31 July:  Gilding the lily a bit?  Get Wines Direct are offering the Hamilton's Ewell Railway Shiraz 2004 @ $9.95, under the banner "James Halliday 5-star winery"  Well that's true, it was 5-star in the 2006 Wine Companion, but in the just-out 2007 edition they have dropped to 3-stars, only two white wines listed at 86/84 points.  They claim the 2004 Railway shiraz is as good as the 2002 rated 94 by JH in the 2006 Wine Companion, it might be worth a punt at $9.95.  Also the Stonehaven "Rat and Bully" Wrattonbully Cab-Shiraz 2002 @ $17.95, it is listed in the 2007 JH book at 95pts, drink to 2015, but with a price of $16.

Victoria Cellars/winezy have extended a recent sale, a long list of wines, some ex-Heritage stock by the look of page 1/2, some reasonable prices, but a few unknown/special labels from recognised producers.  Link here for the pdf file of the offer.  I haven't had time to have a really close look, moving the site last week and moving furniture for the carpet laying tomorrow...

29 July:  I made a rare buy at Dan Murphy today, starting with some Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet, a lone 2003 on the top shelf, the bin below was rapidly depleting 2004, all at $14.10 in mixed dozen buys (automatic 1stChoice price match, I suspect 1stChoice mostly had 2003 on offer), so I made up 12 with a couple of Laurent Perrier NV at $47.45 (automatic 1stChoice price match) and a few singles for tasting groups including a Charles Cimicky Autograph Shiraz 2004 @ $30.50 and a Conchy y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet 2001 @ $38.90 clear-out price down from $55+. 

For those buying the James Halliday 2007 Wine Companion, Dymocks have it @ $22.95 already, down from $32.99 RRP.

27 July:  The new Avalon email is out (see left panel), featuring some new release premiums, including Dalwhinnie South West Rocks Shiraz 2004 @ $65 and Heathcote Estate Shiraz 2004 @ $35 but 13 to the dozen.

Dr Davo emailed to rave about the 1996 Leasingham Sparkling Shiraz.  It's featured a couple of times here already, Winepool were advertising it @ $35, (but may only have had the 95 on one feedback from a reader, it's in the current Rad's Choice, but it's not online), Boccaccio $39.99.  I might take the Rad's Choice catalogue in to DM and do a rare price match.

A number of retailers are offering selections of wines with high (usually 94+, there are a lot of them) Halliday scores from the new 2007 Wine Companion, but some of the prices don't look too sharp.  Also note the difference between for example "Five star winery" with no points listed and "94 points", the former may be a lesser wine from a highly rated winery.  Also check vintages on offer, eg Auscellardoor lists Voyager Cabernet-Merlot as the 2004, current vintage is 2002, there is a Voyager Girt-by-sea c-m 2004, but not at the price offered by Auscellardoor.

GetWinesDirect have a few "Halliday" wines too: We'Re Margaret River Shiraz 2003 (94 pts) @ $9.95 looks like the real deal, it did well in the 2005 Great Australian Shiraz Challenge too. They also have a couple of Rorlach Barossa Valley 2001 reds, these are/were a CellarMasters brand and some mid-90's vintages of these were good, claimed to be made by Dan Standish, could be worth a try @ $8.95, the current vintage at CM is 2004.

1stChoice specials this week, they are not listing wine vintages, even for the vintage champagnes, I'll put the desired vintage in brackets for any wines I list:

Dan Murphy specials this week:

25 July:  The new Boccaccio email newsletter is out and will be on-line "real soon now".  Featuring the Peter Lehmann Shiraz 2004 @ $13.99 with a bonus Zerutti decanter with a case buy. (Wine List Australia $14.99, no bonus, Vintage Cellars $15.99/$14.39, no bonus) plus some other shiraz new releases and imports from Italy and Spain.

Wine List Australia has the Elderton Barossa Shiraz 2004 @ $19.99, same as Nicks.

You don't usually see Balnaves The Tally discounted, but Cloudwine have the superb 2004 at a special dozen price of $864 ($72pb), $80 single bottle price, get together with a friend or 2 and buy it quick before they change their mind or Balnaves whisper in their ear.  Or you could pay $75pb or $900/dozen from W*, new weekly specials online now, featuring high-pointers from the 2007 James Halliday Wine Companion.

Tony F emailed to advise of a special from an organisation I'd not heard of before D'Or to Door:  Mad Dog Shiraz 2004 @ $16.67($200/case incl freight), their online price is still $35, so email if interested.

21 July:  I had an email from Ian Barr at United cellars, offering the Thorn Clarke Sandpiper range (2005 Riesling, 2004 Cabernet and 2004 Shiraz) for $140/case ($11.66pb) or $405 for 3 cases (=$11.25pb), freight included, shipping directly from Thorn Clarke. (CD normally $13, best retail price I can see is $12.99 for the reds).  I haven't tried the wines, but the other 2004 Thorn Clarke reds are pretty smart.  Contact Ian by email or phone 02 8915 5318.

For ACT readers, Jim Murphy Market Cellars has the Houghton Pemberton/Frankland/Margaret River GI range @ $19.95 single bottle, also Johns Blend Cabernet 2002 and Margaretes Shiraz 2003 @ $29.95 single bottle.

20 July:  The new Avalon email is up, see left panel.

Ultimo Wine Centre have finally achieved a new web site with on-line purchasing.  Haven't had a good look yet, but they seem to have a lot of their stock online.

From Mark W: Dan Murphy at Macarthur Square (Sydney) have Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet 2004 @ $14.95 case price.  An un-advertised special, maybe other stores have it too.

Rodney B emailed me after buying the Kemeny's Winter Red dozen, looks like quite good value at $180 with the Bonus Rothwell Cabernet 2001.

Speaking of Red mixed dozens, Huntington Estate have a mixed red pack for $170, including a couple of Reserve wines, looks good value, I've ordered one.

1stChoice specials this week, they are not listing wine vintages this week, sign of the times I guess with multiple vintages of many wines on offer in same/different states:

Dan Murphy specials this week:

18 July:  One of the best reds tasted at Wine Australia was the Castagna Genesis Syrah 2004, $60+freight ex-winery or $63.99 incl freight at Boccaccio and much better value at that price than the excellent but blatantly over-priced Torbreck offerings.  Another standout, although not new (it was released 2 years ago) was the O'Leary Walker Claire Reserve Shiraz 2002, it's developing slowly but nicely under stelvin and would probably be my favourite of the whole show.  Still available at around $80-$85, including AWB (if they still have stock).  A re-taste of the Woodlands "Margaret" Reserve Cabernet-Merlot 2004 confirms it's a definite buy,$39.50/ $30pb case price (+freight) from the winery, or $38/$420 case at Cloudwine.  I'll be posting some impressions of Wine Oz on the Auswine Forum, I'll post a link here when I've done that.

Gavin at Auswine has a range of the Marquis Phillips 2004 reds at sharp prices by the full case, eg the S9 Shiraz @ $300/case (Nicks $408/case), S2 Cabernet @ $264 (Nicks $330)

Get Wines Direct have the Preece 2004 reds @ $9.99, these are consistently good wines and are on special at a few places at around $10.75 and more elsewhere.  Definitely worth a buy for current drinking over the next year or two.

David K emailed to inform me that Kemeny's has in-store some Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah 2004 @ $85 ($79 case price), this is a pretty scarce wine and if the Block 14 Syrah 2004 is any indication it's a great vintage.  Thanks David.

Kemenys (13 88 81) are still offering the Lindeman's trio, Limestone Ridge 2001, Pyrus 2000 and St George 2001 @ $27.99, plus a range of Bordeaux reds at claimed sale prices.  I don't know much about the wines, but I checked a couple of comparative prices:  Ch. Lascombes Margaux 2000 @ $95 (W* $149.99), Ch Potensac 2000 $60 (W* $64.99, Nicks $78.99), Also featured in their SMH advert today is a 6-pack of 2 each of the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz for a total price of $70 (oh the catch is you have to buy a case of the 2003 Bin 28 or 128 @ $18.99pb to get it!).

Sixty Darling St (1300 139 252) have the Bowen Estate Cabernet 2003 and Shiraz 2003 @ $20 (elsewhere $23), I didn't get around to trying them at Wine Oz, Doug Bowen was looking a bit lonely at times too.  Also Preece Cabernet 2004 @ $10, Henschke Keyneton Estate @ $29 (advert says 04, I'd guess it's 03), Coriole Shiraz 04 @ $19.50.  I haven't bothered to check if any of these aere online at the winepool site.

Wine List Australia has the 2005 Heartland Cabernet @ $14.99, $1 up on the 2004.

Vintage Cellars have a cellar club member bonus, buy a case of Seppelt Victorian Reserve Shiraz 2004 @ $11.69pb and receive a magnum of the 2003. (Boccaccio $11.99, no bonus).

There is a new Boccaccio email newsletter out, but Anthony gets embarrassed when I mention it's not online yet, so I won't. :-)  Featuring a couple of $6 cleanskins, Water Wheel Shiraz 2004 @ $13.99 ($1 less than most) and some pricier imports as well as carry-over wines from last week.

Jims Cellars still have the $15.99 Mamre Brook cabernet 2004 with bonus beer 6-pack
 

14 July:  The new Liquor Prince email is up, see left panel.

I'm off to Wine Australia in Sydney, updates may be a bit sparse or non-existent until next Tuesday.

13 July:  The new Avalon email is up, see left panel.

1stChoice specials this week:

Dan Murphy specials this week, featuring Heartland Cabernet 2005 @ $15.90/$15.50, last vintage was available around $13.99 (or less briefly), so no hurry on this one:

12 July:  Wine Searcher Pro subscribers can now create up to 6 Classified Adverts to have wines they want to sell appear in Search results for other users.  It's a neat feature, but I wonder how long before the Australian licensing authorities catch on and they'd have no trouble identifying the vendor either.

Don't forget to mention this site when ordering from Matt at Premium Wines Direct and don't forget to mention the bonus bottle when ordering cases of the Gemtree Tatty Rd 2004 or Pertaringa Undercover Shiraz 2004.  Matt tells me he has included the bonus bottle even where people haven't mentioned the offer, but make sure you do mention this site or you will miss out on the bonus and Care Australia will miss out on a donation.

It looks like my announcement of the demise of the Winepool site was premature, it's back again in the same old format.  The new Rad's Choice snail-mail catalogue (not online) includes Taylors Clare Cabernet 2004 and Shiraz 2004 @ $13 with a bonus magnum of the Cabernet for a full case buy.  The web site lists the bonus magnum for the Shiraz 2004, not the Cabernet 2004.  Leasingham Sparkling Shiraz 1996 is $35 still, as is the 2002 Classic Clare Shiraz.

Kemeny's SMH advert for 13/7/06 is online, featuring many Hidden Label wines and also the Lindeman's Coonawarra Trio (Limestone Ridge 2001, Pyrus 2000, St George 2001) @ $27.99, the Thorn-Clarke Quartage 2004 and Shotfire Ridge Shiraz 2004 @ $17.99 and Tollana TR222 Cabernet 2004 @ $11.99.

11 July:  Vintage Cellars Cellar Club members can score a bottle of Katnook Odyssey Cabernet (no vintage given) with each 6-pack of the Katnook Estate Cabernet 2003, but you have to buy another 6 bottles of something else to get the $35.99 case price, it's $29.99 elsewhere with various full-case bonuses.  Maybe you could make up the dozen with Metala Black label Shiraz @ $35.99 case price too.  There wasn't much else at a good price that I could see in a quick browse of the new catalogue listing.

The new Kemeny's Catalogue is online, the files are pretty large, about 26mb in total for 3 parts.  The usual mix of offers and bonuses, but I didn't see anything that made me reach for the phone, maybe you will though.  The Wynns Johnson Block Shiraz-Cabernet 2003 @ $24.99 (mentioned previously) is the standout red offer.

The new Boccaccio newsletter is up, see left panel link.

08 July:  It might be worth checking out your local Vintage Cellars store during the current 20% off sale (finishing very soon I think), Kieran D found a stack of Shaw & Smith Elixir (Clare) Shiraz 2002 @ $15 less 20% at VC Double Bay, it used to sell around $30 at CD.  TORB TN here.

For Hobart readers, BWS Aberfeldy are having a sale that may have some gems for you at good prices, including Balgaownie Cabernet 2002 @  20.99 less 10% for 6-bottle buys, Nicholas Feuillatte NV Champagne for about $42 less 10% for 6 or more, E Guigal Hermitage 1999 for $89 less 10%, plus many others, but be careful, some of the back vintages aren't that good, from the list supplied by Rodney B (thanks).

07 July:  One of my tasting groups tried the Gemtree Tatty Rd Cabernet Blend 2004 and Pertaringa Undercover Shiraz 2004 against some pretty classy reds and they stood the test pretty well.  Both were ranked equally with the Marius Simpatico Shiraz and ahead of the $40+ Te Mata Bullnose Syrah 2004 that probably needed more time to breathe up some fruit over the strong peppery character that many found distracting.  (The Craggy range Block 14 Syrah 2004 was ranked top, so no anti-NZ bias here, the Craggy Range just showed better fruit and structure right from the start.)  The Tatty Rd has good mid-weight structure and nice pure fruit with good varietal cabernet tones, will cellar nicely for a few years.  The Pertaringa Undercover Shiraz 2004 is all dark chocolate and spice, quite ripe but not overdone, I notice it also scored 5th in the top 6 under $25 shiraz at the recent Shiraz Challenge at The Ed in Adelaide.  Both these wines are good value at $17 and $16, see the Matts Specials in the left panel.

The new Liquor Prince email is up, see the left panel.  Featuring Woodlands Margaret Reserve Cab-merlot 2004 @ $36.99 (Cloudwine $37.99), La Pleiade Shiraz 2004 @ $64 (same as Cloudwine if they have received more stock) and McWilliams Maurice O'Shea Shiraz 2003 @ $49.99.  Thanks to Kevin for pointing out the Woodlands 'Margaret' Reserve Cab-Merlot 2004 is still available direct from Woodlands at $30pb case price, + $20 freight outside of WA.

Nicks have the 2004 Gibson's Barossavale reds listed, including the Australian Old Vine Collection Shiraz @ $79.99 (second rank in The Ed Shiraz challenge, shiraz over $25) and Reserve Shiraz @ $34.99, about the same price as last vintage.

06 July:  More 2004 reds are appearing every day, it's too early to tell if the initial listings are good prices yet.  Cullen Diana Madeleine Cabernet-Merlot 2004 (97 JO) is at Auscellardoor and Wine List Australia for $79.99 (the 2003 was/is around at $5pb less than that), Nicks has the Dowie Doole Reserve Shiraz 2004 @ $39.99 (I bought the 2002 of this line for $29 two years ago, so better prices may appear), the St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz 2004 (JO 94) @ $23.99 at Boccaccio is about the same price as the last 2 vintages.  Leconfield Coonawarra Cabernet 2004 (93 JO) is $22.99 @ Wine List Australia ($21.90/$20.90 at Dan Murphy last week), Leasingham Bin 61 Shiraz 2004 (91 JO) is out at around $16.99 so far.  Coriole Shiraz 2004 (JO 92) is widely available @ $22.50-$23.00.

The new Avalon email is up, see left panel.

1stChoice specials this week:

Dan Murphy specials this week, featuring single malts and some Cabernets:

05 July:  The Boccaccio weekly newsletter is out, featuring new Margaret River releases from Cape Mentelle (2004 Shiraz, JO 96pts) and Cullen's (Diana Madeleine 2004, JO 97 pts) and some current/back vintages from other MR wineries such as Voyager Estate and Devils Lair.  See link in the left panel.  Boccaccio also have the 2004 St Hallett Blackwell Shiraz (JO 94 pts, 2012-2016) @ $23.99.

The new Matt's Specials are up, see left panel (pdf).  There is still a bit of the Morris 2001 Shiraz @ $10 if you want some/more.  I tried a bottle of the Killibinbin 2003 Langhorne Ck Cabernet, it's pretty ripe and lush, 15% a/v, good value if you like the style, but I think I prefer my cabernets with a bit less alcohol and a bit more varietal character.  Also offered if you mention this site is a bonus bottle of the Gemtree Tatty Rd Cabernet blend 2004 with a full case of the Pertaringa Undercover Shiraz 2004 and vice versa for a full case of the Tatty Rd. (Nicks has the Pertaringa @ $19.99 and the Gemtree Tatty Rd for $16.99).  I'll be trying the Tatty Rd and Undercover courtesy of Matt at a tasting group meeting on Thursday and will post some impressions here after that.  Don't forget to mention this site when ordering, Care Australia is most appreciative of the contributions they have received so far and will receive on future purchases.

Auswine are selling the Torzi-Matthews Frost Dodger Shiraz 2004 @ $31.99 for delivery mid-July.  If you are after full cases it might be cheaper direct from the winery @ $30 (probably plus freight though and Auswine offer is freight-inclusive to most places).  It's not online yet, email Gavin if you are interested.  This wine has had a price drop, the 2003 was around $38 best street price and this is a much better vintage, I'm sharing a dozen with TORB.

04 July:  Wine Culture has a weekly "Culture Alert" email that usually has some interesting small maker wines.  This week features Wild Duck, Rusden and Craggy Range.  Prices are a little variable, some are good, some beaten elsewhere by a few dollars a bottle (eg Craggy Range Block 14 Syrah 2004 is $49, it's $47 at Cloudwine, but the Sophia 2004 is $59.95 and $65 at Cloudwine, Kilikanoon Covenant Shiraz 2004 is $35.95, it's $36.99 at Wine List Australia, $37 at Cloudwine).  The details aren't are now up on the (currently pretty basic) web site, so join up for the newsletter if you are interested in the sort of wines Garth aims to offer.  Free freight for orders over $250.

In checking out the prior details on Kilikanoon, I noticed Wine List Australia has increased the price of the Oracle Shiraz 2004 to $64.99, it's still $59 at Cloudwine.

Kieran nudged me to re-list (from 2020 June) the Jims Cellars special on the Mamre Brook Cabernet 2004 @ $15.99, with a bonus 6-pack of Heineken beer for a case buy, re-advertised in the SMH today.  The price is good, but plus freight and I assume freight for the free beer as well.

W* specials are out, featuring Yalumba Signature Cab-Shiraz 2002 @ $32.99 (Boccaccio and Wine List Australia have been $31.99 for a while now).

01 July:  Happy new financial year, spend your tax cuts wisely!

There is another large listing of Fox Creek JSM Shiraz-Cab Franc 2000, 2001 and 2002 on Langton's Exchange for $11pb (+15%+freight).  Thanks Mark S for the information.  Also, there are 4 6-packs of the 2002 Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz @ $35 (+15% etc) and some 12-bottle cases of 1994 Howard Park Cabernet-Merlot @ $49 (+15% etc).

The new Avalon email is up, don't have time to look at it closely this morning.

Kemeny's advert in the SMH has Wynns Johnsons Block Shiraz-Cabernet @ $24.99 (and a bonus VB offer with a case buy), cheekily quoting the TN from Bert at W*, the W* price is $30.99, Wine List Australia $29.99