Grogger

It was perhaps the kind of fortuitous luck that can only happen on a leap year’s February 29th, but we were doing a WHOIS lookup for Grogger.co.uk and it was registered by us on February 28th 2007. So that makes yesterday our 5th birthday, Hooray!

Grogger was born of a desire to justify buying more wine just because it has cool label [Tick!] and review the wine and design in a witty, engaging manner [To Do…]. After a quick competition to come up with a name, Mr Adam Loxley won a bottle of vintage champagne with his contraction of ‘grog’ and ‘blogger’. The next day the domain was registered and Grogger was born.

Then we did bugger all for two years, until in 2009 we installed Wordpress and created our first post. In 2010, we switched to Tumblr and in 2011 joined Twitter. Last year the Grogger team mothballed our London HQ and moved to Sydney to explore our favourite bold, creative wines at their source. And to commemorate our 5th birthday we now have our own Facebook page. Please Like us, we’re needy.

So to celebrate we have chosen to enjoy one of our hero wines from the same vintage as ourselves. We’ve long been fans of d’Arenberg’s approach to flavoursome, characterful wines across all price points. The Dead Arm is their biggest wine, a gutsy younger brother to Grange, Stonewall and Hill of Grace, and a great addition to any cellar.

All of d’Arenberg’s varietal wines feature the same diagonal red stripe and bright coloured flashes on either side. Accompanied by idiosyncratic names that are explained on the back label, it’s a simple formula, but effective and recognisable.

The Dead Arm is 100% Shiraz. Bloody and opaque in the glass, the smell alone with make your jaw ache with the expectation of strong tannin and high alcohol. The palate is rich, powerful and spicy, and the subsequent chewy tannin and alcohol burn let us know this wine has another 5, 10, 20 years to mature. Straight out of the bottle it was too bellicose to really enjoy, but over the evening, as it took time to relax in the decanter, it’s smooth fruity characters came to the fore. Delicious and flavoursome, but it’s just getting started and has many great years ahead of it. Hopefully, a bit like Grogger.

Bought from Misha’s Fine Wines, Oxford Street for $75.00.

Maybe a lifestyle of sex and drugs can only be sustained so long until the desire to curl up with a Downton Abbey and a glass of merlot takes over.

Since coming across of bottle of AC/DC shiraz in our local Woolworths, it seems as though everyone’s at it. So here’s a roundup of some of the more famous music-inspired wine.

First up, AC/DC’s range of Australian wines, including Back in Black Shiraz, Highway to Hell Cabernet Sauvignon and You Shook Me All Night Long Moscato. 

Next, Lemmy gives his bottle o’Jack a break to indulge in some hardcore Mötorhead shiraz.

And finally, Wines That Rock produce wines that are inspired by classic bands and albums, and featuring classic band artwork. As their website says:

When was the last time you saw a wine label and said “WOW” or even better the last time you looked at a wine label and music started playing in your head…Wines That Rock is not your typical wine experience and these are not your typical wine labels.

We had a thorough look on their website and nowhere can we find any kind of permission from or acknowledgement of the original artwork or artists. Risky business?