mreinke...lol...actually I prefer a good Shiraz...slow grown,...

mreinke...

lol...actually I prefer a good Shiraz...slow grown, late maturation on the vine, full bodied and spicy!

I have become quite spoilt actually...my father makes his own wine...all sorts of blends, including the usual and some of the not so usual...and it is not some backyard vino!

Two years ago, whilst attending some vinegron's conference, he met up with, and arranged an appraisal of several of his vintages with the Brown Brothers (Rutherglen) chief vinegron. They were impressed enough to offer him up to $40 per bottle (wholesale delivered) as a clean skin...but only if he could guarantee 2,000 cases per year of consistent quality.

Its just an interest for him...has been for 30 years...so given it would be a stretch, he declined.

Apparently, Brown Brothers were going to re-brand them as a boutique chemical free label...aimed at up-market restaurants and major hotel chains.

The key to his wine is the lack of impurities...no preservative or any of the other balancing "mixes" often found in reds...other than the residual left over from the mandatory sterilisation of the bottles...but even here he has developed his own low impurity process.

I can drink his red until I fall down...then get up without a hangover the next morning. Can’t do that with even the better reds bought over the counter!

Apparently, the particularly strong hangover one normally gets from drinking too much red comes from the chemicals therein.

You would be horrified to learn some of the antics employed by the larger companies when a batch goes wrong...such as adding pure bleach to the mix (the same used to clean toilets)...or even silver nitrate if the PH is out of whack.

Anyway...as for the VB...I guess its a bit like vegemite...you wouldn't even consider putting it in your mouth unless it had been shoved down your gob from an age when you couldn't say no!

Cheers