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Yalumba The Virgilius Viognier 2004
This is a stunning wine and the flagship Yalumba viognier from the Eden Valley in South Australia. Every aspect appears to be in perfect balance with hints of apricot and stonefruits, spice and honey in complete harmony. This is a top shelf wine at a top shelf price and worth every cent. Huon Hooke from the SMH suggests pairing it with a washed...

Uncorked Cellar update
At the beginning of each year, Brian Allen, the author of Uncorked Cellar, becomes impossible to talk to.  The reason for this change in character, of an otherwise very approachable man, is the annual release of the upgrades and updates to his program. This year the same meticulous preparation has been rewarded in a new version with many features which the active users of Uncorked have suggested or asked for.  Amongst these improvements are 10 user designed fields are now available...

What the Dickens!
‘Unsophisticated ALES & STOUTS. GOOD BEDS’ so used to read a sign on the wall of the Leather Bottle pub, Cobham, Kent, before the pub was restored. The Leather Bottle was frequented by Charles Dickens and is mentioned in his Pickwick Papers. Clearly, unsophisticated in this sense means pure and unadulterated. Pity the same can’t be said of many present day ales and stouts. Source, photograph in The Legacy of England, third edition, B.T. Batsford, London,1946-47.

Australian Wine Notes
by Martin Field Syrah - Return of the cultural cringe Australian winemakers have a long history of cultural cringing – that is, using European, mainly French names for their wines. Most finally stopped this pathetic practice after being dragged into the late twentieth century by litigation and international trade treaties. But a few winemakers have short memories – a stroll through retail liquor aisles will reveal the increasing usage on Australian labels of the Frenchified term syrah (Ooh bloody la la) instead...

Aged and Ageing wine
Among the fine reds lined up on our regular Tuesday table was a bottle of 1952 vintage Mt Ophir Burgundy. Mt Ophir was a renowned Rutherglen winery near Chiltern that shut down in 1957. In its day, according to David Dunstan’s Better than Pommard - A History of Wine in Victoria, Mt Ophir produced over half a million litres a year. The 53 year old wine (most likely shiraz) was in a heavy champagne bottle of an unusual bluish green hue...