Taste of Sydney is coming up next week. If you have not been to this show yet, you should make the effort and head to Centennial Park between the 13th and 16th of March 2014
This show is an amusement park for grown ups. Instead of rides, you get to drink beer, cider and wine. Instead of cotton candy and hot dogs, you get tasty dishes by some of Sydney’s better restaurants
Bullion Cellars will be there flogging our wares, so bring along your friends and come and say g’day.
The 2011 Penfold’s Wines will be in the news over the coming weeks and my recommendation is to hold off. If you want, stock up on the 2010 vintage that is still floating around. However 2011 was not a great vintage in South Australia. One wine from the current release that is getting a lot of attention is the 2010 St Henri Shiraz. Not surprising really, when you consider how good the wines are from this vintage and this winery. If you don’t believe me, just wait until next year, when they release the 2010 Grange. They will be dancing on the ceiling.
Treasury Wine Estates, which is the parent company of Penfolds, is in a bit of trouble at the moment. Three CEO’s over the past 6 months is hardly a great endorsement, and even the Chinese seem to be turning away from their big reds.
Here is a lesson in Luxury Marketing 101. For the past 10 years they have been going on and on about Grange and how this is their flagship wine. But then they go and release 2 new wines at a price point higher than Grange (over $1000 each). So all these Chinese that have been buying up Grange because it is the best are now pissed off because they are being told it is not the best. (A lifetime to build up the brand and weeks to see it fall) Tricky, but then these executives are getting paid a lot of money to get these things right.
It is much easier to stick to wines below $80. You know you are paying for the quality in the bottle and not the marketing strategies or indulgences of the owners.
Speaking of which, the wine that has stood out for me lately is a humble little Pinot Grigio from Orange in NSW. I am a bit biased, as this wine is made by the wine company I work for, but it is just sensational – plus at below $15 you cannot go wrong. Orange is in a zone at the moment, leading with their white wines. So keep an eye out for the following producers – Phillip Shaw and Printhie.
In case you didn’t know, and you probably don’t, there is a new wine show called Plonk ( www.youtube.com/user/roadtoplonk) Starring one of the Chaser boys, it only has five 12 minute episodes and is a lot of fun – enjoy!
See you at Taste.
Matt