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Australian Wines


PCL

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Wednesday night is spaghetti night in our house, so in the spirit of this discussion, I thought I would give a reasonable Aussie red a try.

As Peter Lehmann is mentioned in a couple posts, I saw his "Clancy's" at a local wine shop and picked it up. We get a lot of reasonably priced "field blends" from California wineries and find them perfect for our pasta dinners.

In general, I thought it an interesting, if not very serious wine. I guess my comment would be it seemed like the wine maker was stacking the berry flavors of the various grapes, instead of balancing them against the savory elements. Not sure if that makes sense; but, as I am tasting wine, I feel like you should get past the fruit and savor the other flavors of the wine. In this case, I felt like there were multiple layers of fruit, and the Cabernet Sauvingon's earthiness was very hidden in the background. Probably wouldn't buy it again.

zoramargolis recommendations sound good. From her comments, it seems like we may be close to the same page in wine likes. I will keep an eye out for those.

How about Owen Roe? Our local natural food market has a couple of his wines.

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

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How about Owen Roe?  Our local natural food market has a couple of his wines.

As far as I know, all the Owen Roe wines are made with fruit from Oregon/Washington. Good wines and reasonably priced too.

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As far as I know, all the Owen Roe wines are made with fruit from Oregon/Washington.  Good wines and reasonably priced too.

Oh, damn. You're right. I hadn't looked too closely at them and for some reason I was under the impression they were Australian. My only excuse is my local market separates wine only by varietal, not by country. Perhaps they were sitting next to the Shiraz.

Oh, now I see. Went back to check, it was not the very attractively packaged Owen Roe "Sinister Hand"; but, the also attractively packaged Innocent Bystander Syrah/Viongier from Victoria, Australia, I was wondering about.

added correction

Edited by eje (log)

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

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Any of you US people ever get a hold of the Duck Muck Shiraz from Wild Duck Creek??

Edited by PCL (log)

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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Any of you US people ever get a hold of the Duck Muck Shiraz from Wild Duck Creek??

I had the 1997 vintage of this wine two years ago. In truth, I will comment that it was one terrific wine. This was at a tasting of Oz wines where there were other wines in the same price range and ratings range. Duck Muck was the only one I liked out of all of them. Greenock Creek's Roennfeldt Road, by comparison, was a huge disappointment.

We cannot employ the mind to advantage when we are filled with excessive food and drink - Cicero

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See, the reason I asked about Duck Muck is that the vineyard and hence, the region (Heatchcote) is only an hour or so from home.

It is a great drop, my current shiraz aversion aside, but we can't find it over here funnily enough. And when we do, its stupidly over priced. Found a few half bottles once though, and with some accelerated bottle aging, or so I'm told, they tasted fan-freaking-tastic!! It was either an '00 or '01.

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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I think the explosion of Aussie wines in the US has resulted in a ton of poor $10 wines, and pretty much the same could be said for those $10 wines from California. I find as you reach the $15-20 area there are some tasty reds, lots of fruit but with structure and a bit of complexity. I typically drink the Shiraz from Australia, and here are a few I enjoyed:

Fox Creek Shiraz and JSM

Peter Lehmann

d'Arenberg Footbolt

Turkey Flat

Two Hands

For a special evening: d'Arenberg Dead Arm and Vasse Felix are damn good

Ed McAniff

A Taster's Journey

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happily second the vasse felix;

other wines I've tried and liked:

Pirramimma stocks hill shiraz

Mamre brook

Mount Ida victoria shiraz

Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you. twofish@iyume.com

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Vasse Felix '03 Chardonnay just been released, if you can find it, grab it!

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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Fox Creek JSM... outstanding wine.

What do you drink it with??

I like steak... I like roast chicken with garlic confit... I like lamb...

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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Grutze to you Swiss Chef, but just in case, bonjour and ciao as well!!!

We serve Deakin Estate here in my office every Friday night after work, and the general consensus is 'Cat-Piss'.

But, that's just us! Maybe you people get the good stuff and we get left with the piss.

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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Grutze to you Swiss Chef, but just in case, bonjour and ciao as well!!!

We serve Deakin Estate here in my office every Friday night after work, and the general consensus is 'Cat-Piss'.

But, that's just us! Maybe you people get the good stuff and we get left with the piss.

Well I am less fond of the whites than the reds and I like the merlot. One question. If it's "Cat-piss" why do you serve it every Friday? :huh:

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It's precisely that it's cat's piss that they serve it every Friday, the cheap bastards!! It's what they pour to us lowly designers, but at least the beer and snacks are okay. If you take a Deakin Cab and mix it with a Deakin shiraz, you're on a good thing, or so I've found after many Friday's experimenting!

Will note the Laughing Jack.

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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It's precisely that it's cat's piss that they serve it every Friday, the cheap bastards!! It's what they pour to us lowly designers, but at least the beer and snacks are okay. If you take a Deakin Cab and mix it with a Deakin shiraz, you're on a good thing, or so I've found after many Friday's experimenting!

Deakin Chardonnay '02: Wine Spectator 87 points

Deakin Estate Cabernet '02 85 PTS WILFRED WONG

Deakin Estate Chardonnay '04 85 PTS, BEST BUY, WINE ENTHUSIAST

Deakin Estate Merlot '02 87 PTS WILFRED WONG

Deakin Estate Sauvignon Blanc '03 87 PTS WILFRED WONG

Deakin Estate Shiraz '02 SILVER MEDAL, 2005 MONTEREY WINE COMP

Deakin Merlot US$9.00 per glass at Excalibur Las Vegas

Maybe your getting the barrel wash instead!? :rolleyes:

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Look, in my opinion, it's okay to refer to stuff like points and things, but one should really think for oneself. I myself, am a plonker, in that I know what I like and Deakin ain't one of 'em. Maybe it suits your taste and I respect that, but to me, it's still cat-piss, and the majority of people I know who've experienced it with me seem to agree.

And at $9 a glass, you're getting ripped off. And for a Merlot at that! Sorry, that's below the belt, but any good wine conversation should be emotive in my opinion :wink:

And by the way, I don't go for points, I go for smilies. Much more user friendly. :raz:

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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Wilfred Wong is a nice guy; but, he is not an independent wine critic. He works for the BevMo chain of liquor stores here in California. I don't usually give much weight to his ratings.

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

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Look, in my opinion, it's okay to refer to stuff like points and things, but one should really think for oneself.

Thanks Mate, I'll keep that in mind :rolleyes:

........ ripped off. And for a Merlot at that!

Christian Moueix just might have something to say about that.

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........ ripped off. And for a Merlot at that!

Christian Moueix just might have something to say about that.

It isn't hard to argue that his wines at both ends of the spectrum could be considered ripoffs - $1,300/bottle for 2003 Petrus futures is a bit much for most peoples budget and $7 for "Christian Moueix Bordeaux Merlot" isn't exactly terrific juice, even at $7/bottle.

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........ ripped off. And for a Merlot at that!

Christian Moueix just might have something to say about that.

It isn't hard to argue that his wines at both ends of the spectrum could be considered ripoffs - $1,300/bottle for 2003 Petrus futures is a bit much for most peoples budget and $7 for "Christian Moueix Bordeaux Merlot" isn't exactly terrific juice, even at $7/bottle.

Being $1300 makes it a rip off? How? I doubt there will be much left laying around the Chateau waiting to be sold. And any way, what does "most peoples budget have to do with Petrus? A rolls Royce is "out of most peoples budget" too so what!

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It isn't hard to argue that his wines at both ends of the spectrum could be considered ripoffs - $1,300/bottle for 2003 Petrus futures is a bit much for most peoples budget and $7 for "Christian Moueix Bordeaux Merlot" isn't exactly terrific juice, even at $7/bottle.

Being $1300 makes it a rip off? How? I doubt there will be much left laying around the Chateau waiting to be sold. And any way, what does "most peoples budget have to do with Petrus? A rolls Royce is "out of most peoples budget" too so what!

Value is rarely a part of the equation at the top end of any pricing spectrum. A Rolls Royce is a perfect example of that - no one buys a Rolls Royce because it’s a good value or because they enjoy the driving experience they have when they are behind the wheel. A Mercedes S55 is just as comfortable, handles better, has better brakes, accelerates faster, and is significantly more reliable all with a lower price tag. That doesn't mean people won't buy the cars RR is producing. It also doesn’t mean the Mercedes is a good value. People buy these cars because they command attention - they are a sign of wealth, power, and influence and people buy them as status symbols. The same could be said of Porsches and Ferraris, but in the case of high-end sports cars, to many people the driving experience is absolutely worth the price of admission when compared to other cars, other people buy them for the same reasons listed above.

The same is true in the wine world, if you bring a bottle of Petrus to a tasting you get the same reaction as you do driving a Rolls Royce across town. The price of wines like Petrus is based on what the market will pay. Cristal Champagne is more expensive than Salon and Krug yet of the three it would be my last pick in terms of quality. 2002 DRC Romanee Conti is currently selling for twice the price of Petrus, does that mean the best Pinot is twice as good as the best Merlot?

My point never was that Petrus is a rip off, more that what a fair price for a bottle of wine is a subjective matter and it isn’t difficult to find people who will argue that anything costing more than some arbitrary sum is a rip off. Personally, I’d sooner part with $1,300 and go home with a bottle of Petrus before I spent $7 on a bottle of Moueix Bordeaux Merlot.

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$7 for "Christian Moueix Bordeaux Merlot" isn't exactly terrific juice, even at $7/bottle.

Well anyway...at least he isn't calling it Petrus-something.

A friend once told be he had two bottles of Mouton Rothschild so I said I would cook a special dinner. So I cooked and cooked and when he and his wife arrived...you guessed it...it was Mouton Cadet! ARGGGGG! I never said a word I just smiled and slowly put down my 10 inch Sabatier.

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it's still cat-piss, and the majority of people I know who've experienced it with me seem to agree.

For whatever its worth:

I happened to be looking at the only Parker book I have (5th edition of Wine Buyer's guide) and here is Parker's opinion of Deakin Estate:

'97 Chard 85 pts.

'96 Chard 86 pts.

'97 Merlot 85 pts.

'97 Shiraz 88 pts.

'96 Shiraz 86 pts.

Stephen Tanzer

2002 Chardonnay 85 pts.

2000 Shiraz 87 pts.

Wine Spectator:

Sauvignon Blanc 2004 86 points

Merlot 2001 85 points

Edit: I was just wondering what you drink in the same price range?

Edited by SWISS_CHEF (log)
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In the same price range as Deakin... so around the $15 to $25 range... well, the list is virtually endless.

- Scotchman's Hill Dry Red (Claret)

- Fox Creek Shadow's Run Shiraz Cabernet

- Penfold's Koonunga Hill

- Wirra Wirra Church Block

- Terra Felix Shiraz

- The Procrastinator Cabernet Franc

I've spoken to a few more people since my last post here, and the result is shock and awe that Deakin is held in such high esteem in the US.

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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