2010 and 2011 vintages and both are exceptional.  It is a bit more edgy and acidic than the Braemore in my opinion, even though Tyrrell's positions it as a smoother type of Semillon.  However, it is a most enjoyable drink when you need to pick a Semillon right from the bottle shop.

I really start to enjoy my Semillons though when they have 5 or more years in the bottle.  They become less acidic (even thought many still have a lot of acid and a lot of life in them yet!) and more complex.  Both the Thomas Braemore and the Tyrrell's Johnno Semillons are worth keeping in the bottle for a few years if you have the discipline and patience!

There are almost too many good Hunter Valley Semillons to mention here, but for me, the top class includes the Tyrrels Vat 1 (especially the 2005 vintage), The Meerea Park Alexander Munro and Meerea Park Teracotta Semillons (anywhere from the 2004 - 2006 vintages), The 2005 Brokenwood ILR (I was fortunate to pick up the last 9 bottles at the cellar door a little while back), the 2004 Lindemans Semillon and the 2004 Thomas Braemore.  I am sure I have left some great wines off this list, but I can attest the wines I mentioned within are truly outstanding medium-aged Semillons.

These "medium-aged" Semillons go really well with egg dishes.  I had about a third of a bottle of the 2004 Meerea Park Teracotta left over one Sunday morning and heated up some leftover quiche for a late breakfast at about 11 am and a glass of the Semillon to go with it.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  Since I rarely drink in the morning, my bride and I now look for reasons to make egg dishes (such as a Salmon Fritatta or Quiche Lorraine) so we have the excuse to drink a medium-aged Semillon with dinner!  I also like my medium-aged Semillons with Indian and Thai food.

As so often is the case when researching material for a post, I came across something already written which does a good job of describing what I wanted to say.  A review of the Semillon grape from Wine Knowledge is worth a read and entirely matches my view on Semillon.

I have not recommended any Semillons from regions other than the Hunter Valley.  There are certainly some great Semillons produced in Margaret River and the Barasso Valley, and certainly some magnificent Semillons produced in the Sauternes and Barsac regions in France, but my deeper knowledge and appreciation of Hunter Valley Semillons makes me favor the Semillons from that region over all others.  My only exception to that would be the great dessert wines made from Botrytis Semillon from Sauternes such as Chataeu D'Yquem.  (See my post on "Why I think Chauteau D'Yquem is the Best Wine in the World", my most-viewed post of all time!)

Drinking Responsibly and Getting Your RSA

I have been thinking about writing a cheeky little entry on Breakfast Wines, but wanted to make sure everyone understood that I do not advocate nor do I drink wine or other alcohol in the early morning myself!  However, there are some wines that match up beautifully with all-day breakfast menus which are worth mentioning, so that blog is soon to follow.

But first, I wanted to discuss responsible drinking behaviors.  Whenever I host a dinner party or an evening out - among friends or with business associates - I alway alert people to the need to monitor themselves and each other to ensure we are drinking responsibly and will get get home safely.  A number of RSLs and other restaurants in Australia now have free Breathalyser machines so you can check your alcohol levels before leaving the venue and help decide if you are able to drive or should catch a ride from a friend or grab a taxi home.  I applaud them for that!

Providing this type of awareness is even more important if you are hosting a wine tasting evening with multiple bottles of wine to try.  We provide spit buckets, so you do not have to swallow everything you put in your mouth.  However, many people do not believe in the this, and feel they are wasting good wine by spitting it out!  (There is some truth in that, but if you are going to sample 10 - 20 different wines, some maybe several times, there could be a danger in swallowing it all!)  Therefore, we start every session with a warning of the perils of imbibing too much and some tips on being a socially responsible drinker.

And especially for your loved ones and even if you are at home and not driving, you should be drinking responsibly, or accidents can happen!

We plan in advance our travel based on how much we think we are going to drink.  If at all possible, I like to eat and drink at home, or go to one of the BYO restaurants down Kent Street from where we live such as Fish on the Rocks or Curry at the Rocks.  Both allow BYO wine (and serve a decent selection of wines and other beverages).  Then I can walk to the restaurant and back.  Same if I am visiting my favorite steak house, The Cut Bar & Grill.

But one of my favorite new restaurants is HUX @ Nortons, run by Jay Huxley, Masterchef finalist from last season and he does the most amazing pub food in the world!   Since it is further away and the train is not easy to use to get there, we either drive over and I will have one drink and drive home.  Or if I have two or more, then Deanna drives home.  Or if we both know we want a few, we will walk over (about a 75 minute walk) to get some exercise and then take a taxi home.  Regardless, a trip to HUX is always worth it!

Minimally, if you plan on doing wine tastings for sale, working at some wine events with friends, or occasionally helping out in a cellar door, in Australia, you need to acquire your RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) certificate and card.  This is required training for anyone in the field.  We are going to get ours very soon.  We signed up for a class last year at our vineyard, but it was canceled unfortunately.

In NSW, it was previously required that you attend a 6-hour (basically give up a day!) classroom course to get your certificate which was an impediment for us as busy as we have been during the last year.  But now, with the new legislation that came into effect on 1 July, 2012, you can take an on-line course to qualify for your RSA.  There are a lot of different places now to get your RSA, so check out what the best approach is for you.  We are going to take one of the on-line courses, but you may want to take it in person and use the opportunity to socialize and network with others

I provide links above for both an on-line course and an in-person course, but am not recommending them over any other course.  I have not attended or heard good or bad about either of them or any others.  Most courses cost between $50 - $150, but I expect there is very little difference in course content or value.

I highly recommend that everyone take their RSA to ensure you know the basics of responsible drinking and service of alcohol, regardless if you want to work in the field or not.  And now, that I have that off my chest, I can write the blog on breakfast wines that I have been dying to get out there!

What's in a glass?

I love my drinking experiences, regardless if it's wine, coffee or tea, and the glass makes all the difference.  The wrong glass with a great wine can choke it in terms of diminishing it's bouquet, or splashing the wine to the wrong place on your tongue.  Why is this important?  For starters, the tongue location differs in terms of being  able to sense sweet, bitter, acidic tastes.  In general:

• The tip of the tongue detects sweetness
• The inner sides of the tongue detect sourness and / or acidity
• The outer sides of the tongue detect saltiness
• The back of the tongue detects bitterness and / or alcohol

I lifted this from a post in What's Cooking America on tasting wine, which provides a simple, yet very good overview on the topic.

It was about ten years ago when I walked into a bottle shop to pick up some decent Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.  When checking out, I was approached by one of the bottle shop clerks to ask if I would like to sample some wines from different Riedel glasses.  My immediate reaction was "Leave me alone!  I am spending my money where it is most important - on the wine!"  He was quite confident that I would be able to discern a noticeable difference due to the glass, so I decided to take the challenge, if nothing else, just to prove him wrong!

I tried the Cabernet Sauvignon in the Shiraz glass and the Shiraz in the Cabernet Sauvignon glass and then switched them around.  My cursing was audible as I could definitely smell the difference and the enjoyment factor was enhanced when having the right wine being 'nosed' in the right glass.  Then I tasted each combination and was sold.  The reason for the cursing was that I knew I would be shelling about $400 for Riedel glasses (my first set of many!)  But make no mistake, for someone who loves their wine, you can tell the difference and it does enhance the drinking experience.  And aesthetically, the beauty of looking at and holding a perfectly balanced glass adds further to the pleasure!

For a great blog on what Riedel glass to drink with what wine, see the blog Confessions of a Wino by Alastair Bathgate The post provides very useful information on which range to select and what glasses within the range to select.  I agree entirely with  Confessions of a Wino's assessment that the best style to pick from is the Vinum.  I also agree with his basic selection glass types as being suitable to cover most wines in your cellar.  However, for me, with the amount of great Australian Shiraz I drink, I need to have the Riedel Vinum Shiraz glass also, and I have the Riedel Vintage Port glass for the occasional port when late night reading.  But Alistair is absolutely correct in that you can go overboard if not careful.  Each Riedel glass is between $25 and $40 in the Vinum range and higher for the Sommelier range.

Why does the shape of the glass make a difference?  The first reason is the shape (overall size of the globe and opening at the top) influences the concentration of bouquet as you 'nose' the wine.  This is an important initial part of the wine drinking pleasure.  And secondly, the shape and diameter of the globe and the tightness or wideness of the opening determines where the wine is most likely to end up on your tongue and in your mouth.  As mentioned above, this can have a huge impact on the tasting experience and what types of flavors you are experiencing.

I also have a set of the O Riedel glasses which are the same shape globes, but without the stems for easier transport.  I avoided getting these for a long time as I did not find stemless glasses to be aesthetically pleasing.  But after too many bad restaurant experiences (regardless if it was a BYO or not) which did not have proper wine glasses, I felt compelled to bring my own.  I am really glad I do now, but you need to be careful when picking up the Pinot Noir and Montrachet glasses as they are very wide and difficult to hold onto to, especially after a bit to drink!

But it is not just my wine drinking that is influenced by great glassware.  My coffee drinking also benefits from it.  There is one large difference though between wine and coffee for me.  I do not drink wine to get drunk.  I drink wine for the flavor and the manner in which it enhances an eating and social experience. While I also drink coffee for the taste and pleasure, I additionally drink it for the caffeine and 'perk-me-up!'  Therefore, I can really enjoy my first coffee of the day even if it is in a cardboard or Styrofoam cup!  Yet, if I am making it at home or work (which I usually do 95% of the time), I use glasses made by Nespresso Citiz.

The Nespresso Citiz glasses cost quite a bit.  The "Lungo" glass viewed to the right costs about $18.  The "Expresso" size is a little less and the "Latte" size a little more.  Yet, this is not much for something I use several times most days of the year!

The glasses are double insulated, keeping the coffee hot while protecting my hands from getting warm.  Additionally, the beauty of seeing the coffee parabolically shaped adds significantly to the aesthetic experience.

Bodum makes a line of see-through glassware similar to Citiz, and at about one-third the price, but they are not as nice in terms of balance and feeling when being held, and have a plainer design and etching.  Yet, they still provide a beautiful see-through experience and have double insulation.

My glassware is worth it in terms of enhancing my drinking experiences, and I would not do without!  If you plan to spend money on good wine and good coffee, spend a little extra on good glassware.  It is most definitely worth it!

Overview of Australia's Wine Regions - Part 4

Part 4 - Characteristics and Grapes of Australia's Smaller Wine Regions

In Part 1, we discussed why Australia has become a renown wine producing country, and that all states and territories other than the Northern Territories and Queensland produce high quality wines.   In Part 2, we described where Australia's prominent wine regions were located.

Discussing, even in simplest terms, each region, takes up some space, so I broke the wine regions up into the four large wine regions which I described in Part 3 (last  post):

• Hunter Valley - about two hours north of Sydney, New South Wales
  
• Barossa Valley - just north of Adelaide, South Australia with close-by regions of Clare and Eden Valley, and with McLaren Vale south of Adelaide
• Yarra Valley - about an hour north of Melbourne, with close-by regions including Mornington Peninsula and Geelong, south of Melbourne, and Heathcote, Victoria northwest of Melbourne and on the way to Bendigo, Victoria
• Margaret River - about 4 hours south of Perth, Western Australia

In Part 4 (this post), we will now describe what makes each smaller region so special and what grapes grow best in those regions:

• Rutherglen - about half-way between Sydney and Melbourne, close to the New South Wales and Victorian border and the cities of Albury and Wodonga
• Mudgee, NSW - about 4 hours northwest of Sydney, with some wineries relatively close by around Orange
• Tasmania
• Riverina - in southwest New South Wales

Rutherglen:

Rutherglen is one of the best wine regions in the world for Muscat.  They make a wide variety of great Muscats.  They also are known for their Durif wines.  Durif is a secondary grape, easy to confuse with other red grapes if you have not had it before.  They also make some spectacular Tokays, the Hungarian grape often used as a dessert wine.  See me blog entry on "What an Affogado!" for an overview on how special a Rutherglen Tokay can be!

I have not been there yet myself, but friends tell me it is a very nice region to visit with a lot of good food events and sightseeing outside of just tasting wine.

Rutherglen Top Wines:  Durif, Muscat, Tokay


Mudgee:

Mudgee is much higher up and inland than a lot of wine regions, making a perfect climate for cold weather grapes.  Robert Oakley has some of his best vineyards in Mudgee.  Mudgee vineyards also ship a lot of grapes to wineries around Australia.

Some very good Cabernet Sauvignons come from Mudgee and a number of organic wines are made in Mudgee.

But Mudgee is mostly known for its dessert wines and iced wines.  They have a lot of sweet late harvest and Botrytis Semillon dessert wines.

While 4 hours outside of Sydney, it can make a nice weekend getaway.

Mudgee Top Wines:  Cabernet Sauvignon, Botrytis Semillon and other Desert Wines


Tasmania:

Tasmania is a significant newer entrant to Australian wine regions.  With its cooler climate, it produces great Pinot Noir wines.

Tasmania Top Wines:  Pinot Noir


Riverina:

Riverina is not known for its great wines, but rather as the largest producer of wines in Australia.  About half of all Australian grapes come from Riverina, and many of them find there way into cask (box) wines.  Decent enough and very cheap, but not the type of thing I like to drink or write about.

Riverina Top Wines:  Cheap Cask Wines


This concludes the very short four-part overview of Australia's wine regions.  I will be following up with several blogs on where and how to buy wines in Australia and also with blogs in more detail on each of the major wine regions, including recommendations on some of the best and best-valued wines on the market.

Stay tuned and keep drinking smartly and safely!

Overview of Australia's Wine Regions - Part 3

Part 3 - Characteristics and Grapes of Australia's Larger Wine Regions

In Part 1, we discussed some of the reasons why Australia has become a renown wine producing country, and that all states and territories other than the Northern Territories and Queensland produce high quality wines.   In Part 2, we described where Australia's prominent wine regions were located.

Discussing, even in simplest terms, each region, takes up some space, so I am breaking the wine regions up into the four large wine regions which I describe in Part 3 (this post):

• Hunter Valley - about two hours north of Sydney, New South Wales
  
• Barossa Valley - just north of Adelaide, South Australia with close-by regions of Clare and Eden Valley, and with McLaren Vale south of Adelaide
• Yarra Valley - about an hour north of Melbourne, with close-by regions including Mornington Peninsula and Geelong, south of Melbourne, and Heathcote, Victoria northwest of Melbourne and on the way to Bendigo, Victoria
• Margaret River - about 4 hours south of Perth, Western Australia

In Part 4 (next post), we will then describe what makes each smaller region so special and what grapes grow best in those regions:

• Rutherglen - about half-way between Sydney and Melbourne, close to the New South Wales and Victorian border and the cities of Albury and Wodonga
• Mudgee, NSW - about 4 hours northwest of Sydney, with some wineries relatively close by around Orange
• Tasmania
• Riverina - in southwest New South Wales

Hunter Valley:

The Hunter Valley is divided into the Lower Hunter and the Upper Hunter.  However, the Upper Hunter only has four cellar doors remaining, and a number of vineyards that produce and sell grapes. The Lower Hunter is where the action is.  There are about 150 wineries in the Lower Hunter.  The Hunter Valley is close to the ocean, but not right on top of it, so it gets some good breezes, decent rainfall (some years far too much rain fall!), and has some great soil conditions.  The best known grapes in  the Hunter Valley are Semillon, Shiraz and Chardonnay.

Hunter Semillons are un-paralled anywhere in the world.  A multitude of Hunter wineries make great, great Semillons, in three styles which really relate to their age in the bottle and when they are released.  They are:

• Crisp, new Semillons a year or two in the bottle
• Semillons stored for 5 years before being released
• "Museum" Semillons being bottled and stored 10 years before being released

The Shiraz of The Hunter Valley tends to be more spicy than fruity often described with labels as "peppery", "smokey", "leathery".  Hunter Shiraz's also tend to contain slightly less alcohol and is more refined than the Shiraz of Barossa Valley, by comparison.  I would consider the Hunter Shiraz' to compare with "old world" style Hermitage.

I have recently become a real fan of Hunter Valley Chardonnays and believe both the lighter crisper Chardonnays and the aged Chardonnays of the Hunter are as good as any in Australia now.

Hunter Valley Top Wines:  Semillon, Shiraz, Chardonnay


Barossa Valley:

The Barossa Valley is often labeled as Australia's "Best Wine Region", even though I am sure many wine producers from other regions would deny that claim!  However, the Barossa Valley has a lot going for it which justifies that label.  They produce great grapes, have a variety of micro-climates and regions, variety of elevations, and some of the best wine labels in Australia, including Penfolds, Henschke, and Grosset among many others.

The Barossa is known for big, robust, fruity, Shiraz, often high in alcohol.  It is also know for superb Rieslings, especially in the Clare and Eden Valleys.  As testimonial, I have about 6 Australian Rieslings in my cellar and they all come from around the Barossa Valley.

McLaren Vale, south of Adelaide is known for making superb Cabernet Sauvignons.  McLaren Vale is close to the sea and gets some nice breezes to help the grapes mature in a consistent manner.

There are a lot of other grapes that do well across the Barossa Valley, given its variety of micro-climates and great overall growing conditions.

Barossa Valley Top Wines:  Shiraz, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon


Yarra Valley:

The Yarra Valley makes some of Australia's best sparkling wines.  They are also know for great Shiraz, as is the Heathcote region nearby.

But what I love most about the Yarra Valley and the surrounding areas of Geelong and the Mornington Penisula are the great Pinot Noir wines that come from this region.  The slightly cooler climate is perfect for growing the Pinot Noir grape.  Everyone is talking about New Zealand Pinot Noirs, but my favorites all come from Victoria.

Also, for pure enjoyment and if you only have a day to tour a wine country, the Yarra Valley is quicker to get to than The Hunter Valley or Margaret River from the closest big near-by city, so you can pack in more fun in a twelve hour day than with a number of the other regions, which almost demand two, if not three days.

Yarra Valley Top Wines:  Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Sparkling


Margaret River:

For pure elegance, I love the wines from the Margaret River.  Sea breezes and some of the best soil in Australia for growing wine exists in Margaret River.  It is often compared to Napa Valley and some great American wineries have purchased vineyards here.  In fact, this is the Australian wine region most noted for Zinfandel, a popular California grape.

Cabernet Sauvignons and Chardonnays are the stand-out wines from Margaret River.  A number of premium brands such as Leeuwin Estate, Pierro and Moss Wood come from this region.  While one of the smaller regions compared to the three described above, Margaret River still "punches above the line" with so many premium labels.  Winery per winery, you will get more quality wineries from this region than from any other region.

Margaret River Top Wines:  Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc


Each region will be described in more detail, including recommendations of specific wineries and wines in subsequent posts.  But first, onto "Part 4 - Characteristics and Grapes of Australia's Smaller Wine Regions."

Overview of Australia's Wine Regions - Part 2

Part 2 - Australia's Prominent Wine Regions

In Part 1, we discussed why Australia has become a renown wine producing country, and that all states and territories other than the Northern Territories and Queensland produce high quality wines.  (Surprisingly, every state in the US, including Alaska, now has a least one winery.  Having grown up in Minnesota, I find this surprising as there is nothing about the growing season in Minnesota or the conditions that would inspire me to drink a Minnesotan wine.  However, my parent's friends own a winery in Canon Falls, Minnesota, so we will try it out on our next trip there and let you know!)

Below is a map of the Australian wine growing regions, even though it seems to be missing the recent growth in great Tasmanian wines.  Don't let this mis-lead you:  there are some great Tasmanian wines, especially Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blancs.

As you can see, most Australian wine growing regions are located in the southern part of the country.  The northern part is just too hot (and often too dry) to be able to grow grapes of any quality.

For touring purposes and geographical simplicity, I categorize the major wine regions as follows:

• Hunter Valley - about two hours north of Sydney, New South Wales
• Barossa Valley - just north of Adelaide, South Australia with close by regions of Clare and Eden Valley, and with McLaren Vale south of Adelaide
• Yarra Valley - about an hour north of Melbourne, with close by regions including Mornington Peninsula and Geelong, south of Melbourne, and Heathcote, Victoria northwest of Melbourne and on the way to Bendigo, Victoria
• Margaret River - about 4 hours south of Perth, Western Australia
• Rutherglen - about half-way between Sydney and Melbourne, close to the New South Wales and Victorian border and the cities of Albury and Wodonga
• Mudgee, NSW - about 4 hours northwest of Sydney, with some wineries relatively close by around Orange
• Tasmania
• Riverina - in southwest New South Wales

I have tried to categorize the major regions around the major cities you would fly into and then drive out of to visit the wine regions.  As you can see from the map, there are a number of smaller and well-define regions also that are close by and associated with the better known region names.  But when it comes down to it, the four most prominent regions by name are Hunter Valley, Barossa Valley, Yarra Valley and Margaret River.  Rutherglen, Mudgee and Tasmania are worth visiting and growing in popularity, but less known (and more distant from a major city).  Riverina is a large rural area that produces a lot of grapes, but not great wines in general.

I have included a link to more detailed maps of the major wine regions for you to review.  Again, they fail to mention Tasmania, but an Internet search of 'Tasmania and wine' will provide you with ample information on Tasmania as a popular Australian wine region.

In Part 3, we will discuss the unique characteristics and grapes that each major region is known for.  Part 4 will similarly do this for the smaller wine regions.