Australians love their wine and are ready to splurge on bubbly. Forget the red wine or VB this Christmas, sparkling is the pick, and often pink, whether imported or locally made. Heading into Christmas, more and more corks will be popped, celebrating the end of a difficult year and hopes for the new one.
Moët leads the world’s wine brands
“Bordeaux dry white wine bashing” is common in France given the lack of care given to the dry white wines of the region. They often have notes of cat pee, short and sometimes over-wooded to hide flaws, says the Bordeaux Chauvinist. But that was before he bought the “Les Frangines” of Château Thieuley 2020 AOC Bordeaux white wine from Auchan for €6.95 and loved it!
One of the world’s most expensive rosés any good falls short
Switzerland is much more than mountains, chocolates and watches. It’s wine too. Very good wine. But to try, you need to visit (if you can) as little leaves its borders: just 2% of Swiss wine is exported. At the base of the Alps, in a little known region Valais, you can find fabulous wines in a country with one of the highest per capita consumptions of wine in the world.
Swiss turn to more sustainable keg to store wine
Australian wine exports fell to a five-year low of $2.3 billion with wine exports to China plunging 77% over the year to September 30, 2021, after steep tariffs were imposed on Australian wine in late 2020. But exports bounced in Hong Kong by 135% while the UK and the US overtook China as Australia’s biggest wine export markets.
Only a 20-minute drive from Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills offers a great wine-tasting experience and an exceptionally pretty place to visit with rolling hills, fruit orchards, steep gullies and grapevines. It is the closest of the South Australian wine regions to the Adelaide CBD and for my money, the prettiest.
With World Champagne Day coming up on October 22, the time is ripe for a guide for non-French speakers to master, or at least improve, the pronunciation of some of the more commonly sold Champagne brands. Do you say the ‘t’ in Moët or not? Read on!
Moët leads the world’s wine brands
Guest columnist for World Wine Watch, the Bordeaux Chauvinist, has tried a very expensive rosé from Provence, Garrus, and he can’t find the value. The Bordeaux Chauvinist is an anonymous sommelier who advises on good value for money wines of all regions and countries (But he remains a Bordeaux Chauvinist).
Bordeaux-Chauvinist likes a Rhone Valley cask
As organic and biodynamic wines increasingly appear on liquor shop shelves, Australian consumers are being offered more choice from winemakers, as they play catch-up to European producers. While prices of local products are still high, they are coming down though quality needs to improve.
During an extended lockdown in Sydney over winter and spring and time to spare, I drafted this poem. I started the lockdown by popping the cork on a bottle of 2012 Pol Roger, to celebrate my birthday, and a fine wine it was. Note that when you pronounce the French words in this poem ending in ‘er’, they all end with the ‘ay’ sound, even Pol Roger and Taittinger.
A survey by World Wine Watch reveals most men don’t feel less ‘manly’ drinking bubbles in front of their peers, though two in three men only enjoy sparkling wine in the company of a woman while some buy Champagne to show off their spending power and splash out on Cristal.
