"While most of those who receive this newsletter would not normally (or ever?) buy a wine with a price of less than $10, there are occasions when knowledge of some of the best can be useful. Gifts to relatives (if they don’t know better), beach barbecues, fishing trips and the like are obvious purchase circumstances". James Halliday, The Australian Wine Companion, 13th March, 2013. more...

It is true that faced with a wall of bottles I have a better chance than most at making the right pick though I still curse all and sundry at my regular misfortunes. French Champagne was once my great specialty but these days I'm just another punter. Avoid the cheapies as that is what you will get. Avoid the non vintage bottlings of the big name brands as after the joy of watching the bubbles burst in the glass there is not much else. more...

Once a year in Bordeaux, around about April, they hold the grand final of wine. It was reported in Bloomberg (Elin Mc Coy, 22nd April) that 6000 wine buyers, opinion makers and those learning the ropes gathered to taste what the wine makers made from the difficult 2012 vintage. This depresses me no end as I doubt Australia has been visited by 6000 wine buyers and opinion makers in the last 10 years. more...

I have little interest in golf though as a young man read the golf column of Henry Longhurst in the Sunday Times UK as he was a writer. There are not many wine writers but there are hundreds of wine journalists and bloggers and I wonder how they do not die of boredom writing article after article about what they found when they visited winery ABC and always ending with half a dozen tasting notes. more...

The meaning and thus the worth of a tasting note is at best problematical and thus they are not much help when buying wine. Yet they are widely used, appear in many wine articles and are the main prop of specialist wine magazines. Because of this, tasting notes are seen as displaying expertise and perhaps sophistication and at the very least suggest a higher quality wine as consumers do not expect tasting notes of run-of-the-mill wines. more...

This is a story about one of the great heritage family brands, Lindemans, and its long drift looking for a meaning. To more easily understand this story it helps to see the wine business as being made up of two halves. more...

'March Mataro Madness' is underway at Glug and we will do our best to get you to try this wonderful variety. We will win on this score as with every order this month you will receive a FREE bottle of really good Mataro'.

It is the business of wine and food magazines and their stable of wine writers to explain the qualities of new grape varieties. Australians are reluctant to try new styles, but bit by bit the wine fraternity chips away and overtime they expand the range of varieties that move from novel to familiar. Currently they are encouraging the adventurous to try varieties such as pinot gris and prosecco (sparkling wine) and reds like sangiovese, nebbiolo and tempranillo. more...

Decades ago I owned a large bottle shop in the Sydney suburb of Waterloo. It's expensive real estate now but back then the hoods propped up bars in the local pubs, we often drank at The George opposite the shop, while down the side lane, Beaumont Street, the hookers relaxed between jobs. more...

It is said that England was a nation of shop keepers but really this simple thought applies to all countries at some stage. Success in business comes from many directions but a particularly fruitful area has been to revolutionise how the simple, daily needs of the population are bought and sold. With some exceptions all of the success stories in basic retailing have involved lowering prices and this has killed the shop keepers. more...