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Kim Brebach
Balmoral
Kim's experience spans over 3 decades in the IT industry, holding senior positions with Digital, Nixdorf Computer, Novell and Silicon Graphics in sales, marketing and management.
Interests: wine and food, photography, cool technology, great music of all kinds, theatre and well-written books, playing tennis and chess.
Recent Activity
The Last Front Bench Dinner at Pyrmont March 2013 - the wines
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Here they are, with the full list at the end Click on any image to see a larger file A great beginning, with the CH the standout The Leeuwin was great as always, the Yattarna overoaked as always, the suprise here was that the Pipers Brook wasn't corked I found the Condrieu disappointing, the Rothbury way past its best, and the Vat 47 full of serious promise The Wendouree was in stunning condition, minty and elegant. The VegaSicilia was one of the best reds I've ever tasted - wonderful goodies wrapped in an elegant package. The ANAPERENNA was a sledge... Continue reading
Posted Apr 2, 2013 at In The Picture
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The last Front bench Dinner at Pyrmont - March 2013
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It was a special occasion, and all of us took advantage of it I think. We drank less and talked more, we enjoyed each other's company - that's clear from the photos. I took a lot of those last Wednesday night, as I love these nights and the venue and the company and the wines and the food. The friends I've made here were my main focus this time, and I've collected the best shots on this page. Simply click on any photo to see the full-size version. Peter looks happy Even happier here, but Doug and Ray are clearly... Continue reading
Posted Apr 2, 2013 at In The Picture
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BEST WINES UNDER $20 IS NOW A WEBSITE
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The Best Wines Under $20 website will have a clearer focus on finding the best wines in 4 categories – under 10, 15, 20 and 25 dollars. A website gives me more flexibility to present the information I want to present. The name is the same as the url, and very simple: http://bestwinesunder20.com.au/ What’s new? The plan is to go for a bigger following and a broader market. This is the promise: We show you where to buy great wines at bargain prices We run up-to-date lists of BEST WINES UNDER $10, 15, 20 and 25 We don’t sell wine,... Continue reading
Posted Mar 25, 2013 at In The Picture
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Hello Kim You are spot on, with your critique of Penfolds Bin Reds & Icon releases. The PR & marketing bull shit coming out of TWE/Penfolds is reaching 'fairy tale' level these days. The trouble is, there is a growing gap, seen from our local historical perspective, between their PR spin and actual reality (of wine sophistication). Is it true, Penfolds new corporate strategist is Lance Armstrong?? Certainly their wines are on ' protein enhancers ' for they are far too bulky in terms of excesses .....excess ripeness(too sweet), excess extraction, excess wood, excess alcohol, block buster framed and All wrapped in bling PR/marketing. But, these Penfolds wines are not for us, that is the Australian market any longer. They are for the China, and American market, where TWE see their best take-over share price offer coming from, with large director bonuses of course. These wines aren't refined. They will become ' celebrity ' wines soon with actors promoting the brand. They have well-and-truly become Parkerised/Americanised, sweetened and confrontational to a European or an experienced palate. On the other hand, we in Oz have been trained up (actually dumbed down ) to like sugar sweetness in our food these days. Just look at our local obesity rate now. So, Penfolds is merely gearing up a world brand, just like the wines in the LVMH stable are to this Super Icon marque, but based on pleasing the sugar corrupted palate rather than sophistication. Everything changes Kim, even the true resistance to the ' Dark Force ' of Americanised world culture...... the French, are succumbing to change. Bordeaux wine is becoming over extracted, higher in alcohol, and sweeter, so they say, to be competitive with the Americans and Australians What do we do ???? Our future is not with Penfolds....China Inc. Very Best Regards Jeffrey Daley
Toggle Commented Mar 10, 2013 on Penfolds Bin Reds and Icon release 2013 – breathtaking stuff at In The Picture
Summer of Riesling 2013 - it doesn't get better than this!
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2012 was the best Riesling vintage for a decade 2013 was the hottest summer on record There were many days when I preferred cold beer to chilled white wine, but there were late evening picnics at the beach where Riesling improved the flavour of cold chicken. This is one of the best-kept secrets in matching food and wine: roast chicken and Aussie Riesling. Wine and food scribes always talk about eating oysters and shellfish with young Rieslings, because of their lime juice and mineral flavours. They’re wrong in my view: there’s too much fruit even in our young Rieslings, which... Continue reading
Posted Mar 7, 2013 at In The Picture
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Penfolds Bin Reds and Icon release 2013 – breathtaking stuff
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The gravy train rides again, with wine writers on board I don’t go to lavish industry functions, free wine dinners and meet-the-maker PR tours through wineries and fine restaurants. I go to a few simple wine tastings, but mostly I buy my own samples for review. That way, I’m more than an arm’s length away from the people I write about and their products. Miles away, in fact, and I say exactly what I want to. Here’s what can happen when a wine writer gets too close to a wine company: he begins to sound like its PR agency. Tyson... Continue reading
Posted Mar 6, 2013 at In The Picture
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Bonds Corner Fine Wines – from Gippsland to the Jura
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Around the world on a rainy Saturday This is one of the surviving (and thriving) independent bottle shops in Sydney. John the owner says he will match any of the big boys on price, but you soon realise that this causes him few problems since there is hardly a wine here that you’d find at Dan M’s or 1st Choice. This is exotic territory, pure and simple, but some of the wines are affordable. It didn’t look bright and sunny last Saturday which broke records for rain, but the wet stuff eased off a bit late in the afternoon. Gary... Continue reading
Posted Feb 28, 2013 at In The Picture
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Dandelion Vineyards Wonderland of the Eden Valley Riesling 2012
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This wonderland seems to exert a powerful effect on all those who go near it. This is more than wine, clearly: what we have here is poetry and magic and fairy dust. ‘This is a highly impressive partnership,’ James Halliday tells us in his Wine Companion, ‘between Peggy and Carl Lindner (40%), Elena and Zar Brooks (40%), and Fiona and Brad Rey (20%). It brings together vineyards spread across the Adelaide Hills, Eden Valley, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley and Fleurieu Peninsula. Elena is not only the beautiful wife of industry dilettante Zar, but also an exceptionally gifted winemaker.’... Continue reading
Posted Feb 19, 2013 at In The Picture
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Dopff Grand Cru, Dandelion, Dog Point, Norfolk Rise, Shaw & Smith, Woodlands, Amelia Park, Castle Rock
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The bigger they are, the harder they fall A short preamble before we get stuck into the wines: I've had too much work on, and more tastings than usual this month, and I’m building a website to support this endeavour – the logical next phase. Bargains have been far and few in between out there. Coles seems happy to play distant second fiddle to Woolworths so the heat has gone out of the battle. Worse, they’re up to their old tricks: bumping up the Rec retail price and then putting the wines on special. One example: Dogpoint Savvy at 1st... Continue reading
Posted Feb 19, 2013 at In The Picture
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Penultimate Front Bench Dinner at Peter Bourne’s
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At Pyrmont, that is. Sadly, Peter is leaving these lovely rooms soon After all the debates about reducing the number of wines at these events, I didn’t notice any difference. Makes it hard for the pourer (Peter M), the scribe (Chris A) and the photographer, later on when cheeks get flushed. Paul F missed out, and we missed out on his Delphic utterances. Still, we had enough fun as you can see (please click on any image to see a large version): The tucker was tops as usual And the wines bloody lovely How lucky are we to have friends... Continue reading
Posted Feb 14, 2013 at In The Picture
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Summer of Riesling, winter of Discontent
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Tasting wonderful wines in a grotty city laneway This is what the promoters promised: A fabulous street fair focussed on wine tasting and meeting winemakers from around the country. Around 300 punters are anticipated this year. They’ll sip their way through all the Riesling they can handle, feast on street food, and generally enjoy the awesomeness that is summer in Sydney. This is wine tasting the way it was meant to be. And this is what they delivered: A grotty, overcrowded laneway behind the Oak Barrel where winemakers and punters stood in the gutter much of the time - Nithsdale... Continue reading
Posted Feb 12, 2013 at In The Picture
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Britain’s great German Monarchy
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And now for something completely different - did you know that Huns occupied the British throne for 2 centuries? Central Europe was officially known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (German: Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation, Latin: Imperium Romanum Sacrum Nationis Germanicæ) by 1450. After Queen Anne’s death, at the age of 54, George I ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Over fifty Catholics bore closer blood relationships to Queen Anne, but the Act of Settlement 1701 prohibited Catholics from inheriting the throne, and George was Anne's closest living Protestant... Continue reading
Posted Feb 11, 2013 at In The Picture
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Aussie Reds – so much alcohol, so little finesse
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Is it global warming, tough Aussie men or smart marketing? ‘To force Syrah up to an alcoholic content of 14 per cent or more,’ Roger Scruton wrote in a New Statesman column headed Grapes of Wrath, ‘tricking it into early maturation, so as to put the result on the market with all its liquorice flavours unsubdued, puffing out its dragon breath like an old lecher leaning sideways to put a hairy hand on your knee, is to slander a grape that, properly treated, is the most slow and civilised of seducers.’ Once upon a time, Shiraz was indeed the most... Continue reading
Posted Jan 24, 2013 at In The Picture
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Southern Highland Wines, Tempus Two & Bergerac
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Treasures from local wine merchants I read that Michael Cooper, NZ’s James Halliday, had pronounced the Spy Valley Chardonnnay 2011 the best NZ Chardy released in 2012. You can get all kinds of Spy Valley wines in Sydney but the Chardonnay isn’t one of them. After an exhaustive trawl of the internet, the only place that popped up as a source was Mosman Cellars. Mosman Cellars? I didn’t even know that we had an independent wine merchant left around here. There’s Cremorne Cellars down in Spofforth St, holding out against the Vintage Cellars monopoly in this area. Coles bought the... Continue reading
Posted Jan 23, 2013 at In The Picture
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How Southcorp and Fosters trashed the Rosemount brand
Would you pay $1.5 billion dollars for a brand, and let it go down the drain? By the turn of the millennium, Rosemount was one of the most recognisable wine brands in Australia. It was the country’s fifth biggest wine company, and it was profitable. It made large volumes of cheap and cheerful Chardonnay under its diamond label, along with premium wines such as Roxburgh Chardonnay and Balmoral Syrah. Southcorp bought Rosemount for $1.5 million in 2001. Southcorp already had an enviable portfolio that included great Aussie brands like Penfolds, Lindemans and Wynns, so I can't imagine why they wanted... Continue reading
Posted Jan 17, 2013 at In The Picture
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Best wines under $10, $15, $20 & $25
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Just a reminder about our lists of BEST WINES under $10, $15, $20 and $25, which we update constantly to make sure the gems we find are readily available. One of our followers said: Great site! I love it and find it very useful when buying wine ... you do all the leg work for me. That’s it in a nutshell. Best Wines under $10 http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2012/10/best-wines-under-10.html Best Wines under $15 http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2012/10/best-wines-under-15.html Best Wines under $20 http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2012/10/best-wines-under-20.html Best Wines under $25 http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2012/10/best-wines-under-25.html We’ve drawn the upper limit at $25 since most of us only go beyond that for special occasions like... Continue reading
Posted Jan 13, 2013 at In The Picture
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From Fraser Gallop Chardonnay to Audrey Wilkinson Shiraz
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Opened a few interesting wines over Christmas and New Year, as you do. I wrote about some of them in this post http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2013/01/the-stand-out-bargain-of-2012-de-bortoli-deen-vat-5-botrytis-semillon-2008.html One of my followers asked me why I didn’t review Hunter Valley wines more often. My experience is that you have to pay more than $25 for good Hunters - for example the Tyrrells Bin reds and whites, and the better Brokenwoods – and that other wine areas offer better value. Another reason is that I’m not fond of most of the underdone Semillons that come out of the valley, even if I’m the odd man out... Continue reading
Posted Jan 10, 2013 at In The Picture
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COSTCO and ALDI crash into big box wine retail
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I’ve seen the future of wine retailing, and it fills me with horror ‘Costco's lead wine buyer Annette Alvarez-Peters doesn't understand why wine is any different than toilet paper,’ an article on US website Eater National begins. The source of this statement is an interview on CNBC with Costco’s chief wine buyer Annette Alvarez-Peters, who is asked if wine is different from other products. She answers: ‘Is it more special than clothing, is it more special than televisions? I don't think so.’ Interviewer: ‘Certainly it's different than toilet paper? Or different than tin foil?’ Alvarez-Peters: ‘Why?’ You get the idea.... Continue reading
Posted Jan 6, 2013 at In The Picture
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The stand-out bargain of 2012: de Bortoli Deen Vat 5 Botrytis Semillon 2008
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The good news is that you can still buy it in 2013 The Christmas and New Year break is a good time to revisit some of the top wines on our lists to make sure we got our recommendations right. The result is a short short list of wines we enjoyed and confirmed as outstanding bargains. de Bortoli Deen Vat 5 Botrytis Semillon 2008 At $10.45 a half bottle at Dan M’s, my advice is: back up the ute. You won’t find a better sticky than this for less than $20. The colour is mid gold, the nose promises oranges... Continue reading
Posted Jan 2, 2013 at In The Picture
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Will Global warming kill Australia’s wine industry?
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A close look at Max Allen’s The Future Makers This fascinating book, published in 2010, explores the effects of global warming on Australia’s vineyard areas. Among these effects are said to be Shorter ripening seasons bringing vintages forward and reducing fruit quality Shrinking water resources threatening most of our traditional vineyard areas Large parts of our traditional vineyard areas becoming unsustainable A reduction in the quantity of Australia’s wine grape crop. It looks like Max Allen completed The Future Makers in 2009, the year of the fires that burnt across Victoria and South Australia and destroyed so many lives and... Continue reading
Posted Dec 28, 2012 at In The Picture
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Kooyong Clonale & Oakridge OTS Chardonnays 2012, de Bortoli Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2010, Richard Hamilton Shiraz 2010
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How do I choose the wines I review? That’s a simple question for most wine writers: they review the samples wineries or distributors send them. That’s why you see so many reviews of wines you’ve never heard of and can’t get hold of easily. I choose wines because: They’ve had positive reviews from Halliday, Hooke, Stock, Stelzer et al They’ve appeared on best or top lists such as Halliday's Top 100 in 2012 They’ve won significant trophies They’ve been recommended by friends who know their wines They’re being promoted /discounted by major outlets I was impressed with the previous vintage... Continue reading
Posted Dec 19, 2012 at In The Picture
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Penfolds’ £1.2 million Christmas Present - Gago gone Gaga part 2
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Looks like the $168,000 designer ampoule was just the warm-up act The company has released a one-off Penfolds Collection - a flight of Granges from 1951 through to 2007. The Collection goes on sale at Hedonism Wines in Mayfair, London, where you can also buy the Penfolds Ampoule released back in June 2012. One of the 12 ampoules is also for sale at Sydney airport, so it looks like they weren’t exactly snapped up by eager collectors. More on that ‘compelling work of wine art’ here: http://briard.typepad.com/get_the_picture/2012/06/penfolds-168000-ampoule-gago-gone-gaga.html Each of the Grange bottles in the Christmas Collection comes signed by either... Continue reading
Posted Dec 18, 2012 at In The Picture
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Special wines for Christmas 2012
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You still don't have to pay silly money for great wine Once a year, we’re allowed to break the $25 barrier and take a look at wines that sell at premium prices. I don’t mean $250 – there’s just no need to go much over $50 for ‘premium wines’. Even above $25, the law of diminishing returns is more than evident. These wines make good presents for discerning drinkers. Riesling Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2012, $42 at Kemenys Paulett Antonina Riesling 2010, $40 at MyCellars Pewsey Vale 2012, $15 at Kemenys Semillon/Pinot Gris Meerea Park "Terracotta" Semillon 2006, $25 at... Continue reading
Posted Dec 17, 2012 at In The Picture
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Constellation and Accolade – Fancy Names for Barbarians
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The BRL Hardys story charts all that went wrong with Australian wine In 2003, Constellation Brands bought BRL Hardy Ltd and became the largest wine company on earth. In 2008, BRL Hardy became Constellation Wines Australia (CWA). Changing its name didn’t change the sad state of the company’s balance sheet, and a fire sale followed: In West Australia, CWA sold the Goundrey and Amberley wineries and closed the bottling lines at Houghtons. Other wineries were closed or sold, and workers dismissed. Long-standing contracts with grape growers were cancelled. In case you think the word barbarians is harsh label for these... Continue reading
Posted Dec 11, 2012 at In The Picture
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Best Value Wines of 2012
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I mean real wine, not cheap confections What you won’t see on this list are labels like Oxford Landing or Yalumba Y series, Tyrrell’s Lost Block or Old Winery, or Jacobs Creek in its various forms. They tend to creep into the BEST lists of Halliday, Stock et al for reasons that are beyond me to explain. There’s no reason I can think of to drink these industrial concoctions. The best value in Aussie whites has long been found in our Rieslings. This is even more obvious in a near perfect vintage like 2012, where even humble labels like Annie’s... Continue reading
Posted Dec 5, 2012 at In The Picture
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