The australian flavour in europe

[tcarlsen]

You make some excellent points, and I need to restrict and clarify my previous comments.

If you are interested in drinking CHEAP, quality, value wines, then Australias wines are nearly the kings.

The reason for this is because the Australians love to drink wine, but they do not want to pay much. And the Australian wine industry has responded.

The Australians have developed a method of making quality wine at a good price. The key word is quality. "Australian style" has become associated with quality and value.

I just bought a couple bottles of Rosemount Grenache-Shiraz ($5.50 each on sale) and two bottles of Shiraz (1 Rosemount for $7.50 and 1 Jacobs Creek for $6.00.) A friend of mine stocked up on the Greg Norman Cab-Merlot ($11 a bottle.)

In fact, one of my favorite value wines, 1998 Domaine Cousersues Sauvignon Blanc ($6.99 on sale), is made by a Rhone estate that hired a couple of Australians to transform and manage the ancient winery. The result has been a good, consistent wine at a cheap price. Indead, this wine won the coveted silver award the French Department of Agriculture gives out (I forget the name). It's Australian style.

Now I know that some wine enthusiasts may be left cold by the thought of not drinking only world class wines that cost upwards of $20-$30 a bottle. But I am too stingy to pay that price for everyday wines. So, like the Australians, I look for value in everyday wines.

This whole thread got started when an Australian in Europe asked about good, quality wines at a cheap price (no surprise there):

"Hi, I am an australian that has recently moved to Germany. There seems to be many cheap french and italian wines available but so far none have impressed at all. Am I simply experiencing bad/cheap wine or is it a style difference."

Now if you are looking for quality in a cheap wine, then avoid Italy. Cheap Italian wines can be a rip-off when compared to what else you can get around the world for the same price. For my value dollar, I spend my money elsewhere, such as California.

There are many excellent Italian wines. If you want world class wines and are willing to pay a higher price, then there are some tremendous Italian wines. Just don't expect a good selection of pretty good wines for $6.99 a bottle.

France also has some quality issues, but these issues are offset by the enormous amount of good French wines. I think the Australians and the Americans have the best quality.

Germany does a decent job with quality, but the strong German Mark, until recently, has kept the good rieslings out of the value-minded American market. (Hyper-inflation helped lead to the rise of Hitler, so the Bundesbank likes to be aggressive and keep German interest rates and the Mark up there.) The weaker dollar last year helped fuel the recent interest in Rieslings.

[This message has been edited by tcarlsen (edited 10-22-2000).]

[This message has been edited by tcarlsen (edited 10-22-2000).]