Dan Murphy's and Other Wine Deals

[blackcat20]

Another good reason as to why one should live in a civilised location - ordered from Dan's yesterday at 10:58 yesterday and delivered at 10:20 this morn:

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Thanks blackcat20 for alerting me to this - 2008 at ~$22.00 makes it well worth the sugar IMHO.

Yet Im still waiting for mine...

 

[redbigot]

What, the corked muck?

Oh dear no, I don't buy much under cork these days, it's the over-acidified high-pointed swill that would be offered, handy as drain cleaner if you can't drink it.

BTW, Dan's have Piper Heidseick NV Champagne down to $35.10 at present https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_25454/piper-heidsieck-brut-champagne
Tried this last night in a blind set with Taittinger, Pol Roger and Billecart Salmon NV and I (and a group of 20+) preferred the Piper, showing good aromas and flavours, touch of yeast, complex and long compared to the others. Billecart dead last, disjointed and hard.

 

[blackcat20]

Oh dear no, I don't buy much under cork these days, it's the over-acidified high-pointed swill that would be offered, handy as drain cleaner if you can't drink it.

BTW, Dan's have Piper Heidseick NV Champagne down to $35.10 at present https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_25454/piper-heidsieck-brut-champagne
Tried this last night in a blind set with Taittinger, Pol Roger and Billecart Salmon NV and I (and a group of 20+) preferred the Piper, showing good aromas and flavours, touch of yeast, complex and long compared to the others. Billecart dead last, disjointed and hard.

Interesting; I'm not a fan of Billiecart either which most people seem to think is odd...

 

[burmans]

Oh dear no, I don't buy much under cork these days, it's the over-acidified high-pointed swill that would be offered, handy as drain cleaner if you can't drink it.

BTW, Dan's have Piper Heidseick NV Champagne down to $35.10 at present https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_25454/piper-heidsieck-brut-champagne
Tried this last night in a blind set with Taittinger, Pol Roger and Billecart Salmon NV and I (and a group of 20+) preferred the Piper, showing good aromas and flavours, touch of yeast, complex and long compared to the others. Billecart dead last, disjointed and hard.

Hm, that is a good deal, particularly when you use the usual methods to know another 10% or so off.

 

[diningdecadence]

Tried this last night in a blind set.

would you mind sharing how you do this? we tried last year, but had way too many bottles (13+), and too much food. do you do the water crackers and alfoil/ brown paper bag, or do you have someone not participating pre-pour and bring to a table?

 

[redbigot]

would you mind sharing how you do this? we tried last year, but had way too many bottles (13+), and too much food. do you do the water crackers and alfoil/ brown paper bag, or do you have someone not participating pre-pour and bring to a table?

This group meets once per month, there are 3 sets of four wines over 2 hours or so and then pizzas, 20+ people, so 2 bottles of each wine.
I have a regular Monday weekly group that number 10-18 attendees, we do 6 bottles with cheese and biscuits. I have a set of 6 number neoprene bottle covers with zips to mask the bottles.

This is in the Members section of my site, but what the heck, there's nothing secret about it. I think it may be useful to you.

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[TD]RB's Suggestions for Organising and Running a Wine Tasting Group
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[TD]One thing I have learned over the years is that every tasting group is different. I'll try to describe the key things I think are relevant. [/TD]
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1. Who supplies the wine - there are two basic models - each member takes a turn or one-two people do most of the wine selection with other volunteers selecting the wines when they have a good idea. It depends on the group composition, but I find the the best result when one-two key people do the wine selection, with occasional guest selections from within the group. This avoids the situation such as where a member rushes into Dan Murphy or 1stChoice at the last moment and takes what the first staff member suggests.
2. Time of day, length of tasting, number of wines + nibbles/food. This depends on what suits the group. If it's a brief (1-1.5 hours) then you can only do 6-8 wines. A couple of my groups are like this, meeting just after work, doing 6 wines in a bracket and have bread/cheese/biscuits for nibbles.. A subset of one group (6-8 people) go out to dinner after the tasting and take the remaining wine to drink with the meal. If you want to make it more of a monthly event, then I go to one group that runs for about 2.5 hours, with 3 flights of 4 wines (usually 1 white flight, 2 reds), bread and cheese nibbles, then pizza before voting on the third bracket. Also one 750 ml bottle will only serve about 15 people, depending on whether you can control the size of the serves and whether re-pours are wanted. For small single pours of expensive wines you can go up to 20 people if you can regulate pour size.
3. Drinkers vs Tasters - Some people don't immediately get the concept of tasting rather than drinking and pour excessive amounts of wine into their glass. Remember 6 x 50ml pours is 300 ml of wine, or 3 drinks or more depending on the a/v of the wines. In an hour with only a small amount of food that can be close to or even over the legal limit. Larger pours will almost certainly put some people over the legal driving limit. The organiser should work out the appropriate way and time to discuss the appropriate size of pours with such people and of course it should be clearly explained/discussed when setting up the group or introducing new members. Some of the worst offenders are those who aren't driving and think they can tuck in, or when a member brings a friend on a one-off basis without explaining things to them.
4. Driving afterwards / Spittoons - With small pours for the tastings as described above most people will be under the .05 limit. I've been breathalysed a few times after my Monday tasting and when they would tell me the result it was .03. I have a personal breathalyser and use it if in doubt. Some people bring plastic cups/containers as personal spittoons just to be sure and I've started doing that at the monthly tasting as I've had to sit in the car for a while afterwards a couple of times when blowing just over the limit on my breathalyser.
5. Price - again depends on the group members, my groups range from $15/head to $20/head for the shorter tastings, to $50/head for the longer tasting, including the pizza. Try not to make it too cheap or you'll be struggling to taste decent wines.
6. Old vs new releases - if members have cellars you can periodically do flights of older reds or verticals of a particular wine. I usually charge at/close to my cost price for wines from my cellar. Much of the time it's just a good way to try current/new release wines that are possible buys though.
7. Venue - you need enough room for people to comfortably set out 6 tasting glasses and a tasting sheet to record notes/impressions etc. One group used to meet in a Government dept social room (weekly for 20+ years until they moved and woke up to what we were doing and that only one member still worked for them), one at a private residence, the big one is at the offices (conference/training room) of an IT company, mostly IT people in attendance. The weekly tasting group (12 to 18 attendees) now meets in a Thai restaurant. We are allowed to use the venue free, but about 8 people usually stay for dinner there and leave a generous tip, we've known the chef/owners for many years, other restaurants may not be so accommodating.
8. Providing Tasting Notes - It can be hard to gather tasting notes for all the wines in a bracket, especially if they are new releases. Also, if you have tasting notes from various sources that can be confusing. In many case where tasting notes are supplied, we struggle to match them to the wines at hand.
9. Voting/ranking - I have a 1-page document template for listing the wines (tasted single blind) and recording scores/votes. I also have an Excel workbook that I use on my tablet to record rankings and compute a group ranking. I'm happy to send you either/both, but they only cater for up to 6 wines. My big group just votes best/worst in each wine in a bracket of four and subtracts the two to get a ranking.
10. Masking the wines - some people are pretty cluey as to bottle shape/colour, so you may need to decant into other bottles or decanters or simply wrap the bottles in two sheets of paper or buy a set of those neoprene zip-up bottle covers. Screwcaps often have logos, so you have to cover/remove those or decant.
11. Guessing the wines/prizes. After voting we usually try to match the masked wines to the list. One of my groups has a "golden cork" prize that is given to the person who picks most wines right in a bracket. That person has to guess first in the next bracket, so it rotates reasonably quickly. The coordinator of this group also usually supplies printed tasting notes for all the wines.
12. Dinner tastings - My weekly and fortnightly groups go out to dinner together 3-4 times a year (as well some of the Monday group eat good Thai food together most weeks). For these, either each person brings a bottle or in some case I provide all the wines from my cellar, again at/close to purchase prices, so this is quite popular with those that don't keep cellars.
13. Spouses/partners may or may not be a problem if they occasionally attend tastings or at dinners, just make sure you charge full price for all tasters (discounts for designated drivers), even if they share pours and watch out for excessive perfume/after shave...

The Monday tasting group I attend has been meeting most weeks for just on 40 years, although none of the original members are still there, I've been attending regularly with a few brief gaps for about 38 years. The fortnightly group has been running for about 20 years and the monthly one for about 30 years in the current format but goes back before that in other guises..
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[Kohen]

Hm, that is a good deal, particularly when you use the usual methods to know another 10% or so off.

Havent tried this yet - is there a thread on how this works @ Dan"s ? Thanks

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Havent tried this yet - is there a thread on how this works @ Dan"s ? Thanks

Buy giftcards at 5% off (www.cashrewards.com.au, or if you're a member of NRMA or other partners). You can also get them at 10% off if you follow GroupOn or some of those other group buying sites.
Then use www.cashrewards.com.au or one of the other cash back sites to get another 7%+ cash back

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Buy giftcards at 5% off (www.cashrewards.com.au, or if you're a member of NRMA or other partners). You can also get them at 10% off if you follow GroupOn or some of those other group buying sites.
Then use www.cashrewards.com.au or one of the other cash back sites to get another 7%+ cash back

Pretty accurate except minor clarification on CR - Dan's rebate has varying levels?

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Yeah, but I thought we were talking about wine, which is 7%. Champers, should have mentioned is 3.5%. Other cashback providers have diffferent levels...

 

[Mr_Orange]

Havent tried this yet - is there a thread on how this works @ Dan"s ? Thanks

5% discounted WISH gift card from Ent Book or RACQ (or similar approved) combined with a click and collect online order using a cashback site.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yeah, but I thought we were talking about wine, which is 7%. Champers, should have mentioned is 3.5%. Other cashback providers have diffferent levels...

I wasn't trying to be a smart cough it's just some people will see you post 7% and expect that to be across the board - I had one member send me a terse pm exactly on this point couple years back.

 

[andye]

Havent tried this yet - is there a thread on how this works @ Dan"s ? Thanks

The basic version is a cashback site (pricepal, cashrewards) and a discounted WISH card ( I get mine via Entertainment Book)

Edit: sorry started writing and was distracted by work so missed intervening posts

 

[AnonymousCoward]

I wasn't trying to be a smart cough it's just some people will see you post 7% and expect that to be across the board - I had one member send me a terse pm exactly on this point couple years back.

Wow, seriously? They didn't do their own due diligence, and got 3.5% back instead of 7%? Or they just sent you a PM because they thought you were being misleading? Either way, it's still a bit of a "wow" to me.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yes exactly what did happen - I posted I got 7% rebate from CR - forgot to mention it was wine - amusing and abrupt pm 2 days later stating I misrepresented CR for Dan's.

 

[burmans]

Yes exactly what did happen - I posted I got 7% rebate from CR - forgot to mention it was wine - amusing and abrupt pm 2 days later stating I misrepresented CR for Dan's.

There have from time to time been a fair few people who expect you to do all the work for them with little or no thanks, yet severe criticism when they aren't happy when you don't do the job in the way they think you should.

Personally don't have a lot of time for these sorts, so if you get a PM like this am more than prepared to tell them to get off their lazy cough and do their own research.

PS. Have actually found the cashback sites get it wrong more than occasionally, I have in the past got 7% more than once on champagne purchase.

 

[Kohen]

Cheers - RAA in SA gives you 5% discount so easy, appreciate the help!

 

[blackcat20]

Different programs have different cashback amounts; we get 8.25% for wine.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Different programs have different cashback amounts; we get 8.25% for wine.

Yes but that is not open to the general public is it? Cash Rewards is - and at 7% for wine it is the best I am aware of that any Johnny off the street can subscribe to. Is there a better cash back portal for all and sundry that I am unaware of?

 

[blackcat20]

Yes but that is not open to the general public is it? Cash Rewards is - and at 7% for wine it is the best I am aware of that any Johnny off the street can subscribe to. Is there a better cash back portal for all and sundry that I am unaware of?

No; its through Smart Salary/Smart Discounts which is for companies that salary package through them.