Keep those text line coming in at zero four double seven six nine three six nine three from Rob who says, and I agree with you, Robert, you met. Great to see Gary Lyon get a Guernsey AFL Hall of Fame. What a worthy recipient twenty six years after he played his last game.
Wonderful World.
Done to you, Gary.
Garry line.
Style, and here is the award winning wine writer of our generation. He's been doing it since the early nineteen One hundred of his first articles were in fact published in Stone those early issues, they were collectors' items and it's our very own Ray Jordan, good morning.
Oh Toarney. Thanks for that, but introduction. I feel old, but now I feel older.
Not at all. It's lovely to have you on the program. You're keeping well, happy as sunny, a sunny demeanor.
Well, yeah, we've we've had some pretty chilly days here and you know, the morning's for me start about four point thirty, so walking the dog. It's a bit chilly and a bit wet, not much fun, but anyway we get through it. I'm just we had about a week over on Rottnest Island and which was rather pleasant. That's even in sort of winter. It's it's a nice place to be.
So just explain ray for listeners right around Australia who may not necessarily be for media with rottenst lovingly known as a rotto in Western Australia. It's it's on the you're on the boat, you're out there in about forty forty five minutes and it is one of the it's almost a holiday of choice for every Western Australian visitors of course go each and every day to Roner to have a look and stay. It's a right of passage for many a young person once they finished school.
Well that's right. They have their leavers over there and that's certainly a place to avoid when the leavers are there. But the rest of the time it really is. It is a fabulous island. The fast ferry gets you there in about thirty minutes and you're in Thompson Bay. It's going through a bit of a transformation. Actually, the sort of resort accommodation has been gradually and significantly upgraded. You know, it was adequate at best before when we first went there.
You know, it's only salt water coming out of the showers. There wasn't much fun. But now it's all fresh water. The villas are really nice. They finished Jordan, they're doing long reach and now they've done the lodge and that's that's a fabulous facility now rest and a great accommodation. So there's a lot of history there. There was an aboriginal phenol sort of institution there for a long a large part of its life, and it's got a pretty
pretty checkered history in that regard. But I think now that a lot of works being done to restore those old facilities and really is it as a way to remember what was as a part of I guess putting things right. But no, it's wonderful place, plenty of fishing, just enjoying life, super relaxed and to be fair, a lot of people, you know, they might find it a little bit rudimentary for comparing it to some of the
resort islands perhaps on the reef. It is quite different to that, but it's one of those places as soon as you get there you're just relaxed. You just chill out to get a pipe in the bakery. As soon as you land and you're away. It's a gorgeous.
It's a gorgeous thing to do and it's just I think you're right. When you go to those little places lb it occasionally you almost breathe a bit differently, you do.
Look, it's just the whole place is just really relaxed. I mean, of course you've got the resident Quakers, and I think they must be the most photograph animal on
the face of the earth. The certainly a lot of day trippers coming over there, and when we were there just recently, a lot of sort of Japanese and Chinese tourists were over there and they were just going nuts over these little guys and having the photographs and the selfie's done sort of made famous by Roger Feedder and Chris Emsworth amongst others who have had self he's done with them, and they're incredible sort of boost for tourism, that's for sure.
They were amazing and beautifully orchestrated that Fetter photo. It just was said as zillions of people all around the world by vays socials.
Oh it's extraordinary. The focal points that had put on rottenness was extraordinary. So no, look, it's a lovely place. You know, those with boats have got a number of some of the bays and you know there are hundreds of boats. Not at this time of the year, this
gets a little bit that swells a bit up. But certainly in summer you just about walk from boat to boat across Thompson Bay and some of the other places, and you know, you just get on your bike and right out the west end and it's about a twenty kilometer returned bike ride. It's just it's terrific fun.
Just a couple of things that are raise with you. I know you to talk about the top one hundred tastings, and I want to talk to you also about a story that was in the paper yes today, the great friends of this radio station, the Debautally family, and the idea of maybe pulling out some of their beautiful vines for a range of reasons. We'll get to that in just a moment. I guess in a sense it's linked to a story that's online at the moment about smoking. That used to be the vice of the so called
uber cool. If you think about people like Holly go Lightly and lots of others over the years a plethort are But now is drinking the new smoking. The question is being asked because what we know is less, less and less drinking, particularly with younger people and not drinking wine.
Yeah, that's been a trend for a few years now, and I mean it's from a wine industry perspective, it's sort of a worrying trend. But on the flip side, you know, it is a good thing that people sort of balance their drinking if they liked their wine and so forth, and you know, you drinking moderation as you and I have certainly followed. It's really been our mantra, I think for most of our lives. But you know, I think it is that's one of the challenges. People
are health conscious now. I mean, you know, young people in my day and that is a while ago now, but you know, at university and that I mean Fridays and Saturday nights, you went down to your favorite hotel and it was a bad playing and there was you know, you went down there and you had a few drinks. These days, they go to the gym, and it's a different it's a whole different world. And part of that has been, you know, the drinking of wine has certainly fallen.
I think also there's fewer BV WAYO restaurants where people used to take their wine, so I think that's contributing to it. And wine in restaurants is expensive, but of course necessarily so when you think of the wages and the rents and the cost of ingredients. So there's a whole bunch of things happening there. And I, you know, we have spoken about it before. I think that there is a fundamental shift culturally and the way we live and the way young people are going is sort of
putting pressure on the industry. And you know, I've spoken to so many people who certainly believe they've never seen it so tough. And I think if you're at the top end, you've got obviously smaller volumes, but you're doing okay. And if you're at the bottom end, where they're real value for money, I think they're probably doing okay. But if you don't have a brand.
That really resonates in that sort of middle range, and we're talking maybe twenty five to fifty dollar bracket, then it's tough going to sell.
There's some great winds in that space. Though one of the things was discussed, I've kept thinking about it ever since maybe twelve months ago on the three IW bricking program with Ross and Russ's the question of whether or not young people are in a position to go out and buy wine at let's say ballpark twenty or twenty five dollars a bottle or a beer and a bottle of wine for example, when and this is the quote from the program, it's pretty much you can go and
grab a pill, go dancing might costom twenty dollars and that will last all weekend.
Yeah, no, I mean there is that. I think things have certainly changed. And I mean I do recall, you know, in my younger days with you know, we mainly drink beer, but if we wanted wine, quite frankly, it was probably a flag and we'd take that and share it amongst ourselves at the local sort of cheap Italian or you know, Chinese restaurant or whatever. It wasn't going to cost much. We didn't really appreciate the wine because that was really also to be fair, before that whole one appreciation thing
started to really catch on. But I think it is expensive now for young people and even people that have just left YEARNI or tertiary or they're doing trades or whatever, you know, some of them are carrying some significant debt, you know, with X fees. If you're in, if you've got a terchi feed, if you're a tradee and whatever you're setting up your business. I mean, there are overheads and costs that need to be accommodated. So it's it is quite challenging now too for these people to find
the extra cash. I mean, let's faith, we all know the cost of livings. It's it ain't getting easier, it's not.
Getting in the easy race. Stay that we're going to do this. When we come back, I want to talk to you about the top one hundred tasting points, the results coming on to your website very very surely and just locally hit yearing station. Some real value for money beautiful wines here in the valley will do that. Next, it's Australia Overnight. Ray Jordan is wine writer Extraordinary Treasury Wines
right a Treasury Wine of States TWA. Just coincidentally, as to what we were speaking about, opened up a new fifteen million dollar in house facility now dedicated to a low and no alcohol wine production. I guess where it is, but right at the heart of the Barossa Valley.
Yeah, that's interesting. I haven't heard about that. So they're producing zero alcohol wine.
Zero alcohol or very low alcohol wine. Borossit Companies says the opening spending like about fifteen million dollars on it, so they wouldn't have gone into that. They talk about the bolstering of the technologies credential South Australian Wine site following one hundred and sixty five million luxury wine making expansion in twenty twenty two. So it's a one side. But this is a fifteen million dollar in house facility just dedicated to low and no alcohol wines.
Yeah, they've been dabbling in the sort of lower end alcohol wines for a while and I think they've got some that come out of New Zealand as well. And yeah, look, it's always been the problem with the zero alcohol wines is finding the ones that really you want to go and have a second glass off. But there are some, and I have done tastings in the past looking at
some and there are some quite quite attractive ones. Certainly some coming out of Germany are really I've tasted some of those in the Whites especially and they're very good. So I'm interesting to see what the portfolio is like. I'm actually going to be over in Adelaide next week for an event that I can't say too much about well gone.
I wish you could because it's in Bargoed, I know, but you can't wait for you to tell us that story. I don't want to run at a type. Let's look at this quality top one hundred tasting point. This will end up on your You've been doing this tasting top one hundred and this will land on the website.
When well, it's a couple of months away before you can get on the website, but it will. I've just been pulling together the results. Now we look at about one hundred of one hundred, which it was was about five hundred and fifty wines and it was a big tasting. These are wines from all over Australia selling for fifty dollars or less. So it's sort of in that sweet spot for red wine. So it's certainly getting close to fifty. There are some really smart wines there that these are
exceptional value. And there are plenty of wines as you know, that are selling well over one hundred and two hundred dollars a bottle. But you can get wines of exceptional quality at fifty. But drilling further down, the thing that struck me most once again, and it's proved a year after years the quality of wine get under fifteen dollars
or certainly under twenty dollars. But you know, and you know the ones we've talked about in your station's good friends to Borughtleys, they certainly dominate this value for money sector, and I would strongly suggest that these wines will appear very strongly in the best value wines from the tasting. They just acceptable value. When you got a wine it sells for seven dollars a bottle that's full retail and probably discounts to five. I mean, it's crazy and the wine is perfectly good.
Yuring station locally down here in the Aravella is beautiful. They've been doing some fantastic things for a while. But do they represent value worth a mention in terms of that value for money.
Yeah, they do, and they've featured they've featured well in the tasting. But I did separately are tasting some of their wines and it was a really it was an impressive lineup of wines. They've got the gilage range and they've got their little yeering range, and these are why to sell them. The large thirty dollars across the board, the yet little yearing about twenty four, and they really offer terrific value. I mean in the shard name Pleino noir,
I mean you're getting a wine of certainly pino. You know, normally these wines are hideously expensive, but here's a wine that's got pino character. It fits into the modern style of lighter drinking, but still got flavor. The shard nay, Okay, you're not getting the powerhouse chardens, but they're they're really very good. And both of the ones I've just sided there, both from the twenty four vintage, which was really attractive
vintage in the Ara Valley. I've seen some terrific stuff coming out of that, and they've got some interesting one they do have just released as the Sandiavesi under their Village range, and I don't really like that. It's if you're looking for a wine that is just great with food, obviously ideally wine with food, but with the Italian style of food, it's Tangibazi is a terrific forty.
It's one of the distinctions. Really, we're going to run out of time, unfortunately, Bro, We've got about thirty seconds. What are the distinctions about that. You know, when you have the food and the wine mix you don't necessarily do that with a I don't know, a whiskey. I know people can, but it's a very different experience when you're mixing something really special in terms of what you might be eating with a really interesting wine.
Absolutely, it's a complementary or a comcast and it's just a matter of how you want to do it. Sometimes one is better than the other. But you know, it's a bit of a black art sometimes doing the matching. And I'm a bit of a philistine. If I like the wine and I like the food, I don't worry too much about the complexities. I'm with you. I'm with you.
Or if people have a look at the website, it's always worth while having a look at They can do that where.
It's Ray Jordanwine dot com dot au and they'll be well, we're starting to populate. That was plenty of the new releases coming up from that by industry, Good on
You and the good Luck in South Australia for the launch of twenty twenty five