Joh. Jos. Prüm – Tasting the 2011 range

Date: Wed, Apr 17, 2013 Wine Tasting

Last Thursday I headed into the recently opened QT Sydney Hotel and its Gowings Bar & Grill in order to attend the annual Joh. Jos. Prüm frühstück, a breakfast tasting hosted by the Australian wine importer Bibendum. On this occasion the wines tasted were from 2011, a year in which the winery celebrates its 100th [...]

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Dinner with Californian Cult and Highly Regarded Wines

Date: Wed, Apr 3, 2013 Wine Tasting

US wine is not something that we get a huge amount of exposure to in Australia, probably at least partially due to the prices for the wines ending up sky high by the time shipping and taxes (in the region of 40%) are applied, so whenever I get a chance to try some I am [...]

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Comment on German Riesling Dinner : 1959-1988 by Cam Wheeler

Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2013 Wine Tasting

Thanks David. It was spectacular and well worth the points!

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Comment on German Riesling Dinner : 1959-1988 by David Hawkins

Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2013 Wine Tasting

Great write up Cam, with superb notes as always. The 1959 Karthäuserhof must have been amazing for you to give away 96pts, or are you just getting soft in your old age? Good to see Fix St James is still supporting these great dinners.

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German Riesling Dinner : 1959-1988

Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2013 Wine Tasting

I was fortunate to attend this small dinner a couple of weekends ago organised by a friend in Sydney, Australia. The theme was based around one of his great passions, German Riesling and as usual he did a great job in the careful sourcing and planing for this dinner. The restaurant Fix St James did [...]

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Australian Icon Wine Dinner Tasting Notes

Date: Wed, Mar 13, 2013 Wine Tasting

Alongside the 1944 Seppelt Sparkling Burgundy that I spoke about in the previous post, we had a number of other icon wines, including 2 bottles of the incredible Seppeltsfield 100yo Para. 2000 Bay of Fires Arras EJ Carr Late Disgorged – Australia, Tasmania Wow. Stunning nose with great depth and power, there are aromas of [...]

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1944 Seppelt Sparkling Burgundy made by Colin Preece

Date: Fri, Feb 15, 2013 Wine Tasting

Another month and another wine tasting that escalated quickly in planning. The original proposal for a modest BYO event ended in an “Australian Icon” tasting including 1888 and 1908 Seppelt Para Port (to be covered in another post), plus this treasure of Australian wine history. Just prior to the dinner, a member contacted the rest [...]

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Restaurant Andre – Singapore

Date: Sat, Feb 2, 2013 Wine Tasting

Some photos from a lunch towards the middle of last year at Restaurant Andre in Singapore. The food and service were both excellent and the value for money at lunch was fairly good at 130 SGD / 100 AUD (plus tax). The wine list was mostly very expensive even compared to Australian prices, so the [...]

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Dinner at Black by Ezard with some amazing wines

Date: Sat, Dec 29, 2012 Wine Tasting

Some photos and notes from recent dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Black by Ezard did a great job of hosting us with impressive food and excellent service from the sommelier and team. SASHIMI of hiramasa kingfish, sesame custard, edamame puree, chardonnay and shallot dressing ORGANIC FARM EGG potato cream, iberico jamón, herb salad POTATO [...]

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Lunch with Maurice O’Shea – 1952 McWilliam’s Stephen Hunter Valley Hermitage Shiraz

Date: Thu, Dec 13, 2012 Wine Tasting

I was fortunate a few weekends ago to finally try a wine from the revered Australian winemaker, Maurice O’Shea. O’Shea is regarded as a master and pioneer of the winemaking craft in Australia and his best wines still have the potential to be great, despite the basic conditions under which they were made. The wines [...]

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William Downie Pinot Noir and Thousand Candles Dinner

Date: Wed, Dec 5, 2012 Wine Tasting

I recently attended a dinner with winemaker William Downie at The Oak Barrel in Sydney. He has built a solid reputation for his Pinot Noir, first at De Bortoli and then starting in 2003 with his small production self-named label. Recently he has attracted further attention as the winemaker for the “Thousand Candles” project (label [...]

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Riesling & Rioja Dinner – 1964 JJ Prum Auslese, 1959 Spatlese and more!

Date: Mon, Nov 26, 2012 Wine Tasting

This dinner was organised by Shannon from Rare Wine Dinners, with the focus this time on German Riesling plus White and Red Rioja. The event was held at Rise in Sydney, a small Japanese Restaurant that did a good job with the demands of serving this much wine to a full restaurant over the course [...]

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Charity Dinner at Otto Restaurant, Sydney

Date: Sat, Nov 17, 2012 Wine Tasting

A few brief notes and photos on a recent dinner at Otto Ristorante in Sydney. The event was a charity dinner for Walk, Talk, Fly with 6 well known local chefs each providing a pasta dish and BYO encouraged. We had some excellent wines, the food was mostly very good and as usual it was [...]

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Canberra District Cellar Doors

Date: Fri, Oct 26, 2012 Wine Tasting

A recent visit to 5 cellar doors in the Canberra District wine region. Clonakilla Clonakilla is one of my favourite wineries in Australia and I will often try to time a trip down to Canberra to coincide with the release of the new vintage of their flagship Shiraz Viognier each September. The cellar door is [...]

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