The supermarket wine shops and those attached to the pubs have a limited and pretty much a run of the mill range.
So we usually source our wine during our trips away or order it on line from specific wineries or specialist wine shops.
One of the latter is Dan Murphy's.
They belong to the Woolworths chain of supermarkets and have a huge selection from around the world at very competitive prices.
Their shops are a pleasure to browse through.
Founded by Daniel Francis Murphy, son of a wine merchant in 1952, there are now over 140 stores Australia wide and are known affectionately by wine people as "Dan the Man".
The nearest stores to us were a few hours drive away, either in Canberra or Wollongong, so we relied on their on line service which, for the most, was reliable and quick.
But I like to browse physically not virtually.
Woolworths applied for a Dan Murphy's licence in Nowra an hour's drive north of us.
There were plenty of objections from the local community who didn't want another source of cheap liquor in the town and from the established liquor retailers who were afraid their businesses would come under pressure from this aggressive competitor. This from a town of 35,000 who will soon have three McDonalds outlets!
The approval was held up for some years but eventually granted under some strict conditions.
Work started on the stand alone store early this year.
And now it is open!!!!!
We stopped by on our way home from Sydney on Monday.
WOW!
An oenophile heaven.
Now I know how the co driver feels in a quilt shop. And here she has to wait for me rather than the other way around.
I bought a selection of Pinot Noir (Australian and New Zealand) in my on going quest to find the best under $20 (there are 86 in this category at Murphy's) as well as some unkown Rioja reds of various classification (Rioja, Crianza, Reserva).
The results of these purchases will eventually turn up on "Our 2015 Wine List" on the blog side bar.
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