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| Europa Cellars Newsletter, 3 June 2008 |
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| (03) 9417 7220 | ||||
Feature Event - BASTILLE DAY Dinner Wine of the Week Special Offer - Deisen Landscape Wines Tasting Schedule |
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| Dear wine aficionado, We are about to begin a few months of great, interesting and (most importantly) delicious tastings. Spiced up with a couple of outstanding dinners. The first of which is our 'feature event' in this weeks newsletter, A Bastille Day dinner at Libertine with your hosts, Director of Europa Cellars: John Lamb and guest speaker on all things French: Richard Aubry. I should also make a special mention to the forthcoming 2005 Châteauneuf-du-Pape tasting, there are only a limited amount spaces left and we can't ourselves from adding more wines. Most recently the Andre Brunel 'les cailloux' and the celebrated Château de Beaucastel have been secured. You may order or book your place by replying to this email, or alternatively download the order form now. Regards The Europa Cellars team David, Boon, Brian, Jeannette and Sam View this newsletter on-line NB All Prices are in Australian Dollars |
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| Feature Event | |||||||||||||||||||
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Bastille Day Dinner, at Libertine |
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| Wine of the Week | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 2004 Château Bonnet Entre-Deux-Mers Cuveé Reserve Rouge, Bordeaux Shelf Price $33.50 / Offer Price $30.25 / Dozen unit price $28.50 Château Bonnet lies to the North of the Entre-Deux-Mers, on the clay-chalk slopes of the commune of Grézillac, overlooking the Dordogne valley some 10km south of Saint Emilion. The estate dates back to the 17th century. When André Lurton took over in 1956, it comprised 30 hectares of vineyard, which he immediately undertook to renovate and develop. The wine is made from 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot, from 19 year-old vines planted on clay-limestone and clay-siliceous soils. Fermentation is conducted in temperature-controlled stainless steel and last for approx. 2-3 weeks. The wine is then aged for 12 months in barriques, 25% of which are new. Unfiltered, the wine is fined through the use of egg whites. A sophisticated and elegant Bordeaux AOC, this wine has now developed into something special, and is looking even better than before. "Blackberry and currant aromas follow through to a medium body, with fine tannins and a fresh finish. Better than I remember and well done." James Suckling, Wine Spectator Order Form |
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| Deisen Landscape Wines, Barossa Valley - Offer ends 10 June Deisen Landscape, a fairytale of a place, is a minuscule production artisan project in the Barossa Valley, consisting of an 80 acre block across the Seppeltfield, Marananga, Greenock Creek areas, planted with 25 acres of Shiraz, Mataro, and Grenache. It all started when two people with very different personalities and from very different backgrounds came together… Sabine Deisen was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, her father a musician, her mother an opera singer. In 1964 they immigrated to Australia. "Both my parents were at the peak of their careers yet disenchanted that their lives had become so driven, so far away from nature, soil and time with their kids," Deisen says. When Sabine was 14, her parents bought a parcel of land in the western end of the Barossa, which originally had 40 acres of dry grown vineyards, the fruit renowned for its exceptional quality. Sadly, as was the practice during that time, in 1985 the existing old vines were pulled out. Les Fensom was an electrician and builder in those years, supervising the building of bridges and culverts on the Stuart Highway, and this was where the pair met more than 20 years ago. After that Les worked on the Tanunda golf course in the Barossa, building new greens. From there it was a natural move to build vineyards and design and install irrigation systems, especially because it was during this time that the wine industry had started to expand rapidly. Local winemakers encouraged Sabine and Les to replant 25 acres in '97-'99, bush-vine and trellis Shiraz, Mataro and Grenache. Deisen is (and had then been for 15years ) an artist with a bent for landscape design, and the vines were planted in harmony with the natural features that Deisen had landscaped: tiny blocks of vineyard between areas of garden, forest and hedges. Even though Les was still working full time elsewhere, the pair did everything themselves. "A bottle of wine accompanied most evenings. I recall parking our glasses on top of the posts as we worked our way down the row and back," Deisen says. Today, half the fruit is sold to Rockford. The rest goes into Deisen. Small parcels are hand picked, with cropping levels of 1.5 to 2.5 tons to the acre. Sabine’s poetic and creative nature together with Les’s pragmatism is a winning combination. Their passion and desire is that everthing they do, from the process of winemaking through to the final product, should be beautiful and practical. Sabine’s attitude towards winemaking links closely with the way she paints: no rules, formulas or fashion are allowed to intervene here. (Some of her artwork are displayed on the labels of the wines.) The wines show terrific individuality, wonderfully pure fruit (oak takes a back seat here) and a singular “handmade-quality”. In the end, it is about the enjoyment of what is in the glass, and here the Deisen Landscape wines hit the nail right on the head. "Her Grenache...is otherworldly..." The Corkscrew "...the overall effect is intoxicating and exhilarating..." Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (on Deisen Shiraz) 2006 'Sweetheart' Shiraz - Shelf Price $42.50 / Offer Price $37.25 Aged in a combination of American and French barrels, the wine shows a very gentle (characteristically Deisen) touch of oak. It is, as Sabine puts it "... like salt: you don't want to taste (oak) but you need it to be there." This compliments the very pure Shiraz-fruit, making for an approachable wine, yet one that will last for more than a decade. 04/05 'Winter Sun' Shiraz / Mataro - Shelf Price $51.50 / Offer Price $45.00 This is a highly unusual and profound wine. Made with around 60% Shiraz and the rest Mataro, the Shiraz coming from 2004 and the Mataro from 2005. The two varieties are actually fermented together – the 2004 Shiraz going through a re-ferment - and then spends a further year in oak (20% new French). The result is a intensely complex wine, with layers and layers of flavour and a magnificent tannin structure. Deisen: "We called it Winter Sun as the thought of it smouldering away in the black depths of the barrel kept us warm that winter." 2006 Mataro - Shelf Price $41.50 / Offer Price $36.50 Sabine's comments: "We grow a small amount of Mataro on trellis, in the deep loam of the Creek-bed block, and a tiny patch of struggling bush-vines on shallow, limestone soil on the eastern side. We combine the two for both the Winter Sun and straight Mataro. Very small yields, we keep this wine lighter in style, even though it's the last pick of the season. The wine spends one year in aged oak." A powerful wine, abundant in savoury characters, open and expressive. 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon - Shelf Price $42.50 / Offer Price $37.25 Made from next door grapes growing 50m from their house, this wine is made to resemble a more old-world style. A rich and heady Cabernet, the opulence and wonderfully intergrated fruit and tannin of this wine will blow you away. Order Form |
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| Tastings | |||||||||||||||||||
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| New Releases Tasting - Rhône and Izway Tonight 3rd June 5-7:30pm, In-store, Free Our long-time customers will be no strangers to the Izway wines, but still, they deserve to be introduced again: Made in the Barossa by the talented Craig Isbel and Brian Conway (friends of Europa, we are happy to say), these wines are made with an old-world elegance, yet retaining their inherent "Aussie-ness". The duo is highly selective about the fruit that goes into their wine, and that, plus a hands-on approach in the cellar is what give these wines a special edge. Brian will be present tonight to tell us more about the Izway wines. Also available for tasting will be some new-vintage releases of old favourites from the Rhône, including the award-winning Beaurenard Côtes du Rhône, wines from Domaine de la Citadelle and a stunning Yves Cuilleron Vin de Pays. 2005 Châteauneuf-du-Papes Tuesday 10th June 5-7:30pm, In-store, $45pp The buzz around the extraordinary 2005 vintage will continue for decades to come, and rightly so: These top Southern Rhône wines display so much elegance, power and balance that it is very hard not to get intensly excited about them. We will be showing wines from some of Châteauneuf's foremost producers, including Pegau, Charvin, Vieux Telegraphe, Clos St Jean and Mont-Redon. And, we have decided to throw in a couple more wines, so with numerous exceptional CNDPs to taste, you will be getting more than your money's worth! Booking essential - Limited availability Southwest France Tuesday 17th June 5-7:30pm, In-store, Free Situated just below Bordeaux, France's Southwest is no longer a wine region tucked away in obscurity. The quality of wine (and value for money) emerging out of appellations like Cahors, Madiran and Juraçon affirm that these wines are worth a special search of the market place. Well, we have done the searching for you, all you have to do is come and taste it yourself! Super-premium Shiraz Tuesday 24th June 5-7:30pm, In-store, $35pp We will compare top Aussie Shiraz (including Torbreck The Factor, La Pleiade and Clonakilla) to those of the Northern Rhône (Clape Cornas, Cuilleron St Joseph Les Serines, etc.). Also thrown into the mix will be a Shiraz from Italy's Fontodi and one of South Africa's very best examples, Boekenhoutskloof Syrah. Experiencing the effect of differences in terroir, climate, wine-making styles, etc. on a single grape variety is always fascinating - this one is certainly not to be missed! Booking essential - Limited availability Zind-Humbrecht Sweet Wines, Alsace, served with Patés Tuesday 8th July 5-7:30pm, In-store, $45pp In 1988 Olivier Humbrecht became the first Frenchman to pass both parts of the notoriously difficult British Master of Wine examination, and this while writing in a foreign language. But while his intellect is astounding, it is his wines that serve to impress even more: Sweet, rich and voluptuous, mineral and fresh, alluring to the point of surrender. A winemaker of Olivier's stature can make most anything happen in the cellar, yet he chooses to step back and let his vineyards and raw materials do the work for him, thus resulting in terroir-true and beautifully characteristic Alsatian wines. To show these amazing wines at their best we will be serving them with a selection of delicious patés; the fragrance, sweetness and firm acid thread of the wines will perfectly complement the richness and flavour of the paté... This tasting holds the promise of an unforgettable sensory experience. Booking essential - Limited availability |
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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 subsrcibed 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 |
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