Continuing our Australian theme for the month, our October prize is a must-have for all lovers of wine from the land Down Under.

James Halliday is the authority on Australian wine with an unparalleled knowledge of the industry gained over 40 years making, tasting, judging and writing about wine. His Australian Wine Companion has become the indispensible handbook for professional and amateur enthusiasts for this increasingly diverse and ever-more exciting country.

The 2011 edition is just out, with a staggering 1,487 winery reviews, ratings on over 6,000 wines and a whole lot more on the regions, vintages and information for visitors.

We’ve one copy to give away along with two bottles from one of Halliday’s top-rated 5 red star wineries, including a 93-pointer!

To enter, all you need to do is answer this simple question:

Langmeil’s Freedom Shiraz is produced from what are believed to be the world’s oldest surviving Shiraz vines, in the Freedom vineyard, Barossa Valley. In what year were these vines planted?

Simply leave your answer along with your name in the comments below and you’re in the draw. Just remember to leave us your email address when you’re leaving your comment – email addresses will not be displayed publicly and will not be used for anything other than contacting you if you win.

One lucky winner will be pulled from the hat from all entries here and on our Facebook page where you can also leave your answer. Best of luck!

Congratulations to Jonathan Flack, winner of our September Indian Summer Chillin’ contest. A super snazzy wine cooler and two bottles of Muddy Water’s finest are on their way to you, Jonathan.

With the fair weather set to continue, we’re crossing our fingers for an Indian summer to counter the back-to-school blues and prolong the holiday hoopla. Don’t pack that picnic basket away in the loft just yet, as we’ve a super snazzy, ultra-handy picnic wine chiller to give away in September’s prize draw.

Complete with insulated twin-bottle storage, glasses, napkins, corkscrew, stopper and side-pockets galore, this is one for that boozy summer lunch on the beach or in the local park. And to help you on your way, we’ve two bottles from one of New Zealand’s coolest wineries to fill it – a silky, dreamy Sauvignon Blanc and the brand new, decadently scrumptious Deliverance red from Muddy Water. (The banjo’s optional.)

How to Enter: All you have to do to get in the draw is ‘friend us up’ on our Facebook page. We’ll draw one lucky winner at random in September from all our fans and post it here and on Facebook.

Last month, we had a hand-crafted New Zealand theme, with a beautiful Rimu cheese board and two bottles from Nelson’s Greenhough estate up for grabs. Congratulations to Joe Burke, drawn at random from our Facebook friends this morning, to win our August contest. Rimu board (it really *is* beautiful!) and two bottles on their way to you Joe.

Celebrating our best ever deals on New Zealand wine this month, we’re giving away a beautiful, handcrafted Rimu cheese board, along with two bottles of our favourite handcrafted wines from Andrew Greenhough, who kindly contributed to the blog last week.

Rimu is one of New Zealand’s tallest indigenous trees, growing to over 50 metres and reaching an age of 700-800 years at maturity. This piece comes from salvaged logs which sank to the bottom of Lake Brunner, on the South Island’s west coast, around 100 years ago, and preserved by the cool temperatures of the deep lake. After delicate drying, woodturner Peter Allnutt has skillfully turned this beautiful raw material into a real work of art for the dining table.

We’ll deliver the board plus the bottles of Greenhough Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir to one lucky winner pulled from the hat in August’s prize draw.

How to Enter: All you have to do to get in the draw is ‘friend us up’ on our Facebook page. We’ll draw one lucky winner at random in August from all our fans and post it here and on Facebook.

Last month, we were giving away two Luckeboxes, a New World Wine Box and a Box 4 Cooks, to celebrate our partnership with the innovative new shopping website. Congratulations to Ewan Elmer and Andrew Wilson, drawn at random from our Facebook friends this morning, to win our July contest. Luckeboxes on the way to you guys, hope you enjoy (we’ll keep you guessing as to which one you’ve won!).

You may have noticed a new addition to our product pages over the last few days. That all familiar “Like” button on Facebook is starting to find its way onto the world’s leading e-commerce websites, and we’re delighted to be Ireland’s first on-line wine retailer (if not, the first Irish e-commerce site!) to integrate this nifty new application for FB users browsing or shopping on our website.

In an attempt to put users and their friends at the centre of the web, Facebook now allows publishers to tag their content by type along with a “Like” button that partner sites put on their webpage. This allows users to indicate what they like on a website. As a Facebook user on Curious Wines, you can “Like” whatever wines you’re in love with and share it with your friends.

I have tried and tested the “Like” function on our Chateau Bauduc Bordeaux Blanc. The button is positioned underneath the bottle shot on each product page.

As it happens, our May contest is still open for entry. Simply ‘Like’ (become a fan of, or already be a fan of) our Facebook fan page and you’re in the hat to win a deliciously descriptive and beautifully presented Bordeaux book by Oz Clarke, along with two bottles of Oz-recommended Chateau Bauduc. We’ll draw a winner at random in May and post it here and on Facebook.

Since starting Curious Wines, we’ve had so much fun being a part of the ‘blogosphere’. The Wine Blog has received tremendous feedback from all corners of the blogging community, even from those who would admit that wine wasn’t their gig! Twitter has also been a blast, giving us plenty of laughs and allowing us to make loads of friends along the way.

It’s only right that Facebook should now be graced with the presence of Ireland’s mixed case wine specialist. It’s where all the Twitters (and just about everyone else on the planet) go on their lunch break, so join us and become a fan, scribble on our wall and have yet another excuse to surf the web during working hours.