What You Should Know About Margaret River Wines
October 28th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed
I love the Wine Regions of Western Australian. I especially love the majestic beauty of the Margaret River. Picture, if you can its pristine white beaches that disappear into the horizon. Try to envisage the rolling sand dunes that are home to the occasional outburst of native forest. See for yourself a western sunset that glitters and shines over the Indian Ocean like a dance. It’s no wonder this amazing place is home to so many praised wine producers. This is a beautiful place that produces some of Australia’s best wine.
The Margaret River region is without doubt one of our greatest fine wine areas boasting over 120 wine producers. Local names such as Moss Wood, Cullen and Leeuwin Estate sit comfortably among the greatest Australian producers, with their wines highly sought after both domestically and overseas.
The winemakers here aim to make wines that will stand up to the great wines of the world. Delivering brilliance in each and every bottle of wine they produce.
Quality Wines have been coming from Leeuwin Estate, Moss Wood, Vasse Felix, Cullen, Cape Mentelle, Howard Park and Pierro for a long time. Collectively, they have been responsible for making some of the region’s best wines.
These guys should be keeping a close eye on the wine coming from Woodlands and the newly revitalised Xanadu wineries. Another rising star is Voyager Estate.
The original vines of what is now Voyager Estate were first planted in 1978, under the name of Freycinet Estate. These vineyards, in 1991, were bought and considerably expanded on. The area has since become known as the ‘Golden triangle of Chardonnay’ due to the quality of the wines from producers in the area.
The current releases from Voyager Estate include three absolute knockouts. I recommend you try them all:
1. The Voyager Chardonnay 2006 ($35) has powerful white peach and citrus fruit on a taut and youthful palate with a little creamy leesy complexity and brilliant length. It is one of the best 2006 Margaret River Chardonnays.
2. A favourite, at least for enjoying now, is the 2005 Shiraz ($35). The Margaret River is generally not known for making a standout Shiraz, but this is a wonderful example of a dense cool climate Shiraz with clove and blackberry fruit trimmed with hints of wild violets. In the mouth there is a youthful feel yet there is plenty of vitality that it will only get better with time.
3. Best known of the wines from Voyager Estate is their Cabernet Merlot ($60), with the 2004 release one of their best to date. This wine is really built for the long term. You will love the taste of the gravelly cassis and blackberry fruit. All this is rounded out with subtle notes of olive and oak wood. In the mouth there is a gentle burst of fruit all tide up with in a significant, bold like structure. But in ten to fifteen years it will be a fabulous drink.
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What Everybody Ought To Know About Rose Wine
October 28th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed
Spring is finally here and what better way to celebrate than with a glass of chilled Rosé from your wine library. For the past 20 or so years good Rosé has been in the wilderness. It has been missing in action, so to speak. There were actually very few Rosé wines to choose from and most were too sweet to be taken seriously. After all, most of us don’t want our wine to taste like chocolate cake.
But that’s all changed now. Wine fashion is taking a long trip back to the seventies and our wine producers are finally starting to make drinkable and enjoyable Rosé. Respectful Rosés are popping up from all over Australia and now is the best time to open a bottle and enjoy a glass.
Interestingly, Rosé is made using red grapes.The wine gets its fantastic pinkish colour from spending a short amount of time, only two or three days, soaking with the red grape skins. It can be made using any grape variety, and most in Australia come from Grenache, Shiraz and Pinot Noir. Rosé comes in a dry or sweet varieties.The majority of modern Rosé wines are on the drier side. This dryness makes them perfect for spring time dining and entertaining. The fun colour of Rose also adds to the novelty of drinking it. Something about the colour invites festive thoughts and memories of celebrations.
Rosé is perfect for alfresco dining, celebrations and BBQs. It is cool and light enough to enjoy with a simple mixed green salad but also has the stuffing to stand up to a piece of fresh fish or rump straight off the barbeque.
When selecting Rose always go for the last vintage from your wine library. Rosés are made to be drunk young and most don’t age well. So enjoy them now.
Consider buying your next bottle or case of Rosé from Crackawine.com.au. They will give you $25 spending money towards your first purchase.
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Growing Competition From NZ Wine Regions
October 23rd, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed
Thirty years ago you’d have been lucky to find more than a handful of wines direct from New Zealand wine on shelves anywhere in this country. At the time there were only small, isolated pockets of vines spread largely around the North Island, and few had tasted, or even heard, of the miracle that is Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.
1981 saw three immigrant brothers plant their first vineyard in Canterbury on the South Island, which was the southernmost commercial vineyard in New Zealand, and the world. Coming from a Germanic background, where grape vines were found not only in the family backyard but also the local school, the Giesen’s were surprised to find a country climatically similar to their own yet with so few vines in the ground and a population more interested in Steinlager than anything that required a corkscrew.
The first Giesen vintage was 1984, which included a small parcel of the wine that would one day make their fortunes, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Alex Giesen sums up its success succinctly “It is the people’s wine”; a style that has seduced drinkers around the world with its pungent, decadent passionfruit flavours and spark of spine-tingling acidity. The 2008 Giesen Sauvignon Blanc has a well balanced sharp, acidic taste coupled with a full fruit flavour.
Today Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is a global phenomenon that has well and truly put New Zealand wine firmly on the world stage. While New Zealand is renown for the its Sav Blancs, this is one of the countless great wines that are on offer.
And one of New Zealand’s highlights is its Chardonnay, especially with wines from Kumeu River. While Chardonnay maybe be falling out of favour amongst some wine drinkers, Michael Brajkovich’s wines are truly inspirational. Forget the oaky, buttery, fat Chardonnay style because this bears absolutely no resemblance to the restrained, refined Kumeu River wines, which are sourced from just North of Auckland.
You find it difficult to locate greater value than with a 2007 Kumeu River Village Chardonnay, which has a vibrant, fruity Chablis flavour with some creamy sensations and length. But Michael’s crowing achievement from the 2007 vintage is undoubtedly the Mate’s Vineyard Chardonnay, a wine that would comfortably sit amongst the great Chardonnays of the world. Just like the team behind Kumeu River, there is great precision and focus to this wine with layers of traditional citrus and apple fruit flavours lifted by nutty, oatmeal barrel ferment complexity. And if stored for the next five to ten years, you’ll discover a most pleasurable drinking experience.
Known for their expectional Pinot Noirs, New Zealand’s movement into the traditionally dominated Australian full bodied red markets including Shiraz, Merlot and Cab Savs, which has been most interesting. In Waiheke Island near Auckland, great New Zealands great Cabernet Sauvignons are found. Unlike the intensive fruit flavour normally found in Cab Savs, these have a strong quality with great complexity and can be often be compared wines found in Bordeaux.
The New Zealanders also have a wonderful way with Shiraz, which is usually termed Syrah, especially around Hawkes Bay. Here Gimblett Gravels, helps the Shiraz to ripen providing it’s wine with a spicy flavour with layers of peppery fruit. Standout producers include Te Mata, Bilancia and Esk Valley but for consistency it is hard to go past the masterpieces from Steve Smith at Craggy Range. While the 2006 Block 14 Syrah shows lovely balance between perfumed fruit and fine-grained tannins, the 2006 Le Sol Syrah is breathtaking with layers of chewy sweet fruit heightened by a spicy and floral perfume. While different in style, this wine provides great competition to anything found in the Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale.
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Gift Basket – A Great Way To Give That Perfect Gift
October 23rd, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed
It’s party time for birthdays, functions and other occasions such as Christmas and you find it hard to find that best gift for your loved ones. In today’s world, when there’s very little or no time to spend on choosing and making gift buys, gift baskets really assist you to with a single gift that includes all great things. Gift baskets are really awesome gifts for anyone.
Gift baskets are generally depending on themes such as traditional fruit baskets, baskets containing bath items or any other products tailored according to the taste of the recipient. Here, gift basket doesn’t mean that there ought to be a basket but any container can be used as a gift basket with several small items.
Types of present baskets
1. Pre made gift baskets that you can effortlessly locate on the shelf of the gift stores and are the easiest way to gift someone.
2. Created in store gift baskets wherein you can shop or choose the gift items of your choice from the shop or online web sites to be bundled in the gift basket. Later on, these are arranged and wrapped by the employees for you.
3. Home made gift baskets might be prepared by you where you can gather the whole gift items you would like to give and wrap them as per your choice and way.
Gift baskets help you when you are far off from your dear ones and desire to send them a token of your love and feelings for them. You can give a gift basket not just on special occasions but also whenever you feel to gift a symbol of your feelings. Whether you’re searching to gift your wife with a special present on the eve of your anniversary or one who wish to gift your special friend on your first date. Even when you wish to gift your kids, relatives, friends, colleagues, you can handle well with customized gift baskets.
If you are gifting to someone who really likes music, you are able to effortlessly wrap a collection of music CD’s otherwise if it’s one who loves games, you can include game CD’s, puzzles and a lot more according to your choice. You can also give gift basket in accordance with seasons for instance, if it is winter season you can gift skin care and moisturizing items along with warm clothes and accessories which will surely make a fantastic gift. A gift basket indeed enhances your present if it’s magnificently decorated and designed.
To know much more log on tocustomgiftbasket.info
If you’re searching for more Gift Baskets ideas, then I suggest you make your prior research via net.
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