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Go To Section: The International Wine Industry
The Great Wines of Italy
Thursday, 15th May, 2008 - David Farmer

Being the great city that it is, a dinner party I went to in London brought together three Italians, two Australians and a Brazilian of Italian parentage. All of us were in the wine trade. While enough English was spoken to hold jobs in London any conversation that moved into more abstract areas of wine or other matters soon caused problems. The Italians turned out to be very proud of their wines and I'm not sure why this surprised me. more...


Go To Section: What We Drank Last Night
Modern Styles Marching Down the Same Road
Thursday, 15th May, 2008 - David Farmer

We began with a Hungerford Hill Tumbarrumba Chardonnay 2006 and this was so good we went back to the local for another. The wine maker is Philip John who I think has been making chardonnay's since he could walk. These cool climate areas with the coolness coming from elevation are producing some knock-out wines. Delicious. All too soon we were into reds with a Georges Duboeuf Merlot 2005, from I suppose Southern France and it was just a basic quaffer. more...

MORE DRINKS FROM OTHER NIGHTS
Go To Section: WHat the Market Says
The Steady Decline of Tier One Wine Companies
Friday, 9th May, 2008 - David Farmer

A Nielsen presentation to Wine Communicators of Australia on the 28th March highlighted the declining market share of our Tier One wine companies which are Fosters, Pernod Ricard (Orlando), and Hardy's and showed a slow but possibly accelerating decline from 53% in 2003 to 46% in 2007 which is about 1.5% per year. My guess is that most of this has been shaved from the vast portfolio of Fosters which is beyond any marketing team to manage. more...


Go To Section: On Tasting
The More You Spend the Better the Taste
Friday, 2nd May, 2008 - David Farmer

You may have read that an Asian wine lover recently paid U.S. $500,000 for 27 bottles of the fabled Burgundy, Domaine de la Romanee Conti-Romanee Conti and for the record Reuters reported the purchase as "12 bottles of Romanee Conti 1978, two bottles of the 1961, 1966, 1996 and 2003 and single bottles of the 1981, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2002." more...

The Key to Tasting Wines
Friday, 11th April, 2008 - David Farmer

As they gain more knowledge about wine, the emphasis for enthusiasts seems to swing to seeing if they can detect the grape variety and the district of origin of a masked bottle. That is good fun but I tend to think that what is essential when given a glass of wine, of which you have no knowledge, is to decide its quality and then place a price on it which you would be happy to pay. more...


Go To Section: General Wine Comments
Thoughts from Reading the 2008 Gault-Millau
Friday, 2nd May, 2008 - David Farmer

Years ago the restaurant reviews in the Gault-Millau welcomed a new wave of French cooking and shook up the performance of the Michelin which some saw as lacking daring and innovation. The move from one to three stars in the Michelin could take so long that the chef was in a wheelchair by the time of the promotion. The Gault-Millau moved very quickly in recognising talent and re-invigorated the French restaurant scene. Upon arrival in France you would buy a copy, flick to the front pages, examine the ratings table, and get on the phone to see if you could get a booking at the best, particularly those that had been pushed quickly up the ratings as these were the innovative chefs. more...

On Cats Piss and Fruit Bombs
Friday, 2nd May, 2008 - David Farmer

Bryony Gordon

I was startled by a comment by Bryony Gordon, Daily Telegraph (London) April 11th, who began her non wine column with "It's often said that bad wine tastes like cat's urine." As we know she has got this a bit mixed up but Oh how the term has spread. more...

Troubling Advice from London Sommeliers
Saturday, 26th April, 2008 - David Farmer

When dining out in Sydney or Melbourne I will peruse the wine list out of general interest but in most cases will then ask the sommelier for his or her recommendation for a white and red with my only input being the price range I am happy to pay. I do this because the wine talent in our better restaurants is very high and they know far better than I where the 'real' value in the list lies. After all they have probably created the wine list. In this way I have been well entertained over the last few years and my interest has been pricked in white varieties like arneis and pinot gris and odd new red varieties. more...


Go To Section: Use & Abuse
A Costless Gesture
Friday, 28th March, 2008 - David Farmer

Jamie Odell

The two big brewers Fosters and Lion Nathan have decided to stop making alcohol-energy drinks and will keep the alcohol content of other RTD’s (ready to drink beverages) below seven percent. Since neither company has much at stake in the RTD energy sector it cannot have been a difficult decision. Indeed both companies have been caught flat footed in the general RTD market as this old and small market segment exploded in size over the last decade. more...

Alcoholic Sugar Bombs, Pseudo Energy Potions and Other Shameful Drinks
Monday, 17th March, 2008 - David Farmer

The liquor industry attempts to impart the message ‘drink responsibly’ and on industry matters covering such things as advertising, acceptable liquor products and the like prefers to self regulate its members. To date Governments have allowed this. They may shortly find out that many observers do not think their self regulation is working. These thoughts were prompted by recent mail from a Queensland reader, Dr. Peter Bevan. more...



A regular update of wines we've found interesting and a few we'd rather forget more...



The World Versus Robert M. Parker, Part Three

Saturday, 18th March, 2006

The Differences of Opinion Continue: Mount Mary Quintets vs. Robert M. Parker Jr. Part 2

Monday, 5th December, 2005

Wine Quality: Does Terroir Matter?

Friday, 14th October, 2005

Sharp Differences of Opinion Over Mount Mary

Monday, 14th November, 2005

A Look at Langtons Classification from 1991 to 2005

Monday, 17th October, 2005

Langtons Classification - We Learn How It’s Done

Wednesday, 12th October, 2005

The New Taste of Wine

Friday, 2nd September, 2005

 More from The Best Of Glug...



LATEST ARTICLES
Modern Styles Marching Down the Same Road

Thursday, 15th May, 2008

The Great Wines of Italy

Thursday, 15th May, 2008

The Steady Decline of Tier One Wine Companies

Friday, 9th May, 2008

London and Paris - In Search of the Perfect Cocktail and We Discover One of the Secrets of Life

Friday, 9th May, 2008

Thoughts from Reading the 2008 Gault-Millau

Friday, 2nd May, 2008

On Cats Piss and Fruit Bombs

Friday, 2nd May, 2008

The More You Spend the Better the Taste

Friday, 2nd May, 2008

Troubling Advice from London Sommeliers

Saturday, 26th April, 2008

Front Labels Help Sell Wine

Saturday, 26th April, 2008

Interesting Whites and a Dying but Memorable Pinot

Friday, 18th April, 2008

Whatever Happened to the d' in d'Yquem?

Friday, 11th April, 2008

Buying Wines That Have a Sense of Place

Friday, 11th April, 2008

The Key to Tasting Wines

Friday, 11th April, 2008

Basic Stuff Though it got Me Thinking

Friday, 4th April, 2008


WINE QUOTES
Managing the Conjuror Host
Attributed to: Aspler, Tony
Source: Hotel News Resource, October, 2005
Contributed by: Anon

"Another aspect of the oenological fascism syndrome is the "Conjuror Host". He can make a bottle disappear before your very eyes. Let me explain how he does this particular illusion: you're invited to a dinner party and you would like to bring along a bottle of wine that you have been saving but have never quite found the right occasion to open. You know that your host himself has a good cellar so he and his guests will appreciate the wine you are offering them. When you hand the bottle to him, he looks at the label; his eyes widen and he smiles. He thanks you profusely and immediately disappears with it down to his cellar as if the ambient temperature in his hallway might affect its health. And that is the last you will ever see of it.

"There is only one way to deal with such a scoundrel. Decant the wine at home and carry it carefully to your destination. Tell your host that the wine needed at least two hours' breathing to open up so that everyone could enjoy it. If he frowns, tell him that the last time you brought a 1982 Mouton-Rothschild to a dinner party it turned out to be corked and you didn't want to suffer that embarrassment again."



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