Thursday 13 November 2014

Wine, Art, Banking & Finance... huh?!

'Art & Wine - A Perfect Match'

Last night I attended the ABF Wine tasting night at the Charles Billich Gallery in The Rocks, it was a new event for me that I came across on the wine calender website and as it was only happening down the road from where I was working, I bought myself a ticket and at 6pm arrived ready to taste.

To quote their website "ABF Wines is a specialist Online retailer of great value limited release, crafted wines" focusing on a mid- to-upper quality range of wines from selected boutique wineries around Australia and New Zealand. Representatives from each winery are there to talk about the wines while you taste and then you can purchase the wines direct from the wineries at ABF discounted prices; which knocks between $3 - $20 off the bottle price, depending on the quality and RRP of the wine.

There were approximately 45 different wines on show from the following wineries:
  • Maverick Wines - Barossa Valley, SA
  • The Judge Rock - Central Otago, New Zealand
  • Terrace Edge Wines - Wapara Valley, New Zealand
  • Lisa McGuigan Wines - Hunter Valley, NSW, Barossa Valley, SA
  • Mute Vintners Round 2 - Barossa Valley, SA
  • Teusner Wines - Barossa Valley, SA
  • Margan Wines - hunter Valley, NSW
  • The Lane Vineyard - Adelaide Hill, SA
  • Fraser Gallop Wines - Margaret River, WA
I managed to get around to tasting all of them, in fact quite a few of them I tasted twice - just to be sure! However as is usual at these types of events, the more you taste, then more you forget to actually takes notes of what you are tasting and you just begin to enjoy the night.

The event spanned two floors of the gallery and while the purpose of the night was the wine on the tables, it was hard to ignore the beautiful works of art adorning the walls and easel stands. The crowd were mostly suits; men and woman coming to enjoy a glass of wine after a long day in the office. Very few seemed like they actually cared about the wines themselves, they were knocking them back without discrimination and the volume in the room increased tenfold.

In typical tasting style, I started off with the whites, moving around the room to each table to try their wares and make my notes. Margan were showing their white label range; all single vineyard, older parcel vines. They presented 5 wine varietals; a Chardonnay, Semillon, Verdelho, Barbera and an Aged Semillon, the Verdelho was a standout of the lot, with fresh fruit salad and stone fruit characteristics, it made for a lovely start to the evening.

Anyone who knows me, knows I despise New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, as far as I'm concerned you may as well just suck the life out of a passionfruit; they are so tart and acidic, however as was proved this evening, I was very much wrong. Juicy, mouth-filling and vivacious with perfectly balanced acidity and a palette of green apples and lime, this Sauvignon Blanc jumped straight to the top of my favourite wines list. They also had a beautiful Pinot Noir on show, that was rich, earthy, gamey and delicious, I'll definitely be paying a visit to the Terrace Edge next time I'm in New Zealand.

As just mentioned above, I've never been a Sauvignon Blanc fan, so when I saw that Fraser Gallop were showing a 2013 Semillon (64%) Sauvignon blanc (36%), I was curious. Of all the Sauvignon Blanc's I've tried, I am partial to ones from the Margaret River region, and must admit I was pleased at what was presented. The Semillon dominated the wine, with sweet citrus flavours complimenting the tart passionfruit, grassy notes, creating a lovely balance of acid. With a normal retail price < $20 this is definitely a wine I would try again.

Teusner's impressed with their "Avatar" GMS (Grenache 40%, Mataro 30%, Shiraz 30% ), although I would have preferred it to have been a little older, it just seemed to be missing that "little something" that I think a bit more age would give it. I also thoroughly enjoyed their "Vin de Plaisir"; a blend of Montepulciano, Carignan, Mataro. From their whites the Eden Valley "Empress" Riesling stood out enough to prompt me noting that "it smells like I imagine the colour purple would taste", figure that one out!

A personal disappointment to the night were the Lisa McGuigan wines, to me they were barely of more than of quaffing quality. Lisa herself was there representing her brand, and it was fantastic to meet her, however her "taste" portions were about the size of a pint glass; which normally I would not object to, except in this case I didn't like the wines at all, so committed the ultimate crime and poured each out into the spittoon.

The night eventually drew to a close, while most glasses were abandoned as people made their merry way home, I may just have sneaked an extra glass in my bag before I myself made my way out - I'll never be one to pass up free Plumm glassware.


http://billich.com/

http://www.abfwines.com.au/

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