NM, although I agree with
number_6 about the prestige of Australian shiraz, if your guys knows his stuff, and it sounds as if he may, then stick with the Cabernet.
BNE retail wineshops that will come up with the goods:
Vintage Cellars and
The Grape. Both are staffed by wonderfully helpful people with good wine knowledge, both in various locations around BNE. Again, tried and tested!
Most of the wines mentioned have the requisite pre-bottling time in oak, the advantage of scaring up a back vintage is that it really is almost a sin to drink a very good Cab now, i.e. for the more premium reds, even late '90s is still young.
If you're going Cab, I'm always biased towards Coonawarra. Margaret River is doing good stuff as previusly mentioned, but it can be harder to come by and a bit $ey. There are labels there that I love, but they'll be a bit more difficult to find on short notice.
The Cyril Henschke is superb, perhaps look for a '92 or '96? I often see '94 Wynns John Riddoch around in BNE - it's a good wine that seems to have lost some popularity, but from the venerable (big word for
QF WP) old label Wynns, still has plenty of cache. (Gee, just saw that Vinatge cellars has an '86 Riddoch by request for $100 - now that would be worth a phone call.) Penfold's 707 is always a given. Bowen Estate is another respectable Coonawarra cab along with others like Balnaves, Brands, Majella, Zema etc. Of these, we like the Zema, which has a premium reserve version that is easily found around the place for under $50.
Hope that helps! Now, back to work (oh, the temptations of working from home).
PS.
QF WP, cellaring some fine MR reds, hope they are well nurtured in BNE's rotten climate (for wine, that is). Those '92s should have a bit of bottle time left, no? I'll hope for your sake that '03 is a good vintage year for your favourite reds - nothing like stocking up on good wines from your wedding year to enjoy at leisure over the following 10, 20, 30 years! We're in the midst of collecting 2000's on release for just that reason... a relatively harmless hobby that is still affordable when you don't yet have kids!
[edited to add -
NM, The Grape also has a very respectable range of single malts - I seem to recall that you are a premium blend fan, but perhaps there are single malts with your name on them waiting to be found.
DrD enjoys browsing there at leisure so that he can plan what to pick up in his lightening raids on duty free on the way through - yes, we collect wine and whisky. Again, the not having kids yet thing...
[This message has been edited by MrsDrD (edited 04-08-2003).]