Kat’s ‘bang-for-buck’ faith is restored in the boxed wine genre as Mike sets her on a blind taste between the bottle, bagnum and box.

Bottle: Forester Estate Lifestyle Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc 2024. Western Australia (Margaret River)

Bagnum: St Hallett Faith Shiraz 2025. South Australia (Barossa)

Cask/box wine: Willow Brook Soft Dry Red. Australia

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We take Mike back to his early Uni days and uncork the boxed wine phenomenon…Today we sip on three whites, challenge our preconceptions and unpack some pros and cons of wine in a cask or ‘bagnum’.

Bottle: Xanadu Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (SBS) 2023. Western Australia (Margaret River)

Bagnum 1.5 Litre: Once + Well Frankie’s Garden Chardonnay 2025. Western Australia (Margaret River)

Box/cask Wine 5 Litre: Willow Brook Fresh Dry White. Australia

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Mike and Kat discuss the basics in Chardonnay and crack open 3 different styles: unwooded, wooded, and buttery . Can Kat find a Chardy that will convert her from “Nah” to “Yeah”?!

Goundrey Homestead: Unwooded Chardonnay 2024. (Mt Barker) Western Australia

Krandorf Winemakers: Wooded Chardonnay 2025. (Barossa) South Australia

Franklin Tate Estate: Buttery Chardonnay 2024. (Margaret River) Western Australia

Poco Vino: Chardonnay (187mls). Victoria

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We continue on from last weeks episode… making the most of enjoying our very first guest Mark Forrest from the Great Southern Wine Producers Association. We taste what the Great Southern of Western Australia has to offer and compare to other regions:

Gold Turtle: Riesling 2025. Western Australia

Kirri Hill: Riesling 2025. South Australia

Grant Burge: Shiraz (Barossa Ink) 2025. South Australia

Omrah: Shiraz 2020. Western Australia

Alkoomi: Cabernet Sauvignon 2017. Western Australia

St Hugo: Cabernet Sauvignon (Coonawarra) 2021. South Australia

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Mark Forrest, the Executive Officer for Great Southern Wine Producers Association joins us as our very first guest! We discuss the sub regions (Albany, Mt Barker, Denmark, Franklin River and Porongorups), and why this somewhat underrated region is unique for grape growing and wine making.

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Mike takes us back to where his wine journey began.

We taste wine aged 17 years apart and what that means for taste and cellaring:

Plantagenet Wines: Three Lions Riesling 2025. Western Australia

Plantagenet Wines: Riesling 2008. Western Australia

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This episode Mike gives a basic overview of white wine. We taste 3 different whites under $15 to see if we really can get bang for buck- we find a good deal and make some silly faces and sounds along the way.

Secret Stone: Sauvignon Blanc 2025. Malborough NZ

West Cape Howe: (SSB) Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2025. Western Australia

Annie's Lane: Riesling 2025. South Australia

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Mike gets back to basics with ‘what is a red wine’ and some quick tasting tips.

We taste three reds under $15 to see if we really can get bang for buck, with a very encouraging result:

Taylors: Discoveries Shiraz 2021. South Australia

Ferngrove: Cabernet Merlot 2023. Western Australia

Houghtons: Classic Red (Cabernet, Shiraz & Merlot). Western Australia

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Welcome to Just Love Wine! Where long-time friends Mike (wine enthusiast) & Kat (keen novice) get together, discuss, taste and strip back the BS to ensure you too just love wine.

Find out what wine means to us and where our journeys into wine began, and today Kat brings in a bottle that started her journey as a young 20-something year old.

Wine tasted: Brown Brothers Cienna (chilled), Victoria, Australia

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justlovewine.substack.com