3 Day Wine Test
An introduction to Tungsten from Director and founder, Craig Frawley (BApSc Winemaking (Distinction), BPharm, MEI, MPS).
The Tungsten Club was established in 2006, quite simply because
Craig didn’t feel that any wine club in Australia delivered a properly
tailored approach. As a winemaker, Craig understands that every
palate is different, and he has spent 5 years perfecting a palate
profile and quality selection process which will save you time and
money.
“You will notice we don’t just sell wine on this website. Why would I want
to sell you a wine you may not like just because I liked it? Once I unlock
your palate, I will provide you with a tailored solution which (i) passes our
rigorous quality standards and (ii) is tailored to you”.
“Since I started Tungsten, I have learnt after dealing with wine lovers
that most people have great palates. They really do. However, those same
people feel intimidated by the massive ranges of wine in chain stores and
by wine-speak or industry terminology. They do definitely however know
what they like and don’t like, so once you unlock the essence or code to
someone’s palate, make them understand that their palate is unique and
that it’s natural to not like wines that other people like, that their wine
enjoyment goes through the roof. This realisation and on-going education
empowers people to begin a life long journey to discover and enjoy wine”.
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“The use of a 30 second swill in isolation to taste and rate a wine, is one of the great ‘mis-truths’ of the wine industry. Let me explain. At any major wine show in Australia, there is always a 2 tier process to judging a wine. Firstly, in any particular class of wine style, wine judges will trawl through literally hundreds of wines using a quick ‘30 second swill’. Those wines are initially rated using a 20 point system. But then, the next day, any wine which received a Silver medal rating or higher (17 points out of 20 or more), is then rejudged more closely to determine if indeed the initial rating is accurate but to carefully confer gold medal or trophy status on the best wine(s). This is a great strength of the wine show process. The point here is that to truly determine (i) the quality of a wine but also (ii) gain an idea of it’s cellaring potential, you cannot simply observe a wine for 30 seconds. To accurately assess it’s suitability for cellaring takes repeated observation over days.”
Firstly, like in the wine shows, we exclude the wines which will not make the quality cut we are looking for (i.e Gold Medal standard or higher). Since our formation in 2005, we have regularly held selection tastings and rejected every wine on the table;
Then, we watch the wines which pass the original review and monitor them regularly for 3 days after opening - this uncontrolled oxidation mimicking the controlled oxidation (aging) which will occur in the bottle over decades. This process is absolutely vital to ensure (a) that our initial qualitative assessment is correct and (b) to ensure that what tastes great today will continue to develop and provide enjoyment for years to come. Quite often, wines will fall over after a day, however Tungsten quality wines will keep singing for 2-3 days after opening as a sign of their structure, quality and potential.