Good call Deb.
The fortified market diminishes every year. When I commenced studying in 02, it was around 9% of the market- including sherries, ports, muscats tokays- anything dictated by fortified wine- not including brandies which some of the above also make.
Dont know the figures now but I'd guess that they are less than that. At that time it had slowly been decreasing on an annual basis where the sparkling numbers were also static at 9% as well. I bet thats heaps bigger with the advent of flavoured fizz like omni brand etc.
My father worked for Seppelts in SA and used to guzzle bottles of 1924 and 1932 Para ports on card nights on the weekends when it was worth next to nothing. Now the whole family could have retired on the card night wine list. But then the investment market also dropped out and those wines that at one point were worth $100's of dollars are now no longer as valuable. I'd imagine with the taxes on alcohol in the US and the devalueing of fortfieds, it is no longer economic to bring 'em across anymore. Can anyone expand on this more??
I had some Hardys Old Cave when I worked there in 04 and it was magnificent. But our best fortifieds are from the Rutherglen- excluding James Godfreys Seppeltsfields wines.

Ryan
Looking at some smarter whites and Rose' for summer-

Michael Hall Chardonnay- now there's a wine!- Mike and I studied together at CSU and he was dux of the class (I was the Dunce of the class!)
He's sourcing some fruit from Eden Valley and Picadilly valleys (ADL Hills) and making a very smart and classy barrel fermented chardy. Sublime.

Riesling- particularly from Eden Valley- my preferred- and Watervale/Polish Hill River from Clare. Try the Creed EVR for a new take on the variety

Getting into more and more German and Alsace whites- particularly GerwurzTraminers and Gris from Alsace and Rizzas from Germany and Austria.
Try the Domain Wachau Gruner Veltliner

Caught REDHANDED Pinot gris and Sav blancs with family and friends.
Just got the Pinot Gris on the wine list at the Victory hotel- Sellicks- SA!! Woohoo!

Can't go past a Sem/Sav=Sav/Sem from Margs- the best of this kind in Oz.

Trying some new Seth Efrican whites from Dane- Check out South African Wines website!!
The Chenins and Viogniers impress me so far!

And finally Adelaide Hills Savvie Blanc - stay away from that cheap and sweet Kiwi stuff-
don't get me wrong they make some of the world's best- but a lot of whats flooding the marekt at the moment is plonky.

Dry and off dry Rose'- Charlie Melton and Turkey Flat are some of the front runners- and check out Mike Hall's as well- made from Eden valley shiraz. Beaut!

ENJOY!!

Hi Darby

 

Thanks for the update and interesting read- the new Companion is eagerly anticipated as always.

I have read your article and great read on the new varieties and wineries.

 

However you can't be serious about including Grenache as a new variety.

 

Its only been the backbone of the the Australian Fortified industry for 150 years and up until 30 years ago, that WAS the Oz wine industry.

Grenache figures in our wonderful Rhone rip-offs the GSM and in regional heros from Barossa and McLaren Vale.

The Vale even have the Cadenzia Project- looking at local wineries take on Greanche and Grenache blends. Both Tintara and D'Arenberg have done individual vineyard ranges of this variety and box sets are available with individual wines so terroir and soil types can be appreciated.

Thats like saying Albarino is NOT the new Sauvignin!

 

Cheers

G'day All

 

It took me a long time to come up with a name for my wine label

When you have no boundaries, there seems no end of possibilities to use.

 

There were a couple of things I was initially looking to achieve.

A name possibly from the area of the southern most part of the McLaren Vale Wine region that I love. And/or something that I really identified with, that struck a chord with me personally.

 

 

I had three main criteria that I wanted to subscribe to.

 

1) - It had to represent something that was personal and had meaning for me.

 

2)- It was not to use my name -ie- Rogers estate or some such. (Wine by Phil- I like but idea is already taken:)

(The signature that you see in the ad appears very small in the corner of the real wine labels (as suggested by a wine marketing guru) and has been doctored for marketing purposes)

 

3)- It needed to be thought provoking and have immediate appeal- memorable like a catchy melody.

 

During vintage- the period between mid Feb and April in Adelaide, where Wine crazies like myself and my brethren actually pick, crush and ferment the grapes and intially make the wine, you generally work around 6 x 12 hour shifts a week (more in smaller wineries). You are usually sleep deprived and devoid of any normality.

Red tired eyes (from overwork or indulgence remains to be seen!) are the order for the day.

Also in process of making small batch red wines, you invariably get red wine on your hands and after some weeks of this find your hands are stained red/purple.

 

So I found myself looking at red eyes/red hands. Initially I was trialling a large red eye in an open hand- I found out from a wine marketing friend that this is a satanic symbol and that was not the image I wanted to project.

 

Then my beautiful partner suggested Caught Redhanded- a catchy name and that was perfect for the slightly subversive but quirky image i wanted to project.

 

At the same time I was investigating some family heritage, and discovered that my mother's family crest - O'Neill-  on our Oirish side was represented by a red hand surounded by two fish.- The Red hand of Ulster.

 

So that tore it- Caught Redhanded Wines was born!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Roscoe

 

Im based in the Southern Vales-make wine in McLaren Vale for my own fledgling label-

Vintage was great- never saw such attention to detail. 2 hydraulically shunted sorting tables to HAND sort fruit- that was carried in on "Cassettes" like oversized plastic commercial sized baking trays. Fruit was sorted roughly- destemmed- then Berry sorted. then crushed into a large circular pump- forget what the name of pump type.

Most stainless fermented, pumped or racked and returned (With nil refiregieration due to no time for it to be installed- saw some pretty hot ferments.

We were taken to a local restaurant for lunch every day- Insalata- Pasta and then a main.....and heaps of bread.

Drank the BEST coffee -1 euro for the best espressos- by the time me and my partner got to France- I had a espresso addiction that only a shitty long double espresso (In France-crap coffee generally-in my experience and very expensive-7 euro) could satisfy

Drank heaps of DOC Chianti and lots of brunello- most were 25-40 euro, but we lost some shipping due to poor handling by lazy Italian rail workers.

Some of my fondest food and wine experiences and generally lovely people-warm and generous.

We all worked outside and pumped the must into the winery.

Nothing to see a hot air balloon or a couple of Italian fighter jets careening over the tuscan landscape on any particular day.

But having said all that- the best wien in the house that came thru was a Cabernet/Merlot/Franc fruit salad mix that came in and was vinified in a large oak tank/come barrel called a Tonno (not sure of spelling). Fermented in brand new french oak- cleaned out skins and then pumped same wine back into the Tonno, to mature

It was probably all that new lovely french oak but this was the pick of the wine for me.

Oh and that we made wine for Savannah -the US Porn Star- her husband is a NY wine dealer.

 

Anyway enough fond ramblings- win that comp.

Cheers

Red