Better late than never, maybe.

OK so this is a bit late for a post weekend update, but I've been busy. Last night I sat my WSET level III exam and this morning I flew to Sydney for work. Poor pitiful me. I'll talk about WSET later, but if you can't bear the suspense http://www.wset.co.uk/

Weekend was a mixed bag, we took our son to watch Richmond play, and subsequently lose. Still, he's only 8 months so hopefully there's no long term damage. I also slept through the Euro 2008 final which I was quite looking forward to. Bummer.

Anyway, a couple of choices from the Rawshack bargain bin from that I've been meaning to write up. First is the Angoves Long Row Chardonnay 2007. This costs around $7 or so if you go to the right liquor super store, and it's exactly the sort of chardonnay that made people who hate chardonnay, hate chardonnay. The melon and stone fruit are definitely bridesmaid to the oak and butter, but it's all put together well, and it's taste's like it's worth more than the price tag. Second, based on one of Halliday's budget recommendations, is the Penfolds Rawson's Retreat Cabernet Shiraz 2007, or 2006, I can't remember, but the reason I'm crying a river over that is because Penfolds churn out these multi regional blends and the words vintage and variation are doubtful to be used in the same sentence. Anyway, it's simple black fruit, some vanilla and that's about it. Not complex, but for under a tenner you don't expect it to be, and I thought it had a rough charm that'd make be go back to it.

So apart from failure in sport (and just wait to the EPL kicks off and Sunderland start losing), the weekend was good as my wife and her friends went to watch some film about some women in a bg American city. I took one on the chin for the team and stayed home to look after Jnr. My friend David came over, we played FIFA on my xbox and then went to the pub to drink Toolanghi Chardonnay 2006. I'm not going to go into detail, as it's one of my perennial favourites and will expand later. We finished off the night with pizza from the incredible Pizza Mein Leibe, which rather fortuitously, happens to be at the top of my street. There's no web address, but the Age give it a great review. (BTW I have no idea if I'm allowed to use other people's reviews, but I doubt anyone cares)http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/11/29/1101577385522.html

We washed it down with a Penfolds 407 Cabernet 2004, which was delicious. Black fruit, spice and coffee on the nose, with a similar story on the palate. Some comments I've read have indicated that this needs some time to settle down, but I thought that with a quick decant, the tannins were approachable enough at this age.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm in a hotel in Parramatta and I'm about to watch a film I've been meaning to see for some time. Let's hope it's good as I think it's going to be.