Wine thread

[Bazal]

2018 Clonakilla Pinot Noir.

Whole berries, wild yeast. Classic Tim Kirk style. Even at 6 years old it's perfumed and super elegant. Raspberry, strawberry, vine leaves, intense clove, forest and wet stone. The fruit has gone ever so slightly towards cordial with age, but in some ways the wine is better for it.

 

[Bazal]

2022 Weerona/Partridge Laying Geese Shiraz, Hunter Valley.

Really aromatic, surprisingly so tbh for a Hunter shiraz especially. Ripe berry bunches, cola, vanilla. Medium bodied, definitely fruit driven with loads of berries, but it does lean into cola and sour cherry on the palate, adds a little spice, and finishes surprisingly lean and lively. Nothing earth shattering, but it's a ridiculously drinkable shiraz.

 

[Bazal]

2006 Mt Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz. No occasion, just why not?

Must have bought this in about 2012, reviews all rate it to about 2018. Still going strong, in fact in the glass it's only very moderately bricking. Powerful, elegant, cool climate shiraz. Nose is strong black tea, plum jam, loaded blackberry bushes and a hint of cured meat. It's sweet dark fruits up front, then goes into liquorice and cloves, wild herbs, and finishes with sweet tea and super fine tannin.

Wicked and still has life left. 94 points.

 

[Drew-Sta]

2006 Mt Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz. No occasion, just why not?

Must have bought this in about 2012, reviews all rate it to about 2018. Still going strong, in fact in the glass it's only very moderately bricking. Powerful, elegant, cool climate shiraz. Nose is strong black tea, plum jam, loaded blackberry bushes and a hint of cured meat. It's sweet dark fruits up front, then goes into liquorice and cloves, wild herbs, and finishes with sweet tea and super fine tannin.

Wicked and still has life left. 94 points.

Never quite got into Mt Langi.

 

[Drew-Sta]

Have tasted through some Tarrawarra, Rob Dolan, Sidewood Estate, Einstone etc lately. Some ripper wines out there.

 

[Bazal]

Never quite got into Mt Langi.

I haven't had a lot of the actual Langi. There are better wines out there for the money now that's it's priced so high but I definitely enjoyed it.

Billi Billi used to be one of my go to recommendations for a Shiraz under 20 (a decade or more ago lol) though. And the Cliff Edge was always a solid sell in the mid thirties.

 

[Bazal]

Mercer Shiraz Nouveau.

These guys were probs my equal favourite winery last Hunter trip, but maybe into first place cos you can get their wines. Aaron Mercer is ex Tamburlaine, Brokenwood, Tyrrells and they've now leased the old Scarborough cellar door over on Hermitage Road. Everything was super drinkable and often a little funky, which is my street these days, but the serious wines were very serious too.

This is just slurpy as f**k. Unoaked from memory? Rich cherry, raspberry, bright and soft and all about fruit, but not at the expense of tannin, which is there with a sprinkle of pepper on the finish. The kind of wine that runs out well before you think it should have if you're not careful.

 

[Drew-Sta]

Pulled an old Avon Brae shiraz '17 out of the shed from my Cellarmasters days. Appreciating how much wine is about memories and people and a point in time.

 

[Bazal]

Had the Mercer Nero this arvo with a top charcuterie board. Just perfect for it. Sour black cherry, plum, rustic spices, a touch of smoked herbs and eucalypt. It's dark and intense and full bodied and plush, but there's a funky wild yeast twist into a hint of raspberry saison that less serious alocoholi...err, wine drinkers could easily miss, so it's a perfect mixed crowd wine.

 

[horrie hastings]

Coles to end Vintage Cellar, First Choice brands in liquor overhaul

The country’s second-largest supermarket retailer will rebrand 984 stores in its alcohol business as Liquorland in the biggest shake-up in decades.

www.afr.com

So glad i am finished with this company.

 

[Bazal]

Coles to end Vintage Cellar, First Choice brands in liquor overhaul

The country’s second-largest supermarket retailer will rebrand 984 stores in its alcohol business as Liquorland in the biggest shake-up in decades.

www.afr.com

So glad i am finished with this company.

I saw that yesterday and laughed out loud in the office.

Good time to finish, because they are finished. Endeavour will grind them out. Funnily enough this is what the sales staff were predicting back in 2016, but nah the schmick new team of marketing grads knew better.

 

[Dark Corner]

Coles to end Vintage Cellar, First Choice brands in liquor overhaul

The country’s second-largest supermarket retailer will rebrand 984 stores in its alcohol business as Liquorland in the biggest shake-up in decades.

www.afr.com

So glad i am finished with this company.

What was wrong with them ?

 

[Bazal]

What was wrong with them ?

Coles killed the brands.

I was a premium wine manager at First Choice and then a 'regional' premium product manager both there and VC (cos of the way the ACT region worked with only one VC store) when they stopped hiring new PPMs to replace ones that left.

Back then we had a killer wine range. My home store I ranged over 1000 "premium" wine SKUs, although that included batch buys and rarities. Reality I think was about 550 regular wines. We had established the best local Canberra wine range in town, we used to offer wine list services to corporates, so bars and restaurants and caterers etc. They paid for me to do my WSET qualifications and the sommeliers course. Basically, they realised in about 2011 that the way to compete with Woolies was to allow each store to manage and market itself to its local clients. Some stores were classic big box liquor, others like Naremburn were giant wine snob warehouses, and we were a mix. At it's best we were making $250,000 weekly sales in one store.

Then in 2015 the head wine buyer and marketer left the business anda new marketing team came in, mostly new grads. They decided that every single product that didn't meet a certain threshold for sale nationally would be deleted immediately. Of course, that meant that local successful products that weren't RANGED nationally were all gone. For example l local Canberra wines here. We sold over $100k monthly across the 5 stores, but they didn't meet the threshold for volume so they were all gone. We went from having, at the time, a better premium wine range than Dan Murphys to the same range as Liquorland, which is the little grog shop you see in malls here.

That basically led into a spiral where they tried to salvage the business by doing volume sales, buy 6 shit wines for $36 kind of thing. But it never recovered

 

[Bazal]

Pizzini La Volpe Nebbiolo. One of my old fave vineyards, haven't had any of their stuff for far too long. I keep meaning to get back down the King Valley and it doesn't happen. Anyway.

They've always done a big, Barolo-esque nebbiolo but this is a reasonably newish wine (or at least it's been introduced in the ages since I last had a Pizzini). Whole bunch pressed, minimal oak, meant for drinking young.

Super floral, like rose petal and violet and those gimmicky hibiscus flowers in syrup, raspberry, but the Nebbiolo backbone is there too. There's a touch of herb and licorice and tea, good tannin and acid. Really enjoyable wine and maybe not a style you expect from the variety. I had it with a lamb lahmacun and it went super well.

 

[horrie hastings]

I saw that yesterday and laughed out loud in the office.

Good time to finish, because they are finished. Endeavour will grind them out. Funnily enough this is what the sales staff were predicting back in 2016, but nah the schmick new team of marketing grads knew better.

I'm still officially on the books but haven't worked since the second week of August last year, used up all my sick/personal leave as carers leave when my partner had a hip replacement then just as i was ready to go back after that i had a blood clot in my thigh so have been off since then, my sick leave ran out a couple of weeks ago so just using my annual leave and dipped into my long service just this week. I still have a certificate till mid May and the annoying thing is that i just had my anniversary date where i should have my next lot of sick/ personal leave credited but since the new agreement where the Liquor staff got lumped in with the supermarket staff under one agreement, sick leaves now accumulates weekly instead of being given it in one lump. So another good reason why i'm out of there,. While the separate Liquor agreement wasn't perfect it was far superior to what the supermarket staff had and of course weight of numbers, Supermarket staff 75 % to Liquor around 25% of course the supermarket staff were going to vote for the stinky $250 gift card in the new agreement while the liquor staff lost lots of their benefits.

 

[Dark Corner]

Coles killed the brands.

I was a premium wine manager at First Choice and then a 'regional' premium product manager both there and VC (cos of the way the ACT region worked with only one VC store) when they stopped hiring new PPMs to replace ones that left.

Back then we had a killer wine range. My home store I ranged over 1000 "premium" wine SKUs, although that included batch buys and rarities. Reality I think was about 550 regular wines. We had established the best local Canberra wine range in town, we used to offer wine list services to corporates, so bars and restaurants and caterers etc. They paid for me to do my WSET qualifications and the sommeliers course. Basically, they realised in about 2011 that the way to compete with Woolies was to allow each store to manage and market itself to its local clients. Some stores were classic big box liquor, others like Naremburn were giant wine snob warehouses, and we were a mix. At it's best we were making $250,000 weekly sales in one store.

Then in 2015 the head wine buyer and marketer left the business anda new marketing team came in, mostly new grads. They decided that every single product that didn't meet a certain threshold for sale nationally would be deleted immediately. Of course, that meant that local successful products that weren't RANGED nationally were all gone. For example l local Canberra wines here. We sold over $100k monthly across the 5 stores, but they didn't meet the threshold for volume so they were all gone. We went from having, at the time, a better premium wine range than Dan Murphys to the same range as Liquorland, which is the little grog shop you see in malls here.

That basically led into a spiral where they tried to salvage the business by doing volume sales, buy 6 shit wines for $36 kind of thing. But it never recovered

So why doe's coles have 3 different companies i.e. Liquorland, First Choice Liquor and Vintage Celler's also read they have the Spirt Hotels and pubs.

 

[Bazal]

So why doe's coles have 3 different companies i.e. Liquorland, First Choice Liquor and Vintage Celler's also read they have the Spirt Hotels and pubs.

Diversity.

Liquorland is your standard liquor store. Ranges everyday products in malls and suburban shops, aimed at shippers ducking in for a six pack and a bottle.

Vintage Cellars is a premium wine store, you usually find them in more bougie suburbs and they're also aimed in between. People might duck in to by a bottle of Dom, but also might be looking for a couple of cases of $40 reds.

First Choice was already a dead brand. It's original purpose was a big box Dan Murphys competitor but now it's basically a discount grog shop no one goes to

There's also probably a lengthy discussion there about the ACCCs recent findings one the Coles/Woolworths duopoly but it's too early on a Saturday for that lol

 

[horrie hastings]

Diversity.

Liquorland is your standard liquor store. Ranges everyday products in malls and suburban shops, aimed at shippers ducking in for a six pack and a bottle.

Vintage Cellars is a premium wine store, you usually find them in more bougie suburbs and they're also aimed in between. People might duck in to by a bottle of Dom, but also might be looking for a couple of cases of $40 reds.

First Choice was already a dead brand. It's original purpose was a big box Dan Murphys competitor but now it's basically a discount grog shop no one goes to

There's also probably a lengthy discussion there about the ACCCs recent findings one the Coles/Woolworths duopoly but it's too early on a Saturday for that lol

Very good summation there. Spot on about Vintage Cellars, the only decent thing that was left in their flagship,

Hmmm First Choice, that stems back even further to the old Quaffers days, Quaffers popped up either late 1994 or early 1995 when the first store took over the Farmer Brothers warehouse in Waterloo . After a few years they opened another Sydney store in Hornsby and then the big one in Melbourne. Differing at head office ( how unusual for this company) ended up running a successful entity into the ground, not sure what the dates were exactly but i think roughly 2003-04 they were throwing around the big box theory for Quaffers stores and even had a site picked on the corner of O'Riordan St and Gardners rd Alexandria for the first store and then everything changed again and Quaffers was just an after thought and closed in 2007.

Coles Myer to expand its Quaffers liquor outlets

Coles Myer is set to accelerate the expansion of its liquor retailing operations with a national roll-out of Quaffers stores planned, while its Vintage Cellars chain is also looking to open new outlets.

www.afr.com

First Choice was set to fail, the Naremburn store was wild, great range and set up like the old Quaffers i worked at only bigger, plenty of premium brands, your store in Canberra sounded like the perfect set up with people knowing what they were doing re premium and local wines and then the usual thing happened and the company shot itself in the foot again and are about to do it again with this latest news.

The First Choices that any where close to where i live are in such poor locations, the Maroubra store is half way between Maroubra Jct shopping centre and Eastgardens on a suburban rd so gets no one stopping there, the Rockdale store even though its on the highway is where there is either company offices and an auto product store and really nowhere near the main shopping strip, again no one stops there.

Would have loved to see how your Canberra store was run at its prime because the day that they killed off Quaffers and sent me into the Liquorland fray really killed off my enthusiasm for wine and learning more about the premium product.

 

[horrie hastings]

Found some photos from Quaffers at Waterloo.

 

[horrie hastings]