Chenin Blanc

Chenin blanc is a Cinderella white grape variety. In most parts of the world she is treated with scant respect, but by dint of high yields she is kept on to make rather indifferent wines. In the Loire Valley Chenin blanc is a princess. Here she makes stunning white wines, dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling. The Loire is the second most important sparkling wine region in France after Champagne. Some of the better wines from Chenin are known to have aged well for over a hundred years.

The variety is planted extensively in Western Australia, where it is a component of the famous Houghton White Burgundy, and other blends known locally as Classic Dry Whites.

You can read more about Chenin blanc and its possibilities for greatness in Australia on the Vinodiversity site

Or you might just like to buy some Chenin blanc by visiting Wine
Makers Choice

Tempranillo article in The Age

The Melbourne Age today had a story talking up the prospects for Tempranillo. Nice one. Readers of this blog got the good oil a couple weeks ago!

If you must read the Age article see it here.Spanish conquistador - Epicure - www.theage.com.au

Or else check out the blog for 19 November.

Some Early Holiday Shopping

Our friends at WinemakersChoice still have the wonderful Casella Wine Yendah Vale Sangiovese on a buy 12, get 12 free deal. Get some before it's too late!
While you are checking out the site you might like to consider a couple of weekly specials; Kingston Estate Zinfandel 1999 $12.99 and Goundrey Chenin Blanc 2003 $13.95

They also have some great Sparkling Reds which go so well with the festive roast dinner.

Subscribers to the Vinodiversity News got an early warning about the Sangiovese deal above and have reported satisfaction with the wine and the price
Why don't you sign up for the free newsletter Vinodiversity News?

Tempranillo on the up and up

Tempranillo is the red wine variety that is the Spanish equivalent of Cabernet Sauvignon. The excellence of the top wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero are testament to its potential. In the past it has also made an awful lot of awful wine in Spain. Recently it has attracted the attention of Australia's wine growers and winemakers to the extent that it is now the fastest growing of the hundred or so winegrape varieties in Australia.

There are over fifty growers of Tempranillo in Australia. Nearly all exiting Australian vineyards are of young vines. The optimum climate, vineyard and winery parameters in Australia are still unknown. The variety is grown in about thirty of Australia's sixty or so wine regions. Expect plenty more experimentation, and steadily improving quality and consistency.

Check out some more about this new wave wine Tempranillo

Budburst - Macedon Ranges Wine & Food festival

The 2004 Budburst Festival will be held this weekend. The region is full of sparkling wine and Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but if you look around you will find some alternative varietals, such as Gewurztraminer and Pinot gris.


Budburst - Macedon Ranges Wine & Food festival

2004 Show Results - AAVWS.COM

The results of the 2004 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show are now available online. Pizzinin Won the Trophy for Best wine of the Show with their 1998 Nebbiolo.

The results are available as a PDF file which contains the judging points of all entries, arranged by winery name. Over the next couple of weeks I will be writing a number of reports about some of the wines at the show

2004 AAVWS Show Results -