Dead wine...

[Gob]

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Australian-made wine still gathering dust in US warehouses will also be destroyed, although wine analysts believe some out-of-date Lindeman's might be culled.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]

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]

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

yrs,
rubato

[dales]

St. Helena is a nice place, it's near Geyserville.

[Guinevere]

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.

What Scooter said. I drink a fair amount of Aussie wine, and most of it is quite good.

Although honestly, "Sledgehammer" for a label sounds like a loser from the very beginning.

[Guinevere]

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

yrs,
rubato

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]

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]

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?

In this heat -- it was ice cream last night, and may be ice cream again tonight. Not sure that really goes with a good dry cab.

But try again, in say, October, and I'll plan something delish

[Gob]

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?

[Guinevere]

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?

You don't like sharing?

[Gob]

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

[Crackpot]

I got a bottle of Boones Farm I'm willing to part with for that price.

[Long Run]

When I read this article, I was confused as to the wine that was being poured down the drain. It appears that the company is based in Australia but clearly owns wineries in the U.S. as well (e.g. Beringer). I guess the good news in this story is that the reason this wine went bad is that it was the cheap stuff (under $6 per bottle) and American tastes have moved up the ladder a bit.

[Guinevere]

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]

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

[Guinevere]

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

"A few years ago" was actually a decade. Doesn't time fly! And no, I didn't make it all the way to Cali on that trip. But I was at Beringer when I was at a wedding in Napa and on another visit to the area several years later. Tasted the private reserve then and drink it on rare occasion now - it's not the easiest wine to get your hands on.

[oldr_n_wsr]

One of lifes simple pleasures I never really appreciated, and will never be able to. Drinking, to me anyway, was a means to get drunk. While I did enjoy a good single malt scotch, getting drunk was my ultimate goal. Glad you all can appreciate the spirits without the allergy taking hold. Enjoy.

[rubato]

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

[Guinevere]

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

I've motored the Pacific Coast in a little red convertible, and in a bright blue jeep, both top-down experiences.

As for New England -- its God's country and one of the most beautiful regions on the planet, as well as one of the most educated and one of the most progressive. Hardly an ossuary.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I like the north east. Hunting in Maine, skiing in vermont (knee problems have curtailed that), snowmobiling in the adorondacks, fishing in pennsylvania, beaches on LI (although I am not a beach person I do make it there at least one day a season). And there is Manahattan if one is into that. And there are plenty of vinyards here on LI out east. They tell nme some of the wines are very good. I wouldn't know

Eventually I will make it to the left coast to see what it's about. But I can say that about most of the USA I have not seen/visited yet.
my dad is going to be 82 next year and I hope to go to the Sturgis bike rally with him in 2014. He's in good shape but we'll trailer the bikes as it's a three day ride from here. I don't think I could ride my bike for three days, 8 hours a day.