This is an event put on by Vintage Cellars and is really there to highlight some of the stuff they are importing into Australia. There were a few Australian wine producers at the event but a vast majority was all stuff from outside of Australia.
Most of the international stuff was from France, Italy or New Zealand..with a bit of Spain and Germany. Also represented were Argentina, Austria, USA, Chile, Portugal and South Africa.
I think the most exciting part about coming here was seeing that finally a retailer is bringing in stuff from overseas and the prices are actually reasonable...There were still some things I thought were ridiculous (double the price of what they go for overseas) but some of the stuff was priced quite well...even competitive with overseas pricing..(at least the by the dozen price was good).
Some general highlights and impressions...
Maison Champy. Had a variety of things ranging from their Bourgogne and various village Burgs from Beaune, Volnay, Gevrey Chambertin..up to their Vosnee Romanee Les Suchots 1er. Good lineup, all of the villages were showing nicely and are definitely more of a drink now type of wine...The 1er Cru had great structure, great acidity, still very tannic, fantastic length...
There were quite a few good Chablis available. This style of Chardonnay has started to become very popular in Australia...Seeing a good number of quality Chablis in the 20-40 dollar area was definitely a nice thing.
Another big plus was seeing some value Nebbiolo as well as some Barbaresco and Barolo. Seeing some decent Barolo that isn't 100+ should really help its popularity in Australia.
There was a good sprinkling of Rioja, stuff from the Rhone which was encouraging as well.
One other surprise was seeing the Chalkboard series from Vintage Cellars..basically their own label with grapes sourced from different regions. Nothing too special but the few I tried were fairly decent..and with most being under 15 AUD, not a bad deal at all....
