Elderton Vertical Wine Dinner at New Ubin Seafood Singapore

Elderton Vertical Wine Dinner at New Ubin Seafood Singapore

I recently attended another of Wine Exchange Asia’s great dinners, this one was the Elderton Vertical Wine Dinner at New Ubin Seafood Singapore.

Elderton Wines are one of my favourite wineries, the winery is in Nurioopta within the Barossa Valley, South Australia. The vineyard was originally planted in 1894 by the Scholz family from Germany. In 1916, the vineyard was purchased by Samuel Elderton Tolley whose family held onto the property until 1975 when they sold it to the Ashmeads, Lorraine and Neil. For the next 7 years they worked to restore the vineyard and started to produce wines in 1982. These days the winery is run by their sons, Cameron and Allister.

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Monthly Wine Writing Challenge 19 – Choice

Monthly Wine Writing Challenge 19 – Choice

Hi, this is my first submission in the MWWC. Monthly Wine Writing Challenge 19 – Choice.  #MWWC19

Monthly Wine Writing Challenge 19 - Choice

Spoilt for Choice

Is being spoilt for “Choice” always a good thing?

Over the past few decades the increase of trade between countries and lowering of tariffs has meant an increase in the selection of wines available for consumption to a greater range than previously available. One of the benefits of this globalisation is being able to purchase a decent bottle of wine at an acceptable price in most places around the World, thankfully, including Singapore, is now possible.

 

This is great today, but is being spoilt for choice a good thing or will it create an issue in the future, could it lead to the decline in the availability of wines that are produced by smaller, artisinal producers?

Monthly Wine Writing Challenge 19 - Choice

Prior to globalisation and the advent of the internet, I was lucky enough to be living in Adelaide, South Australia, when I started my journey into the world of wine. Adelaide is in the middle of a number of Australian wine regions, where there are over 200 wineries within 2.5 hours driving, so I should have been able to find and taste wines crafted by some of the smaller producers from the nearby regions, but, unfortunately, this was not usually the case.

Monthly Wine Writing Challenge 19 - Choice

As the smaller wineries did not have the volume needed by the various distributors their wines were not often available anywhere other than at the cellar door. So a road trip was required, which is not a bad thing as long as you could find a designated driver and hope that someone in the party knew where to find the smaller, usually “hidden”, wineries or that you would take a wrong turn somewhere and find one, the latter was usually the way we found them, it was also the most fun.

Monthly Wine Writing Challenge 19 - Choice

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SG50 National Day

SG50 National Day

SG50 National Day, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Republic of Singapore. Singapore’s National Day is 09 August.

SG50 Logo

As I had no chance to get into the Padang, where the official celebration was being held, I jumped at the chance to spend the night with friends at a bar in Marina Bay where we would have a prime location to watch the fireworks display and the fly-pasts / aerial displays. My comments about the bar are fairly negative, so I won’t mention the place, but it was one of the best locations to be to view  the fireworks and aerial show.

SG50 National Day

 

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SG50 National Day Parade Practice Part 2

SG50 National Day Parade Practice Part 2

SG50 National Day Parade Practice Part 2 contains photos that I took of the vehicles that took part in the Singapore National Day Parade. 177 vehicles took part in the parade, a very impressive array of vehicles and fire power, especially considering that a large number of the vehicles and weapons were developed and made locally in Singapore.

SG50 Logo

We were able to get up pretty close to all of the vehicles and take as many photos as we wanted, doubtful that most countries would allow the public to get as close or to take photos of their newest equipment, especially a brand new stealth boat, drones, underwater surveillance vehicles and even get up close to a battery of HAWK (Homing All the Way Killer) surface to air missiles.

SG50 National Day Parade Practice Part 2

Most of the troops seemed to be enjoying themselves, the only people who were not were the marshals who kept reminding us to get off the road or out of the way, can’t fault them as they were only doing their job to make sure we were not involved in an accident.

SG50 National Day Parade Practice Part 2

Even macho soldiers have to make sure that they are ready for the camera!

SG50 National Day Parade Practice Part 2

The vehicles in the parade were from all of the various branches of the Singapore Armed Forces including the Singapore Army, Republic of Singapore Navy and Republic of Singapore Air Force, as well as a Singapore Civil Defence Force contingent.

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SG50 National Day Practice – Flypasts

SG50 National Day Practice – Flypasts

In addition to the SG50 Parade, there is also an Aerial Flypast put on by the Republic of Singapore Air Force. This post is a collection of the photos I took from the roof of my apartment block of the SG50 National Day Practice – Flypasts.

SG50 Logo

The view of the Padang from the roof-top of my apartment block. The Padang is where the formal SG50 festivities were held. This is a temporary setup, the Padang is usually cricket and soccer pitches.

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SG50 National Day Practice - Flypasts

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SG50 National Day Aerobatic Display

SG50 National Day Aerobatic Display

As a part of the Singapore 50th National Day Celebration weekend the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s Black Nights put on an aerobatic display, the SG50 National Day Aerobatic Display, on both 08 August 2015 and on Singapore’s National Day 09 August 2015.

SG50 Logo

The Black Knights are the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s Aerobatics Team. They 6 members of the team fly F-16c Fighting Falcons. The show happened right out the front of my apartment over the Marina Bay Barrage, so I had a pretty good view, just wish that the skies had been clearer, it was overcast on both days.

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When Singapore puts on a show they don’t hold back. This was one of the best aerobatic displays I have seen! Great job Black Knights.

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