In this pictorial we follow the progress of the 2006 vintage of Bush Vine Mataro which provides much of the fruit for two of our icons wines - the Bull's Blood and the Heinrich. more...
I arrived into Asheville after an 'interesting' flight from Birmingham. I am now slowly getting used to delays, gate changes and sitting on tarmacs for no particular reason!
The first evening I was taken out by Josh to a great little pub that served local food and local beer. As my interest in these topics is high, I enjoyed the evening, and naturally, the taste of the local beers. It was then an early night as the effects of a long flight from Australia were finally taking hold.
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I was picked up in the afternoon by Blake, one of our wine representatives from The Wine Source in Alabama. A welcome sight after numerous delays coming from New York and Charlotte. Flying into Birmingham Alabama, I was surprised at how hilly and spaced out the town was. I was taken to a new, very modern hotel called the 'A Loft' which is on the edge of town. A quick run up to the room, bag drop, and then off to meet the team at 'Satterfield's', a very swish restaurant in Vestavia Hills.
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My first trip to visit the Brisbane wine trade was in 1998 with my then agent Curtis Marsh. It seems ironic that that visit took a day and a half and we seemed to cover all the major retailers and restaurants in the short amount of time. My trip in September 2009 was entered into with great excitement as I had heard how much the market had changed in the last decade.
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I recently made some wine for an outfit from Denver Colorado called Cru Vin Dogs. Mary Snellgrove is the company president, and her husband Jay is an artist who represents the best of dogs with fine artworks on wine labels.
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When at the Hospice du Rhone, held in Paso Robles in 2007, I became friendly with Bob, an Arizona local with a penchant for fine Rhone Valley reds.
"If ever you are visiting Australia, make sure you look me up", I said.
Bob came by just this last weekend, and brought along his partner, the lovely Suzanne, whom it turned out, I had gone to school with in Adelaide some thirty years ago!
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The century-old Mataro has just been picked. The fruit from this vintage is looking exceptional, although it is too early to call whether the whole vintage is "exceptional". This is the fruit that goes on to make the famed "Bulls Blood"
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After a pleasant stroll from where I was staying on a sunny Sydney day I arrived at the Flying Fish Restaurant and Bar on Jones Bay Wharf at Pyrmont to help Tim Stock, my NSW distributor, set up what will be an exciting event for me. We had chosen this day to be the first ever Hanisch Retrospective conducted for the trade in Australia. I have done this line up of wines many times with journalists, the last being Harvey Steiman of American Wine Spectator fame.
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An Epic Journey to New York and Baltimore - 2nd September
At Adelaide airport I ran into Steve Schubert and as luck would have it we sat together on the Malaysian Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur. Steve is from Schubert Estate and while we have known each other for years for some time we hadn’t done much more than greet each other. So over the next few hours we chatted about all manner of things and it was a great pleasure to have his company.
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Assisted by Tony Nowell of Moor Street Wines in Fitzroy I recently hosted a lunch for a select gathering of the Melbourne wine press. Apparently they had at some stage a few months back asked Tony what were the latest developments at Rolf Binder wines.
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Adelaide is only an hour down the road from the Barossa and I was pleased to spend a day meeting and greeting retail and restaurant friends. Many have been supporters of my wines for decades. Still never assume anything in the selling business and you must keep getting out and around.
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Next morning, the 12th May, I flew to Minnesota. Lifting out of Chicago Midway I observed one of the great views looking over Chicago the shoreline and the lake.
Upon arrival at Minneapolis I was met by dear friends, Stephanie, a former Adelaide girl, and husband Brent. I spent a great day with them and was ‘shown the town’. I briefly met the Anderson family who run ‘France 44’ one of the leading bottle shops in Minnesota. The evening was spent in the company of Steve Wihoit and wife Kimberley. Steve runs Vino Source and happens to sell my wines in this state.
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For the first time I experienced the delays of flying in America. A planned trip turned into a day of trouble as 2.5 hours of travel blew out to 7 hours. I was glad to be picked up by Lou Oliveri in the late afternoon and we went straight to Four Farthings on North Cleveland for a meal. It was a lovely evening so we sat outside and the stress of the trip quickly seeped away. They do stock my Rolf Binder Heinrich but we drank Spanish and French, just so I can keep my eye on the competition.
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It was a great drive to Paso Robles and we settled in at the Asuncion Ridge run by Philip Krumal. We were a bit late so we raced into town not to miss the Rhone en Bowl which as you may guess is a tasting (make that drinking) of Rhone styles while you play bowls. I recognised many familiar faces as I have been to this convention a few times now, the last two years ago when I was a speaker.
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The vintage in the Barossa finished quite early, I had predicted this, and I was able to arrive in Los Angeles and fly on to Sacramento on the 30th April, at a time when I’m normally fretting over the state of my precious mataro, the last Barossa variety I pick.
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I left on Thursday, 30th November for Hong Kong. The train from the new airport to the city had me in the centre of Hong Kong in 20 minutes. Then it was an hour and a half by taxi to a hotel reasonably close by but that was fun as I could soak up the atmosphere.
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I tumbled out of the plane in Austin, Texas to a beautiful clear blue sky-it felt like being back home. I was picked up by Steve Crawford of Joshua Tree Imports but minus the luggage so my ‘good omen’ from New York had run out. I was told not to worry as it would be on the next flight from Chicago.
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On Monday, 18th September, I boarded a plane at Los Angeles for Washington. It's a five hour flight so I was able to get well into a most interesting book, 'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser. I'm not the slimmest bloke so I was pleased when the plane landed and I could think instead about the tasting ahead. American agent Mike Opdahl, of Joshua Tree Imports, picked me up and we drove to Baltimore.
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On Monday, 18th September, I boarded a plane at Los Angeles for Washington. It's a five hour flight so I was able to get well into a most interesting book, 'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser. I'm not the slimmest bloke so I was pleased when the plane landed and I could think instead about the tasting ahead. American agent Mike Opdahl, of Joshua Tree Imports, picked me up and we drove to Baltimore.
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I flew to Malaysia on Wednesday, 31st May and arrived Thursday night. I used Malaysian airlines on this trip and found them excellent but even better was the airport efficiency. The plane arrived at 5.20 PM and I was in the city by train at 6.30PM. Next stop was the hotel which took 90 minutes to crawl about three miles.
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I arrived in London on Monday 29th May and was met at the airport by my business partner in the Magpie brand Noel Young. We drove to Cambridge and it was the start of a couple of hectic days tasting with his staff and customers.
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My first visit to Ohio (24th May) and I'm in the city of Cincinnati. David Schildknecht picked me up bright and early and we headed back across the Ohio River to visit Kevin Keith of Liquor Direct in Covington. Kevin has a great little shop and while I was a bit slow from the early start I quickly picked up with the enthusiasm shown by Kevin about wine in general and about my wines. Thanks Kevin.
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I flew from New York to Louisville, Kentucky and next morning was up bright and early to meet Kevin Lowber who works for Vintners Select. I was picked up in Kevin’s pride and joy a Saturn 1994 which in his view is the last great all American car.
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I arrived very late in the evening and elected to stay on the west side. Next morning was magical so I took a refreshing walk along the Hudson River for 90 minutes. Later I caught up with my agent Jake Sobdtka who had a surprise as we off to the baseball. Not just any game but one of the great rivalries, the Mets were playing the Yankees.
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I posted a couple of articles on the 21st and 23rd of May about some of the highlights of the first few days in the U.S. Still I left out a lot of interest so I retrace my steps and start again with my arrival at Los Angeles airport on Sunday evening.
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Most readers will be aware that one of the most influential wine magazines in the world is the American, Wine Spectator. Harvey Steiman among many duties is responsible for editing and reviewing Australian wines and the Australian content in the magazine.
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The American market is very strong for Barossa wines especially shiraz so I spend a lot of time in the U.S.A. I started in L.A. with my agent Michael Opdahl (right) and we discussed business and sampled many a bottle. Then we got a call from an old friend Matt Cooper (left) whom I last had supper with in Adelaide about a year ago. It was one of those meals that you remember for other reasons as well as a very expensive German riesling was corked which annoyed us all.
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Is there a better city in the world than Sydney on a warm autumn day? It is simply a pleasure to visit Sydney and showing wines to restaurateurs and bottle shop owners is not work but fun, particularly when my wines have been selling well. The reason for this trip was to showcase the Rolf Binder Shiraz 2005 as my Sydney distributor Tim Stock just ripped through the 2004.
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The plane from Newfoundland set down at London at 8.30 AM and I was picked up by Sue Whelan, owner of Seckford Wine Agencies our head agent in the U.K. We travelled south visiting accounts on the way. In the evening I conducted a wine tasting at the Nobody Inn near Exeter and you can see the select group in the photo.
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I love this part of Canada and it is my third visit. Many of the St. Johns people (Newfies or Newfoundlanders) are of Irish descent and they still speak with that soft, lyrical Irish lilt. The plane arrived at 1.00 AM but I was up at dawn and to prove this here is a photo of the sunrise over the narrows. I spent the first day sightseeing and another photo gives a good taste of the flavour of this town. You need to love your neighbours as you never know what colour their house can be next day.
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I left on the 13th November and was away for almost a month but what a trip. The first leg was to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I was delighted to find on the plane, old Barossa friends John and Pam who were off for a holiday in Penang. I shared a bottle of Bordeaux with John, the company being good but the wine only average.
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The rains started very late this winter with the first good falls not starting till the 9th June, over a month late. Then it never let up. Most years November is pleasant and dry but the rains continued and got heavier, so heavy that our gentle stream, the North Para River, burst its banks on the 8th November. These pictures were taken from the bridge over the Para River on Seppeltsfield Road which is just down from the winery.
Red Wines
After a pleasant stroll from where I was staying on a sunny Sydney day I arrived at the Flying Fish Restaurant and Bar on Jones Bay Wharf at Pyrmont to help Tim Stock, my NSW distributor, set up what will be an exciting event for me. We had chosen this day to be the first ever Hanisch Retrospective conducted for the trade in Australia. I have done this line up of wines many times with journalists, the last being Harvey Steiman of American Wine Spectator fame.
An Epic Journey to New York and Baltimore - 2nd September
Next morning, the 12th May, I flew to Minnesota. Lifting out of Chicago Midway I observed one of the great views looking over Chicago the shoreline and the lake.
It was a great drive to Paso Robles and we settled in at the Asuncion Ridge run by Philip Krumal. We were a bit late so we raced into town not to miss the Rhone en Bowl which as you may guess is a tasting (make that drinking) of Rhone styles while you play bowls. I recognised many familiar faces as I have been to this convention a few times now, the last two years ago when I was a speaker.
On Monday, 18th September, I boarded a plane at Los Angeles for Washington. It's a five hour flight so I was able to get well into a most interesting book, 'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser. I'm not the slimmest bloke so I was pleased when the plane landed and I could think instead about the tasting ahead. American agent Mike Opdahl, of Joshua Tree Imports, picked me up and we drove to Baltimore.
On Monday, 18th September, I boarded a plane at Los Angeles for Washington. It's a five hour flight so I was able to get well into a most interesting book, 'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser. I'm not the slimmest bloke so I was pleased when the plane landed and I could think instead about the tasting ahead. American agent Mike Opdahl, of Joshua Tree Imports, picked me up and we drove to Baltimore.
I arrived in London on Monday 29th May and was met at the airport by my business partner in the Magpie brand Noel Young. We drove to Cambridge and it was the start of a couple of hectic days tasting with his staff and customers.
Most readers will be aware that one of the most influential wine magazines in the world is the American, Wine Spectator. Harvey Steiman among many duties is responsible for editing and reviewing Australian wines and the Australian content in the magazine.
