I’m off to Burgundy… WOO! In 2008 I undertook a glorious wine study tour. Mosel, Burgundy, Jura, Alsace, Paris (we drank a lot of wine there) and Champagne. I learnt a lot and I loved every second of it. Except the flying. People with sleeping tablets blocking aisles, first experiences with jet lag and on the … Read more
TL:DR Chocolate is hard to match. Drink these wines with chocolate. Stray at your peril. Perhaps you are thinking it but too embarrassed to ask. Perhaps you’ve given up. Maybe you’ve got some kind of immunity. Let’s be honest, chocolate makes wine taste awful. It’s probably some mystical being’s way of saying “you’re over indulging”. But I want … Read more
It should be easy. But can you tell me what does Shiraz taste like? Is what you’ve tasted an accurate idea of the Shiraz taste? Even a professional like me gets confused. Let me set the scene. I spent an enjoyable January talking to people. It is one of the fun things about Jan that … Read more
[button link=”https://thewinedepository.com.au/wine-shop/?filter_region=sicily-2″ bg_color=”#cc1212″]Browse Sicilian Wine[/button] Cosa Nostra: “Our Thing”. Certainly Sicilian Wine is perfect for Australian palates too. The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea is bound to be full of large personalities. Consequently that translates into the wines too. For one, they grow grapes on an active volcano. And like the tempers of some … Read more
I had resolved to stop relentlessly talking up how good Riesling is. That was until I walked into the Riesling DownUnder’s trade tasting with a prospective employee who said “all Riesling tastes the same…” Well…!?! Let’s call him ‘Q’. He got grabbed by the bicep and manhandled to the nearest quality Riesling stand. Thankfully, it was … Read more
Happy New Year! Did the wine you saw off 2014 with welcome 2015 in the style you would have liked? To kick start 2015 TWD has two offers that will make your wine enjoyment easier, cheaper and more fun than ever. You can skip to the 20% off sale below if you want. But first: … Read more
After suggesting, nay insisting, we not only decant but double decant each bottle of the five wines from Gaja in Piedmont for a dinner I thought, “what have I become?” Being a staunch non decanting guy from way back I felt like I’d finally become one of the wine mafia. Ultimately the wines looked better than they would have … Read more
Anyone with a passing interest in will have heard (or read) about Pinot Noir. And mostly it will be how great the wines are, and maybe what a pain in the a$$ the grape is to grow. So let’s take a look at it from the start: What Is Pinot Noir? [button link=”https://thewinedepository.com.au/rankvariety/pinot-noir/” color=”purple”]Browse all … Read more
Submit your terms you want answered here. Body – A tactile sensation on the palate. Is it thin like water or thick like olive oil? Blanc de Blancs – White of Whites. A wine or especially a Champagne that is made from only using white grapes. Blanc de Noirs – Apart from a few exceptions a red … Read more
The Wines Of Argentina are amazing. For a wine lover it is: A Whole New World [button link=”https://thewinedepository.com.au/wine-shop/?filter_country=argentina” bg_color=”#e02020″]Jump straight to the lovely wines available for purchase[/button] A country that has been growing vines since the 1500s but only really focusing on quality since the 1980s. It’s a shame because Argentina is close to the … Read more
The last Bordeaux 2010 dinner was so good we did it all again three weeks later. Different wines and a new venue to keep it interesting and away we went. Bordeaux 2010 recap. Bordeaux 2010 saw a summer drought without the heat of 2003. There were cool nights and a cooler August which meant thick skins, rich colour and tannin and … Read more
Over the years I have hosted numerous private tastings and dinners. When I got the call that the team at Telstra wanted to do a second one I knew I was in for a rowdy night. So I roped in some help in the form of Rob Hall from Kellybrook to entertain them. We decided to … Read more
On a warm summer night and only a week after my second Bordeaux 2010 dinner, I walked into my last wine dinner of 2013. And with high hopes, we sat down to six vintages of Antinori’s Tignanello. Tig, as it is affectionately known, is one of the original Super-Tuscan. The wine is exclusively from the … Read more
For the past two years I have been proud to raise funds for the Heart Foundation. To help achieve my goals I pulled a whole bunch of wine from my personal cellar and organised some customers and friends to attended a dinner at the wonderful restaurant Scopri. The end result was I raised $970 on the night. Plus … Read more
You might have caught my first chat with Intrepid Wino James Scarcebrook about wine retail (if not see here https://thewinedepository.com.au/twd-on-the-vincast/). We had a great time recording it and so James invited me back for a second chat. This time we talked about something that most people do, but very few do well. That is wine … Read more
I first became aware of James Scarcebrook aka The Intrepid Wino via Twitter and his shameless bragging on his blog http://intrepidwino.com/ and I thought anyone who can do more name dropping than me must be worth catching up with. So it transpired that James had some plans to do a series of podcasts talking about wine … Read more
This is my favourite dinner of the year. This is when 12 of us gather to taste the newly arrived Bordeaux. Most of us had bought our Bordeaux two years previously, untasted, and patiently waited for it to arrive. This was the point where we see if our investments were wise. Our 2010 Bordeaux Dinner was a … Read more
Over the two and half year history of The Wine Depository I have been proud to use my business and personal connections to help give back to people in need. Locals to Heidelberg might have seen my beaming face a few weeks ago in The Leader (on page 3). This year I hope you will join me … Read more
What is Champagne? Champagne is a wine region of France approximately 160km East of Paris. Also, the name of the wines produced from the area. Most famously, it is a sparkling wine that undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle and aging on lees (the dead yeast cells). Occasionally you will find still wines, but they … Read more
Most wine lovers have a soft spot for Champagne (for this exercise I mean real Champagne) and I’m sure every one of us browses the ‘Prestige Cuvée’ section (Dom Perignon, Cristal, Krug etc) and thinks ‘one day’. But for a lot of wine lovers Champagne is something you have one glass of at the start of the meal (maybe … Read more
Occasionally a cynical wine taster gets to go to a tasting where you are excited before you arrive, you love the first wine and then continue to love every wine after. The only thing left to grumble about is having to spit out the wines so you can drive home. Mac Forbes grew up in the Yarra … Read more
One of the perks of the job is shopping for these events. Trying to slide the best wines possible under the salary cap and working out the combinations often means I end up with more wine than I strictly need. But its all good wine, so the winner is me if no one else chooses … Read more
On a glorious day, the last of Winter for 2013 the TWD community congregated to discover Rosé, Rosato, Rosado, Rosewein, Blush, Taché. Whatever you call it! The order of the day was busting the myths and introducing the world of real Rosé: Delicate, dry, savoury, textural and so drinkable. By looking at Rosé in its different forms … Read more
It is time to look at issues close to home. Happily, we’ve got a wealth of talented wine makers producing some of the most amazing wines you will see anywhere in the world. I’ve decided to highlight a few of the more topical (ie actually have wines to sell). This is not an exhaustive list as I don’t … Read more