Walter Bourke: September 15, 1945 – September 19, 2003

I first met Walter Bourke in 1986, at his legendary Melbourne restaurant, Maria & Walter’s. I had been invited to the ‘Table 8’, an underground group of the most serious wine palates in Australia, which convened regularly in the upstairs private dining room at Maria & Walter’s for extravagant banquets with vertical tastings of some of the most coveted wines in the world.

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I waste an inordinate amount of time coaching people on wine. Most of it falls on deaf ears, which irritates me. What’s most annoying is I did not initiate it; people come to me asking for advice – what should I drink? Where do I get it? How much will it cost? Read More >

Walter Bourke Homage – Pinot Noir Producer of the Year

Must-Have Wines Best of the Lunar Year – 2010 – Year of the Tiger – Best Wine of the Year from the Cellar
Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2002 and 2003 – Central Otago, New Zealand

New Zealand’s Quiet Achiever: Rudi Bauer, Quartz Reef

www.quartzreef.co.nz

Having long realised the most modest vignerons invariably make the best wines, I have always greatly admired Rudi Bauer, both as a person and his Quartz Reef wines. You will not find a more humble winemaker than Bauer, although he does remind me a lot of Ian Marks at Gembrook Hill, in the Yarra Valley, Australia, both hypercritical of their wines, continually censuring themselves.

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