So what do we do here at Winehelp.com.au? Here are a few of the things we’ve been up to over the last week.
Winehelp.com.au was sommelier to a 50th birthday party, where the house wine was 1998Penfolds Bin 389 Shiraz Cabernet “Baby Grange”. 42 bottles were double decanted back into the original (cleaned) bottle, each bottle sampled and three removed due to cork taint.
Interesting variation across bottles, albeit slight, with aromas of blackcurrant and menthol more prominent in some and cedar wood in others. Either way, a stunning wine with great intensity of flavour, ample ripe tannin (still) and a very long finish. It has at least another 5 years left in it.
Sunday was spent talking about the wines at The Hills Boutique Wine Centre, a new cellar door facility located at The Gatehouse at historic Glen Ewin Estate outside Adelaide. The centre provides a tasting room for fourteen Adelaide Hills wineries – Basket Range, Bowe Lees, Griffin Wines, Hermitage Premium Wines, Kanta Wines, Leabrook Estate, Parish Hill, Protero, Romney Park, Riposte Wines by Tim Knappstein, Setanta, The Pawn Wine Co., Tomich Wines and Wicks Estate.
Having set up the facility and personally selected the wineries for inclusion, Winehelp.com.au is pretty familiar with all of the wines. Less familiar with the food preparation and service! Hopefully it was almost up to its usual standard! www.glenewinestate.com.au
Winehelp.com.au put together an inventory for a client who has been separated from his wine cellar after relocating himself (but not his wine cellar which is housed at a climate controlled wine storage facility in Adelaide) to USA five years ago.
55 dozen were catalogued into numbered cartons, with each bottle inspected along the way, presenting him with his inventory, valuation on each wine and recommendations on what to keep, drink or sell taking into account his preferences regarding wine maturity.
The next step is to assist in sending the “sell” wines off to auction and advise on re-investment in new wines to restock the cellar (and reduce the stock holding somewhat) to provide a wonderful array of well-cellared wines for his return to Australia in a few years time.
Those marked “drink” will be separated out and sent to him a dozen at a time on his brief returns to Australia.
Highlights in the cellar included a couple of Penfolds Grange (’89 and ’94), an extensive collection of Wild Duck Creek Estate, including a few Duck Muck, a ’75 Haut Brion (that unfortunately had seen better days), ’98 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz and a magnum of 1986 Ch. Mouton Rothschild.
Winehelp.com.au also retrieved, packed and sent a few wines from a Singapore-based client’s Adelaide cellar to Sydney (if you follow!) to meet up with him for an annual Australian visit. These included the last of the ‘99 Ashton Hills pinot noir, ’02 Richmond Grove Watervale riesling, ’01 Bannockburn shiraz, ’98 Wynns Black Label cabernet and ’96 Gaja. A broad spectrum awaits him.
A few back labels have also been written, along with a wine list, matched to the menu and price requirements, for a wedding.
These are just a few things we have done this week at Winehelp.com.au. Do you need to get your wine collection back under control? Are you looking to put together a cellar for yourself? Winehelp.com.au can help you to create a rewarding, diverse cellar to suit your taste, drinking habits, budget and space constraints, even as small a collection as 2-3 dozen. Contact us to find out more or with anything you need Winehelp with. admin@winehelp.com.au
Keep an eye out for our upcoming article on home wine-cellaring. Some dos and don’ts to help give your home cellar the best chance of rewarding your patience!
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