Irregular Update
Sydney Time
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008
Welcome to this week's big Irregular Update which features Chapter Three of the 2008 South Australian Tour Diary.
The WACOAS (Wowsers Against Consumption of Alcoholic Substances) are in fine form again. Last week there was a press article stating that Dan Murphys was selling wine at $2 a bottle. It went on to state, "Health campaigners say grog discounting has gone too far and insist a government-imposed price minimum should be considered." Don't these wan*ers realise there is nothing new in wine being at this price point, or below. Cask wine regularly sells at $10 for 4 litres (or below). The anti booze brigade don't bother with letting the facts get in the way of their agenda.
The article, Get Wines Direct Crosses The Line, generated still more feedback. One respondent's comments were really singing GWD's praises and the writer's comments required a lengthy response from me. If you haven't read all the feedback, it's worth spending a few minutes doing so.
The article called Green Wine also generated some interesting comments. Readers agreed with the article and pointed out that you could drive a super tanker through the holes in the logic behind the proposal. It's here.
As promised/threatened in the last Update, a heap of Tasting
Notes have been completed and uploaded. They can be found
here.
Chapter Three of the 2008 South Australian Tour Diary continues our
journey through the Barossa. It's another fairly big Chapter; its 28 pages. We
started off with a couple of fairly new, boutique wineries. For a small
operation, Laughing Jack is impressive and I am not surprised their wines
sell out quickly. Hentley Farm was another first visit. They now also
have a second label, Fools Bay, that represents real value and is
exported all over the world We had a quick visit to Murdock's new place.
Lovely building. Pity about the wine. We had an impressive line up of wines at
Rolf Binder/Magpie Estate and some of these get a big thumbs up. There
are also two "Claytons" visits in this Chapter. I couldn't get to either
Turkey Flat or Kalleske, which was a shame as they both release their
new wines in May. The good news is both of them were kind enough to send samples
and the reviews have been included in this Chapter. If you are looking to buy
wine, this Chapter contains enough wonderful recommendations, at all price
points, to keep anyone satisfied. It can be found
here.
More good news. Chapter Four is being edited by Brian already so it will be up on time next week and I am onto Chapter Five already. The week off last week enabled me to get in front of the game.
The News section continued to be deadly quiet over the last two week. Recent stories of possible interest include:
-
Foster's dusts off premium wine label
-
Wine sales reel from heady dollar
-
Drought will turn up the heat on Australian wine
-
Wine company Constellation Brands' profit jumps
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UK Wine retailers fear bitter year ahead as sales tumble
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Dan Murphy sells wine for $2 a bottle
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Evans & Tate back in the business of marketing wine
Those stories and more can be found here.
This weeks wine quote. When told that General Grant drank too much whiskey, President Lincoln reportedly replied, "Find out the name of the brand so I can give it to my other generals."
Until next week .... Cheers Ric
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