Hardys Stamp Semillon / Chardonnay 2007/08

I have cracked open a bottle of wine tonight, and it has sparked me into review mode. I am really impressed by it, but I will explain that later. First off, I need to review the main grapes in the wine. I think that it is important to understand a wines make-up, in order to appreciate it fully. Semillon The semillon grape is considered to be one of the fine white wine grapes. It, along with muscadelle, and sauvignon blanc, is one of the three grapes that are considered good enough to be white wine grapes in Bordeaux. It is relatively easy to grow, and is hardy to most disease. The worst that ... more

There are now so many white wines on the market, how do you know what is going to be drinkable and what is paint stripper? Well this is a reliable, easy drinking wine that is easy to find in most outlets and won't let you down in your hour of need! This is a South East Australian wine by the winemakers Thomas Hardy and sons and is part of their most popular series of wines 'Stamp of Australia'. This particular wine includes a picture of an original australian postage stamp which dates back to 1937 and has a cute Koala bear on it. Apart from this it is a very ordinary looking green bottle with ... more

Australian wine is not what it used to be. ~ BACKGROUND ~ Five or six years ago, okay, in the UK, you could bet that any bottle of Australian wine you picked up would be very good quality and excellent value for money. Led by Jacobs Creek, and then a host of other brands including Hardys, Penfolds and Rosemount, Australian wine in the last ten years has promoted a revolution in British wine drinking habits. We've moved from drinking French into the New World - for where Australian wines led the way, others followed - New Zealand, USA, South Africa, Chile and Argentina. Hardy's Stamp range of ... more

I did not get a good look at the label on this Hardy's Chardonnay, owing to the difficulty and probable social death that might have followed on my trying to prise the bottle from the barman, so detail-o-philes should stop reading here. But I thought I'd share my Hardy's Chardonnay Semillion experience anyway. It happened on a night of uncharacteristically dramatic English stormy weather, in a branch of a well-known faux-Irish chain of wine bars in North London. The rather steep price of £2.75 for a medium glass did not detract from the gothic thrill of the weather outside, coupled with the ... more