Emails just went out inviting orders for the 2006 vintage of Lake’s Folly to be made. Langton’s wine auction site give the 2006 Hunter Valley vintage a 10/10 for Cabernets so get in quick on this Lake’s Folly release. I picked up a mixed case and a magnum to boot.

Order form is here.

Hi all,

Just letting you know that The Oz Wine Show IS still active - hello Jason =). There’s a lot going on at the moment behind the scenes and it all seems to be morphing together.

First of all, for those of you who entered the Torbreck competition, the draw was run and won and the lucky winner is Prentice from the USA. Congrats to Prentice, the 2004 vintage of The Steading is on it’s way.

An update on Project Vino. At the moment we’re (that is me and the developers) are squashing bugs and making sure things show up where they’re meant to. That will be completed over the next week and then Project Vino will be officially open and fit for use. There’s lots to come in the next few months but so far you can browse, rate and review Australian and New Zealand wines, wineries and regions and then get targeted recommendations about wine you might like to try based on your previous ratings. It’s all about giving everyone a voice. Check out this review of the Clonakilla Viognier 2006 by Glenn as an example of what you can do so far on Project Vino.

Remember, there’s no pressure when rating wines because you should be rating based on how much you like the wine and who can argue with that. Check out the guide to tasting wine here though if you’re a little unsure.

Also, i’d love feedback on the wine tasting guide i whipped up. You can print of your own sheets, cut them up and clip them together to create your very own pocket wine tasting notebook. Let me know what you think.

Watch out for our fist video episode shortly.

Cheers, Hugo

Hi all,

This episode’s a pretty big one. The topic for a start is a belter - Torbreck is one winery everyone should be familiar with (even if it’s just with their entry level wines). This relatively young Barossa label is certainly a defining force for Australian Shiraz on the world stage. The audio for this show was recorded at North Sydney Cellars a few months ago when Dave Powell (winemaker) from Torbreck went through most of his line-up in some detail. I’ve got some time markers outlined below for later review when you are drinking the wines or to skip ahead to now if you can’t wait.

 

 OWS#15: Torbreck Tasting [47:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6984)

Also, there’s a giveaway for this show! Up for grabs is one bottle of The Steading 2004 which has been SIGNED BY DAVE POWELL. All you have to do to be eligible is email me (hugo@ozwineshow.com) with “Torbreck Giveaway” as the email title and put in the body of the email your name, country and city by midnight 6th December 2007 (2 weeks away). I’ll be selecting a winner at random from anywhere in the world. Tell your friends too.

Dave Powell and I (Hugo Sharp) with the signed giveaway bottle.

Show Notes:

• 1:17 = Torbreck Giveaway announcement.
• 2:20 = Invitation to Project Vino launch party in Sydney.
• 5:00 = Introduction to Torbreck by Dave Powell
• 6.30 = Woodcutters Semillon
• 9:05 = A note on acid in wine.
• 9:40 = Roussanne/Marsanne
• 13:14 = Cuvee Juveniles
• 19:34 = Viognier (untasted)
• 20:58 = Woodcutters Shiraz
• 24:45 = The Steading 2004
• 27:52 = The Struie 2005
• 31:30 = The Gask
• 36:45 = The Descendant
• 42:12 = Runrig 2004
• 46:02 = A quick note on when to drink your Runrig.

Finally, as per the audio intro in this episode, there’s going to be a launch party for Project Vino (www.projectvino.com.au) which is a new Australian and New Zealand wine website that will help you track your wine adventures and experiences and then recommend new ones. It’s a free event, details below;

• What: Three winemakers from the Hunter presenting 4 wines each, an introduction to Project Vino and a presentation of donations from attendees at the door and Project Vino to the MND Association
• When: 6pm - 9pm Thursday 6th December, 2007.
• Where: “The East Village” 234 Palmer St, East Sydney, NSW 2010
• Email me (hugo@ozwineshow.com) to attend.

That’s all for now,

Hugo

Hi All,

There’s going to be a launch party (wine tasting event) for a new Australian wine website i’ve been working on this year. Details below. All Oz Wine Show listeners are invited but I need to get an idea of numbers so if you’re interested please email me via hugo[at]ozwineshow.com and use the heading “Launch Tasting”. It’s a free event with optional donations at the door going to the Motor-Neuron Foundation (the disease my Mother passed away from earlier in the year).

It’d be great to have any Sydneysiders along and the wineries on board so far are some of my favourites (but more on that later this week when everything’s nailed down).

Here’s a link to the official invite.

Details;

• What: Hunter Valley themed tasting.
• Cost: Optional donation at the door.
• When: 6-12pm Thursday 6th of December, 2007.
• Where: East Village, Darlinghurst.
• Who: You and your friends.

Cheers

Hugo

 

 OWS#14: Tim Kirk (Clonakilla) [12:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3419)

Hi all, it’s been a while. Thanks to all those enquiring about the show - Celia, Bob, Prentice, Mark, Jason C, Andrew, Steve, Chris, AlexR and anyone else i may have missed - really appreciate it. I touch briefly on the reasons for the delay in the podcast but enough of that. On with the show!

Episode 14 is an interview i did this week with Tim Kirk from Clonakilla (www.clonakilla.com.au). Tim is the person responsible for sparking the cult that is Shiraz-Viognier in Australia. He not only created the market for Australian made SV both here and internationally, he set the benchmark against which it must be measured. I know if i think of Australian SV, I immediately think of quality and wouldn’t hesitate spending over $30-40 a bottle on. Hopefully that lasts (it will if Tim has anything to do with it).

The interview is short so we can all ease back into it but let me know what you think of it in the comments and post any additional questions you may have for Tim and i’ll try to get him to respond.

Do grab a bottle of their Shiraz Viognier, Hilltops Shiraz, Riesling or straight Viognier to see what the fuss is about. Check here for outlets.

(Tim Kirk on the Right, his father John on the left - photo: clonakilla.com.au)

Next show is a run-down of the Torbreck range and The Oz Wine Show’s first giveaway so be sure to subscribe to the feed to get all the updates (or check back soon).

Cheers,

Hugo

Sorry everyone for not posting a show in so long. It’s the old story of shows on tape but need to find the multiple hours spare it takes to edit each one. I started a new job recently which means i’m flying out of Sydney for a week at a time every second week. I’m definately looking forward to having a new show up next week, so stay tuned.
Thanks for the enquiring emails sent by Steve, Jane and Jason.

While i’m here, Sydney-siders should make a note of getting along to the Sydney Royal Wine Show coming up in a two weeks on the 17th of Feb. Mick and I had a blast at it last year. Listen to OWS#8 and OWS#9 if you missed them.

Here’s a blurb about this year’s show;

Sydney Showground is set to become the Mecca of wine tasting on Saturday 17 February 2007 when the cellar doors of the Macquarie Bank Sydney Royal Wine Show open to the public for the first time at the Sydney Royal Wine Show Cellar Tastings event.

Hugo

Just went searching on Itunes to see if there are any podcasts about Low-GI diets (don’t ask) and found a whole feature box about wine. Even better was that this little production was the first one in the list! Now this is only on the Australian version of the iTunes Music store (podcast section) but it still bought a big smile to my face when i saw it.
So a big welcome to any new listeners who may have found us from the feature box. You can hear each show through iTunes or click the play button next to each show on the website. Click here for more info about the show and please feel free to leave comments or ask questions.
While i’m at it, if anyone feels so inclined, we’d really appreciate some more comments about the show on the OWS page in Itunes. Click this link here… or for a short time click the link on the podcast front page

 

 OWS#13: Ernst Loosen Interview [37:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (11776)

This episode is a an interview with German Riesling extraudeair Ernst Loosen [pronounced Lohzen]. Besides mentioning that he was Decanter's 2005 "Man of the Year", I think the following quote sums him up;

"Ernst Loosen doesn’t mince words. Passionate, irrepressibly irreverent, ironic and outraged - all within the same sentence - he is a fascinating conversationalist and an erudite lecturer. He has been called Germany’s winemaker rock star and its best wine ambassador. Sandra Shoji, The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), April 12, 2003"

The interview was done at the Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting by Dave Brookes - Sydney wine blogger and all-round good guy. Dave contributes to WineFront and has his own blog at www.vinosense.com. The interview is a bit hardcore but is a great insight into many topics surrounding Riesling, Germany, Australia, Washington State and matching grapes to production methods and food pairing.

For more info, here's two documents from the drloosen.com site;

• Guide to German Wine which may help with all the quality levels mentioned in the show,
• Guide to pairing Loosen wines with food . (the rights of both pdf's remain with drloosen.com)

If the interview sparked an interest in Ernst, try his entry level "Dr Loosen" Riesling 2004 or 2005. Cam Wheeler from Appellation Australia has a review of it here . There's a review of the more pricey "J L Wolf Jesuitengarten Riesling 2004" at winorama .

If you're having trouble with your local wine stores, click here to try the Oz Wine Show wine search feature , type in "loosen" and click "go".

Don't forget to comment on this, or any other post, by clicking the "comments" button next to the date on the left. Feel free to respond to other comments as well.

Also, get automatic updates to the show and the blog via the RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/ozwineshow ). More info on using RSS here .

All the best, Hugo 

Sorry for the lack of audio in the past fortnight. Mick’s still traversing the South Australian countryside and I’ve got a thesis due this Friday. Next week I’ll be on the job and try to line up a number of shows. So stay subscribed to the feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/ozwineshow).
I was hoping to make the Nebbiolo tasting being held in ydney this Thursday by Andrew Wood (of OWS#11 fame). There’s a host of other events on this weekend around Australia and I’m sure not many of you fellow vinophiles have excuses half as convincing as mine.
Check out our events calendar for an interactive list of Oz wine events happenning this weekend in Canberra, Sydney and SA. The National Riesling Challenge in Canverra is surely a must.