Tar & Roses

Last night we had a bottle of Tar & Roses Heathcote Shiraz - 2008 - It was wonderful. This is what one of the write-ups say about the wine: "The larger volume of shiraz comes from the Cambrian soil of Heathcote; while the smaller parcel, although from Heathcote comes from much tougher grantic soils. The first is rounder, fuller, fruit driven wine, while the later is more restrained and elegant. The elegance of the cabernet Sauvignon from the Strathbogie ranges, tempers the intensity of the combined shiraz characters, adding balance and structure.
Deep ruby red in colour with pink hues. A nose of sweet mulberry and warm earth, with vanilla cream sponge cake. A palate of blood plums and beetroot, sweet and savoury with silky smooth tannins. Flavours linger on with great length, structure and texture.

What the critics think
“2006 – From the Heathcote region of Victoria. This seamless and almost restrained wine, that delivers its impressive palate with a degree of subtlety and finesse. The palate has a dusty earthiness woven into the primary savoury plum flavours.”
Ray Jordan – The West Australia – Top Aussie Reds to drink this winter"

Fashion show at Whitehouse

Fashion Show at Whitehouse School of Fashion

We attended the fashion show at Whitehouse where Jessica is doing a Bachelor's degree in Fashion to see the work of some of the students. And we're proud to say that Jessica was one of 2 girls in Year 1 to achieve a distiction for her skirt. The theme she chose was "Rock Chick". Here are some pics we took on the day.

Printhie wines

I have recently had 2 wines which I thought was worth mentioning here.
The first was a Helm Cabernet 2005. It was recommended to us by the manager at Cloud Wines in Melbourne. My mate Alec and I went for dinner and I asked the guy at Cloud Wines whether he knew of any Cabs worth drinking. He immediately picked this one. Its from Canberra and is a big rich wines worth trying. In the words of Drew Lambert "Canberra's leading Riesling maker finally has an equal to Clonakilla's flagship Shiraz Viognier. And the best part, it is not a direct competitor as it's a Cabernet Sauvignon. This is one of the best standout Cabernets I've tasted this year in Australia and marks the first time the company has released a premium Cabernet Sauvignon. Not only is it supremely structured, it shows world class elegance and balance as well as fine grained tannins. The blackberry/cassis flavours are rich and opulent while the oak flavours are reminiscent of cigar box."
The funny thing is that we bought it for $36 at Cloud Wines and when I looked at the Helm website a few days later, I saw that they were selling it for $52. I checked with the winemaker who assured me the price in Melbourne was wrong. So Alec and I quickly bought a few more bottles!

The second wines I loved was the Printhie Chardonnay from the Orange district. My mate Dirk and I went to a wine tasting at North Sydney Cellars where the winemaker Drew Tuckwell introduced his wines to us. They are all great and god value for money. We had the Chardonnay last night and it was really good. In the words of the winemaker (I'm not a good describer of wine!) the colour is pale yellow with a green hue, with peach and nutty bouquet with buttery undertones and a refined palate displaying tropical fruit characters with a creamy mid-palate and finishes long with a twist of lemony acidity and subtle toasty French oak. Well worth trying especially at $16.65 per bottle.