Nice wines I have drunk recently - Red or White

Looking for a nice bottle of red for my son. He is not a Merlot fan. Maybe Shiraz or Cab Sauv.

Around $100, any suggestions. I would have to buy it from Dans or the other local contenders. Too late to order now. His partner wants to buy it for Christmas.
 
Looking for a nice bottle of red for my son. He is not a Merlot fan. Maybe Shiraz or Cab Sauv.

Around $100, any suggestions. I would have to buy it from Dans or the other local contenders. Too late to order now. His partner wants to buy it for Christmas.
Penfolds St Henri would be my go to….
Dans have a few vintages from $100 up
 
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When travelling, especially in places not renowned for wine, I usually struggle to find a decent wine.

So in a ski resort in Canada with only one bottle shop, my hopes were not high.

I did my usual benchmarking exercise which involves finding a wine I’m familiar with and using that as a baseline for pricing decions.

Oyster Bay Sav Blanc at ~CAD23 (~25AUD) was the starting point.

A mark up for sure, but considering the store has a monopoly, not totally outrageous IMO.

Next I sought a recommendation for something to go with steak.

The bloke sounded like he knew what he was on about - but can you ever really be sure?

His tip was a Canadian red blend at CAD38 or roughly AUD42.

“Yeah right”, I thought.

I was deeply sceptical.

The store had plenty of wine CAD100+ and here he was suggesting below 40 bucks. Yeah right!

I baulked, but in the end took the recommendation and was very pleased I did.

IMG_6756.jpeg

IMG_6757.jpeg

This is a stunning wine.

Probably unfair to compare a blend from Canada to a straight variety from Australia.

But as an indication I’d rate this ahead of things like Wynns Black Label, Blackwell, Keyneton Euphonium and Kalimna.

I was sufficiently impressed to spend 20 mins trying to find an Aussie importer.

Edit: couldn’t find an importer, so if anyone see it available in Australia, please PM me.
 
Last edited:
When travelling, especially in places not renowned for wine, I usually struggle to find a decent wine.

So in a ski resort in Canada with only one bottle shop, my hopes were not high.

I did my usual benchmarking exercise which involves finding a wine I’m familiar with and using that as a baseline for pricing decions.

Oyster Bay Sav Blanc at ~CAD23 (~25AUD) was the starting point.

A mark up for sure, but considering the store has a monopoly, not totally outrageous IMO.

Next I sought a recommendation for something to go with steak.

The bloke sounded like he knew what he was on about - but can you ever really be sure?

His tip was a Canadian red blend at CAD38 or roughly AUD42.

“Yeah right”, I thought.

I was deeply sceptical.

The store had plenty of wine CAD100+ and here he was suggesting below 40 bucks. Yeah right!

I baulked, but in the end took the recommendation and was very pleased I did.

View attachment 486098

View attachment 486099

This is a stunning wine.

Probably unfair to compare a blend from Canada to a straight variety from Australia.

But as an indication I’d rate this ahead of things like Wynns Black Label, Blackwell, Keyneton Euphonium and Kalimna.

I was sufficiently impressed to spend 20 mins trying to find an Aussie importer.

Edit: couldn’t find an importer, so if anyone see it available in Australia, please PM me.
Okanagan Valley wines can be very good.
 

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