Texan Down Under

Hello, everyone, on this forum! All y'all seem to know one another and enjoy one another! (I've been lurking.) I'm a Texan married to a West Australian. We are retirees and live half the year in Perth and the other half in the Texas Hill Country, enjoying only spring and summer weather year round. It's a great life in both hemispheres. My husband and I drink white wines almost exclusively. We enjoy a rose occasionally if that qualifies for a red, I don't know. Being Australian means loving wine so when I became an unofficial Aussie in 1998, I began drinking the fine wines of OZ. John and I travel throughout Australia and visit wine areas wherever we are. If anyone has a chance to visit OZ and wants a bit of local wisdom, we're available on this forum.

Welcome Candace! Great to have you here and looking forward to some tasting notes on wines you think are special. I am a white wine junkie so bring `em on! Which wines are your favs!!?

It's so depressing! When John and I are in the US, we rarely buy an Aussie wine. Why? Because OZ doesn't export its best wines to the US.

I was listening to a podcast from the Sydney Wine Show last (US) summer, and the top wine experts and judges were chastizing the OZ wine exporters for exporting only wines they couldn't sell in Australia! Their point was simply that the world is judging Aussie wines by its exports since few people have the chance to experience the wines in country. And the impression of the inferiority of the wines is mainly because the exports ARE inferior.

That said, I can hardily recommend boutique wines produced here, as we enjoy many, many from the Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills as well as the other wine regions in South Australia and of course many from our Perth area wine regions. To name a couple, Lenton Brae SSB from Margaret River is consistently lovely and Barrett's SB and Rose from Adelaide Hills also. Since sav blancs are a great complement to many foods, they're a fav with us. Also Houghton's White Classic (was called White Burgundy in the past from Perth's Swan Valley) is a terrific winter white. If you can find that one, it's to chilly weather what rose is to the heat. One OZ wine which is available in the US (I don't know about Canada) is Yalumba Y series Viognier, and that's a nice drop. We had this wine with smoked turkey before leaving the US in Sept and were over the moon by the pairing.

Maybe one of these is available where you are!

Cheers!

Thanks, up here in Alberta we have a fantastic choice. The Y series Viognier is always a consistent product!! I am a big Riesling fan and have some bottles going back a few years!!! Reds I am big on these days include Pike`s, Seppelts, Foz Ceek, Petaluma, Glaetzner. The list goes on eh.

Welcome to the forum, Candace. I'm looking forward to hearing about all of the wines you are enjoying over there.

It's so depressing! When John and I are in the US, we rarely buy an Aussie wine. Why? Because OZ doesn't export its best wines to the US.....

Welcome Candace! My experience tells me that situation isn't unique to OZ. The best local wines, from NY State and Ontario, are sold at the wineries and I would expect the same to be true in CA, OR, WA and BC. One of these days I'm going to have to make an extended west coast tour.

Wow, another "Perth-ite"

Great to know that I do not need to drink alone.

I too am knew here.

I am a real fan of Aussie whites, so long as they are not sweet.

There are some GREAT Sem/Sauv blancs to be had and a few real good rieslings, but they are harder to find. And they vary greatly from vintage to vintage.

Does this forum have a chell specker?

Candace and John, welcome to both of you! Glad you've joined us and hope you'll find this place as entertaining and educational as I have. Cheers!

Let me add my welcome to Candace and John. As one who has been turned off to Aussie wines because of the style and quality we get here in Michigan, I am looking forward to hearing more about your good stuff. (I must admit, though, that I am primarily a red wine addict.) I've put a short list in my pda already, and will see which of your recommendations are available here.

[James Roscoe]

Welcome to Candace and John from Perth. It's great to have more Aussies on board! I tend to agree that OZ does not send its best wines over here. Of course Oz is judged on its Yello Tail and Rosemount, not on the good stuff. Both of you stick around and join in the conversations.

[Jenise]

Candace and John, let me add my welcome. Oh, and spell checker? You're talking to her--which word do you want checked?

About Aussie wines, it is widely understood by the Americans on this board that the majority of Aussie exports are the ones that suit the American idea of Aussie wine--think sweet and heavy like Yellow Tail--and that a lot of your best wines never leave the country. Candace, you mentioned Houghtons--I fell in love with their verdejo while I was visiting Oz, and tried hard to find it here. No luck. But we Anericans do see a lot of very good wines--the problem is that it takes a hardy soul figure out which those are and many give up.

Welcome John, hope to see you around with some tasting notes!!

Does this forum have a chell specker?

And a welcome from the Other Downunder, New Zealand.

I use ieSpell, from http://www.iespell.com and find it works well. It probably works with browsers other than IE as well.

I do not use IE, but I guess there is an equivalent for Firefox. I need to do a search.

I love most of the NZ Marlborough dry whites I have tasted. It is great than NZ has some for export.

I tend to agree that OZ does not send its best wines over here. Of course Oz is judged on its Yellow Tail and Rosemount, not on the good stuff

Some of those wines are very "average" to put it kindly. The YT Pinot Grigio is not too bad. And usually priced right! With a suplus of grape production in Australia over the past few years, I am sure that some wineries are just oaking whites generally, and labelling it as Chardonay. Yuck!

I know that YT has been available in the USA for a few years, but this is the first year I have seen it available here locally.

It is a great excuse to 'have to' travel, in a quest to discover better wines.

Welcome, Candance. I found several Australian wines on a visit there that I thought were awfully good. But there are a couple of small importers who bring in some very nice wines from Australia, I think.

How about Texas?

Very few of them are sold outside Texas. Do you have any favorites?

Again, welcome. Regards, Bob

Welcome, John. It's great to see you here, and I look forward to discussing wines with you.

Regards, Bob