St Hugo Estate to Open in the Heart of the Barossa

The ultimate experience in Australian fine wine will arrive when the luxurious St HugoTM Estate opens in the Barossa Valley in 2016.

Designed with the wine connoisseur and luxury traveller in mind, the St Hugo Estate will set a global benchmark, immersing guests into the elegant world of one of Australia's most sought after wine labels.

This project has been supported by a $1 million grant from the Government of South Australia's Regional Development Fund through Primary Industries and Regions SA to boost jobs and investment in regions

The St Hugo Estate will offer a range of premium and exclusive experiences, with advance bookings recommended to avoid disappointment.

The Estate will be home to a first-class wine lounge where guests can savour a glass of St Hugo wine or partake in a carefully crafted wine flight designed to take them on a journey through the intricacies of the St Hugo wines.

Guests will also have access to the Estate's fine dining restaurant and chef's table, allowing them to enjoy intimate dining sessions crafted from local flavours and regional offerings, all curated to match the unparalleled elegance of St Hugo wines.

For the ultimate luxury seeker, the underground cellar and wine vault will offer VIP guests a private tasting session of St Hugo's most prized vintages.

The new Estate will be a true reflection of the St Hugo brand and bring to life Hugo Gramp's legacy of success, sophistication and excellence.

The building's history is rooted in the very origins of the Barossa as a settlement and a wine region. It was originally built in the 1850s by William Jacob, who conducted the first survey of the region in 1839 and chose to settle there. In 1918 Hugo Gramp was instrumental in the purchase of the property for Gramp & Sons and almost 100 years later the property will be home to the wines named in Hugo's honour.

Enquiries relating to advance bookings for the luxury experiences at the St Hugo Estate are welcome from 1 October 2015, with the doors opening to visitors from 1 July 2016.

An official opening will follow in September 2016 to coincide with the 131st anniversary of the Hugo Gramp's birthday.

# 'St Hugo Estate' refers to the building and not the source of grapes for St Hugo wines.

Traveloscopy | 

How to tell if your wine has gone bad - Wine Folly

An experienced drinker can tell almost instantly if a wine is past its prime. Question is, how do they do it? Well, this comes with a little practice, and here’s what to look for:

How it will look

Wines go bad when they are left open for too long. While some claim that open wines last for weeks, most will lose their luster after just a couple of days, so it’s wise to store open bottles properly. First thing to look at is the color and condition of the wine.

Read the full article here:

http://winefolly.com/tutorial/how-to-tell-if-wine-has-gone-bad/

ONE TO NOTE: Ninth Island Sauvignon Blanc - Tasmania

JUST the drop with summer salads, barbecued white meats,

Thai fish cakes or a mushroom risotto

ONE TO NOTE: DOWN in northern Tasmania the 2015 vintage proved a somewhat bumpy one for winemakers, with winter and spring of 2014 warmer than usual, the first month of summer uncharacteristically windy and wet, and during the April 2015 harvest, rainfall of around just half the usual average at 60mm.

But despite all this, Chief Winemaker at Pipers Brook Vineyard, Rene Bezemer has crafted a wonderfully more-ish 2015 Ninth Island label Sauvignon Blanc that's all about varietal tropical fruit freshness and forward lime and apple flavours, the lot underpinned with nice natural acidity.

At $22.50 this Ninth Island Sauvignon Blanc, named after a tiny, windswept dot in Bass Strait 11km off Pipers Brook Vineyard, makes an ideal match with summer salads or barbecued white meats, or as maker Rene Bezemer suggests, with Thai fish cakes or a mushroom risotto.

2012 Estate Winemakers Selection Cabernet Sauvignon

 PERFECT match with a home-made

beef or lamb meatloaf.

A TOP CANBERRA CABERNET? SHAW IS

David Ellis

                       

WHILE the 2012 vintage may have gone down as the coldest in sixteen years and one of the wettest in history in Canberra's Murrumbateman area – only 2011 and 1989 were wetter – it did give winemakers ideal temperatures during the ripening period, excellent soil conditions and great vine health, and all of which resulted in superb fruit on harvest.

Cabernet Sauvignon did particularly well, and local maker Shaw Vineyard Estate has now released a 2012 Estate Winemakers Selection Cabernet Sauvignon that at just $16 is great value for this stellar drop.

One of the Canberra wine region's highest-elevated vineyards, Shaw Estate sits across a sloping site that gives it both optimum sunlight and protection against potential frost damage (through good air drainage,) and is ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon – the 2012 Winemakers Selection a lovely cool climate drop with beautifully ripe blackcurrant fruit flavours on the palate and fine tannins to finish.

One of those delightfully "easy, drink-now wines," it's a perfect match with a home-made beef or lamb meatloaf.

St Mary's 2013 Shiraz - Penola South Australia

SHIRAZ and beef go hand-in-hand: try this one with barbecued
T-bones, Asian-style ribs, homemade burgers,
or with beef fillet poached in red wine

ONE TO NOTE: ST MARY'S WINES 16km to the west of Penola in south-east South Australia, has released at 2013 Shiraz from fruit grown on its own vineyards atop exceptional terra rossa soil over a classic sub-base of limestone.

With 2013's stand-out vintage producing fruit of immense colour and character, this wine is one whose complex floral nose has hints of raspberry, rose petals and soft spice, while on the palate it's all about blackcurrants and cherries coupled with a nicely smooth mouth feel.

At $30 with its richness and structure it'll develop well in the cellar over many more years to come, or for enjoyment now it's a natural with beef – be it barbecued T-bone, Asian-style ribs, ground in burgers, or a good fillet poached in red wine.

Forester Estate 2014 Sauvignon Blanc - Margaret River

FOR Sauvignon Blanc buffs to enjoy with a
goat's cheese and asparagus salad.

FORESTER LABEL A TRIBUTE TO HISTORY

David Ellis

IT was a fledgling forestry industry way back in the 1850s that opened up the rugged Leeuwin-Naturaliste ridge in Western Australia's northern Margaret River area.

And  today it's here you'll find the appropriately named and family-owned Forester Estate winery that's set delightfully amid majestic Eucalypts that luckily survived those now long-gone other foresters.

And in fact there's still an historic saw pit on the winery estate from the pioneering timber-getting days, something to perhaps ponder over next time you open a Forester Estate wine – one, we'd suggest, like the exceptional 2014 Sauvignon Blanc that's a real must for those into their Sauv Blancs.

2014 was a classic year in Margaret River for white grapes, and it's reflected in this wine that's both full and light on the palate, coupled with a beautifully creamy-mineral texture. And also subtly reflected on the palate, are the wine's aromas of nettles, green capsicum, lychee, passionfruit and cedar oak.

All add up to make a great drop at $27 to enjoy with a Springtime goat's cheese and asparagus salad.

Peter Logan's Ridge of Tears Shiraz 2013 - Orange, Central NSW

CRACKER Shiraz from Central NSW
to enjoy with steaks or roast lamb.

ONE TO NOTE: PETER Logan reckons that after making his Logan Wines' top of the range Ridge of Tears Shiraz 2013, he should consider renaming the label Ridge of Dreams.

Because he says 2013 was an exceptional vintage for Shiraz – even prepared to call it "the best Shiraz vintage I've experienced since I began making wine here in 1997… the wine all but making itself in the vineyard."

His 2013 Shiraz from his Orange vineyard, a cold climate site at 870m, has delicious red berries, plum, white pepper, cinnamon and beef stock flavours, while the 2013 Shiraz from his Mudgee vineyard 70km away and at a lower 564m enjoys warm days and cold nights, and the wine from here is more about floral notes, dark fruit flavours, liquorice and a deep earthiness.

A couple of cracker drops to enjoy with steak or a roast leg of lamb, each is priced at $45. Peter, by the way, named his Ridge of Tears because his vineyards are all located on ridges – enough, he says, to often bring a winemaker to tears.