Under the influence:

14.07.2010

Unbelievable bargain?!

We don't normally do this and won't be making a habit of it but when we find such an amazing bargain we feel duty bound to bring it to your attention.

Home Hill Vineyard are selling an 05 oaked reserve chardonnay as a clean skin at $8 a bottle.

It is an absolute cracker. Full flavoured, rich and with just the right amount of oak. Frankly we couldn't believe our luck when we stumbled across it. The hall way at Winepunters HQ is quite a bit narrower due the boxes of chardonnay we have stashed there. Not a lot of it left so if you want some give them a ring.

14.07.2010

More from Waterton Hall Vineyard

We were so impressed by the 2008 Waterton Hall Shiraz that when Peter Cameron told us that  "we're really known for our rieslings" we went weak at the knees.

So are they any good? .... more

14.07.2010

Introducing your kids to the good stuff!

Can you remember your first alcoholic drink?

Chances are your Mum and Dad played a big part either in what you drank then or what you've drunk since.

Introducing your children to their 'drink of choice' at the right time is critical to their development as Aussies ..... more

30.06.2010

Stop calling her your girlfriend ... again or is it still?

We keep getting complaints from feminists made more confident by Julia's successful hatchet job on Kevin 'this is not a salad sandwich' Rudd which is annoying but to our joy we actually got a comment that makes some sense! .... more

30.06.2010

The 2010 Red Wine Weekend - Location, Location, Location

Despite one punter complaining that there was too much on offer and that some reds had a 'poofteen' of grassy flavours the 12th and 13th of June saw another triumphant parade of Tassie red wine .... more

29.06.2010

Observing an Australian Love Story

"You wanna dance?" .... "Aw yeah"

If you're of the right vintage you'll recognise those words as the mating call for young Aussies during the 70's and 80's. Many a terrified young man, having left their mates at the bar and walked over to the girl of their choice, mumbled the 'wanna dance' bit and breathed a massive sigh of relief if they got the 'aw yeah' in return. In fact they were so relieved that they often didn't know what to say or do next  .... more

14.06.2010

What we have been drinking in June

A real eclectic bunch for you this month. 'Drink widely and often' wine and food writer Graeme Phillips advised us and we have taken that wise advice to heart.  Graeme if we get sick from all this drinking our lawyers will be in touch .... more

14.06.2010

A Parallax Universe

Hearing about Temple Bruer's organic vineyard has motivated us to try and find the Tasmanian equivalent. That is, a successful, commercially run, organically certified vineyard that produces premium wines under it's own label  .... more

30.05.2010

Cape Bernier - a leaf plucking frenzy?

How do you produce high quality wine from a difficult site? Pluck young man pluck .... more

29.05.2010

What we have been drinking in June

The road tests have taken up a bit of time, but there is always room for a little more .... more

14.05.2010

Organic wines - for nutters, hippies and people on a diet?

The notion that organic is somehow an inferior way of producing wine just won't go away. As James Halliday noted in his book 'An introduction to Australian wine' (HarperCollins 1999):

"It is possible to make wine without chemical additives of any kind ... The irony is that additive free wine is more likely to be harmful at worst, due to the fact that bacteria will grow more readily in sulphur free wines, or simply less pleasant at best ... ".... more

11.05.2010

So you think you can wine? - part 2

The juggernaut that is vintage Darren rolls on as we continue the process to produce the 2010 Puddleduck Pinot. This time we press the pinot grapes and put the juice, that has now turned into wine, into oak barrels. .... more

29.04.2010

How was you're first time or even the last time?

Remember the first time you went into a cellar door? Michelle does and she's got some hints to make the first time or even the next time more enjoyable  .... more

28.04.2010

Punter wine road tests

Some times we will put a wine through a more involved impression. These road tests will be more serious than our usual fare. We are trying to be useful not entertaining. Think of it as a grown up review. Because we are trying to be useful we want the road test to mimic how a wine is drunk in the real world..  .... more

27.04.2010

So you think you can wine? - part 1

Have you ever wondered what it's like to make wine? We have .... a lot. Darren Brown has also been doing a fair bit of wondering. In fact he wondered so much that he decided to enrol in a wine making degree and spend a lot of money. We found out he's making his first pinot and we decided to go along for the ride .... more

14.04.2010

Graeme Phillips - He's broken a few bottles

The finger wagging crowd would not approve of Graeme Phillips. He smokes cigars and loves his pipe. His life has involved a lot of food and wine. He makes at least some of his living encouraging the consumption of the demon drink. PJ, however approves of him immensely .... more

10.04.2010

What we have been drinking in April ... so far

Another month another bunch of bottles consumed. Ah the joys of having the right routine .... more

10.04.2010

Picky, picky

The call came on a Friday, early ..... damned early. "You can drink it, you can write about it but can you pick it" the voice said. "Who is this?" we asked nervously reaching for the nearest knife  .... more

31.03.2010

Punters doing their bit for safety ... again

Well our recent rant over the safety obsessed has started something of a torrent of emails. Most are plain rude but Punter Alex did send us this little gem.

Hey PJ

It's good that the safety people are focussing on what's important.

Alex

Er .... thanks Alex we feel even more safe now!

31.03.2010

The inventor of the wine cask has passed on

It was with some sadness that we heard today via the ABC that Thomas Angove, the inventor of the wine cask, passed away at the age of 92.

Our thoughts go to his family. We wished we could have told him what a massive and positive impact the wine cask had on people's lives. We would have said something like "Mr Angove, you probably weren't aware but your invention made thousands of spotty awkward teenagers and young adults more socially acceptable -  nay successful".

Why he wasn't knighted for services to the youth of this country we will never know. He certainly deserved it. Farewell and thank you.

31.03.2010

A flight of Coal Valley pinots

Recently Gill Christian and Todd Goebel gave us the opportunity to try their 08 Pinot, 08 'Old block' pinot and the soon to be released 09 Pinot which is a 60:40 blend of the old and younger blocks. Naturally we said " Thank you very much ... er can you pour just a little more?" .... more

30.03.2010

What we have been drinking in March

2010 has gotten off to a very good start drinkingly speaking (yep we just make up words, who needs a dictionary? - Ed) and here are a couple of the more interesting tipples we have encountered so far. .... more

22.03.2010

"Health Alliance" or the "Annoying Alliance"

The social improvers are at it again. Taking advantage of the fact that this is an election year the "finger wagging" crowd have crawled out from under their rocks and are gettin' busy. Problem is the wine industry is in their sights yet again ... more

17.03.2010

It was off to the Huon and the Channel!

The open winery weekend is a once in a year chance to get to those small vineyards and try some of the unusual or even unknown tassie wine labels. This year it was off to the Huon and the Channel south of Hobart with the newest member of Winepunters .... more

17.03.2010

Shane Holloway - He's an individual!

He didn't want to talk to us but you'd be amazed how effective it is to simply turn up unannounced. Once over the shock it was into the beer bus for a guided tour followed by a taste of Delamere's finest. Talk about hospitable, just don't expect a good Burgundy if you come for dinner .... more

17.03.2010

Punters doing their bit for safety

We received an email from punter Dave and Jill who said

Hey PJ

We know how much you love the safety freaks so we thought of you when we saw this photo. When you look at it ask yourself what is wrong with this building site?

Jill and Dave

Er .... thanks for thinking of us. What can we can say? Keep the emails coming!

28.02.2010

The Open Winery Weekend

On Saturday we headed south of Hobart to visit a number of vineyards in the Kingston and Huon Valley areas. Many of these vineyards don't normally open but, thanks to that fabulous event the Open Winery Weekend, once a year nearly all the southern Tasmanian vineyards and wineries open up to allow punters to go on a swirl, sniff, sip, (maybe) spit frenzy. 

This is a fantastic opportunity to get to the smaller and less well known places and experience some amazing hand crafted wines. We will have a full write up in our next update but here is something to tied you over. 

Since so many of the vineyards are small businesses we thought it might be appropriate to share a little motivational advice from Gav our business management guru here at winepunters. So please enjoy and apply as necessary.  

28.02.2010

What's a good writer ... writer ... writerrrr (Apologies to The Beatles)

People trust wine writers don't they? Although Matt Skinner did his best last year to shake that trust with his 'I didn't really try these wines' wine reviews late last year. Yes we know, that situation has been done to death but it got us athinkin' does it matter? And what's a good wine writer anyway? .... more

28.02.2010

Elmslie Estate - out Grindingwalding Grindelwald

We know the good folk make rich and deeply satisfying wines but they want to become an 'experience', and what's all this about - a sweaty Elvis? We went to find out .... more

14.02.2010

The place where the Festivale article would have gone

The amazing event that is Festivale was on this weekend. Given it's importance we sent someone to have a look and write an article. But the 'writer' who shall remain anonymous (cough .. PJ ... cough - Ed) drank too much and slept too little so all we got was "Festivale - great food and wine festival, some broken down old muso was the headline ..... I need to go lie down".

Next year .... punters  .... we promise to do better next year.

14.02.2010

I say, what the blazes is that in my bottle!

You see it all the time on wine labels. Preservative 220 added. What is it? Why is it in my bottle? Is it giving me hang overs?  .... more

14.02.2010

For he's a jolly good velo!

Professional people would have avoided that pathetic play on words but .... anyway ... we caught up with Michael Wilson, reputedly one of Tasmania's most successful road cyclists, for a chat about the Velo label, Grange and that range of hospitality training videos "Faulty Towers" .... more

31.01.2010

Even more what we have been drinking

Maybe it would be quicker to say what we haven't been drinking. We've been very 'active' and 'diligent' in our wine tasting you see .... more

31.01.2010

The 2010 Tasmanian Wine Show ... dinner

Somehow we didn't make it to the wine show proper this year. We could make excuses but we would just lose what little respect you have for us. At least we managed to organise ourselves sufficiently to get to the dinner. It was a near run thing though ... more

31.12.2009

Bah Humbug ...

Late last year we had the good fortune to talk to Paul McShane about Humbugreach vineyard. Here is the results of that funny and very interesting chat. We also get to try the 'wine of shame' and learn how to pick up girls from foreign lands ..... more

12.01.2010

Unofficial / housekeeping update

We know we said the next update isn't until the end of January but we have been a bit busy, in between drinking too much at the Taste and sundry other places, and we wanted you to know just in case you thought we might have just been lying drunk in some gutter somewhere.

Our humble site has undergone a bit of renovation. You can now search the site simply by clicking on the search option on this page and on the winepunters cellar page. We have used the Google functionality which is great but with it comes ads which is not great but programming our own search function would have taken too long and the ads are not particularly intrusive.

You are also now able to Subscribe to winepunters by clicking on the subscribe option on this page. This free service means that you will receive a fortnightly update email letting you know all about the latest content on the site. 

Lastly, as we metioned in our 2010 prediction article, PJ has succumed to 'mid-life crisis' fever and commited himself to doing the Windsor half-marathon. He will be joining up to 6,000 athletes,fun runners and fellow midlife crisis suffers for a jaunt around Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom in September this year. You can follow his 'progress' on our new half windsor blog. 

31.12.2009

Winepunters in 2010 ...

We have been pleased, gratified and frankly surprised at the progress of this humble website. We hope to continue in the next year by adding to the functionality of the site (we want to add a search function), offering the ability to subscribe to winepunters and by continuing to uncover more stories and more wines. We hope you all have a merry and prosperous new year.

31.12.2009

Well hello 2010 ...

Due to wine induced technical difficulties this update is both small and late but we hope entertaining. "Tis the season to make predictions far la la ..." Rather than be like so many others at this time of the year we wanted to apply a risk analysis approach to the coming year and decade .... Warning .... there was a spontaneous outbreak of seriousness in the following article. .... more

20.12.2009

More what we have been drinking

See what we have been drinking as we train incredibly hard for the demands of another festive season .... more

20.12.2009

2009 the year that nearly was

We sat down with Mark Smith and Gill Christian to discuss this year's highs and lows. Yes it's that time of the year when content doesn't matter just like on TV.... more

20.12.2009

A plea from master winemaker Rick Burge

It's not often we get to spend time with someone from a multi generational winemaking family who lives on that big island to the north .... more

30.11.2009

WIT launches a new Tasmanian Wine Route booklet

The useful bit of kit that is the Tasmanian Wine Route booklet gets updated and a make over and we get to experience a media scrum! .... more

30.11.2009

We go to the show and get learnded!

The Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania has done it again organising another great royal international wine show. We went, we mentally disputed the judges decisions, drank hot wine and learnt to love the semillon .... more

30.11.2009

We chat to Dick Friend

Dick has a long association with Tassie food and wine as well as his brush with state politics. You might not agree with him but you can't deny he does love Tassie .... more

15.11.2009

More great Tassie wine is decanted into our stomachs!

Your favourite functioning alcoholics have been at it again .... more

15.11.2009

I say .. what the blazes is that in my glass!?

Ever experienced the gritty, powdery stuff at the bottom of a wine glass? No? Well maybe you aren't drinking top quality wine ... more

15.11.2009

The attack of the clones .....

Oh god we are so funny we just crack ourselves up. Oh wait, you don't know what the hell we're talking about. Clones people clones. The domain of wine geeks or something worth knowing? .... more

31.10.2009

The inaugural Rhite wine 'BIT' award goes to .....

We know we have banged on about this to the point of being annoying but there is just one last thing to do and that is to award the BIT (best in taste) to the wine that sold the most on the day. That's right, a 'what made the punters part with their hard earned cash' based award (and about time too! - Ed). Next year we will be a bit more scientific or something but this year it was about the cash.

So the winner is .... Milton vineyard for their Laura Rosé sparkling. All the girls loved it and everyone who bought wine bought at least one bottle of this zesty, fruity, lively and never made before wine. Asked for a comment Michael Dunbabin said "this is such an honour ... sob .... we're not worthy!"

So the winepunter's bow of approval goes to Milton, and to everyone else, what can we say - try harder next year (oh now that's just harsh - Ed).

31.10.2009

Natalie and Tim added to the The White Wine Weekend punter hall of fame

A scientist and a media producer. Is there anyone we won't talk to so you get to hear from punters about Tassie wine? By the way, we've added more photos to the Gallery .... more 

31.10.2009

When you're rhite, you're right

During the planning stage of our first wine based event to raise money for breast cancer research we did have a few concerns. Would we get support from the industry? Would anyone want to come along? Would we be able to organise a worthwhile event? Well weren't we the worry warts!  .... more 

16.10.2009

The 'Rhite' Wine Event

We have stopped our usual tomfoolery for once to help raise money for a good cause. Oct 17th is the Rhite Wine Event, a Winepunters.com organised event that will allow punters to try some of Tassie's finest wine, be amazed by the wine inspired winepunter's quiz and contribute to funding research into a cure for breast cancer. 

A huge thank you from us to the event sponsors: Andrew Hood, Bream Creek Vineyard, Darlington Vineyard, Frogmore Creek, Glaetzer Dixon Family Winemakers, Milton Vineyard, Pooley Wines, Puddleduck Vineyard, Spring Vale Wines, and Winstead Vineyard.

You will hear more about this (hopefully) annual event in the next update.  

16.10.2009

Craig and Karen - mild mannered scientists by day .....

"We're bucket ecologists, we look at marine creatures in buckets" Craig Mundy explained. "Sometimes we poke them" Karen Miller added helpfully. When they are not looking and poking for science they work hard in the vineyard at Two Bud Spur. .... more 

16.10.2009

Elmslie cab sav to the rescue

Sometimes it is necessary to look the disagreeable in the face and deal with it. That elderly relative you have locked in your attic isn't whimsical, wonderfully eccentric or uniquely interesting - they're stark raving bonkers! .... more 

16.10.2009

Gallery updated

We have added some more photos from the Taste of the Tamar and the White Wine Weekend to the gallery. Maybe send the kiddies to bed before you get to the one of Julian Allport!  

16.10.2009

The White Wine Weekend

Yes it was that time of the year again. The juggernaut that is the Winesouth's annual 'take a gander at our whites' rolled into town and gave us all an excuse to sniff, swirl, sip and swallow/spit so much that it can't be good for you.  .... more 

30.09.2009

The Taste of the Tamar

It was off to the north of the island to check out the Taste of the Tamar. Wine, food and punters who could ask for anything more? .... more 

30.09.2009

Guess who's been in the news?

Isn't it nice to open a newspaper, even if it's a Murdoch newspaper, and read about someone you know. Especially if the article doesn't involve crime, scandal or lewd behaviour. Yes punters Nick Glaetzer is in the newspaper for all the right reasons (finally!!! - Ed). .... more 

30.09.2009

Winetasting at Sinapius

Vaughn and Linda won a gold medal with their very first chardonnay. Blatant show offs? Bit too lucky for their own good? Or the start of a very successful career? We had to go and find out .... more 

13.09.2009

A punter's adventure in Heathcote

It was off to that big island to the north to check out Heathcote and it's cool climate shiraz, cabernet and everything else. We really enjoyed the trip but we were left a little perplexed .... more 

13.09.2009

Tasmania unbottled - so how did it go?

Unfortunately we couldn't go ourselves but we wanted to know how it went so we asked WIT, some exhibitors and punters .... more 

13.09.2009

Now it all becomes clear!

An email from punter Dave has completely explained why the President of France has been behaving so strangely lately.... more  

13.09.2009

Mike and Philippa Sharman - They helped revive winemaking in Relbia

Never heard of Relbia? Never been to Relbia? Well unfortunately you are not alone. This area, 15 minutes from the centre of Launceston, doesn't get as many wine loving visitors as the more famous Tamar Valley. Shame really, people are missing out on some very good wine ... more 

28.08.2009

Happy birthday to us

Has it really been a year ... really!? 

When we started 12 months ago we were not sure whether anyone would enjoy our take on the Tassie wine industry but happily we were wrong. We have seen our audience grow and received some good support from a number of people in the industry. Thank you all for that. In the face of this encouragement and because the police are too busy doing other stuff to shut us down we intend to continue!  

28.08.2009

Winetasting at Morningside

Peter and Brenda were very hospitable when we interviewed them recently. The bit that impressed us was them letting us try nearly all their wines  ... more 

28.08.2009

Nick Glaetzer and his wines

Recently we caught up with Nick at Frogmore Creek for a chat. We were so impressed we decided to head back and get him to talk us through his range of wines ... more 

28.08.2009

Matt Pooley - one year on

It doesn't seem that long ago that we had our first winepunter conversation but a year can go by pretty quickly. We thought it might be nice (for us at least - Ed) to go and see what Matt has been up to over the last year ... more 

11.08.2009

What we have been drinking so far in August

Much to our surprise our last 'what we have been drinking' sparked some appreciative, nay, complimentary emails (onya punter Kath - Ed) so we thought we would do it again. See what happens when you are nice to us! ... more 

11.08.2009

Look what I found under my bed!

Punter Paul has been in touch to tell us he found a 1994 Winstead Pinot under his bed. He wants to know is it any good? ... more 

11.08.2009

Peter and Brenda Bosworth - Pinot is sexy apparently 

Sexy seems to be a bit of a theme with Peter - last time it was him and now he reckons Pinot is sexy. Plus Brenda has a nice nose .... more ... or have a listen

28.07.2009

What we have been drinking

We have received a number of emails or comments from punters asking us for wine recommendations, the latest being from someone who goes by the name of "Savage". (We're not sure if it's his real name or his day time soapie name! - Ed). We are very reluctant to get in the business of recommending wine simply because we are not convinced our opinion is worth more than someone else's. ... more 

27.07.2009

How make the most of it when interviewed by a person of national renown .... or not

Imagine, if you will, being given the opportunity to promote your humble website on one of the most popular radio shows in your state.  ... more 

26.07.2009

We can't hear you! - update

We have re-edited a number of previous podcasts, particularly the Milton and Springvale wine tasting files, and we believe the volume problem is now fixed. So enjoy and if there is still an issue, or in fact any issue, please let us know - we have people standing by waiting for your comment or email (That's right ... people just standing by ..... just ..... waiting .... waiting for you- Ed).

26.07.2009

Peter and Brenda Bosworth - A successful winemaking partnership 

If you haven't tried a pinot from Morningside, particularly their 2006, then you have been missing out on one of Tasmania's best estate grown, hand crafted wines. Also Peter thinks he's sexy .... more ... or have a listen

9.07.2009

We can't hear you!

We want to thank those people who have let us know that the volume of the last couple of podcasts have been too low. "Even on full volume I couldn't hear so I turned off" said punter Tom. Well Tom and everyone else please accept our apologies. We have started re-editing the most recent podcasts to lift the volume. They will be replaced as necessary over the next week.  Anyway thanks for trying to listen.

9.07.2009

Andrew Hood - the winemaker, not the other alleged drug runner one

Having followed Andrew all through his career in the previous part we wanted to delve below the surface - so we did. We also unveiled our new personal question - "Here is a fictitious news headline and you have to fill in the missing word.  Andrew Hood failed former - beep - was seen in public today for the first time since his latest scandal. What is the beep". .... more ... or have a listen

9.07.2009

Tasmania unbottled - it's on again you lucky mainlanders

OO er haven't aren't we the major media organisation! Yes punters we received our first official media release recently informing us that the previously successful wine roadshow and general wine tasting junket Tasmania Unbottled is on again .... more 

More "Under the Influence" mayhem in the Winepunters Cellar

If you like being under the influence why not over indulge and read more in the cellar