The peoples' democratic blog of Matt Hayward

In a recent press Johannesburg press conference, Jeremy Clarkson was asked what he thought about South African wine. His comment, ‘well it’s better than Australian wine’. Given that the poms love to go Aussie bashing, it was to be expected. But it got me thinking, has the average Aussie tried a South African wine? [...]

This year it was a big call for what to match to the Christmas turkey. There were a few cherryish pinots from the Yarra Valley which i’ve grown fond of, but they’re nowhere near ready yet. There are big cab savs, but you’d need a really old one that had a bit of grace about [...]

Hey Funkstas, more wine news! Over the summer break, the guys from the Eat It crew couldn’t be arsed and gave some other blokes a chance. Their show was called Plonk, and unlike Eat It, they deprecated the restaurants, fine dining and cooking and got to the heart of the matter: good vino!
For better or [...]

After my third bottle of this over a few months, this is a dead set bloody winner. It’s not cheap, it’s not expensive (probably about $28 if you can find it), it’s just really, really, really good. I seldom mention wines on the old blog, but this is now my undivided favourite red.
Wrattonbully is a [...]

A few weeks back the snow was pretty bad in Victoria. So we decided to drive up to Bright. A town about 3.5 hours out of Melbourne nestled between the snowfields, the King Valley gourmet region and Glenrowan.
The theory was that if the snow picked up, then we wouldn’t waste money going skiing. But if [...]

This weekly free wine tasting at one of Fed Square’s finest is an absolute must for those that want to learn the poetry of the palette.

Who would’ve known that one of Australia’s best wine regions would be so accessible!

A great day, not so great wine. But life’s a journey, not a destination!

Why corks are dissapearing and why it’s not such a bad thing.