31 January: The end of January already...

WineBoxWarehouse have the Oliver's Taranga Shiraz 2005 @ $22.99, it's $28/$25 ex-winery +freight and is a fine wine at either price. It's $24.99 at Wine List Australia and Nicks and $32.99/$26.39 at Vintage Cellars  (20% off sale).

The VC 20% off sale might be an opportunity for a few buys, I see that Drappier Grande Sendree 2000 Champagne is $55.99 in 6-packs, I quite like this one.  Some wines that are not usually discounted much can be good buying at VC at sale times.  Also Cullen Diana Madelaine 2005 @ $75.99,Glaetzer Amon Ra Shiraz 2005 (or maybe 2006) @ $73.59, Moss Wood Cabernet 2004 $ 79.20, (They also have a pretty ordinary and slow site for a company with the supposed resources of Coles)

1stChoice have Glaetzer Bishop Shiraz (hopefully 2006) for $24.11/$22.90 and Lanson Brut NV for $47.26/$44.90. 

Dan Murphy have Grant Burge Filsell Shiraz 2005 @ $24.90/$23.70 (mostly $25-$28 and up elsewhere), Joseph Perrier 1998 @ $67.90/$64.50(Vic, $1 more most other states), Lanson 1996 @ $73.60/$69.90 (Kemeny's $69.99)

30 January: Amongst the "seasonal whites" in the Wine List Australia email this week are a few decent reds, Vasse Felix MR Cabernet 2005 @ $26.99 and Kaesler Old Vine Shiraz 2005 @ $49.99 (winebizz $50+freight, Discount Wines $51.95+freight, elsewhere $55 and up). The 2006 Kaesler Old Vine Shiraz is apparently out too and going fast, Wine Culture have it listed at $54.95, it's $60 + freight ex-winery.  The 2006 WOMS is $70+freight ex-winery, can't see it listed at retail, Wine List Australia has the 2004 @ $59.99.

29 January: Anthony from Boccaccio has returned from holiday mode and has the first newsletter for the year out and online (see link in the left panel) as well.  Amongst all the seasonal whites and Pinots, there are a couple of Cabernets - Balgownie 2005 @ $26.99 ($1 less then WLA and $3 less than Nicks) and the Epis "The Williams Vineyard" Cabernet Merlot 2006 @ $37.99 (same price as W*).  Also the Peter Lehmann Futures Shiraz 2005 @ $25.99, but that's $1 more than Nicks and $2pb more than Discount Wines 6-pack price (+freight).

A friend emailed to suggest I shouldn't really be encouraging other e-tailers to improve their web sites as it could result in more competition for our favourite e-tailers who provide such good ranges of wines at good prices and service to match.  As I've been occasionally ranting on this topic ever since I started this site with little perceptible effect I don't think they should start worrying just yet.

27 January: Challenge of the day:  How long does it take you to work out how to order the first 3 wines on this page?  How hard is it to implement simple online ordering?  Even this site can do it and they seem to have only one wine for sale!  Here's a clue for those would-be wine e-tailers struggling with the technology:  Just browse some of your competitors sites (many of them are as bad as yours), a few of them have the supplier/developer listed at the bottom of the home page, pick one you like the look of and go from there.  Or you could start here.

26 January: I've seen a couple of positive reviews on Bruno Paillard Premiere Cuvee NV, so did a search.  There is a very cheap price at Chambers Cellars in Sydney ($44.78, $70 at Wine Culture, $$72.95 at Discount Wines.)  There  is usually a reason for these kind of deals, jump in if you are game.

If you are hankering for a boutique Grampians Shiraz with a story behind it (made in a suburban Melbourne warehouse) and want to say something like "I have one of only 360 cases" then The Story Orphan Shiraz 2005 might fit the bill, it's got a few positive reviews from the likes of Wine Front and Winorama.  You can read the story here and order directly by email or via Squashedgrape, it's $20 or approx.$18 in case lots + freight either way.

The Oettinger Pils @ $29.90/24 at Dan Murphy is a bit ordinary, lacking any real character, the best you can say is it's inoffensive, clean, fresh and finishes dry.  I'll stick to Pilsner Urquell I think.

25 January: The Kemeny's advert in the SMH tomorrow is online now, it has an offer on 2006 Taylors Shiraz and Cabernet for $11.99 that gives a free bottle with each straight 6 buy, plus a bonus picnic rug with any dozen Taylors wines.  The big question for 2008:  Is this the year that Kemeny's finally get online ordering?  I'm not holding my breath.

I've added a few more Thai recipes to the Recipe page.

24 January: I had a quick look at the local chain specials this morning, I didn't see anything that was too exciting, but I did notice that 1stChoice had different prices on a couple of wines between the newspaper advert and the lift-out flyer in the same newspaper.  Once was the Lake Breeze Bernoota Shiraz-Cabernet (vintage unknown), the cheaper price may be worth buying, but I would personally probably go to Dan's instead and only have to buy 6 instead of 12 to get the good price.  I hope Wesfarmers has some plans to give the Coles Liquor division a big shake-up.

Last year I eventually managed to persuade Oddbins to give me a free online subscription (I refuse to pay auction houses for the privilege of bidding to pay them commission), but I don't really like the silent bid format of their auctions.  I'm sure canny bidders can score some bargains (which means vendors may not be getting the best prices), but there seems to be no feedback unless you win something and get an invoice and no history of prices actually paid as far as I can see.  The may  have been in the business 30 years, but technology has left them well behind.  I don't think I'll bother renewing my free membership.  Haha, posted too soon, I scored one 6-pack of d'Arenberg Coppermine Cabernet in the auction that closed on 22 Jan, @ $24pb = $144, + 15% premium + $13.50 freight + $4 mandatory insurance makes it nearly $31pb.  Hasn't changed my mind though.

23 January: W* specials this week include the Tatachilla Foundation Shiraz 2002 @ $39.99 accompanied by a bunch of glowing reviews.  The price looks OK, that's not much more than I paid for the 98 and 99 vintages.

Daniel at Wine List Australia is on the ball, after a good review on Winorama and a mention here, WLA has listed the Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 @ $26.99/$318.  More are sure to follow soon.  Thanks John W for the heads-up.  Dan Murphy seems to have the 2005 vintage now too, but $28.50, stick with the independents.

More crazy buyers on Gray's, I've had a couple of emails from people noticing the ridiculous prices being paid for some wines in the water-damaged-label sales.  A prime example was someone paying $99+ in the prior sale for a bottle of 1998 Wynns White Label Shiraz (not Michael).  Bidding on more single bottles of the same wine has reached $44 in the current auction and there are other examples of people bidding far to much for wines, some of which are still available at normal retail with undamaged labels and for less money.  Gray's seem to have a knack of attracting people who seem to have no idea of what is a reasonable price to pay for some quite common wines ad who apparently don't know how to check alternative sources.  Update:  They must have had a few complaints, they have now changed the bidding page to display the price per bottle for the next highest bid required.

The Nicks Stocktake sale list is here (pdf).  The wines that caught my eye are

22 January:  The tasting last night of 8 vintages of John's Blend was very interesting, with the group split on preferences for the younger or older wines.  I can't remember this character in past bottles, but the 96 showed poorly, with green tinges in the fruit and a slight varnishy character, rated dead last.  The 98 also showed some varnish and to me was had a hard, slightly bitter finish, but it had quite a few fans for good (fairly lean IMO) fruit and structure.  At the front of the pack was the divinely fruited 2002, the oak from 38 months maturation in American and French barrels was not prominent, this is a great example of the line and is already drinking well.  Close behind, equally ranked were the 1999 (38 months) and 2001 (40 months) vintages.  Next was the 98 (only 18 months), closely followed by the 97 (30 months) and 2004 (36 months), with the 2000 (36 months) joining the 96 (31 months) at the tail end.  I ranked the 2004 more highly than most, it just needs a couple years to settle and it will be in similar form to the lovely 2002.  None of these wines came across as over-oaked and showed a consistency of style and quality with no increase in price across 10 vintages.  These wines are not what you would call classic cabernet, more a genuine expression of a regional style with cabernet berry flavours (and very little of the mint/menthol sometimes in Langhorne Ck wines) and  the imprint of a master wine-maker.  If you haven't read TORB's article on John Glaetzer, have a look here.

Looking around for stockists other than Jim Murphy (ACT), I saw some listed on Langton's (along with the Margarete's Shiraz) under Glaetzer Wines along with Amon Ra and Godolphin (it's not) and as being Barossa Cabernet (it's Langhorne Creek fruit).  The John's Blend  web site is here. (Caution the sound in the intro is quite loud).

Auswine has a couple of Pieri 2006 Shiraz from Redheads Studio, the Occasione (Ripasso method) @ $24.99 and the Azzardo Shiraz (Amarone method) @ $32.99, also a range of Kumeu River (NZ) Chardonnay at $24.99 to $59.99 (less 10% for case buys) if that's your thing.  The won't appear on his site, email Gavin for details/orders if you aren't on the mailing list.

If a Merlot-Cabernet blend is your thing (I quite like the Picardy version, 2005 is a good one), then the Protero Red Blend 2005 from the Adelaide Hills may suit you.  It got a pretty positive review on Winorama and apparently a Gold medal rating from WineWise, so if you trust either/both of them it might be worth a try.  The Protero web site has an order form to download, but it doesn't have any prices listed, so maybe insert your own.  Or you can buy it from them via Squashedgrape, it's listed @ $25, but is $21.95pb by the case (12), freight-inclusive.  Update:  TORB has tasted this one now, his TN here.

Gray's again, I'm still on the lookout for cheap/good chardonnay for my white-drinking friend, there is a NZ Riverside Chardonnay 2006 listed with an ORP of $324/dozen, the NZ web-site of the producer is offering it for $13.75pb NZD for case buys.

21 January:  I've been told Nicks will be having a post-stocktaking sale, starting Wednesday, to be announced in their weekly email newsletter, you can access that via their site, or by the link in the left panel of this page or by joining the list.

20 January:  We've had a bit of rain and next week looks cool enough to transport wine, so the quiet start to the month is over.  A 6-pack of of Saltram #1 Shiraz 2004 (Kemeny's have this at $54.99 + freight, elsewhere mostly $59.99) and a couple of top-ups from Boccaccio as well as the ordered Joseph Sparkling Red make the January purchases a bit healthier.  A good review by Gary W (and pedigree of the wine/vintage) put Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 on the probable buy list.  Supposedly released late last year, it seems to be a bit delayed in the distribution channel though, I haven't seen it offered anywhere yet, at least not on wine-searcher.  There seems to be a lot of the 2004 still on sale, so the distributors may be waiting for that to clear.

The Kemeny's Jan/Feb catalogue is online.  Possible buys include Cape Vale MR Cabernet Blend 2005 @ $15.99 (not the JH rated Cabernet, a different wine, I thought the "straight" Cabernet was a little better than this, but the price is right), with a bonus cookbook with a dozen buy.  They are still flogging the Charles Ellner champagnes and a range of Champagnes from Besserat de Bellefon, both with bonus bottles for 6-pack or  case buys (respectively).  If you want a couple of new Riedel Vinum Shiraz glasses, all you have to do is buy a 6-pack of Taylors St Andrews Shiraz 2002 @ $49.99 pb and you get a free picnic rug with each case of Taylors 2006 Cabernet sauvignon at $12.99pb.  There are a lot of other offers and bonuses, some wines that have been out a while that you may have missed or need more of, such as Majella Cabernet 2005 @ $29.99 and Sandalford Margaret River Cabernet 2005  and Shiraz 2004 @ $24.99 with a bonus 500ml bottle of Sandalera with each case buy.  Plus of course several pages of KHL wines.

18 January:  Whilst running errands on that side of town I called in at Jim Murphy for the first time in a while and found the 2004 John's Blend had been released and nearly sold out already, so I bought a 6-pack @ $28.95pb.  That price is less than I paid for the 96 and less than any year other than the 2000 ($26.50), looks like the style is out of fashion..  One will go in a vertical next Monday, 96-2004, missing 2003 (didn't buy any that vintage, though JM has plenty left), should be interesting for the oak-o-philes. 

17 January:  I couldn't see anything really exciting in the chain adverts, though I might go and taste the Oettinger Pils @ $29.90/24 at Dan Murphy to see if it's Ok for summer quaffing.  I didn't look at all states though I've been a little busy with other stuff, including getting new shoes/cleats so I can ride the second hand Scott Spark 30 MTB I bought today, yes I'm risking another broken leg and getting back on a  bike, I need the exercise.  It has put a bit of dent in my wine-buying budget though. :-(

I did though order yesterday from Dan's two 6-packs of Joseph Sparkling Red 2007 disgorgement @ $277.80/6, one for me, one for Ric, but I get to pay for both as I'm still behind.  That price is apparently less than the new buy price for this wine as told to me by an independent e-tailer.  Get in if you want some, there wasn't a lot of the 2007 disgorgement made.  Or buy any remaining 2006 disgorgement if you find it under $50.

16 January:  Prince Wine Store in Melbourne are having a 20% off sale, in-store on Saturday 19th or order from the sale list (pdf here) by 5pm on Sunday 20th.

15 January:  Auswine have a stack of new releases, including the Lazy Ballerina 2006 pair, Oliver Hill Jimmy Section Shiraz 2006, Pennys Hill Shiraz 2006, Thorn Clarke Quartage 2006, a Karrata Shiraz-Cabernet NV that looks interesting, Ch Reynella Vintage Port 1998 and Chapel Hill Cabernet 2005.  Gavin is also having one of his irregular 10% off sales, simply type the discount code case in the discount code # box in your shopping cart, and click 'apply' to receive the lower prices.

14 January:  On Langton's Exchange Sydney, Gibson Old Vine Collection Barossa Shiraz 2002 @ $50pb in a 6-pack might interest some during the commission-free January period.  Also Branson Coach House Shiraz 2002 @ $46 if you like that style, Langi Shiraz 2003 @ $27.  In the Melbourne Exchange, Ingoldby Golden Vine Reserve Shiraz 2002 @ $21 in 6-packs might be worth a try, just about everything else desirable seems to be fully priced and there are some trying to flog ex-HFW wines at ridiculous prices, such as Willow Bridge Black Dog Shiraz 2001 @ $88pb, it was selling on Grays for around $24-$35 delivered and was previously selling on the Exchange for $31pb.

Good old Gray's are selling a bunch of John Riddoch Shiraz magnums of various vintages, with a nice picture of the label clearly showing the Cabernet Sauvignon words, despite the water damage on the labels of magnums offered in this sale.  Thanks to Rodney B for picking this up, I looked at this auction and the Shiraz bit just didn't register.

12 January:  Not a lot to report so far this year, nothing caught my eye in the Winepool Rad's Choice or Wine List Australia email this week, maybe it's just too hot to think about it.

The Google adverts will disappear in a few months, as soon as it hits the next payment amount, I've taken them off the BYO restaurant page already.  They sent me a polite but firm email that reminded me it's forbidden to click on my own ads and that there is a preview tool if I want to check them out myself.

I've had a small rush for the new version of the RB Cellar Master, hopefully there won't be any significant bugs in it.

10 January:  No real updates today, I'm off to swap wine with Ric (TORB) and do a bit of serious eating and drinking in Berrima.

I'm not waiting any longer, the new version of the RB Cellar Master will be shipping from tomorrow.  You can see the updated information and look at the user guide for the new version via the link near the top of the left panel with the red arrowhead.  If you want to update your existing version, follow the instructions there.

09 January:  The new Matt's Specials from Premium Wines Direct are up, see left panel. The red selection looks pretty good this month, with Gemtree Uncut Shiraz 2006 @ $17, 2005 and 2006 Serafino Cabernet and Shiraz, Willunga 100 Cab-Shiraz again and prior vintages of Paxton Shiraz (2002) and Turkey Flat Shiraz (2004).  As ever, email Matt to order, Care Australia benefits from each order you make via this site.

If you are close enough to Bondi Junction, you may want to drop in to the Vintage Cellars there and check out the bargain bin, Chris F emailed to say there seemed to be a fair number of Mitolo Reiver Barossa Shiraz 2005 @ $32 (elsewhere $46 and up).  Or call first and check if there is any left to save wasting time and petrol.

I think I'm well on the way to joining the "grumpy old men" club, but I have to mention another thing that probably shouldn't (based on 35 years in the IT industry) but does regularly cause me to shake my head in wonderment at how such basic things aren't dealt with properly.  In this case it is the presentation of lists of wine for sale, either full lists or lists from a Search facility of some sort.  And SORT is the operative word, I know for a fact it is a trivial task to sort a list presented on a web page into alphabetical or price order, but I'm still amazed at how many web site developers (and e-tailers) don't seem to understand this extremely basic concept.  If I'm looking at a new site and it can't even do this basic option I seldom look any further unless there seem to be some exceptional prices or wines and that is not often the case.  There is so much money wasted on awful web-site development, yet good, simple basic e-commerce web-sites are practically a commodity off-the-shelf item these days. 
This rant was prompted by a news item claiming Boutique Wineries had achieved a number 1 search engine (incl Google), ranking for buying Australian wine online.  That's amazing enough in itself until you consider the generic name that would score a lot of hits and the wide-ranging meta keywords they include in each page to score search rankings, they were smart enough for that.  But the site itself is a prime example of the lack of sorting just described above, with single and multi-page lists presented in random order. The advanced search has a bug too, if it returns an indication of multiple pages it wont display the subsequent pages after the first for some search options, pretty basic stuff.  They also don't have their offerings listed on wine-searcher, so you probably won't see them mentioned much here. They aren't the only offender, hopefully they won't threaten to sue me like one other e-tailer I criticised for having a sub-standard site (and high prices) IMO.  End of rant (for now).

08 January:  I'm not quite finished with my Graysonline thing yet, especially as Paul S emailed me this one, a recent auction listing (and in again last evening and probably again today): 6 X 2004 CHÂTEAU HAUT BESSAC, BORDEAUX SUPÉRIEUR AOC, BORDEAUX. EUROPEAN ORP €60; EXPECT TO PAY $100 PER BOTTLE IN AUSTRALIA. 
Compare this with a dealer's price in the Netherlands FRZ Chateau Haut Bessac, AOC Bordeaux Superieur, dry, red, .75l  € 5.29 which is about $8.50 and 2004 was not a vintage year!  So, round up and multiply by 10 to get the fanciful ORP, looks exceedingly dodgy to me.  At least bidders aren't completely stupid, it often sells for around $64++ a 6-pack (I posted too soon, someone bought this for $174++ a 6-pack today).  I shouldn't have mentioned the CJ Pask wines either, the Declaration 2004 in the last auction went for nearly twice the $104++ I paid and the new listing with 3 days to go is already $129.  Looks like I'm not the only one who has had issues with "Customer Service" at Gray's.

The Kemeny's advert in the SMH today mostly features their KHL range, there seem to be a few new ones, including a "Reserve Barossa Cabernet 2005 - KHL2945" that must be made by John Glaetzer from the description of the winemaker and some 2006 reds from Mt Barker and Adelaide Hills.  So it might be time to hazard a mixed case to try them.  Prices seem to be creeping up a little though in some cases, for fancy "cleanskins".

07 January:  I know most of you don't find the Google Ads too interesting (I've had one payment of USD100 and a current balance of USD47 since I started showing them), but they do occasionally turn up some mildly interesting things or new sites.  The first of two recently is the resurrected Virtual Cellar Door, which allows wineries to present their online sales facilities via a common site.  I thought this one was defunct, but is seems to be back, but is badly let down by the very ordinary user interface.  This is a variation on the theme of Squashedgrape (which has a better interface) and which lists wine from client wineries, orders are filled directly by the winery, some of whom have their own sales facilities on their own sites.  The second is a new site Wine Social which seems to be trying to get people to post reviews of wines in a framework of wine-related advertisements and offers.  I don't see how such a review site with unknown reviewers posting the sort of reviews that have been done so far can hope to compete with the established forums and review sites. 

One site to avoid is Red Wine Academy, it seems to be short on content and long on advertisements and commercial links.

I've made a few updates to the BYO Restaurants page, mostly updated details, but a couple of new entries.

A new vintage of a Classic McLaren La Testa Blend has surfaced at Get Wines Direct, unfortunately it's the 2003 and I don't think I've tasted that vintage and 2003 wasn't a super vintage in McLarenVale.  However, the price is right ($9.95, fully labelled), but I don't think it ever sold anywhere at $50, the last vintage I saw on sale (2002) was about $35 at the winery.  They were pretty particular in what they put under the La Testa label.  I just noticed the (partial) TN attributed to TORB, it seems to be for the 2001 vintage, not the 2003.  Although they do mention the 2003 hasn't been reviewed, it's a bit misleading IMO.

06 January:  Vintage Cellars are having one of their regular 20% off sales, for 6 or more bottles.  I hadn't bothered to check too closely, but Brad B in QLD reported some keen prices on Glaetzer wines: 2006 Glaetzer Anaperenna ($34.55)!! and Amon Ra ($71.99), the Bishop $23.99.  I checked the prices online and they were $5-$7 higher on the VC site so I asked Brad where he had seen them.  They seem to be in-store in QLD VC stores and oddly enough, if you change the Delivery Location to QLD on the VC site you do in fact see the lower prices and various prices for other states.  Another example of negative freight costs from the chains, the cheapest prices seem to be in QLD and WA.

04 January:  Ben Riggs has jumped on the flashy Mollydooker bandwagon and released a brightly labelled 2006 Bobby Dazzler Shiraz, 15%, South Australia grapes.  It's only $14.99 at Nicks and scored 95 Nicks points, it might be worth a try if you like the Ben Riggs voluptuous style..

03 January:  The price of the Joseph Sparkling Red has jumped a bit, current stock of the 2006 disgorgement is still around at $49.99 (Boccaccio), but some have bumped it up to $55 (Discount Wines, Wine List Australia) and the new 2007 disgorgement seems to be even pricier, likely to have a $55+ price at even the best e-tailers.  Get in quick on either if you see a good price.

02 January:  A timely reminder about wine deliveries in hot weather, good wineries and merchants will hold wine until the weather is suitable.  I once had wine waiting for a couple of months at a winery in WA until cooler weather arrived.   I bought some more Henry Martin Sparkling Shiraz NV from Grayonline, for $109++ or $11.28 pb delivered, it's a similar style to a good release of the Seppelt Original Sp Shiraz, but a little richer (especially compared to the leaner 2005), but not too sweet, nice drinking now, I hope mine doesn't get too hot on the way, Grays send it whenever they are ready.  I could try emailing customer service to see if they would hold it, but as I haven't had a response to emails from before Christmas I don't like my chances.

I've just about finished a new version of the RB Cellar Master, specifically for Access 2003 (will work with 2007 too, but not 2002/XP) and will then do a specific version for Access 2007 once I become more familiar with that.  I need one or two people who regularly use the current (2002/XP) version but who actually have Access 2003 or Access 2007, to help with final testing.  If you are interested, please email me here.  Also, if there is anyone who doesn't have MS Access at all, but would like to try the system and is willing to download and install a 50+Mb Access 2007 runtime version (free) from Microsoft, please email me here.

01 January:  Wine List Australia is one of the first back on deck with email "specials".  There may be some specials there (eg Bleasdale Sparkling Shiraz NV and Seppelt Original Sparkling Shiraz @ $14.99 and Zema Estate Cabernet 2004 @ $19.99), but they are lost in the sheer mass of other offers, mostly at standard (generally good) prices for WLA.  The Woodstock Shiraz 2005 @ $19.99 definitely isn't a special price, there are a few places offering it cheaper ($14.99 at Winebizz and some the $19.99 or higher), this line seems to have had a price rise, so $19.99 may be the new good price.  When I tried the 2005 ($16 at  6-pack price from DM, late August 2007) together with the 2004, the 2004 seemed to be a better wine and I wasn't that impressed again by the 2005 at the winery last September.  Woodstock will need a better effort than the 2005 to tempt me at the $20 price-point.

I'll no doubt occasionally grumble more about merchants listing offers as "specials" when they really are only "featured" or "new release" wines at normal prices (for that merchant).  Even Dan Murphy and 1stChoice don't usually claim their regular adverts contain "specials", although they often do have some wines at temporarily reduced prices, which is one version of a "special".