Dear Wine Aficionado,

May will be an exciting month at Europa Cellars. It heralds the commencement of the 2009 Bordeaux Primeurs campaign and the first full month of operations of the wine bar under our new general licence.

The 2009 vintage in Bordeaux is being touted as the equal of the 2005 with some commentators claiming that 2009 exclipses the exceptional 2005. The financial crisis has tempered prices to a degree and the stronger $A improves our position somewhat compared to 2005. The first growths in particular are expected to reach new highs driven by demand from Asia, however it is expected that prices further down the pecking order will provide some excellent wines at reasonable prices. We are starting to secure wines as they become available and will beging offering them out in May through June.

Closer to home the Europa Cellars wine bar will be open from today operating between 5pm and 8pm 7 days a week. Wines will be available by the glass and there will be tasting flights available enoteca style. There will be a limited menu of tapas and light meals. You will be able to select any bottle of wine from the wine store to drink in the wine bar for a corkage fee. We are pleased that Francisco Araujo has joined the team to look after the wine bar and the menus. Francisco has had wide experience in hospitality at Caffe e Cucina, Enoteca Sileno, Il Bacaro and wine retail as manager of an Oddbins wine shop in the UK.

Please note that the wine store opening hours are midday to 8pm 7 days a week. For phone inquiries to
03 9417 7220 please ring during these times

The Europa Cellars team,
John, Francesco, Nick, Brian, Boon, Micah and Sam

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New Tasting Format

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We are replacing our weekly tastings by offering tasting flights for purchase. The tasting flights will be regularly updated and will feature the wines from particular wine regions around the world.

Our tasting flights will consist of 3-5 wines at 25ml pours designed to allow the taster a journey into the particular wine styles of that region. Wines listed on the tasting flights will be available for purchase by the glass.

This week we will be looking at the wines from the Veneto in North East Italy.

The famous white wine of the Veneto comes from the Soave DOCG where Garganega is king. However lack of guidelines and quality focus in Soave has led to overcropped production and this in turn has caused a general perception of Soave as thin insipid wines. In the first tasting flight we are here to show that when Garganega is well managed and cropped at apropriate yield levels it can produce some outstandingly good wines.

In the second flight we look at the Valpolicella and its surroundings. We will have a classic Valpolicella but we will be contrasting that we french varietals made in the Veneto itself. We will have a Cabernet Sauvignon from Anselmi and a Carmenere blend from La Cappucina

Tasting Flight #1 $8.00

2008 Anselmi San Vincenzo
80% Garganega, 15% Chardonnay, 5 % Trebbiano di Soave, from a 45 hectare vineyard on the upper slopes of the district, near the shrine of San Vincenzo. No oak is used here, just a little battonage.

2006 Anselmi Capitel Foscarino
A single-vineyard wine, 80% Garganega 20% Chardonnay, from a 10 hectare vineyard at the top of the Foscarino hill, at 350 metres above sea level on volcanic tuff. The wine does not see any oak influence.

2005 Anselmi Capitel Croce
100% Garganega grown in the Capitel Croce vineyard and harvested at less than 2 tons per acre. The wine is barrel fermented and remains in Allier and Troncais barriques for 12 months prior to an additional 9 months in bottle.

Tasting Flight #2 $9.00

2006 Anselmi Realda IGT Veneto
100% Cabernet Sauvignon, from a 1.5 hectare single vineyard at the bottom of the Zoppega hill, in the Monforte region. The wine spends 18 months in French Troncais oak barriques before release.

2006 La Cappucina Campo Buri IGT Veneto
90% Carmenère and 10% Oseleta. The fruit comes from vineyards 80m above sea level with vines averaging 20 years old. Each varietal is harvested seperately due to the differences in ripening periods. The fruit is then destemmed and crushed and goes through temperature controlled fermentation. This is followed by a period of 30-40 days of post fermentation maceration on skins under controlled temperatures. The wine is then aged in new french oak barrels for 14 months and further aged in bottle for another 12 months before release.

2006 Ca' La' Bionda Valpolicella
80% Corvina, 15% Rondinella 5% other indigenous varieties among which Molinara. Grown on vineyards at 150m-300m above sea level. The wine is fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. It is then left on its skins to macerate for a period of 10 days. The wine is then aged in bottle for 3 months prior to release.

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Veneto Wines Offer

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6 pack - One Each of the Above Wines
Shelf Price $250.00 Offer Price $195.00
If you cant make it in to try the wines in the tasting flights you can enjoy this afforable bunch at home.

download order form

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On Saturday 10 April 2004, new Australian Federal Government legislation came into force that requires that no unsolicited emails be sent without the permission of the recipient.  Europa Cellars has an email database and sends out periodic newsletters or special offers to especially interested clients. If you do not wish to receive further newsletters or special offers from Europa Cellars in the future, please advise by emailing wine@europacellars.com.au . Alternatively, if you subscribed via our website you may visit the following link to unsubscribe the same way. http://ethreemail.com/e3ds/u.php?g=a1fc2f1a

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Europa Cellars 150 Wellington Parade East Melbourne VIC Australia 3002 p. +61 (3) 9417 7220 f.+61(3) 9417 7223 e. wine @europacellars .com.au
ABN 78 102 566 781 License no. 32053562