Taste Blake’s favourite fifty Australian wines

THE season for pre-Christmas public wine tastings is drawing to a close with just a handful of them taking place in the coming weeks, including two on today (see below).

One of the forthcoming tastings is a bit unusual as it has my name written all over it: Like a kid in a sweetshop, I’ve been given free rein to select my favourite few dozen wines from Australia, all of which will be open for tasting along with tasty nibbles on the evening of December 1, at Cork School of Music on Union Quay in the city.

It is unusual for me to be involved in a tasting like this: as a consumer advocate I obviously don’t work for any aspect of the wine industry, so I normally have no business being on that side of the counter. But this tasting is possible due to the initiative of John McDonnell of Wine Australia Ireland, which represents much of the industry.