Great to hear that there’s even whole countries producing wines I’ve never heard of. It’s a never ending quest.
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I just stumbled upon this thread while enjoying a lovely Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. I am a very enthusiastic wine and music enthusiast, though I treat them both more as sources of enjoyment than areas of study, so I don’t have much knowledge to impart, but I did feel compelled to say thank you for starting this. It is refreshing in so many ways.
I’ve been with Roon since lifetimes were $499, and I think it paid for itself last year or the year before. In my time here, I have occasionally wandered the forum halls following one of those email digests, and I am always disheartened by the volume of whiny people with $100k systems who are so put upon because the Roon database hasn’t found a way to genuflect and praise them and make their every wish come true. To find a forum devoted to the sharing of pleasures and rejoicing in the good fortune every Roon member by requirement of circumstance (read hardware) enjoys, relatively speaking, is just, well, lovely.
Thread also brought to memory the three years I had the incredible good fortune to live in St Kilda, in Melbourne, and all the amazing Aussie wines I got to try and grew to love. Hanging over my shoulder as I type is an impressionistic painting of the Yarra Valley that I purchased from the artist one Sunday on the St Kilda boardwalk. Such happy memories.
Having also lived in San Francisco for 24 years, I was spoiled by the proximity of some of the world’s best wines and restaurants. These experiences have enabled me to find good wine now that I live in Denver, and let the flavors and the music take me around the world again. I have spent countless hours with Roon and wine, most of them enjoyable. Thanks for spreading the good cheer, and for sparking a lovely wander down memory lane, What a pleasant surprise this thread is. Cheers!
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Hi Mark.
Wine and music have created many great memories for me too. One being the Piedmont Region in Italy, where your Monte is from. My wife and myself took my aging parents there 3 yrs ago.
We picked the olds up from UK, flew to Milan, spent a week around Lake Como before heading West to find out more about Barolo’s. A week in the area drinking great Nebiola and Monte, before heading East across to Tuscany and then Venice. It was a bucket list wine tour of Italy for me. Art and food were rather good there too.
I’m pretty new to Roon, and have enjoyed building a digital music set up. Absolutely loved the amount of new artists I’ve heard this year. Good times
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Fillet of beef done on the BBQ and a 2013 Elderton Command Shiraz to go with it.
Happy Friday, everyone.
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Top work!!
Saturday night delights.
Torbreck 2020 Viognier whilst we do prep.
Cumberland sausage about to go on the BBQ, to be served with mash, mushy peas and fried onions.
Jim Barry 2014 The Armagh Shiraz to go with the main.
Qobuz streaming The Police - Ghost in the Machine to accompany our culinary hedonism.
Happy weekend all.
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That is some mighty fine wine! I’ll be right over 
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Well, The Armagh was a lovely experience. A towering partner to the Cumberland sausage. But whilst it was massively fruit-driven with little hints of liquorice alongside the berries, the fact is that it is still too young, even with 5 hours in a decanter. I got half a case in total and I opened the first one about 3 years ago and last night’s foray into the next bottle tells me I need to leave the rest of the '14 stash for at least another 5 years before I test-the-waters again. #firstworldproblems
The Police - Ghost in the Machine was followed up with The Jam - Sound Affects and then a play-through of Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Not our worst evening.
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Sounds fantastic! Big fan of Aussie Shiraz but you need pretty deep pockets to get the good stuff, at least here in Canada where alcohol is very expensive. Best wine I have ever tasted was a Penfolds Grange that was about 20 years old when I drank it - sublime.
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It was pretty good! I’m on a subscription with Jim Barry. They send me 15 bottles in May and Nov: 3 each of The Armagh, and then 3 each of 4 other reds in their portfolio. They always include McRae Wood Shiraz and Benbournie Cab Sav. The rest seem to roll around 3 or 4 other product lines. I joined the subscription to guarantee The Armagh which doesn’t always get made every year - it’s been a lifelong favourite and is a nice treat every now and then. I’ve got a nice vertical now from 2010 onwards (2011 didn’t get made, I think) although I only have a single '10 left. The subscription pricing means I pay full price for the 3 Armaghs, and effectively get the other mixed dozen for free. The Barry family are really nice people; we stay in their apartments in Clare whenever we visit.
Grange is an odd one for me and I don’t have any in the cellar. I have had a couple (last one was celebrating our engagement which was back in 2009 when we had a 2001 Grange). Whilst it has a great reputation, it doesn’t really showcase any one vineyard or region. It’s certainly a wonderful example of the skills of a great Chef de Cave, blended from Shiraz and Cab Sav from multiple sources in multiple regions which differ every year. I do like Penfolds’ occasional releases in the best years, like Bin 90A or Bin 60A (never had the 1962 release of 60A, but I have a couple of the following release of 60A, which was 2004, in the cellar).
When it comes to “super premium” Australian reds, I mostly lean away from the wines showcasing the blender’s art and towards single vineyard examples like The Armagh, Henschke Hill of Grace or Elderton Helbig - I love the year-to-year variance and the subtleties of what the winemaker has teased from the fruit and the climate in a given year compared to the preceding one. It’s a fascinating pursuit.
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Sounds like a good deal on the sub. I have them with a couple of the producers here in BC - not super high end but reliable quality wines. Pretty much sums up the industry here - and most of it never gets out of Canada, let alone BC. Many of the best reds here are blends, even the single varietals, and there are some very good Bordeaux style blends for reasonable $. As you say, a fascinating pursuit.
I traveled a lot to France by car in the 90s and 00s when I lived in Scotland, so had a nice collection for a while - had to leave some of it when I moved here about 10 years ago - I drank the good stuff, and my ex got the dregs 
.
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That reminds me of my own personal horror story. We moved to Australia 10 years ago, and couldn’t easily bring our wine with us. We had a case of a Graves we bought back in about 2000 which we were told not to touch for about a decade, and then it would be good to drink. So 2012 came round, and we still had this case of wine and only a couple of weeks before we moved, so we did what all right thinking people do and enjoyed a bottle a night as a mid-week quaffer. It was only after the last bottle we decided to check and see what anyone thought of it, and whether others thought it was good - they did, and €250 a bottle good. We’d drunk about €3k of wine in a fortnight… But to be fair it did teach us that that €250 a bottle wine wasn’t worth, to us, the massive premium over a €30 a bottle wine.
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Not posted on this thread recently…
Today we were blessed by AusPost with a delivery from Elderton. Half a case each of Command Shiraz (2018) and Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon (2019). And 3 bottles of their Helbig Shiraz (2019).
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But surely you didn’t pay 250$ for it in 2000 right? Perhaps 50 or 60 and in 12 years it appreciated in value or perceived value? Buying old wine is expensive I have found - there’s not much of it to be had in comparison to up to 5 year old wine.
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No @Dans we paid about €10 a bottle, it was ridiculously cheap and worth a punt, it was from one of those years where there was a lot of good wine about, and even the less prestigious chateaus could produce really good wine, so bargains were to be had.
One of the things we’ve learnt here in Australia is that the perfect growing seasons are the worst for the good winemakers. In those years pretty much anyone can make a good wine, so it pushes prices down massively for everyone - when a $10 bottle is nearly as good as a $40 bottle, you’d be hard pushed to justify the price difference. In the bad years, only the really good wine makers are able to get the most of the crop and make it worthwhile for them, and they make better returns.
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After getting the Elderton delivery earlier this week, I did a quick nose at the inventory. I only had one bottle of Elderton 2010 Command Shiraz left. 2010 was one of the finest vintages in the last 25 years alongside 1998, 2006 and 2016. They also sent a recipe in their last newsletter which is what we cooked up in the pic (although I couldn’t get Wagyu rump in time, so we settled for fillet from local rare-breed speckled beef herd instead).
Fillet of beef, roasted shallot ears, brown mushrooms (Mrs Tel thought they looked better than the oyster mushrooms recommended), red wine reduction, roasted pureed garlic potatoes, seared broccoli and a horseradish cream (crème fraîche whipped with grated horseradish, salt and white pepper). We made some deviations from the recipe to suit our tastes and also what was in season from the greengrocer.
I might not need to eat until Tuesday.
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Horseradish…u originally from blitey Tel? Although the crème fraiche version.
Awesome looking meal and lovely red, I know it well. Take off the shoes, loosen the belt.
I’ve not heard of the Helbig Shiraz though.
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Yes, mate. Tooting-born. South London raised (Sarf-Lahndun as we would say).
I worked in restaurants as a teenager and got qualified as a chef before changing careers early - so I’m fairly handy in the kitchen. I can ponce-up a bit of horseradish into something gourmet pretty easily. Mrs Tel is easily my equal in the kitchen too - I am very blessed there.
Helbig is a recent addition to the Ashmead family portfolio - they bought another well-established (1915 planting) Shiraz vineyard a few years ago and have only done 2 or 3 vintages so far. It’s a monster - sits above the Command in the hierarchy as their flagship wine now. I don’t think I will be going anywhere near the few 2018 or 2019 bottles I have for another 10 years at least.
I have a long time friend living in Aldinga Beach, only a couple of KM’s from McLaren Vale. I’m lucky enough to get down there most years. Some awesome wines from the region.
Although I don’t know Mollydook.
But aged MV shiraz, cabs and Grenache are pretty special.
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