Drinking Australia Dry

A couple of bottles of Wine
I'm back in Australia and a little confused. I didn't plan this short, unexpected trip home, and while the reason I'm here means I'd prefer to still be back in Hong Kong, I thought I'd better post a couple of entries.

Opposite is a picture of two empty bottles of wine. Two bottles of wine that I would love to have reviewed, but which somehow magically emptied before I could even pull out a pen. It's kind of bad that I'm here, but what is undeniably good is the wine. Why were these wines so good? Was it because I was back home, amongst family? Was it because red wine and roast beef on a winters night are better than red wine and rice on a hot and humid Hong Kong evening? Was it simply because Australia makes some bloody great wine?

Anyway; d'Arry's Original, McLaren Vale, Shiraz, Grenache 2004 was absolutely superb. Made by the good people at d'Arenberg this wine was literally bursting with attractive sweet fruits and was morishly drinkable - I blinked and the bottle was empty. The other wine; Hoddles Creek, Yarra Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 was also a cracker. Again an easy drinking experience, but hidden behind the lovely dark berry flavours, was a quiet, but refined and well structured wine. I was equally impressed when I questioned Nana on where she got the wine to be told "Boccaccio of course!".

Visit the d'Arenberg and Hoddles Creek websites