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GREAT DROP WITH WINTER STEWS OR CASSEROLES
PUT this on the table with winter’sbeef stews or lamb casseroles. Wc01Aug11 David Ellis WINTRY weather calls for hearty beef stews of casseroled lamb chops, and just right to enjoy with either is a good Merlot. One particularly nicely-flavoured and well-priced drop for just such pleasures is Margan Family Winegrowers’ 2009 Merlot from their red […]
ARROGANT FROGS CELEBRATE FRANCE’S MONTH
Wc04Jul11 David Ellis IRREVERENT – made by a Frenchman to gowith traditional Coq au Vin. IF you like celebrating all things French, then July’s the month to do it, with the Tour de France running to the 24th and Bastille Day on the 14th. And a couple of French wines to help you along are […]
Happy 40th Birthday to the Canberra District Wine Region!
It was back in 1971 that the first of now more than 35 commercial wineries was established near Canberra and the region has been growing from strength to strength ever since. Shaw Vineyard Estate is a relative new-comer having been established in 1998 but they have quickly become a hot topic in this cool climate […]
NEW ZEALAND’S GOLD RUSH COUNTRY YIELDS AGAIN
Wc06Jun11 David Ellis DIG this one from New Zealand’s1860s gold rush country – particularlywith veal cutlets and roast vegetables. BACK in the 1860s thousands of hopefuls rushed to New Zealand’s Otago region as the cry of “Gold!” rang out across the South Island countryside – and today, 150 years on, there’s a new “gold rush” […]
QUALITY AND VALUE PROVE A SHAW THING
Wc23May11 David Ellis CANBERRA’S Shaw Vineyard Estate’s Winemakers Selection may be its cheapest label at just $16 a bottle, but it certainly comes up trumps when it comes to value for money. The just-released 2008 Winemakers Selection Cabernet Merlot is particularly interesting because Graeme Shaw excels when it comes to Cabernet – in fact he […]
16-MILLION BOTTLES IS A LOT OF BUBBLES
Wc07Feb11 David Ellis A FIZZ bang for your buck:Germany’s Henkell Trocken claims titleto being Europe’s “favourite sparkling wine.” GERMANY’s most famous sparkling wine, Henkell Trocken Sekt goes back 155-years to 1856 when Adam Henkell began making a bubbly little drop that whilst popular, took three generations of the family to really hit its straps. And […]
FRENCH CONNECTION FOR BASTILLE DAY
WHAT better couplingthan this French Pinot Noirand traditional Coq auVin for Bastille Day? Wc5July10 david ellis COME July 14 and all good Frenchmen and dedicated Francophiles will be thinking nothing other than food and wine as they celebrate France’s biggest anniversary, Bastille Day. And if you’d like to join in, but are not quite sure […]
$10 MERLOT IS MATE’S RATES ENTERTAINING
Wc14June10 david ellis YOU could be excused for thinking that a Merlot that sells for just $10 a bottle would be the product of some almost factory-like set-up, stored for a few weeks in tanks akin to an oil refinery, and then dumped on bottle-shop shelves just a month or so after the fruit came […]
REWARD YOURSELF WITH A HIGHLAND FLING
david ellis THE NSW Southern Highlands – just 1.5hrs south of Sydney – is not one of those regions that spring quickly to front of mind when the talk turns to wine, yet the first wines (mainly fortifieds) were made there as far back as the 1820s, and “modern day” wineries began to flourish in […]
THIS CLASSIC WHITE IS, WELL, A CLASSIC…
Wc19Apr10 david ellis ‘CLASSIC White’ is a moniker given many a white wine that can be a blend of anything that happens to be at hand at the time – and occasionally even ‘parcels’ of fruit that aren’t of much value for anything other than blending. That’s not to deride the majority of Classic Whites: […]
