Re:A little OT was Your best Stelvin suggestions, please

Whilst there are more & more wines going into Stelvin it can be hard to find older ones, it does happen though. In late 2002 I went to Brown Brothers winery in the King Valley Central Victoria where a friend of mine had taken a position as Food & Beverage Manager (Restaurant & Cellar Door) I'd been there before and enjoyed their fairly extensive range, this time however I had the good fortune & right connections to sample a bottle of 1977 Spatlese Lexia that had been sealed under Stelvin and stored in the Family Cellar. (3 dozen of every wine, every vintage goes into the family cellar and it is a very impressive sight) We tasted the '77 alongside the '02, these wines were made in exactly the same way from pretty much the same parcel of grapes. Well what an unbeleivable difference, the '02 was overly sweet, one dimensional trailer trash wine. The '77, with no addition but old father time and a perfect seal, was rich & complex, honeyed mint and toasty caramel with a magnificent lingering finish and wonderful fresh vibrancy. This was a "Stelvin Epiphany" for me, far from being a cheap seal for cheap wine it suddenly became by far the best seal for all those semillons & reislings I love with 5 to 10 years or more on them. I buy a couple of dozen premium Oz reisling every year ($20 -$30) for ageing and I now look exclusively for Stelvins. Love that closure. Andrew