Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? .....Is it Art?

No! It's a Chart! De Long's Wine Grape Varietal Table.

Chart or Art, Don't let the curator of Le Louvre outclass you! Buy your table now and impress your arty friends as well as your wine charty friends.

Western Australia Wine Festival, 6-8 July 2007

The 2007 Festival will be held on July 6, 7, 8 at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre.

Wineries from all over Australia will be exhibiting. See if you can find some interesting new varietals!

Keep up to date

Have you signed up for the Vinodiversity newsletter yet? The next issue will be out in a few days. It will contain some news about the alternative wine scene, and over the next couple of issues some new offers and bonuses will be announced...getting hold of some interesting wines and wine related products at discount prices.

Joining the Vinodiversity wine newsletter is free, and it is the best way to get info about upcoming wine events and offers from the Vinodiversity wine club.

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Quince paste

Winter has well and truly arrived in Melbourne. Each season has its delights and one of them is the arrival of quinces at the markets. These superb fruits need to be cooked. They can be roasted slowly in the oven and served with roast lamb or tagines, they are beautiful stewed for an hour or two with a couple of lemon wedges, or you can make quince paste recipe.

Serve some quince paste on a cheese platter. It goes well with a surprising range of cheeses. And wine? I think an aromatic, dry Gewürztraminer is called for.

A horse called Zinfandel

On 16 June 1904, just a hundred and three years ago a horse called Zinfandel ran at Ascot in England and etched its name into literary history. The real equine hero of the day was actually called Throwaway, who won the race and became the punch line of several puns in the novel Ulysses. James Joyce set his masterpiece on the fictional events of one day, the day in real life when he first walked out with Nora Barnacle, the love of his life. But the fictional action takes place against a background of finely described real events and places.

Zinfandel is as good as any other name for a racehorse, and no doubt it rolled of the tongues of the bookies and touts of the day than if they had called it Crljenak Kastelanski, or even Primitivo.

16 June is a special day for all lovers of modern literature, and for some reason the strange loop in my mind always turns to this rather enigmatic variety at this time of year.

It's popularity in Australia is growing steadily, just over 50 wineries are using it, but I must say with mixed results. See more about Aussie Zin here

Vinodiversity wine club revamped

I have been working to get some new offers for the wine club and I hope to make an interesting announcement in the next few weeks.

In the meantime there's a couple of emerging classics on offer - a viognier and a petit verdot, both made by top Australian companies. You can buy them the dozen, or mix and match with any of the hundreds of other wines in stock. Ordering is just a few clicks away.