It just goes to show that lame fancy packaging doesn’t always lead to good vino…

P.S. SD Jones Rules!

Go Cubbies!

I’m curious to see what Torre is going to do with the Dodgers, but I’m still rooting for the Cubbies.

Opening Day and my Mariners are gonna win their division (thank-you Angels for those injuries to starting pitchers)! I think you’ll see some surprising production from both Kenji and Sexson in their contract years.

Hey thanks for giving our good wines a great review. about time. gary when are you coming down here again? love the mitolo too.
Kylie Gold Coast Australia

I cant get away from the fruit and sugar ! Great show !

I gotta agree on the Water Wheel. This is one of my long time favourite quaffers. Great value for money. Been buying it since the late 80s or early 90s.

It is so delicious young and is an every day kind of wine so I’ve never managed to keep much. I don’t have any older than 2001. I should probably give it a little more respect and hold some back like I do with most of my wines.

Bendigo (ben-dig-go) is in central Victoria adjacent to Heathcote (Jasper Hill, Shadowfax etc) and not far from the Nagambie/Goulburn valley (Tahbilk, Mitchelton etc).

It is one of 10 or 12 distinct wine regions within ~2 hours of Melbourne (let’s see. clockwise: Geelong/Bellarine Peninsula; Ballarat, Sunbury, Macedon, Bendigo, Heathcote, Goulburn Valley, Strathbogie ranges, King valley, Mansfield, Yarra valley/Diamond valley, Gippsland, Mornington Peninsula). 13 and that leaves out some wonderful areas just a little further out – Rutherglen, Grampians, Pyranees, Great Western. The list goes on…

Melbourne is one of *the* great wine destinations – great wines in so many different styles in a compact form factor with english-speaking, friendly locals 🙂

Gee, maybe I should have a job at the dept of tourism 🙂

Look me up if you decide to test my premise!

Mike

i’m fairly certain Ben Glaetzer makes the Mitolo as well. As much as I love you GV you seem to be trying to hard sometimes to break away from your love of “new world” wines. I don’t understand it because your recognition of those is what made wine library blow up. I’m not trying to be a jerk but it almost seems like you feel a need to join the wine establishment because you’re big now. Also a thing that’s been bugging me; Robert Parker is known as loving super huge fruit bomb wines but he’s always made his rep as being the bordeaux guru. I’ve never quite understood that.

Had the G.A.M. 2005 today. Vivaitalia, you are right Ben is behind Mitolo wines together with Frank Mitolo. The 2005 was an explosive experience, would recommend definitely. I bought some Amon-Ra some time ago and can’t wait to open those (trying to save them for the next decade).

Gary! I’m surprised you even have to ask. Opening day can only mean one thing: my Pittsburgh Pirates will be all up in or something.

Wish I could have experienced baseball in the 50’s – i think that would have been awesome.
keep up the great work.

From the review you gave grateful palate’s Boarding Pass Shiraz, I’d be curious to see how you like their First Class Shiraz. It comes in at about $30 at Cellar Wines in Oklahoma City. My husband and I liked it so much that we bought the last two bottles available in the state.

It’s fairly predictable in a way Gary that the two Grateful Palate wines made by Chris Ringland that you have reviewed recently (Evil Cabernet & Boarding Pass Shiraz) are exclusively made for the American market.

By labelling these wines as “predictable aussie” wines I think isn’t fair as they are not made with a sense of place in mind, ie, Terroir.

They don’t even come from a designated region, but rather ‘South Eastern Australia” which covers 75% of Australia’s wine regions.

You loved the Mitolo and Water Wheel which have distinct regions (Bendigo & McLaren Vale) and seems to espouse the characters of that land.

So, rather than tarring the Aussie wine scene with that same ‘Over the Top’ brush, keep in mind that some wines made for the US Market almost exclusively (and are even sometimes made a little differently than the same wine destined for local shelves) are made to appeal to the sugar loving, middle American palate.

Just caught this– best quote EVER on Wine Library TV (regarding the high 15.7% alcohol level of the Boarding Pass Shiraz):

“A great first date wine”

Nice Aussie showing overall. Im thinking of investing in a Molly Dooker or two, and buying some other Aussie wines I can drink now. QOTD: Sadly, the Mariners. We all know what crap they turned into after the 2001 season, and I know 2009 wont be any different. They havent made any great moves so far (big shocker), and I dont see them even comming close to competing for the division. Sadly I think they will lose more than 100 games again this year and the manager Wakamatsu will be fired by the end of the 2010 season.

I love Shiraz. I have a soft spot for them considering they really got me into wine about eight years ago. I did get a little worn on them a few years ago but have come back around full circle. I have not purchased the 2006 Anaperenna nor have I tried it yet so I’ll hold off any comment on it. However I tried it’s predecessor the 2005 Godolphin from Glaetzer and absolutely loved it. I plan on buying a few bottles of the Water Wheel, have never even seen the boarding pass but will definitely pass on that. The Mitolo GAM is another fantastic shiraz, but I not in the same tier as the Godolphin.

QOTD: Since it is almost opening day here in 2009 (A year late, sorry) I am going to go with the good guys who wear black. The Pale Hose, my Chicago White Sox. Not much talk about them, they’ve definitely been flying under the radar with the national press but that’s nothing new. This team is going to bring some thunder next year, possibly even a trip to the ALCS. We’ll see.

Keep it up Gary, I love your show!

Phildo~

Gary,

First, I appreciate your mea-culpa on big aussie wines. I love your enthusiasm. I also appreciate how you put your tastes in context so we can judge your ratings adjusted for my taste differences.

Anyway, we drank the Glaetzer Anaperenna after decanting it 2+ hours with a big flavorful meal and it was wonderful. Some wines like this need to be decanted, especially when young and are meant to be drank with big flavorful foods. These wines do not get appreciated by themselves.

Suggest you try it again with a savory rack of lamb and garlic mashed potatoes after decanting it for 2 hours and see if it gets any better for you.

That being said, I really don’t mind that our tastes are different because then I can still buy the wines I like that you are not crazy about.

Dave

Gary,

First, I appreciate your mea-culpa on big aussie wines. I love your enthusiasm. I also appreciate how you put your tastes in context so we can judge your ratings adjusted for my taste differences.

Anyway, we drank the Glaetzer Anaperenna after decanting it 2+ hours with a big flavorful meal and it was wonderful. Some wines like this need to be decanted, especially when young and are meant to be drank with big flavorful foods. These wines do not get appreciated by themselves.

Suggest you try it again with a savory rack of lamb and garlic mashed potatoes after decanting it for 2 hours and see if it gets any better for you.

That being said, I really don’t mind that our tastes are different because then I can still buy the wines I like that you are not crazy about.

Dave

I have had the Boarding Pass(their First Class is better) and Mitolo, have many Glaetzer wines in my cellar. QOTD-Yankees http://www.winelx.com

Just revisited this episode. I’ve been a fan of Water Wheel for a while, being fairly local to where I am. I especially like their Cabernet Sav. I’d like you to try their Chardonnay some time too.