I remember all too well the first time I visited Coonawarra, as we landed  in the middle of an electrical storm in a chartered plane which felt like it was held together with chicken wire and duct tape. I was convinced that I was going to end this particular life buried up to my armpits in the "terra rossa" soil which makes up the mere 14 kilometre strip so famous for its Cabernet plantings.

As wine growing goes, the cultivation of Piot Noir is about as high maintenance as it gets, with thin skins and a delicate disposition, the grape is definitely the "diva"  grape of the industry.I reckon that to make a good Pinot, you have to possess the patience of Job, the skill of Michaelangelo and the bank balance of a previously wealthy man.

Weekends at our wine warehouse are always a bit like a January Clearance Sale at Macy`s except it is mainly blokes instead of women dropping in to view our latest range of shipments and get an advance jump on any new lines of wines which have not yet been offered to the database.

I was having a look at what I had to say about the 2006 vintage of this wine when we sold it last year. I was fairly scathing about actors deciding to leave their day jobs to polish their Oscar`s from their winery porches (nice work if you can get it), but in this instance it seems that Mr Neill has really got it right, with wine awards flowing in faster than you can say "Golden Globe Nominee" for both the premium Two Paddocks Pinot  as well as the secondary "Picnic" series.

I was at a blind trade tasting of Kiwi wines last week for a local establishment in Emerald Hill. It was heavy going as the mandate for submissions was Kiwi whites and reds at $26 and under. I reckon that generally wines at this price point in Singapore ought to come with a health warning and liability waiver from the distributors, and yesterday was no exception to the rule - I wandered home for some shiraz-based therapy afterwards.

A few years ago now I was working a series of special events for one of those visiting "celebrity chefs".( I am at a loss as  to why they are called that except they seem to have the common denominators of petulance, rudeness and egocentricity bordering on Napoleonic madness at times...)

While "working" recently with mates at a Brown Bag Night featuring Coonawarra Cabernet, we were all fairly flush from various Cabernets (about 16 different wines at the end of the day, before my palette declared an unfair labour dispute and started crying out for a Cohiba), when someone sneaked open a bottle of Zema Estate Cabernet 2005.

This is our first fire-sale of Bordeaux for the year and in keeping with our philosophy of not offering a wine for sale unless we are the best price on the island, this line-up is well worth looking at.

If Sauvignon Blanc was a piece of software that everybody needed to make their worlds go around, New Zealand would be Microsoft. Who knows how long the dominance will last, but it is always good to support the competition.

The past 8 weeks have been a load of fun taking part in the now-infamous Bollinger Champagne Wars, with the closest any of our competitors being the same price of $79 plus gst, (instead of our $79 net) so it looks like our price is still the benchmark for bubbles for the moment

I have a friend who is a resturant maniac and has just returned from her bi-annual pilgrimage to the high church of food and beverage in the USA - Manhattan island. There is no doubt that when it comes to the States the place to be is New York although I reckon the Brits and Spanish are winning at World Cup level these days.

I remember a series of television adverts back in Australia where a few fat hairy blokes got together and flogged discount clothing. I am convinced that they were fresh back from a long lunch each time they shot the segments, as they would literally fall over each other in their excitement to tell the viewers about the "Crazy Low Price Price" for Mens board-shorts and such. I reckon they would be dynamite on the Shopping Channel in the States, where all one gets to look at are size zero, emaciated bimbettes selling Horizontal TV Grillers for a price as unbelievable as their push-up bras.

It is already shaping up to be a great year in terms of discounts for the bargain hunters on the database. Our first vintage offering of the Torbreck Neck Oil 2002 sold out in minutes. (I will contact those of you who asked to be waitlisted if we manage to get more of it at the right price)

Torbreck has enjoyed a great reputation for its high end - high quality shiraz and grenache. Winemaker and owner - Dave Powell was once described as " The Greatest New World Winemaker on the Planet" by Robert Parker Jnr. 

As the 2009 vintages are heralded by France as yet another "magnificent" vintage, it is interesting to look back on the past few vintages and realise that without doubt the 2005 vintage is turning out to be the most important, with dependable quality almost right across the board. We believe that to date the 2005 is the best of the century (well until next vintage at least.)