Centennial wines top the taste test
"We turned up at the rustic Tahbilk winery and settled in to taste three varietals that were the current release compared with wine bottled some time ago," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine
"The Clos de los Siete is a malbec blend. Malbec is dominant at 50 per cent but it also contains merlot, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, all grown at high altitude in Mendoza, at the base of the Andes Mountains," writes RICHARD CALVER.
"Oh dear, the American beat out the Australian, something that I hope won’t be happening at the macro-level," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER after pitting an Orange chardonnay against a Californian one.
"Rutherglen is at the heart of a region known for its big reds and fortified muscats and tokays made by esteemed wineries," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine
A tax relic that’s crying out for reform
"The WET is a tax that affects Australian wine importers, producers and wholesalers and eligible NZ winemakers. It is an historic relic, introduced in conjunction with the GST," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine
Thanks for the memories, Mietta
RICHARD CALVER relives memories more than 30 years old sparked by a simple glass of French sauterne. Marcel Proust would be proud of him.
Wine
Big, bold red but, oh dear, is it on trend?
"Apparently a mindful drinker is aware of how much alcohol they are consuming and when they may be consuming too much. It contributes to a shift to low and no-alcohol drinks as well as to abstinence," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Wine columnist RICHARD CALVER rounds up three mates for lunch to compare a couple of rosés, but things don't go to plan. Firstly, only two them turn up.
"I mostly get the wine matching right, but on a recent occasion my friend’s wine was much better suited to the gnocchi I ordered than the wine I’d chosen to accompany the meal," laments wine writer RICHARD CALVER.
"The supply of wine grapes exceeds demand and this is affecting those grape growers whose economic fortunes are dire because the crop they grow is worth less than the cost of production," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.
Emma Shaw, wine educator and general manager of Collector Wines, recently established the Canberra Cellar Door at the Canberra Region Visitors Centre. Wine columnist RICHARD CALVER gets a surprise when he calls by...
The wine industry, which in the midst of one of the worst crises in generations, has high hopes for its 2025 vintage, with some makers tipping their whites.
Riesling versus riesling when wine writer RICHARD CALVER and friends pit a prize-winning local bottle against a, old-world one from Germany.
The four-day National Wine Festival of Australia will be held in June, celebrating Australian winemaking and marking the 50th anniversary of the National Wine Show of Australia. Wine writer RICHARD CALVER reports from the launch event.
Wine writer RICHARD CALVER has a copy of the latest Halliday Wine Companion and while he salutes the work of doyen James Halliday, he's not comfortable with numeric scores being attached to wines.
Wine writer RICHARD CALVER finds himself irritated by a book that's trying to explain the world of so-called wine people.
"I felt humiliated but partly victorious in that I’d kept the wine aloft in my left hand," writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER, after surviving a fall in a Sydney wine shop.
When Carla Rodeghiero, owner of Canberra Region winery Sapling Yard, entered her blended red 2023 wine, The Extrovert, into the Australian and NZ Boutique Wine Awards, she knew “it would probably get something”.
"With the necessary amount of respect to avoid impudence, I now offer my recommendations for holiday season drinking. Don’t beat me up that they are all local wines," writes wine writer RICHARD CALVER.
