How many retailers looked at the café and restaurant scene in Europe in the 1960s - 1970s and wondered if the bottled water business had a future in Australia? In the mid 1970s the local water Hepburn Spa trickled out of the Farmer Bros. stores and I recall a need to stock exotic waters like Perrier and a few from Italy. more...

Have you heard of Wine Searcher? It's a subscription, price searching site which tells you the retail price of any wine from anywhere. If you are enquiring say from New York it will provide a list of shops that have the wine, starting with the cheapest - at least I think this part is right as I am not a subscriber. more...

Innovation- we are told a business must innovate or the world will pass by. In my line of work which is selling the product of the fermented grape I wonder what this means as what is left to innovate? Wine has been around for so long that every possible combination has been tried again and again. You can drink the product when it is youthful or you may try it aged. You can serve it sweet to dry. more...

The second Glug Grenache Carnival is underway. One of Glug's many aims is to popularise grenache which has been a forgotten variety for far too long. While it is true you have been able to buy grenache in blends with shiraz and mataro for a few decades, commonly abbreviated as GSMs, it has seldom been offered as a singular varietal and only in the last decade have the adventurous begun to regularly master its charms. more...

We began this adventure in 2004 so this month we celebrate our 10th Anniversary, 2004 to 2014. It has been an interesting journey but the best is in front of us. I turned my back on the old ways of retail as many wine producers had got too big and lost interest in what they sold. All they talked about was volumes and deals and I saw the end game for wine was in sight as the 'fast moving consumable goods or FMCG' crowd took over. more...

A favourite topic of mine is wine prices and I like comparing types of wines and whether the retail price meets the expectation of the customer. It is a fascinating topic. Here are some views: more...

The Festival of Adelaidean Shiraz extends through the month of June and will provide you with many chances to purchase the best premium shiraz at excellent prices. more...

For the moment we are unable to offer Glug customers a good, well priced sparkling wine but we are on the case. A few customers have asked what they should do so here are the thoughts I have been offering. Making sparkling wine is as much a manufacturing process as it is winemaking and this limits to a handful the number of companies that can do it efficiently in Australia. more...

To be entrenched like Glug is in the Barossa Valley you must show case the two remarkable varieties mataro and grenache. This was the idea from the beginning in 2004. I remember the start rather well as Ben and I did very little but discuss business plans over long lunches at the remarkable venue Bar Vinum (now closed) which was hosted by the affable Barossa identity Bob McLean. more...

FREE Bottle of Mataro with Every Order
March Mataro Madness is a promotion for Glug customers to bring focus to this long forgotten variety. Mataro cuttings arrived in Australia as far back as 1832 and current plantings contain rare and unique clones which no longer exist in France and Spain. more...

One of the most sensational and unusual wines I have seen for a long time is the Parawatta Riesling 2013. When Ben, Phil Lehmann and I were doing our blending trials for our Eden Valley 2013 rieslings back in early July 2013 it was apparent that one parcel was very different expression to the others. more...

Glug has a busy bottling schedule for the months ahead with over 30 wines queued up waiting their turn. I highlight some of interest based on a comprehensive tasting I did with Ben on Sunday 9th February as I feel this is useful for customers. more...

The Karrawirra brand was created by the Kies family in the late 1960s and is now a main stream brand of Glug. In 2013 a Glug customer Alan Ramsey was given a bottle of Karrawirra Claret 1973 by a neighbour and it seems likely that it had lain in a Canberra cellar since purchase well over 20 years ago. more...

I flew to Melbourne a few weeks back and to keep busy purchased the current wine magazines. In the 'James Halliday Wine Companion' magazine, June/July 2013 the article 'Cork Versus Screwcap' by Ralph Kyte Powell continues an old debate which examines the difference of these closures. more...

"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...

The thought expressed a number of times in the regular 'what to buy' emails stating that the 2012 South Australian rieslings are exceptional is gaining support. No less an authority than the Sydney Morning Herald wine writer for the past 20 years, Huon Hooke says this; more...

You can find great wines for less than $10 and it is the job of a wine merchant to scour the countryside looking for such bargains. If there is one thing I have done well over 35 years it is making discovery after discovery of great wines at prices under $10.00. Yet few wine writers even mention or review wines that sell for under $10. For them real wines start at well over $10 and more likely over $20. more...

For the month of March we wish to draw your attention to the remarkable variety Mataro which it so happens has found its perfect climate in the Barossa Valley. Naturally we hope to sell you a bottle or two. more...