News

Always a great event to see what's new & exciting from New Zealand as well as some of the well known brands.

Two of New Zealand's best boutique wineries, Domaine Georges Michel (Marlborough) and Lamont Wines (Central Otago) will not be attending this year as they will be making separate visits later in the year with us to visit their loyal trade supporters and members of the public. Details later in the year.

Pause and reflect before you make your next wine purchase – you can make a difference.

Sadly it has become doom and gloom in the wine industry after a very buoyant decade both domestically and internationally. Despite drought, fire and water issues, Australia’s grape growers have produced a surplus equivalent to 100 million cases of wine. How much is that I hear you ask? Think of 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools and you will be pretty close!

30 October - 1st November 2009

Recently I had the pleasure of taking part in the Marlborough Wine Weekend. The aim of the weekend was to bring together trade (journalists, wine judges, distributors) and wine enthusiasts to showcase the very best of Marlborough. A limited number of tickets were available for this weekend which consisted of tastings, master classes, winery visits and a gala dinner.

Once again I was very impressed with the attention to detail and organisation that went on behind the scenes to make this weekend a true delight. The weekend unfolded as follows:

Domaine Georges Michel have recently opened their 'tasting lounge' at La Veranda, situated next to the cellar door and winery. The resident host will be Rudy Schuil and the experience will be French with a New Zealand twist. The tasting lounge offers visitors to the cellar door an opportunity to extend their stay, sample some delightful and affordable plates of French cuisine and re-visit their favourite wines from one of the wine flights.

The International Wine and Spirit Competition aims to promote the quality and excellence of the world's best wines, spirits and liqueurs. Founded in 1969, it is regarded as the premier competition of its kind in the world.

All wines, spirits and liqueurs submitted are blind tasted in groups divided by variety, region and vintage as necessary. Awards are made on a points system and sponsored trophies are presented in selected categories. Technical analysis is carried out on Gold, Gold (Best in Class), Silver (Best in Class) award winning wines, spirits and liqueurs to ensure that all products are technically sound and will be of the same high quality when they reach the consumer as they were when our judging panels originally tasted them.

The reason for the blurb on this competition is that a new release from Georges Michel in Marlborough, NZ has received a very good review through this competition. The Legend Pinot Noir 2007 (about to arrive in Melbourne) has been awarded Silver (Best in Class).

There are competitions and there are competitions, and then ... there is the Sydney International Wine Competition.

This is the only event in Australia in which wine is rated against food. One of the main aims of the Competition is to offer consumers independent information to help in their choice of wines more likely to enhance the pleasures of the daily dining experience and, by so doing, to add enjoyment and contentment to their everyday lives. This is the main service the Competition offers.

Selador Wines strongly encourages their wineries to take part in this event, given the style of wines in our portfolio. The results have just been announced and we are thrilled to announce that three wines in our portfolio have been awarded a Blue-Gold Award, and two of these have gone on to be listed in the Top 100 of the show.

They include:

• Hastwell & Lightfoot Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, McLaren Vale, SA
• Lamont Pinot Noir 2006, Central Otago, NZ (also awarded Top 100)
• Patrick Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, Coonawarra, SA (also awarded Top 100)

Hastwell & Lightfoot have recently been awarded a number of medals for several wines in their portfolio at the Australian Small Winemakers Show.

The Australian Small Winemakers Show is the most prestigious wine show for small winemakers in Australia and New Zealand. The Show is open to those wineries which crush less than 500 tonnes per annum.

The following wines were entered with their results:

Hastwell & Lighfoot 2008 Chardonnay - Bronze Medal

Hastwell & Lighfoot 2007 Shiraz - Silver Medal

We are keen to announce the addition of a Verdelho to the Thomas Vineyard Estate range of wines. To date two levels of Shiraz have been produced (2004 being the first vintage release). Accolades and awards have consistently flowed from the 2004 and 2005 vintages for both Shiraz.

The Verdelho will be a lovely compliment to their range, to have a vibrant, crisp and youthful white to sell over the warmer months. The release will be a current vintage (2009) and should be in the warehouse in the next couple of weeks.

We are thrilled to announce that the Lamont Pinot Gris 2008 has just picked up a Gold and Trophy for top Pinot Gris at the Liquorland 100 Awards in New Zealand. To put this in perspective, a gold medal is awarded to a wine that scores a minimum of 18.5 out of a possible 20, and indicates the wine is truly outstanding. A trophy is awarded to the best gold medal winning wine in each class.

We decided to make the most of having all of our wineries in Melbourne at the same time, and paired up with one of our clients the Finest Drop Group, who own four retail stores in Victoria (Elsternwick, Hampton, Mount Waverley and Mildura).

The function room at the Sandringham Club was chosen as the venue and 70 guests attended on the night. An amazing degustation was arranged in which two wines from each winery were selected to accompany five courses. Each winemaker had the opportunity to introduce their wine and talk about their winery.