DAN'S WINE BLOG- WINE TITBITS

This week a few titbits that may be of interest to you even though they are not ‘Biggies” in terms of wine news.

DRINK TO THAT!!

Firstly, totally out of “left field” but recently I saw “The World’s 50 Best Bars” https://www.worlds50bestbars.com/list/1-50 and was chuffed that Australia had two entries- Sydney’s “Maybe Sammy” at #15 and Melbourne’s Caretaker’s Cottage at #23. Japan has two entries, along with France (so we are in salubrious company)

The UK came out tops with six entries followed USA and Italy with 5 and Spain with 4. So if you are in either Sydney or Melbourne perhaps you should go check out what all the fuss is about whilst supporting our world class bars. Cheers

PACK IT UP!

Tamburlaine Organic Wines has launched a new brand in Packamama eco-flat wine bottles. With a long-standing tradition of setting industry standards, They will now offer their new “Lizard Drinking” organic wines in the sensational, eco-friendly #Packamama-flat bottles, which are made from Australian 100% recycled PET (rPET). Not only are they made from recycled plastic, making them around 85% lighter than glass bottles, but also their unique flat design means that a 10 pack of bottles fits into a normal size 6 pack carton- eight vertical and two horizontal across the top.

?The new Lizard Drinking brand will be available in Chardonnay and Shiraz. The range is named after the Aussie saying ‘flat out like a lizard drinking’, with subtle reference to the innovative flat shape of the Packamama bottles.

This launch is a triple first as it is the first organic wine in Packamama eco-flat bottles in Australia, the first wines in Packamama bottles from New South Wales (specifically the Orange wine region), and the first wines to be bottled at the winery.

Hopefully other wineries will follow suit, joining Tamburlaine, Taylors and Banrock Station by starting to bottle their wines into the outstanding environmental warrior Packamama slim line bottles.

CASH IT IN!

Slightly late notification, but I only recently found out that as of November 1st, the Queensland Container Refund Scheme includes wine bottles. So any wineries selling wine into Queensland, be it to the trade or DtC (Direct to Consumer) must be registered.

DRINK UP

In a recent report The Shout https://theshout.com.au/australias-alcohol-consumption-continues-downward-trend/ advised that Australia’s booze consumption is on the decline. It reported that in 2019-2020 we drank 1.5 million litres of pure alcohol less than the year before, which at 4.5%, 14.0% and 37% alcohol for beer, wine and spirits represents a lot of booze.

Measured in terms of pure alcohol our current consumption is 4.2 litres for wine, 3.5 litres for beer, 2.1 litres for spirits and 0.3 litres for cider. The only one that has not dropped from previous figures is cider. Beer decreased by 2.8% whilst wine fell by 3.8%.

So as good Aussie’s it is our duty to consume more wine and reverse this terrible trend. This should be done, not by drinking more overall, but rather cutting back on beer & spirits in favour of wine- Time to take one for the wine team!!

Well that’s it for this week just make sure you #chooseaustralianwine and enjoy it- contributions from overseas wine drinkers most welcome- try a great Aussie wine today.

Cheers Dan T