News » hoffmann family vineyards
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Newsletter #1 (Nov 2025)
Hello.
As I've said before it's been a while 'between drinks', as least as far as newsletters and email comms are concerned. I have a decent excuse however - we've been busy with real-world stuff like selling the Smith Street site and taking over the 'Grape and Hop' neighbourhood bar in Montmorency in Melbourne's north east (near Eltham).
The bar has an incredibly strong local following and we've had much success introducing craft via 5 rotating tap options) and introduce nearly 100 packaged beer options. We've given the wine a fair shake-up as well with the additional of 150+ high quality wines to the bottle list. There are plenty of superstars on the shelves (Rockford, Bindi, Mosswood, Koomilya, Fighting Gully, Blue Poles, Yeringberg etc etc) and we are pretty confident we have the most expansive and exciting list in Melbourne's north east.
On the digital side of things we have given this site a facelift and broadened the reach to include quality small wineries and some emphasis on Old & Rare. Our other wine e-com venture, Slow Beer & Wine, will continue to focus on both quality wine and beer, most of which is from small producers.
Ok - down to business........
New Stuff - we are just a little bit chuffed to be one of very few retailers across the country for Hoffmann Family (Barossa Valley) and Domaine Razal (Macedon Ranges). Both possess a great and storied history; I'm sure references to 'Dallwitz Block' and 'Virgin Hills' will catch the eye of any true wine geek.
Wine on Sale - some excellent bargains to be had here from some big name high end red wines.....think Grant Burge, Hewitson, Passing Clouds and Dave Powell's newish gig Neldner Road. Some of these are running at 50% (at least) off the cellar door price!
Bindi / Dhillon - we have finally got our act together and moved a bit quicker on securing a Bindi allocation this year. The wines under the proprietory label are as rare as hens teeth and for most wines we have an allocation of no more than 2 or 4 bottles! (seriously!!). The regional range (Dhillon) is a much different story and we have good stocks on most. Shout out for the 2025 Rose (dry, loads of textural mouthfeel) and the super simple and effective Merlot blend the 'Accidental Red''. Might even be able to take a chill but we haven't tried this approach yet.
See you in the bar sometime!