NEW Australian Wines in Market
Since January is the month for Australia Day (their national holiday), how timely to introduce some new "down under juice" to the Atlanta market.

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Want to see the NEW courses in Winter 2009? Download a schedule.

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Introduction to Wine, Level I SOLD OUT
Monday, January 12th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)

Author-signed text book, tasting guide, riveting interactive lectures, and six to twelve wines to taste per class. This course takes the wine curious and creates wine enthusiasts!

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For Beginners ONLY 1 seats remain
Wednesday, January 14th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Instructor: Michael Bryan

Sure you can drink it, but can you pair it? Can you speak it? Come to terms with it in a special tasting that helps you express yourself in the world of wines. Don't be left standing there holding the bottle--get more confidence and find more pleasure in every sip.

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Certified Specialist of Wine Training Program 6 seats remain
Sunday, January 18th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Instructor: Michael Bryan

Get the confidence that comes with having a "wine expert" credential. Includes 18 hours of training sessions, 250-page Study Guide, online study modules, quizzes, and exam. OVER 100 enthusiasts have gained this credential through us since November 2007. >>>> More Info (Discounts for Trade Personnel) 

Introduction to Wine, Level II 6 seats remain
Wednesday, January 21st (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Instructor: Michael Bryan

This three-class course builds on Level I, now it's time to understand what makes a great wine great, how to assess the aging potential on a wine, and how to analyze older wines. Level I is NOT a prerequisite, but call our office to discuss to ensure this is the right level for you.
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Wines & Cheeses SOLD OUT
Thursday, January 22nd (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Instructor: Michael Bryan

Artisanal cheeses are no less labors of love than their wine counterparts. Location of pastureland, seasonality of milks, and aging all weigh heavily on the final taste experience. Join us for 8 pairings of wine & cheese. >>>> More Info

For Beginners ONLY 50% booked
Tuesday, February 5th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Instructor: Michael Bryan

Sure you can drink it, but can you pair it? Can you speak it? Come to terms with it in a special tasting that helps you express yourself in the world of wines. Don't be left standing there holding the bottle--get more confidence and find more pleasure in every sip.

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Wine & Chocolate 50% booked
Wednesday, February 11th (AWS Wine Room, Roswell)
Presenters: Jane Garvey and Chef Lydia Olson

We bring you a special tasting of hand-crafted Belgian chocolates and wines. For many this combination is a match made in heaven, but there are some guidelines when pursuing the "best" pairings. 8 wines paired with 8 chocolates.
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Imagine flowers and candles--lots of 'em. Excellent dinner-portioned heavy hors d'oeuvres, amazing wines, and romantic music. >>>> More Info

• Visit the Vineyards Charitable Wine Event
  Start the New Year off with a trip around the world of wine. Tower Wine and Spirits is pleased to invite you to "Visit the Vineyard". For the first time ever, Vineyard Brands and Villa Christina are joining with Tower to bring you this exceptional evening and opportunity to sample one of the finest portfolios imported to the USA. Reservations are easy... just reply to towermarketing@gmail.com. Tix $50 advance; $60 door.
• Atlanta Wine Link Wine Social at AWS
  On Thursday, January 15th, people sharing a common interest in wine will be irrevocably drawn together at the AWS Wine Room to sip, slurp and socialize. You gotta be on LinkedIn and then you can get the full scoop. >> More
• NEW Fine Wine Shop in Snellville
  Niko used to run this wine shop in Conyers called Sigman Bottle Shop. I was quite impressed with the wine inventory. Now, Niko has his own place in Snellville called NIKO's CORNER. Its focus is high-end fine wine. Go check it out--you'll like Niko.
• Mitchell Hardman of Persimmon Creek Winery Snares Ted Turner Award
  The son of Mary Ann & Sonny Hardman, 15-year old Mitchell runs his room on solar and wind power, insisted on the vineyard equipment using Biodiesel, and grew 5 acres of pumpkins organically...powering the tractor on used cooking oil from Harry Bissett's of Athens. Mom and Dad's smiles of pride can be seen from Atlanta.
• Wolffer Estate Vineyards Owner Dies
  New York's Long Island wine industry has lost a larger-than-life personality. Christian Wцlffer, the owner of Wцlffer Estate Vineyards who helped bring attention to the region's wines with his aggressive marketing and pursuit of quality, was killed on New Year's Eve while swimming in Brazil. He was 70. >> More
• When the Law has too much time on their hands
  The state of New York has a law against selling wine with a gift bag. Yes, you read that correctly. In December, timed perfectly with the season of giving, sting operations snared these evil doers who let customers buy a gift bag with their bottle of wine. The Fine? $10,000. Think I'm kidding? >> More

Jane's Monthly Dozen: New Australian Wines in Market
by Jane Garvey

There are some odd connections between Georgia and Australia. Georgia was supposed to become the prison colony, according to plans conceived by founder Gen. James E. Oglethorpe. But it didn’t pan out, thanks to that little dust-up we had with Mother England three-quarters of the way through the 18th century.

Meanwhile, a half dozen years earlier, another James, this one an English fellow surnamed Cook, sailed into Botany Bay, as he named the spot on Australia’s eastern coast, and set the stage for that continent/country’s becoming England’s prisoners’ colony. When the First Fleet laden with prisoners landed in 1788 at Botany Bay, it found the area unsuitable and re-located to more hospitable Port Jackson on January 26, 1788—thus marking that date as Australia’s national day. You know Port Jackson today as the site of Sydney Harbor, with its iconic sail-rigged opera house symbolizing all that bustling city has to offer, including one of the world’s finest restaurants, Tetsuya’s.

As in Georgia, winemaking was one of the Australian colonists’ purposes, but the nation that today is the world’s fourth largest exporter of wine struggled to find its viticultural footing at first. The first vines came with that First Fleet, but success was not assured until the 1820s, when Gregory Blaxland became the first person to export Australian wines. Until the late 1970s, Australia was mostly known for producing sweet and fortified wines—“stickies” they call them—but while “stickies” are still an important component of Australia’s winemaking tradition, the range of wines available from “Down Under” has broadened substantially.

Today, retailers report a falling off in sales of Australian wines, and the causes are hard to pinpoint. Have the “critter” wines caused consumers to become bored with the genre? Or to assume that all Australian wines taste like that? Are consumers convinced that higher cost Australian wines would simply be bigger versions of the same juice? (Horrors!) Some Australian reds are so high in alcohol and so “big” one can scarcely finish a glass, much less a bottle. Is that circumstance causing Americans to turn away from the genre?

If so, that’s a shame. True, some Australian reds do come across as “too thick,” as a cousin of mine likes to say. I, too, recently tossed on the cutting room floor a fairly expensive red wine that I couldn’t even get to go with chocolate. The best companion for the heftier styles of Australian red wine is spice, and lots of it. I remember finding boredom in a bottle of D’Arenberg’s “Darry’s Original,” a Grenache/Syrah blend, until I paired it with some lamb rogan josh a couple of days after I opened it. That, in fact, was an epiphany moment.
What grape types does one find in Australia?

Despite an argument on the matter that I had in a store a year or two ago, Australia does NOT have any native grapes. Not. Shiraz included. Shiraz, which they’ll pronounce either Shirah or Shir-aaaz, is associated most prominently with “Down Under,” but it’s a grape that comes to Australia from the Rhфne Valley in France, where it’s known as Syrah. Semillon and Verdelho are closely associated with Australia, which nonetheless produces some very good Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, the latter especially in Adelaide Hills north of the city. I’ve seen Chenin Blanc in McLaren Vale, south of Adelaide.

Australia is the world’s second largest producer of Riesling after Germany, with about 10,000 acres of it planted. The best will come from Eden Valley, Clare Valley, and Frankland River in Western Australia, all cool climate zones.

Heftier reds grow well in the warm, red soils of Hunter Valley, north of Sydney; although this also is Semillon’s best turf. Hunter is Australia’s oldest and largest wine-growing region. McLaren Vale, south of Adelaide, does excellent reds and whites. Heathcote, north of Melbourne, is a cool-climate zone that turns out elegant, stylish Shiraz. Pinot Noir is lovely when it comes from the Mornington Peninsula, which extends from the mainland south of Melbourne, and Yarra Valley, north of the city. McLaren Vale does excellent Grenache, in addition to Shiraz, and you’ll find the odd Zinfandel producer as well. Stickies rule in Rutherglen north of Melbourne, and east of Rutherglen is King Valley, a little-recognized region that does very good whites and reds. And down in Tasmania, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and the aromatics—Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris—come off very nicely indeed. I love the sparkling wines from Jansz, located in Tasmania.

Australian wine also received a Georgia accent last year when Atlantans Pete & Terri Kight purchased the Torbreck Winery in Barossa, an award-winning producer of Shiraz and Grenache-based wines.

What better way to join in the celebration than to investigate aspects of Australian wine you might not have explored before? If you’re stuck on the “critter” wine that have become the hallmark, now is a good moment to find other and certainly better choices.