The Wine Blokes

Wine Blokes official wine tasting notes - more than just wine reviews!

The Chain of Ponds brand has been around since 1985 and have become one of Australias premiere botique producers. Located near Gumeracha in the Adelaide Hills, it initally pitched its reputation on Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, along with traditional Italian varieties including Pinot Grigio, Barbera, Sangiovese and Nebbiolo. 
I have to admit that the Chain of Ponds [...]

2008 was extremely difficult for many wine grape growers in Australia. A vintage of two halves.  Some of the hottest and driest conditions on record came mid vintage in many parts of southern Australia. Any grower who still had fruit left on the vine must have had their heart in their mouth, and for good reason. Many [...]

Alcohol: 13.5%
Blokes Notes: A little bit funky on the nose. Quite reduced but opened up nicely after a while. Mineral with floral type aromas, also a little bit of cut grass. On the palate the wine is quite lean and tight, but very nice melon and nutty tones, with delicate structure and really good length. [...]

Nepenthe of the Adelaide Hills have been making some nice wines for a few years now, but really I think they have potential to do much greater things. They have fantastic vineyard resources, winemaking facilities, and staff, but somehow they haven’t yet seemed to produce wines that have that real “X” factor. 
I’ve always enjoyed their wines, but never come away [...]

Here is another new release from Mountadam. The 2008 Mountadam Barossa Chardonnay has only just been bottled, and again we’ve been lucky enough to get our hands on some before the masses.
Alcohol: 14%
Blokes Notes: Lovely melon and fig on the nose with a slight hint of goosberry. Also quite a bit of spice underneath and [...]

Read this at your own peril. This is what happens when you go out to dinner with good friends and it gets a little out of hand and the note pad finds its way into more boisturous hands.
You’ve been warned.
Blokes Yokes Notes: My favourite wine book as a child was the hungry caterpillar. Thank god [...]

I love seeing boutique wineries that really understand how quality in the vineyard is fundamental to the wine. You see a plethora of labels that inisist they let nature take its course, use a minimilast approach, and spruke that the wines are the essence of the vineyard. In many cases it may be true, but [...]

Last night we ventured out into the big smoke of Adelaide and had dinner at a fantastic little restaurant call Auge with a few very close friends.  We rarely all get to catch up like this so we made sure we ordered some pretty nice vino.
Tiefenbrunner is situated in southern Tyrol, Italy.  This guiding principle of the Tiefenbrunner [...]

Some times you find an old bottle of wine that you are sure isn’t going to be anything special, if at all drinkable. The label is old, faded, and dusty. The cork is cracked or seeping, and really you may aswell dispose of the enitre bottle without putting yourself throught he chore of disappointment. I’ve [...]

Life’s tough….. We arrived home from a very successful weekend pursuing my other passion of equestrian sport (See AlliedEquine.com), and the winning owner of one of the competition horses I ride wanted to celebrate. What better way than with a bottle of 1998 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame.  I have tried numerous vintages over the years, [...]