Plan B Forum

Somewhere in the US, up to $35 million worth of wine will be laid to rest along with fast-food wrappers, food scraps and soiled nappies.

Such is the ignominious end for as much as 1 million bottles of wine created by Treasury Wine Estates, the Australian winemaker that owns brands such as Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Rosemount, and which has been stuck in warehouses across the US for months - and maybe years - unable to find buyers.

The decision to pour the wine down the drain, bury it in a landfill or squash it beneath a 10-tonne steamroller, has been made by Treasury Wine Estates to help clear a bottleneck of unwanted wine currently sitting in the US - its biggest market by sales - and allow fresh wine to be put through the system.

But before wine fans fret, the company is only destroying its cheaper, commercial wine, typically priced as low as $US5 ($5.50) in the US and which has a limited shelf life before it turns.

The company won't say which brands it will help its distributors to get rid of or the manner in which the wine will be returned to the earth from whence it came.

However, it is believed the bulk will be from the flagship Californian vineyard Beringer, which makes wines such as the ''Sledgehammer'' brand - pitched at men who liked bold reds.

Other brands likely to be dumped include ''Little Penguin'' wine as well as ''Meridian''.

It is not believed much of the company's Australian-made wine still gathering dust in US warehouses will also be destroyed, although wine analysts believe some out-of-date Lindeman's might be culled.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/bottoms- ... z2Z9Xv0RwM

Scooter wrote:I'll take it, I'm not proud, and I've enjoyed all of the Australian wines I've tried.

And some wine vinegar always comes in handy if it comes to that.

rubato wrote:Beringer? My grandparents lived in St Helena a short walk from the old Beringer Mansion.

yrs,
rubato

Guinevere wrote: The Beringer cabernet they bottle under their "Private Reserve" label is some of the finest I've had -- although at $125 a bottle and up I don't drink a lot of it, and always share it with someone who will appreciate it as much as I do.

Sue U wrote:

Guinevere wrote: The Beringer cabernet they bottle under their "Private Reserve" label is some of the finest I've had -- although at $125 a bottle and up I don't drink a lot of it, and always share it with someone who will appreciate it as much as I do.

So, what time is dinner?

Guinevere wrote: although at $125 a bottle and up I don't drink a lot of it, and always share it with someone who will appreciate it as much as I do.

Gob wrote:

Guinevere wrote: although at $125 a bottle and up I don't drink a lot of it, and always share it with someone who will appreciate it as much as I do.

Are you mad?

Gob wrote:Not at $125 a bottle! I'd hog that all to myself....

Guinevere wrote:

Gob wrote:Not at $125 a bottle! I'd hog that all to myself....

I think wine tastes better when shared. I almost always save my special bottles to drink with others - family, friends, a certain dark handsome swede . . .

rubato wrote:

Guinevere wrote:

Gob wrote:Not at $125 a bottle! I'd hog that all to myself....

I think wine tastes better when shared. I almost always save my special bottles to drink with others - family, friends, a certain dark handsome swede . . .

So. Did you make a stop there on your west coast tour a few years ago?

Yrs
Rubato

rubato wrote:You need to break inertia and get yerself out to the west coast some time.

Caint spend your whole life wasting away in the north east ossuary.

Didn't you buy that Volvo convertible? The pacific coast was made for top-down motoring.

Yrs,
Rbato