Wine House - Old & Rare Wines Newsletter
Thursday 7th June, 2007

Dear Criss,

We pride ourselves on our Saturday Tastings, they are fun, free, and a lot of great wine is enjoyed.  If you have been thinking about coming in, or thinking about a trip to Melbourne, then the next two weekends will be the best excuse you will have as...

The New Vintage tasting is a bumper lead up to the massive Grant Burge - Flagship tasting on the following Saturday, the 16th.  Senior winemaker Mathew Pellew will be pouring the new Grant Burge - Flagship wines alongside a back vintage of each and, of course, cheese and biscuits to accompany.

And if you missed the Top Value tasting from last week the best wine tasted is now our Wine of the Week, the 2003 Schild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. This stood out for a number of reasons but most of all because, for under $20, it is definitely a wine that can easily cellar for a few years..

We also have all the details of our Clarendon Hills June wine dinner.  Every dinner is is getting bigger and better and we are looking forward to making this the best yet!  Check out the menu to really get the taste buds drooling and call (03) 9698 8001 to purchase one of the very limited seats.

And we can not forget the Wine Trivia.  A correct answer to last week's question means we get the ball rolling for another chance at a $30 wine gift voucher or a $30 Lunch Special.

Also, for all you Brother Brothers Cienna lovers who are lamenting the "sold out" status of the said wine, we can offer an equal replacement in the brand new Brown Brothers Dolcetto & Syrah 2007.

Lastly a quick warning that Wine House will be closed this coming Monday, the 11th, to celebrate the Queen's birthday in true Australian style... by taking a holiday.

Wine of the Week

Schild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
Barossa Valley, South Australia

Best Top Value Wine

The weekend tasting is an ideal chance to try new wines. The last tasting gave us a lot of good cheap drops, like the Stringy Brae cabernet/shiraz and Scrubby Creek chardonnay, but it was the Schild Estate that proved the winner.  It won for a number of reasons: food friendly, pretty label and it's longevity.  After three hours sitting on the tasting bench this wine had evolved from a strong tannin, densely toffee-oaked, typical $20 "look-at-me" Barossa cabernet, into a softer toasty nosed wonder.

The effect of being re-poured and re-evaluated over the hours meant the wine began to look as though it was decanted. When you decant, the process of giving air to wine, in this fashion it is akin to aging the bottle for about three years. The oxygen knocks off any alcohol dominance in the aromatics and turns it, in the Schild Estate case, from a one dimensional "oomph" powerful wine into a more approachable friend. Lovely cloves and real toasted capsicum characters blend in with the original  toffee and black current strength.  The palate also evolved from dominant dry tannins to a softer wine that allowed the more "drinkablity" aspects of the wine to show themselves and, again, this makes it great stuff as a sub $20 wine that you can start a cellar with.  It will develop nicely for three years or you can decant it now, like we did, for a top value red that would go great with some rich spaghetti bolognese.

$17.96 in a dozen | $19.95 per bottle
 

New Vintage FREE!

Saturday 9th June - 2:00pm to 5:00pm (NEW TIME)!

Taste some of the most recent additions to our vast range of fine wines. We don't mind if they lay around our cellar for another 10 years, in most cases, but we though it would be nice to show you some great wines that you drink now if you can't wait 10 years.

If you are outside of the Melbourne metro area please write "Saturday Tasting Price" in the comments part of your order, we will then manually supply you with a 10% discount.

Punt Road Pinot Noir 2005

Yarra Valley, Victoria

Mount Mary Comparison

We showed this wine at the recent Mount Mary dinner as the standard Yarra Valley pinot noir to which our guests could compare the Mount Mary to, and it did a good job. Sure it was a bit shorter on palate and the fruit was not as layered but it was one fifth of the Mount Mary price and in consideration it is a great drink. For a lovely and really engaging pinot that has nice herbal and fruit characters we do think this is a great wine to try.

$22.46 in a dozen | $24.95 per bottle

Yabby Lake Chardonnay 2005

Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

Jeremy Oliver 93 points!

This is a big new boy on the wine scene. Now in its fourth vintage the Yabby Lake wines are starting to hit their straps in big ways. Made by the all star wine making teamwork of Larry McKenna and Todd Dexter and owned by the Kirby family, of Village Roadshow fame, one could be forgiven for forgetting that the business here is all about wine, and the wine is quite good. The early vintages have been reviewed as very Burgundian in character and this 2005, already gaining praise from Jeremy Oliver, is likely to carry on the tradition. We haven't had a chance to try the wine yet but as it is already selling we're not too worried and we are sure that it will be one of the cracking bottles on this weekend.

$40.46 in a dozen | $44.95 per bottle

Paul Osicka Shiraz 2005
Heathcote, Victoria

Best of Heathcote

Almost every wine writer and drinker is full of praise for Heathcote shiraz. Recently a couple of Wine House members went up to the region just below Bendigo to have a look around and, little surprise, try some of the wines. This Paul Oskica, made from the oldest vines in the small area, was deemed the best value for money and quality tasted on the tour. It is rich, full flavoured and due to it's small production it is limited. If you want to know what it tastes like come in on Saturday because it is so limited it is not worth us trying hard to sell what we do have.

$31.46 in a dozen | $34.95 per bottle

Wines also on tasting will include:

: :  Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc 2006
: :  Bullers "Ltd Release" Shiraz 2004
: :  Knappstein "Enterprise" Cabernet 2004

The tasting, like the learning, is free and we look forward to seeing you this Saturday!

Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve N/V

First Course

Veal Fillet with wild mushrooms, fresh grated truffle and chicken liver parfait

Clarendon Hills "Blewitt Springs" Grenache 1998

Clarendon Hills "Kangarilla" Grenache 1998

Clarendon Hills "Clarendon" Grenache 1998

Second Course

Lamb Cutlet, artichoke & broad bean ragout finished with navarin jus

Clarendon Hills "Hickinbotham" Cabernet Sauvignon 1998, 2004

Third Course

Slow Roasted juniper scented Venison with winter vegetables and sherry caramel

Clarendon Hills "Liandra" Shiraz 1999, 2002

Clarendon Hills "Astralis" Shiraz 2001

Dessert

Chocolate marquise with coffee praline and liquorice ice-cream

Clarendon Hills "Turbo" Port

Last week's question was...

James Busby is often credited as the first importer of the Syrah vine into Australia. How did he spell the cutting he brought across?

Does everyone remember Ben the quiz contestant studying to be a Master of Wine who just missed out on the prize a couple of weeks ago? Well, with his correct answer of "scyras" and a list of alternative shiraz names that followed on from Busby's vine title Ben gets the nod for "Wine House Wine Trivia Quiz Winner". Well done Ben and just to let you know you are banned from winning for a couple of weeks at least, MW's in training put too much pressure on us to think of tough questions.

Well done all the same and your voucher is behind the counter for you.
 

This week we ask:

What was the title of James Busby's 1830 wine related book, how many pages, what was the purpose of the book and how was it distributed?

For your chance to win a $30 Lunch Special at the Brasserie, or a $30 voucher at Old & Rare Wines, email your correct answer to sales@winehouse.com.au! Extra consideration is given to detailed answers where many correct replies are received in a short time period.

 

If you send your wine orientated question in to us and we publish it, you will receive a $30 Lunch Special at the Brasserie, or a $30 voucher at Old & Rare Wines! 

Guidelines: the question must have a wine focus and it shouldn't be 'googleable' ie it must require some research.  Send questions to sales@winehouse.com.au