A Donna Hay-inspired three-cheese pasta (OK, maybe four) washed down with a Amherst Pyrenees Dunn’s Paddock Shiraz 2009 — just one of Michael Vaughan’s wine highlights from the past week.
Wine
Daily Proposition: Christmas in October — a festive Shiraz
Christmas has lobbed early. The Oomoo Sparkling Shiraz was decidedly festive — even with a Middle Eastern lamb tart as accompaniment.
Daily Proposition: In the company of a Canadian (scallop) and Aussie (chardy)
A night in with some big, fat Canadian scallops and an Ashcroft 2009 Chardonnay from Margaret River offered the perfect company after a dinner date gone wrong.
Daily Proposition: The good oil on the good life
It’s hard to stress enough the importance of spring, of getting some edible stuff into the garden and the subsequent joy of harvesting.
Daily Proposition: The tastes and smells of Spring
The weather has turned decidedly spring — so I made it a perfect example of things good and things easy. I hit the market to buy some goodies and have a “welcome-to-spring” feed.
Daily Proposition: Happy as a pig in …
The ever-reliable Chateau Tahbilk Shiraz made a perfect accompaniment to a home-made pork terrine for a beautiful Sunday lunch.
Daily Proposition: California dreamin’ with a chardonnay
Right now though, Californian dreamin’ has become a reality, courtesy of some Dry Creek Vineyard Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2008 out of Sonoma. What a good wine.
Daily Proposition: A riesling and twice-cooked duck
His doctor might not approve, but Michael Vaughan spent a weekend wining and dining on some of Australia’s best. His weekly adventures with wine and the good life continue …
Daily Proposition: Try a Spanish red via the Barossa
Siento Tempranillo, from a grape variety originally from Spain, is now going gangbusters in the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. The smooth, velvety drop works great with a fishy pasta.
Daily Proposition: Enjoy a winning cleanskin
In the first of a series on wine and general good living, our resident wise head (and Crikey subeditor) Michael Vaughan finds a cleanskin he likes. And at 15 bucks a bottle it’s great value.
Forget the food bit, just give me a drink
Younger generations of French wine drinkers are less likely to savour a bottle over food and more prone to drink simply for pleasure, according to latest research, reports Richard Farmer.
The weird world where Australians whinge about cheap beer
First it was milk, then beer. Suddenly we all hate competition. What happened?
Daily Proposition: Drink a glass of history
Age is no barrier to occasionally enjoying the good things life has to offer. Michael Vaughan uncorks some history with a 1977 Taltarni cabernet sauvignon.
South African plonk nothing to whine about
While the World Cup has been winning plaudits for bringing a divided nation closer together, South Africa’s wine industry is also beginning to overcome its colonial heritage after enduring years of apartheid trade restrictions.
Wine: it’s not white or red, it’s black and white
The wine industry has always been a very white industry with white winemakers and white customers. But will sponsorship of the World Cup by a wine label help bridge the racial divide?
A whine about wine
Wine’s natural taste has been manipulated, globalised and destroyed in the pursuit of “big” wine flavours. It’s a crying shame that wines all taste the same now, says Tom Philpott.
Are deskchair wine critics just taking the piss?
The internet has taken wine criticism and commentary out of the hands of the wine snob elite and provided an opened it to anyone with a cask and an opinion. But is wine actually a serious science, best left to the experts?
A whine about our government’s wine snobbery
The Governor General’s wine collection is a bitter drop. Rather than tasty wines that go well with food, we’ve got a collection of extravagant Australian only wines that the GG is too embarrassed to serve.
Why vegetarians should be weary of wine
Not all wines are necessarily suitable for strict vegetarians or vegans, since a large range of wineries use animal-based products in the ‘fining’ process of their wines, including crab shells and animal bones.
Daily Proposition: The finest 28-year-old I’ve ever met
The 1953 Tahbilk marsanne was best thing to ever pass my lips, says Michael Vaughan. If he were a wine wanker, then he’d say it touched the palate like the tips of angel wings.
Why organic wine tastes better with your eyes closed
A new study has found that wine made from organic grapes actually tastes better than conventional plonk — but the “hippy” connotations put drinkers off and drive prices down.
The world’s best places to drink wine
Travel blog Gdaling names its pick for the world’s top 25 destinations to kick back with a glass of vino, including some left-of-centre suggestions. Like Brisbane.
How America was conned into buying 16m bottles of cheap French plonk
French wine merchants passed off 13.5 million litres of cheap wine as “Pinot Noir” — and US drinkers lapped it up.
Daily Proposition: A wine that’s good in its own write
Here’s one bottle of white wine that goes so much easier than some of the over-the-top-with-fruit, mouth-stripping blends from across the ditch in New Zealand, writes Michael Vaughan.
Nothing to toast for winemakers
The Australian wine industry will have to rip up 35,000 hectares of vines due to over supply this year. Oversupply has become a chronic problem with a fifth of all vines now redundant. Where to now for the wine industry?
