The Auswine Forum

For what it's worth, 1976 was fairly cool season, with a long and slow ripening period, which is excellent for cabernet. Bill Pannell rates 1976 and 1975 as the 2 best vintages of the 70's, with the '76 showing more rich, generous fruit. Mid shoulder is a good fill level for a wine of that age. The ...

2008 Hoddles Creek Chardonnay - Smells like a million bucks. Opened up with a bit of vanilla and stonefruit, before becoming tighter and more focused with more grapefruit coming to the fore. Lookiung forward to seeing how this develops. Excellent 1997 Penfolds BIn 28 Shiraz - I liked this. It's a b...

Most vintages of Grange

1988 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon - I stood this one up for a day to let any sediment settle at the bottom of the bottle. The cork slid out without too much trouble and came out in one piece. There was some staining up the side, but there was no leakage, as evidenced by the level being a centimet...

2009 WE2 Chardonnay - aka $1.99 Cleanskin. After the impressive effort from the previous vintage, the 2009 vintage is somewhat of a let down. A quick twist of the screwcap, and splash in the glass reveals a brillant medium straw hue, with hints of green. The palate is where this starts to go downhi...

581.2 (to account for some crumbly part corks )

However, since it'll only be myself and my father-in-law doing most of the drinking, and one of use has to drive... i think we will not be able to finish the bottle. While I'm at it, bottle of red contains about 9 standard drinks. The general guidleine for men is 2 standard drinks an hour, and then...

And the answer to question 2 is: How long is a piece of string? The 2001 Johann is a great wine and is still a pup. If you like drinking wines young then I'm sure you'll like drinking this. However, I still think there is some benefit in holding on, but absolutely no problem in drinking now. Questio...

2002 Somerled Shiraz - Still a broody little adolescent this one. A brilliant, dark red that just screams "Drink Me!". It has that real tarry quality that I'm finding in the 2002 South Australians, amongst an array of other flavours going on. Cherry, licorice, plums. Very good depth of fr...

griff wrote:

Julio G wrote:yes, but it is a wine bar.

I am talking about a wine store concept - try before you buy style of thing... like The Sampler.

I have been to both.

Why am I not surprised
Thanks for the clarification

Julio G wrote:the best wine store in London has this system - it is fantastic and surely the future of wine retailing.

www.thesampler.co.uk

I would love to think that this would work in my native Perth

There is one in Perth. It's at Steve's and has 32 wines on offer

Recently the one that stood out was an 1986? Oakridge Cabernet that a friend opened. It had the zen of a wine being consumed at its apogee. Aaron may be able to confirm the year. Excellent to Outstanding wine Yes you're right. It was the 1986 Oakridge Cabernet Shiraz Merlot. I love it when the auct...

A weekend of budget drinking for me: 1999 Xanadu Cow Rock Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - Another Heritage wine, and I must say that this is my new favourite. At 10 years of age, there is the expected tertiary development, with the usual eucalypty fruit from this impressive Margaret River vintage. Ther...

Another weekday, another Heritage wine 2002 Binder Mitchell Dovetail Baroota Shiraz - A brilliant quaffer. There's a nice mix of plums, and blackberries, and some tarriness which I've found is a real characteristic of the vintage. All rounded off with a nice lick of vanilla. It's the pick of the bun...

griff wrote:2007 Forest Hill Cabernet Sauvignon
So, the big JH gives this 97 eh?

I just remembered the previous Halliday 97 pointer that came out of the blue. 2002 Ashbrook Chardonnay . I wonder where that is now

A bit of a back log to get through 1999 Glenguin Individual Vineyard Shiraz - Another Heritage roll of the dice. Typical Hunter style with plenty cherry, earth and leather. Drying out a little on the finish, so I'd say drink up. 2005 Chestnut Grove Chardonnay - A nice alternative to Margaret River f...

I've drunk Jane Brook wines now for about the last 10 years or so. One of the top producers in the Swan Valley. I'm guessing that the wine you tried however, was from one of their vineyards in Margaret River. If I recall corrrectly, it got 95 points from Halliday, so it sounds like you have good tas...

I was looking for some wines of interest for quaffing during the week, and after hearing all the speculation about Heritage, thought I'd dive in and decide for myself. Here's the first of the mixed case 2003 Binder Mitchell Dovetail SGM - This was the only one with screwcap in the box, so since it w...

I think I've got my seasons mixed up.

2007 Rosily Chardonnay- Certainly my value pick out of the Margaret River chardonnays. Packed with lovely grapefuity, citrusy goodness and finishing with some spicey oak. I'd pick this over the Woodlands, which only has minimal oak influence.

I wasn't game enough to try the Zinfandel after recently having the 1997 Peel Estate Zinfandel which was pretty similar to a dry port and not really a style that I like (and strangely enough didn't go that well with fish).

Spent a few hours at the Good Food & Wine Show in Perth yesterday. Here are my impressions: Brookland Valley - didn't try all their wines but the 2008 Estate Chardonnay was very impressive. Laser sharp acidity matched with some fine oak, and quality Margaret River fruit. These guys seem to be ra...