Anyone passing the Mildura wharf at 5pm Sunday afternoon could have been mistaken for thinking that a party of English soccer fans was disembarking from the River Queen Voyager! The volume, merriment and general lack of sobriety from these members who had boarded a mere seven hours earlier as mild mannered and upstanding members of society, indicated a great day was had by all!

We had a fantastic day, with a break in the bleak weather giving us sunshine and an abundance of great wine, beer and food. Such was our thirst for a good time that we actually drunk the boat dry!!

It’s such a great chance to get together with like minded people to chat about food, wine and pretty much anything else that jumped into our well lubricated minds.

I’ve linked the photos of the great day to this page so you can refresh your hazy memories.

Click Here to see the pics

New Arrivals

The Willows Vineyard

We have just taken delivery of these two lovely Barossians from a winery that gets four and a half stars from James Halliday.

Heres a blurb from their web site.

"Our philosophy is that our wines must have generosity of fruit and you can only achieve that if you are in touch with the vineyard," says The Willows winemaker Peter Scholz.

"Not only are our wines 100% Barossa but they are sourced entirely from our own single vineyard at Light Pass. We don't have a choice of blending material so what you see is what you get. Everything we do - pruning, supplementary watering, cultivation, the time of harvest - is all aimed at achieving ripe tannins and demonstrating the vineyard's fruit intensity.

"I don't want big alcoholic, porty reds - I am aiming for silky ripe tannins rather than grip and I want the fruit to shine through in my Shiraz and Cabernet.

"We are also judicious about our use of oak - we extend the time in barrel to two years but we use at least 50% second and third use barrels. We are looking for softness and stability - maturation character not oak character.

This approach to red winemaking has led to many show and wine media acknowledgements, not the least of which was a Gold Medal in the Melbourne Wine Show Shiraz class in 1995 - putting him a whisker away from the Jimmy Watson Trophy.

Shiraz

The Barossa's international reputation for concentrated, powerful Shiraz with great palate length and softness is borne out in this wine.

Dense, vibrant colour is a feature of this brooding beauty, along with very ripe, sweet fruit, reminiscent of plum, blackberry and pepper on the nose. Two years maturation in small American oak barrels has enhanced and complemented the robust fleshy fruit.

As a result the palate is generous, ripe and mouth filling exhibiting berry and cinnamon spice flavours, along with oak-derived mocha overtones and harmonious, soft yet defined tannins.

Cabernet Sauvignon

This Cabernet Sauvignon is an impressive Barossa style exhibiting the richness and warmth of fruit one would expect from the region, along with the particular mint and eucalypt tones which have become a hallmark of The Willows Vineyard Cabernets. The vineyard grows along the banks of the North Para River and the fruit is harvested late in the season when the flavours are fully developed, tannins are ripe and sugar levels are high.

This is a wine of great varietal flavour, combining stylish and elegant fruit characters along with rich chocolate hints which are associated with good Barossa reds. Extended maturation in American and French oak hogsheads over two years has helped create a long, soft, silky texture.

The palate's complexity of blackcurrant, fruit, integrated oak and fine ripe tannins combine to make this a wine of immediate appeal, whilst its length and structure indicate a cellaring potential of five years or more.

 

Bet you didn’t know we had these herb based elixirs on the shelf!

...and how about this for a French Connection

Wine Expo

Here it is Ladies and Gentlemen, the date for the biggest Fishers Fine Wine Expo yet!!!

Diary this in,

Saturday 30th July 11am to 5pm

The Settlers

Don’t miss this !!!

Tasting

Jacobs Creek Range

I’m quite looking forward to this tasting, as even though these wines are some of the best sellers in the country, I can’t recall the last time that I had a glass of any of this quite extensive and well medalled range. So if you’re like me I’ll see you at the tasting corner from 4.30 this Friday arvo.

And how about last Fridays Evans and Tate tasting, what a variety of wines, there was something for every taste in their local range,

Dale has promised to be back later in the year with a look at their West Australian and premium range, I’m looking forward to that!

We had a pretty full entry box for our usual tasting prize so the lucky winner is….. Debbie Shepherd, good on you Deb, pop in anytime to pick up your prize of a twin pack of Evans and Tate wine.

Specials

Hardys Nottage Hill range 3 for $20

Hardys RR range 3 for $15

Hardys Voyage 3 for $12

Tooheys Gold 30 can block $22.97

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That’s all folks, see you in store soon.......

Don’t forget its five o’clock somewhere