"A really good Australian Port..." Topic

For years, I've been drinking Warre's Tawny, which I
regarded as on a par with Sandemann's and other 'name'
Ports (Tawny ports, at least).

No more. My local was out of Warre's and I tried Hardy's
'Whiskers Blake' 8 year old Tawny Port. Outstanding !

And about 20 % cheaper !

So, I'm familiar with Australian reds, but knew nothing
of their ports ! Have you folks Down Under any more
gems such as this one ?

We drink Hardy's port. I find some of the Aussie ports are bit on the sweet side for my taste. If you want a great Aussie after-dinner drink, try Aussie tokays. Many wine stores in the U.S. don't even know what they are and are often hard to find. Many also think that you are confusing them with Hungarian tokai's, which are a whole 'nuther animal. (It's like nails on a chalkboard to me when an ignorant store owner thinks you are a buffoon for confusing, or believing, that tokai can be made in Oz). But, if you can find them, they are amazingly complex.

My favorite is Clocktower. It's really inexpensive, but very good nonetheless.

do you serve it from the left down under?

Whyalla?

Galway Pipe

Other notable Australian ports:
Batemans Bay
Bellambi
Bermagui
Bulli
Coalcliff Harbour
Coffs Harbour
Gerringong
Hanleys Wall
Port Botany

Brown Brothers…

Why don`t you guys go back to drinking beer and leave our Port wine in Portugal EEC where it belongs!
I mean next thing you know you will be making it in Alaska given half the chance!
To us our national drink (including the red wines)is very important and a matter of great pride AND VERY HARD WORK sometimes for English producers OK?!!
Furthermore we are supposed to be EEC members with you guys and are really tired of your attitude towards USA and your Commonwealth against European production.
I would like to have this message answered if you donīt mind as I see you are all TMP members!
REGARDS
Lusitanus

Is Australia a member of the EEC?
I am surprised.

Must be, I didn't know drinks were only available dependent on heritage…..

On a side note; Whyalla???

Whyalla?
OK its not much of a port as the mouth near the seawall gets silted up…. Wait a minute: our Portuguese friend says we cant use the term "port" any more. I guess Whayalla must only be called a harbour from now on .
BTW, fancy a glass of Hardys Tawny Harbour? Or a bumper of Clocktower Anchorage? Old Grandfather Haven?
Ridiculous is it not?

Whyalla??My friends Port is sacred to us,for example we cant afford it!it one of the products we can do with top quality like olive oil,etc.they are a bit more expensive than Port made in Australia or China but you know it is worth it agree?
Whyalla you guys donīt give up on those cheap copies?

Until youve tried a drop of the '89 Whyalla dont knock it.
Brown with a strong aroma of brine with just a touch of fuel oil. If your lucky there will even be a bit of kelp in it.
A single sip will have you hurling for days.
They dont make better seawater anywhere else in the world.

HAHAHA!Fantastic raducci,sounds fun,I havenīt hurled for years (new year 2002 I guess)these days my artistic life is almost over…

Nessun problema, noi latini sono persone divertenti.

É vero!I had some chianti the other dsy:SantīOrsola.
I was in Italy 3 times now very nice Milan and Venice,I asked the cab driver where are your policeman?
Answer:sono tutti in gallera!!!HAHAHA!
Che vediamo!

L' Carbinieri? Non sono tutti fumatori.
Ciao, paisano.

I've been to Whyalla, worked in Whyalla for a short while, lovely place with the soft aroma of the smelter drifting in…sigh

From now on I shall give my favoruite Harbour the due deference it deserves and reminisce that "remember when I could call you a port?….and I'll only eat harbour wine jelly in my trifle. It just won't be the same…<sigh>

Mind you I do understand about the parochialism attached to drinks; if anyone ever claimed they make a decent ice coffee I shall ask them to pick their weapon of choice. If its not a Farmers Union then it is nothing….

Ok you guys are spoiling me with jokes now…
Ciao raducci paisano Grande Italia invicta!
Whyalla you dont invest in a Kangaroo curry factory?…Just out of curio do you guys know if Chianti is still safe from Chinese and Australian copies?

By the way Carabinieri fumatori?
That does not get you in jail in Italy!
I asked the cab driver where is the police I never saw any on the streets to which he answered they are all in gallera-jail!

OK Lusitanus, my friend, lets get serious.
There were Australian made Chiantis. Although they were swill I did not have a problem with this. Nor with the now banned idea of non-French Champagnes or non-Italian spumantis.
How much of an idiot must you be to drink an Australian champagne and think it a French one? Cost, taste and the label all should tell you they are different.
I have never drunk a Portuguese port. I'm not a port drinker. But if I was to go into a wine cellar and see an expensive Portuguese port, lying next to cheaper Autralian ones, I would assume it to be a different and probably superior drink.
So I am sorry but I do not see this as a problem. I admire and respect the Portuguese (I have a good friend from Lisboa) but I cannot support you in this matter.

BTW all Carabinieri stand around in public smoking. As they carry submachine guns I have seen the need to tell them their habits are disgusting.

Yes you would have to be totally stupid to forget about the factors quality,price,origin of course.
I never asked for any support,forgiveness etc,I mean itīs a forum people state opinions.
All the best
Over and out.

I live on the southern outskirts of Adelaide, south Australia. Within 20 miles of me are over 200 excellent wineries producing a range of incredible wines and open for free tasting. Many others exist, but are not open to the public. This particular region is known as the Southern Vales. The actual bottling factor for Hardy's is within less than a mile of my house. Unfortunately it is now owned by a large American company and has recently clashed with the locals over wine types and ideas for ripping up some of the old historic vineyards to sell off as housing areas.

The Reynell family immigrated from England and set up the first wineries, including the original cellar now part of Hardy's. But the wine business was very small until more recent times.

Today most of the owners who make wines with European names, are immigrants who use their new country to produce what they themselves learnt to make and drink in their original homelands. There are very few names of 'English' origin in any of our wine districts. Nearly all are European in origin.

We dont have a Chianti that I know of. But I would be surprised if there is not a wine something like it among the various wineries.

What ever it is called, these modern day wine makers are proud of their heritage and remain faithful to producing wines to the same pattern. Hence a prolification of European wine styles.

However in more recent times Australian wineries have started to produce their own styles and adopt their own new names for wine types. One winery near me makes wine with names such as 'Laughing Magpie', 'Piping Shrike', etc. These usually have a European equivilent, but with a strong Australian style.

That is the right approach to this production matters,and who knows maybe sometime we in Europe may have some of your products since these days out here nothing is available from Australia maybe only in the UK but not here that i know of.

The reason you dont have any of our products is that some European countries wont allow our wines in.

We on the other hand, allow all types in. So we get the best of the world, and the best of our own. That gives one a scale against which to measure!

Now I'm torn.

I recently found a Port (Porto Morgado Tawny) at a local
import shop which is excellent, and CHEAP (USD 6/bottle).

Lusitanus, it is produced and bottled by Sogrape Vinhos,
S.A., V. N. Gaia, Portugal.

So I now have what I regard as an excellent Australian
Port and a wonderful Port from Portugal, comfortably
ensconced side by side in the wine cabinet !

Ain't international trade great ?

Be careful, Ed, the two bottles might turn on one another. I'd keep them in separate cabinets with the space inbetween patrolled by the UN.

I for one am really looking forward to next week and my annual hobby of baiting French shopkeepers and restauranteurs with "Ou est les vins Australien?"

;o)

You are a very brave man, Monsieur Mark.
What a French restauranteur can do with a bread stick to those who annoy him is too awful to contemplate.

I see it as my patriotic duty… ;)

Most French waiters are too busy being rude to notice… And I really love it when they put a drop of wine in your glass and then take the bloody bottle away, never to be seen again, unless you wander across the restaurant in search of him and/or the bottle you've paid for…

To be fair, I do love the French wines when in France, it's only the overpriced, overrated muck they send across the channel that I can't stand.

(It's also time for the annual joke "I had the six oysters to start, but only five of them worked.")

Good luck, my friend.
I'm sure we both agree that the French are a wonerful people but it is not always easy sharing a frontier with them.