Hey Gary, today’s show kinda summed up Australian wines for me. About two thirds are pretty darn good and the other third are way over the top. But, if I’m in the mood for a fruitbomb, nothing compares to a big Aussie.

I’ve always enjoyed Innocent Bystander and Kangarilla Road’s Shiraz/Viogner. I’m gonna give this Pinot a shot, I’ve found some good value in Australian Pinots.

QOTD: Hey, I like Black Swan Aussie wines! Great show Gary!

I’ve always enjoyed Innocent Bystander and Kangarilla Road’s Shiraz/Viogner. I’m gonna give this Pinot a shot, I’ve found some good value in Australian Pinots.

Great episode– passion, drama. QOTD, I don’t know what Santa is bringing me actually, but my wife and I are flying down to VA Beach to see my new nephew Isaac, born on my 40th birthday!

hey, call it like you smell it or taste it…too much artifice undermines what the wine is supposed to be. Can the producer really love their own product if they oak the crap out of it?

QOTD: we gave santa this year off, since he has already purchased a large amount of wine for the cellar in the off-season. Hope he gets you what you are looking for this year though.

Oh, and the whole family says thanks a lot, they really enjoyed the Montes Folly 2005…we had it with (and it played great!) kielbasa, kraut, potato pancakes, and beet salad, with Alex Cuba playing in the background.

Great episode– passion, drama. QOTD, I don’t know what Santa is bringing me actually, but my wife and I are flying down to VA Beach to see my new nephew Isaac, born on my 40th birthday!

BTW I thought you were going to take out the wineglass with the sweep of your hand there at the end…

BTW I thought you were going to take out the wineglass with the sweep of your hand there at the end…

@RANDI Nooooooooooooo I am so sorry, I love u, happy Bday, I am a dope!

Epic! I love it. I was laughing my a– off during the last wine. Vintage GV. Thank you. I was having a flashback to an earlier episode when you tasted the 2004 Clos Les Lunelles, Cotes de Castillon.

I’ve enjoyed some Aussie wines. Amon Ra immediately comes to mind, very nice. I enjoyed a Turkey Flat shiraz, but that is as far as I can go fruit-bomb-wise. Awhile ago, a chap at my LWS pointed out the Marquis Phillips S2 and wanted me to try it. God almighty I wanted my money back. I made it through one glass. 16% alcohol. Just give me a shot of vodka with 200 scoops of sugar, Hi-C grape juice and a bowl full of oak chips. Definitely not my style.

QOTD: I’m just glad my sister is able to make it home this year. We’re pretty close.

Epic! I love it. I was laughing my a– off during the last wine. Vintage GV. Thank you. I was having a flashback to an earlier episode when you tasted the 2004 Clos Les Lunelles, Cotes de Castillon.

I’ve enjoyed some Aussie wines. Amon Ra immediately comes to mind, very nice. I enjoyed a Turkey Flat shiraz, but that is as far as I can go fruit-bomb-wise. Awhile ago, a chap at my LWS pointed out the Marquis Phillips S2 and wanted me to try it. God almighty I wanted my money back. I made it through one glass. 16% alcohol. Just give me a shot of vodka with 200 scoops of sugar, Hi-C grape juice and a bowl full of oak chips. Definitely not my style.

QOTD: I’m just glad my sister is able to make it home this year. We’re pretty close.

Oh! ALRIGHT!! Im such a sucker for you!! LOL
xoxo

Ive missed you! Welcome back!! LOL 😉
xo

Hey Gary. I’ve only been watching for about a week now, but I am loving the show. I myself have only been seriously drinking wine for a little over a year (I am only 23) but I agree with a lot of your ideas about wine. I enjoyed this episode: I myself am a big fan of Australian wines, especially Jim Barry and Thorn Clarke. A few nights ago I had a bottle of 2003 Thorn Clarke Shotfire Ridge Cuvee, and I gave it a perfect 20/20 rating, my first perfect score ever. It was the third (and sadly final) bottle of that wine I had, and the other 2 I had rated highly, but there was something special about this last one. However, I currently cannot afford many wines over $20, so maybe one day when I am able to get my hands on higher up bottles my thoughts will change. But I gotta say I am loving this show; I have watched the first 20 or so episodes, and have also seen a good dozen other episodes. My favorite one so far is when you show how to expand one’s palate. I will do that myself sometime soon. I hope to get a reply back from my message, and I will continue to watch and comment. Keep it up!

Hey Gary. I’ve only been watching for about a week now, but I am loving the show. I myself have only been seriously drinking wine for a little over a year (I am only 23) but I agree with a lot of your ideas about wine. I enjoyed this episode: I myself am a big fan of Australian wines, especially Jim Barry and Thorn Clarke. A few nights ago I had a bottle of 2003 Thorn Clarke Shotfire Ridge Cuvee, and I gave it a perfect 20/20 rating, my first perfect score ever. It was the third (and sadly final) bottle of that wine I had, and the other 2 I had rated highly, but there was something special about this last one. However, I currently cannot afford many wines over $20, so maybe one day when I am able to get my hands on higher up bottles my thoughts will change. But I gotta say I am loving this show; I have watched the first 20 or so episodes, and have also seen a good dozen other episodes. My favorite one so far is when you show how to expand one’s palate. I will do that myself sometime soon. I hope to get a reply back from my message, and I will continue to watch and comment. Keep it up!

@ John D. I love my Sis Liz so much too! man!

QOTD: A Flat-Screen TV and surround-sound system.

Used to buy lots of Australian wine–Marquis Phillips, the Australian Wine Collection, more whites than reds. Rieslings and Semillons. No Yellow-Tail. I do have a Llewelling Cab I haven’t tried that a fellow Vayniac recommended. I also enjoy Grenache–the Tir Na Nog was very likeable. Haven’t had it in about 5 years. You were not in love with that particular wine. Craneford made a decent Petit Verdot and I have a couple of bottles of Clarenon Hills which pair nicely with tomato sauce. Unusual but works well.

QOTD: A Flat-Screen TV and surround-sound system.

Used to buy lots of Australian wine–Marquis Phillips, the Australian Wine Collection, more whites than reds. Rieslings and Semillons. No Yellow-Tail. I do have a Llewelling Cab I haven’t tried that a fellow Vayniac recommended. I also enjoy Grenache–the Tir Na Nog was very likeable. Haven’t had it in about 5 years. You were not in love with that particular wine. Craneford made a decent Petit Verdot and I have a couple of bottles of Clarenon Hills which pair nicely with tomato sauce. Unusual but works well.

Hi Gary….been lurking a while, so thought I’d better jump back into the comments! Living in Singapore the Aussie wines are pretty much on our doorstep here, and so we have a good range of prices and producers to choose from. This may be the reason for me thinking that lack of choice may be affecting our friends in the States opinion of Aussie thunder. Of course there are lots of examples of over produced bombs, but there are also a large number of producers, many smaller volume that are kicking out some serious quality wines, with lots of regional variations and all the subtlety and finesse lacking in the headline fruitbombs. Even in the Barossa, for me, the better producers have moved away from fruit forward, one-dimensional wines….try the Rockford range of wines or Charles Melton- killer. Like other posters here, I have a lot of time for Mornington Peninsula Pinots, Rieslings from SA (try Eden Valley area) and Shiraz from Margaret River (Leeuwin estate is pretty well known, but lots of good stuff from less well known producers such as Brookland Valley, Evans & Tate, Voyager Estate, Redgate) along with their heralded Cab/Merlot belnds (try Mosswood, Moss Brothers or Cullen), so just to classify Aussie wines as fruit bombs is a little one dimensional for me. I for one will always have some space in my wine fridge for select Aussie wines.

QOTD: Have a healthy wife entering 2nd trimester, so not really too much else I need for Christmas at this point (other than pulling corks from a few choice bottles)

Thanks Gary….keep up the good work.

Great show. I laughed when you said the bit about first-time watchers being like “What’s going on”, because I was actually showing my dad WLTV for the first time. Good stuff.

I’ve actually had some success with Australia as of late. There’s a winery in Victoria called Shinas Estate that makes a Shiraz called “The Guilty”, a Viognier called “The Innocent” (not to be confused with innocent bystander), and a Cab called “The Verdict”. I think the winemaker is an ex-criminal judge or something. I’ve had the Guilty and the Innocent, and they were excellent–definitely loud and proud, but not over the top. The shiraz had a nice black/kalamata olive component that added complexity. They were both about 20 bones, which struck me as a great value.

Santa is helping send me to Hawaii with my girl. So that’s exciting. We leave next Tuesday.

Random story: so I’m at my parents’ house for the holidays, and they like wine but don’t drink it very often and don’t know anything about it. So in their cupboard I found 2 bottles of 1993 Beaujolais-Villages and one 1997 Cali Pinot Noir, sitting upright of course. I broke them the bad news, and sure enough, they were straight-up brown when we finally got the crumbly corks out. Maybe I’ll run out and get them at least a wine rack for xmas… not that those bottles were really the kind worth keeping 15 years anyway. At least nothing epic was lost in their ignorance…

Great show. I laughed when you said the bit about first-time watchers being like “What’s going on”, because I was actually showing my dad WLTV for the first time. Good stuff.

I’ve actually had some success with Australia as of late. There’s a winery in Victoria called Shinas Estate that makes a Shiraz called “The Guilty”, a Viognier called “The Innocent” (not to be confused with innocent bystander), and a Cab called “The Verdict”. I think the winemaker is an ex-criminal judge or something. I’ve had the Guilty and the Innocent, and they were excellent–definitely loud and proud, but not over the top. The shiraz had a nice black/kalamata olive component that added complexity. They were both about 20 bones, which struck me as a great value.

Santa is helping send me to Hawaii with my girl. So that’s exciting. We leave next Tuesday.

Random story: so I’m at my parents’ house for the holidays, and they like wine but don’t drink it very often and don’t know anything about it. So in their cupboard I found 2 bottles of 1993 Beaujolais-Villages and one 1997 Cali Pinot Noir, sitting upright of course. I broke them the bad news, and sure enough, they were straight-up brown when we finally got the crumbly corks out. Maybe I’ll run out and get them at least a wine rack for xmas… not that those bottles were really the kind worth keeping 15 years anyway. At least nothing epic was lost in their ignorance…

Interesting, wines went from good ,okay to oak monster. It has been along time since the oak monster has appeared. It made me laugh.

QOTD; I have no idea what santa has in store for me. No matter how many times
I try pinot noir, I just can’t get into it.

Gary, Nice show that will perhaps make some difference in the wines we see in the future. The Innocent Bystander you described perfectly, it is just like a great Bourgogne without the terroir but it still leaves one totally satisfied.I have had this wine many times and never have been disappointed especially on day 2 or 3 with Vacuvign in fridge. It reminds me of a Cru Beaujolais in it’s balance and drinkability and once again they are always more profound on day 2-4. How are you or anyone else truly able to evaluate a wine without food because I can’t. Keep up the faith and all the best to you and your family in this holiday season.

Gary, Nice show that will perhaps make some difference in the wines we see in the future. The Innocent Bystander you described perfectly, it is just like a great Bourgogne without the terroir but it still leaves one totally satisfied.I have had this wine many times and never have been disappointed especially on day 2 or 3 with Vacuvign in fridge. It reminds me of a Cru Beaujolais in it’s balance and drinkability and once again they are always more profound on day 2-4. How are you or anyone else truly able to evaluate a wine without food because I can’t. Keep up the faith and all the best to you and your family in this holiday season.

hahaha, i love when you try to sneak in a dirty joke by delivering it perfectly straight and deadpan. “I’m not happy about the wood in my mouth?” I could tell you wanted to laugh at that one. I also like the one a while back when describing a nutty note in the wine “Everybody likes nuts in their mouth.”

yes GV, you said these things. And they were hilarious. Keep the bad jokes coming! 🙂