Champagne Masterclass for Dan Murphy, Oct 2019
Ticketed masterclass on Champagne for Dan Murphy South Melbourne store. $25 per person for tastings of 5 Champagnes, PLUS my stories on the fabulous adventures by the widows of Champagne. Did you know that the word "verve" in French translates to "widow" in English? Veuve Cliquot, Mathilde Laurent-Perrier, Camille Olry-Roederer and Lily Bollinger. Louise Pommery was absent that evening, however I did manage to weave in Lanson Champagne via the link via Marie-Louise Lanson de Nonancourt. I followed this up with a recap on the stories via my regular guest appearance on 96.5 Inner FM radio. As Lily Bollinger said, "I drink Champagne when I am happy, and when I am sad. Sometimes I drink it when I am alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it when I am not hungry, and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I am thirsty!" |
Grenache masterclass for Dan Murphy, Sept 2019
Ticketed masterclass on Grenache and Grenache blends for Dan Murphy South Melbourne store. Grenache and Grenache blends (particularly GSM) are very much trending in Australia right now, and finally receiving the recognition they truly deserve. Did you know that Australia has the oldest Grenache vines in the world? Dating back to 1850, located in the Barossa, and still producing great wines. Until 1960 Grenache was the most widely grown grape in Australia, mainly used for fortified wines. Grenache originates from Spain under the kingdom of Aragon when it was traded from Sardinia in exchange for cannons and cannon-balls - hence its local name in Sardinia of Cannonau. Grenache is now the major grape variety of the Southern Rhone and used in the famous Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre GSM blends. France now has the largest plantings of Grenache in the world. |
Penfolds Masterclass for Dan Murphy, Aug 2019
Ticketed masterclass on the 2019 launch date for the release of Penfolds premium and iconic wines, for Dan Murphy South Melbourne store. From its beginnings on Magill Estate in 1844 and through the hard work and perseverance of Mary Penfold followed by her successors, Penfolds has become an Australian iconic brand and one of the best known brands in the world. Grange was the name of the homestead on Magill Estate where Dr Christopher Penfold treated his patients whilst Mary was out growing grapes and making wine! |
Press Release for Taltarni, Sept 2018
As part of the launch of Taltarni's new iconic flagship wine The Patron, I composed the attached press release. Click the button to view it! |
Tasting notes and marketing strategy, June 2018
Ouse River Wines come from an established vineyard in Southwest Tasmania, wishing to commence selling under their own label. I was asked to taste the wines and to make marketing recommendations. Ouse River make premium Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Ultra Cold climate conditions. they have previously been selling grapes to prestige Australian wine companies to use in their wines. |
Daylesford Chillout Fast 4 Tournament, March 2018
Another enjoyable task as curator of wines was to select, source the wines and then set up and manage the bar at the GLTA sanctioned Fast4 tennis tournament held as part of Daylesford Chillout. After extensive research in both France and then Heathcote Australia, we were delighted to secure the sponsorship of M.Chapoutier wines. The wines chosen were Tournon Mathilda rosé, Landsborough Chardonnay, and Shay's Flat Sangiovese from grapes grown in the Pyrenees with wines made in Heathcote. You can see my tasting notes on page 5 of the tournament guide. I also wrote Daylesford must see and do. Artwork and layout by Cecchin Creative. |
VicTennis Midsumma Tournament Jan 2018
As curator of wines for VicTennis, I wrote suggestions on vineyards to visit around Melbourne before and after the event. Midsumma Tournament is Melbourne's premium GLTA international tennis event with 175 players from 21 countries entered in 11 events. It was held at Melbourne Park during the Australian Open. Please see the Official Tournament Guide by clicking on the button to the right - my notes are published on page 9. |
Curator of wines for VicTennis, Sept 2017
I am very proud of my new role as curator of wines for this sporting club. In this role I select the wines for each social event and arrange social tours to the vineyards that I select. At this event, I arranged Seville Estate rosé from Yarra Valley and Langmeil Three Gardens Shiraz Grenache Mataro wine from Barossa. As trophies I selected premium wines from Kangarilla Road (Blanche Point Formation Shiraz as well as their blended Shiraz for comparison) and Silent Noise (Charlie's single vineyard Shiraz as well as their Shiraz Grenache Zinfandel for comparison), both from McLaren Vale. Two very happy winners, and I get to share a rosé with the tournament organiser! By coincidence, the winner of the Silent Noise is in fact a music DJ. Very proud of my new banner! |
Conducting a private wine tour
Antoine is a wine aficionado who has lived in Paris for 30 years, yet never visited Bordeaux. We organised and conducted a private visit to Bordeaux to gain a good appreciation of the city, its history and its wine. Over 2 days we visited the city, walked along the UNESCO heritage listed quais to the new wine museum (La Cité du Vin), participated in their masterclass on wine and literature through the ages, and then called in to the CIVB to arrange a tour of the vineyards, whilst further tasting at their Bar à Vins. The visit culminated in a typical Bordelais gastronomic dinner in the historic centre of the city, Saint Pierre, near the Place de la Bourse. |
Neil is not scared to open the doors and go up to people, which ensured I discovered a whole new world taking in the flavours, the knowledge and the pleasures of Bordeaux. A world where events, typically different, find strong ties to each other. Neil is the key to the discovery of these ties, drawing it all together, simply, logically and with a whole lot of fun.
- Antoine, Paris
- Antoine, Paris
Arranging a private wine tour
We organised a personal wine tour tailored to the needs of American vistors who wished to tour Barossa, McLaren Vale and Tasmania during their visit to Australia. We made recommendations on vineyards, accomodation and restaurants in each region as well as additional tourist attractions such as MONA in Hobart and Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. This culminated in lunch at Stefano Lubiana Osteria and a meeting with winemaker Steve Lubiana. |
Neil was very generous with his knowledge and time in providing wonderful recommendations for our trip to the Barossa and McLaren Vale valleys and in Tasmania. The recommendations were very helpful and perfectly tailored to our tastes and needs. We thoroughly enjoyed our touring, the highlights being many including The Collingrove hotel in Barossa, The Salopian restaurant in McLaren Vale and both Stefano Lubiana winery and the Henry Jones Art hotel in Hobart. We highly recommend Neil's services to anyone interested in wine and touring those areas of Australia.
- Ted and Karen, California
- Ted and Karen, California
Wine selection, sourcing and presentation for sporting club.
We developed the theme of a rosé and tennis day as a fund raiser for Victennis Club in Melbourne. The wine selected was Seville Estate The Barber Rosé. This wine was also sourced for the event, which was held at Tennis World Albert Park Reserve, a licenced premise. The tasting notes written for the occassion which were used to present the wine are below. |
Seville Estate is one of the Yarra Valley’s premium vineyards, about 90 minutes from Melbourne. They have 3 ranges of their wines, and this rosé is from their Barber Range, named after Rossini’s classic Italian opera The Barber of Seville. This rosé is made from 50% Cabernet and 50% Shiraz grapes by the Saignée method, which is a way of bleeding off 10 to 15% of the grape juice from their red wine after 12 hours and fermenting this separately. The wine is barrel fermented to dryness and matured on lees to give additional complexity and character.
Seville Estate Barber rosé has a pale pinky orange colour with a bright and clear hue. Take the time to smell it and you will notice rock melon and red cherry/strawberry aromas combined with the nuttiness from lees contact. Taste it and you will enjoy its lush texture with lifted spice of cinnamon and star anise over citrus and melon fruits. If you must share your experience with food, this rosé will match excellently with spicy Asian foods, and is great with summer barbeques. Something for everyone. Don’t forget to drink it chilled!
Organising an Office Christmas Party
Connell Bros Company have their office in Croydon, just on the edge of the Yarra Valley. For the office Christmas party, we recommended and arranged a wine tasting and lunch at the beautiful Seville Estate Vineyard in the Yarra Valley. Connell Bros is a distributor of specialty chemicals, and Seville Estate part-owner Margaret is a bio-chemist and winemaker - what a combination! It was a perfect interaction for the event, held in the Seminar Room on the Estate. |