Mix Bag Picks of the Week

  This Weeks Mix Bag Picks of the week is off to the Clare Valley, for what we think is one of the best unknown Rieslings in Australia. Our journey then takes us to one the best whites we tasted this year, an amazing single vineyard aromatic dry white from the home of ‘Dracula’.  Next is a white blend from across the ditch inspired by one of our Tasters Club members (Thank you Gai!!). The Reds start off with a grape variety that is very famous in the Piedmont region of Italy, but made locally by one of Australia’s best.  Marq Wines shows us an...

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Red Wine Picks of the Week

This week’s newsletter continues on from our last one as we run through some of the best red wine on offer at the moment.  This weeks approach from "The Wine Guy" takes a classic variety from Piedmont and produced in Australia by one of the best. Marq Wines gives us their take on an Amarone inspired red. Southern French red blend, Shiraz from the Clare, McLaren Vale takes on the Spanish, and we end with classic red from the ‘heal’ of Italy. As always Grapes & Lager is about discovery and offering our readers something a little different. These picks are designed for...

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The Rise and Rise of the Alternatives

There's a growing buzz in the wine industry about wines made from so called alternative varieties. Australia alone makes wine from more than 150 different grape varieties.

You could say that history has predicted this trend, given that back in the late 1980s,Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay were all the rage. Shiraz was totally underrated and undervalued, with it generally being labelled 'Hermitage’. And Sauvignon Blanc was that slightly weird stuff Cloudy Bay made over in New Zealand.

However, Australian wine drinkers are generally a progressive mob and moving forward to the last few years, we have seen the likes of Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc become established varieties with a number of new exciting varieties snapping at their heals. Varieties such as Pinot Grigio have started to appear on the wine drinking radar of many Australians, so much so that it is no longer considered alternative.

 

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