Monthly Archives: March 2012

Clonakilla O’Riada Shiraz 2009

Tim Kirk from Clonakilla is one of the better Australian winemakers (just a slight understatement). Clonikilla flagship Shiraz is rightly considered one of the best Australian wines, but at $100 a bottle is a little outside my budget. Last year I saw a new wine from Clonikilla – the O’Riada Shiraz at $35. The second wines of great winemakers in good years are normally bargains and this wine was the perfect example of this theory. The 2009 vintage is everything you could wish for at this price and is better than most wines I have had that cost more than twice the price. I was only able to grab 3 bottles and Dan Murphys were not able to get any more in for me (unfortunately the 2010 is not anywhere near as good). I had my last bottle tonight with roast rib eye and it was perfect – smooth, powerful and in harmony with the meal. Now if only I could get more :(

O'Riada

Cost: $35
Value: >$70

New iPad

On a bit of a impulse I decided to try my luck getting a new iPad at BigW on Friday morning (I was driving past around the time they open). While there were quite a few apple desperadoes ahead of me in the queue (I was last in line), I thought it might be worth the wait. Luckily they still had the model I wanted (32G wifi black) by the time they got down to me so I bought it.

I didn’t get much chance to play with it yesterday (work), but I have had a bit of a chance today. I already have the version 1 iPad. I can say the only important difference between the two is the screen. While this might not seem that important the new screen is immaculate – so much that it makes the old iPad seem like something out of the 80s. I can’t stress enough how much better the new screen is than the old. If like me you use your iPad mostly to read then the new iPad is not just an incremental upgrade, it is revolutionary. It is a shame that Steve didn’t live to see it released as I am sure this is what he always had in mind what the iPad should be – maybe Apple’s stock will reach $700 yet.