Following the launch of an office and retail internet site in California, Naked Wines have opened an office in Australia. As is their want they sent five of their top UK customers – Naked Angels – to view the operation and check out the wines, with a view to listing those, the Angels found particularly toothsome, back in the UK. Along with ‘The Five’ went a national newspaper journalist. Plus me.

The days spent with the Naked Wines Oz team were a whirlwind of tastings, unforgettable trips, fabulous meals and superb wines – whale watching in the Pacific, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, an extraordinarily good barbeque, a chance to sample a vintage of Penfolds Grange, a superb meal near the Home and Away beach, the first try-out of a Sparkling Shiraz for the Angels on the hotel balcony late at night… and discovering so many wines and producers simply not seen in the UK; overall a most fantastic sampling of Australia. All this while the team handled a press launch tasting, site glitches, and all the other issues that launching a new internet retailer involves. So hats off to the team for giving us such a fantastic time AND getting Naked Wines Australia up and running.

One delight was meeting with wine producers picked by Naked Wines Australia to spearhead their launch. Sam Plunkett and his wife were a delight and their delightfully packaged Butterfly Effect range were excellent value and available from the Naked UK arm already, although as a limited parcel under the MarketPlace banner so you have to be quick (The wines are due to land on these shores in November).

The effervescent husband and wife team of Adrian and Rebecca Santolin with the superbly packaged Boy Meets Girl range were surprisingly cheap. The Semillon-Sauvignon is available in Australia but it was the Pinot Grigio, an Alsace-Italian hybrid style, which really impressed. The wines are sure to be listed in the UK but not until next year…

The days spent in and around Manly were filled with great wines, local beers, cocktails, the best seafood I’ve sampled for an age and, as already stated, plenty of superb wines; wines that really reawakened an interest in what Australia is producing (outside of the ubiquitous brands we see in the UK). A mention should also be made of New Zealand – several delicious Pinot Gris and Pinot Noirs were also slurped! Special mention should be made to the Greywacke Wild Ferment Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough… ‘yummo’, to use the local parlance.

Pictured below are a mix of photos highlighting the Naked Wine Angels, some of the wines sampled, the wine makers met, and Luke Jakes, head of Naked Wines Australia sporting a gift of an England shirt and a packet of Walkers Crisps… why the latter I’m unsure. Plenty more photographs of the trip are up on Flickr while Helen, the journo, has also saved a batch for your delight!

Special mention should also be given to ‘Maureen’ who added much hilarity to the trip!.