Sweet success - our Dolce Nero starts to make an impression!

Here I am, slaving away, pouring tastings of our wines at the
Canowindra Twilight Markets. I prepared little espresso cups of
dark chocolate and cardamom mousse to go with the Dolce Nero.

Our Sangiovese dessert wine "Dolce Nero" is gaining a few fans. This morning we received an order from Stuart Knox of Fix St James Wine Bistro fame in Sydney. Stuart was just listed as a "sommelier to watch" by Max Allen in The Weekend Australian. He is a great supporter of Australian boutique wines. He tweeted, and I quote;

"Loved the Dolce Nero. Really unique and very flexible with food matching. I've got a crazy idea to try. Can you send me 12 to pour?"

Yah! We love new orders!

Here is a description of the Dolce Nero from Australian Wine Communicator of the Year (2010) Peter Bourne;

"This lush and plush passito-style dessert red has a rich, concentrated grapey bouquet of marinated prunes and liquorice allsorts. The palate is equally luxuriant though its Sangiovese heritage remains clearly defined...Perfect with Corella pears marinated in red wine and served with Italian-style rice pudding or a slither of classic Gorgonzola dolce."

Sounds delicious doesn't it? You can read more about our Dolce Nero in my Nov '09 post...

Thank you Mr Halliday

We were pretty nervous this week awaiting the publication of the 2011 James Halliday Australian Wine Companion. At least, I was - Jamie seems better able to maintain a calm approach to wine reviews and show results. After many years in the industry, we do understand how wildly results and reviews can fluctuate - a wine can win a gold medal in one show and score below bronze in another. However, the bottom line is that good reviews are great for marketing and sales...and sales are what we need to stay in business!
James Halliday is one of Australia's most respected wine writers. There was a wild flurry of twittering a few days ago when the 2011 Australian Wine Companion was launched and top scoring wineries posted their results online. I knew we hadn't scored the coveted five stars - I think you get a personal email when you join that club - but I still had high hopes for a decent review.
Well, we drove through sleet and snow to Orange today to buy our copy, and we are pretty happy with the result. Our 2007 Sangiovese was awarded 90 points - "highly recommended". Mr Halliday wrote;
"...this is for lovers of Italian (home-grown) wines, winning a gold medal (at) the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show '08; its cherry fruit is more than a matched by its tannins, and demands food."
We will aim for five stars next year!