Sydney Offline?

[sjw_11]

Hi folks,

I know a number of the Sydney based folks meet up around separate groups and also around Shannon's rare wine dinners (which, btw, I can wholly recommend - everyone should go to at least one), but my sense is there could well be a few NSW based lurkers like myself who aren't really involved in any of these.

So I was wondering whether there was interest in a general Sydney offline, either totally separate to any of the existing tasting groups or in conjunction?

I'll open it up for feedback, suggestions and comments from the floor....

Cheers,

[cuttlefish]

Melbourne is more the "go to" city for offlines.

[Michael R]

Nice one Sam, always keen for an offline.

It was a similar post that started the Grape-mates tasting crew, in which cuttlefish played a central role before absconding, i suspect to better feed to his pesky AFL cravings
If you cant drum up enough interest from this post, will try to get you along to one of the GM tastings in the future, as can sometimes be a space or 2 free (depending on the theme/dates etc).

[griff]

Starting June I'm in anything going.

[AndrewCowley]

I'd be keen. Never attended one of these before.

[Red Smurf]

I'm keen as well Sam.
Would be good to meet some more forumites.

[Polymer]

I'd be interested as well if someone can get one going.

[dave vino]

You are quite welcome to come to our Cabernet/Shiraz Blend theme on the 9th. Just bring your favourite CS blend, Bin 389, Yalumba Signature, whatever.

Having it in a central Sydney location and will probably just get pizza for dinner. PM me if you are interested and I'll give you further details. We have room for about 3-5 more I believe.

Shannon is 'hosting' it.

[ufo]

You are quite welcome to come to our Cabernet/Shiraz Blend theme on the 9th. Just bring your favourite CS blend, Bin 389, Yalumba Signature, whatever.

Having it in a central Sydney location and will probably just get pizza for dinner. PM me if you are interested and I'll give you further details. We have room for about 3-5 more I believe.

Shannon is 'hosting' it.

I would like to join you guys if you still have room, pls let me know.

Arnie

[ufo]

Hi Sam,

Count me in too.

Arnie

[odyssey]

I'm up for it, and look forward to seeing a few new faces at our Cab Shiraz tasting too.

[TiggerK]

Looks like you've just volunteered to organise Sam! Count me in, date dependent. Saturdays in March are full ! Sometimes a last minute Friday night offline suggestion has worked well though. In fact Fridays seem a safer choice from our experience.

Set a date, find a venue, ideally negotiate a fixed price with the venue for various food courses, cheese plate, inclusive of extras such as water, corkage and service. This way everyone knows where they stand, and keeps it much simpler at the end of the night. Nothing worse than blurry bill nightmares and 10 credit cards coming out, venues hate that.

You'll always find that a date you pick doesn't suit everyone too, so go with the majority, can't please everyone all the time. And be prepared for a few last minute drop outs or additions.

Pick a theme, or make it a free for all, and I suggest giving a vague idea of wine price point expected too, nothing worse than turning up with a $25 wine, and everyone has bought the big guns, plus not fair on them. Nothing too crazy, and often when people start saying the wines they're bringing that also sets the tone, so no biggie, but thought worth mentioning. Also worth aiming towards some kind of a style progression over the course of the night, you know champers, rieslings, semillon, chardy, pinot, gamay, shiraz, cabs, stickies etc

Venues we've used successfully around Sydney include Atelier, Fix St James, Rise, MuMu, Waqu, Rocket and Alio.

Bring it on!!

[sjw_11]

Hey everyone great to see the positive enthusiasm...

Mr TiggerK you have tried your best to discourage me but I am still happy to volounteer to organise! At least I know I will turn up (if no one else) that way!!

Leave it with me and I will come back with some suggestions over the weekend... my thinking would be perhaps a Saturday in early April, at a venue CBD or adjacent to CBD.

If anyone has any red hot suggestions feel free to bung them on this post or to PM me... Particularly theme wise... my first thought is wines that are "somewhere" on the Langton's classification (broad range of price points but gteed quality that way, and easy enough to source some retail if you dont have in the cellar).

[Michael R]

If you build it, they will come Sam
Tim's advice is gold, although think think you'll have a winner regardless of theme, just no chambourcin or sav blanc

Looking forward to meeting you and every other Sydney forumite who's keen.
Btw..I highly recommend Shannon's tasting in a few weeks, even if you're semi interested, saddle up!
Shannon has to be one of the most knowledgeable wine experts I've ever met, but with zero arrogance, and 100% class.
Then there's me, take no notes, terrible memory etc
I guess the point is there is room for everyone.

Also, while you're in planning mode, white burgundy is a theme i always support, As its clearly the worlds best wine

Seriously though, it is

[Hacker]

FWIW there is a small but dedicated Sydney offline group of about 6 guys that have formed on the Red Bigot Forum that are meeting this Thursday night 28th at Rocket Restaurant in Chatswood at 6pm. I'm sure we would be happy for a few more to join us, as the whole idea is to meet up and share wine! BTW it is a cabernet theme this time.

Just mention it here if you want to come along and I will adjust the booking numbers. We have been to Rocket before and the food is great and stemware and decanters well provided. Cost from memory was in the vicinity of $70 per head.

Cheers,

David M.

[LawrenceM]

FWIW there is a small but dedicated Sydney offline group of about 6 guys that have formed on the Red Bigot Forum that are meeting this Thursday night 28th at Rocket Restaurant in Chatswood at 6pm. I'm sure we would be happy for a few more to join us, as the whole idea is to meet up and share wine! BTW it is a cabernet theme this time.

Just mention it here if you want to come along and I will adjust the booking numbers. We have been to Rocket before and the food is great and stemware and decanters well provided. Cost from memory was in the vicinity of $70 per head.

Cheers,

David M.

Further to David M's invite above, thought that I'd post some notes from last night's tasting.

Last night David M, myself and a few other Red Bigot members met up at Rocket for our cabernet themed tasting night. It was absolutely pelting outside, so was nice to be inside surrounded by good food, good company and good wines sitting in a number of decanters.

As usual, Rocket put on a really good spread, with plenty of dishes available which go well with good cabernet.

We decided to drink wines from oldest to youngest, and I have included by tasting notes below – obviously these may not reflect other peoples’ thoughts on the night.

1980 Thomas Fern Hill Estate cabernet sauvignon (McLaren Flat, SA)

The label states that this bottle was matured for 14 months in American oak, bottled in July 1981, and won a gold medal at the 1980 Hobart Wine Show.

This wine was picked up at Best Cellars in Darlinghurst. Apparently it was ‘lost’ in the cellar maintained by the original owner, and subsequently re-discovered wedged – capsule and base – between two bricks in a cool corner, which may help explain the fact that the level was high neck and the bottle otherwise in excellent condition.

I did some research on Thomas Fern Hill Estate (now Fern Hill Estate). The winery was established by Wayne and Pat Thomas at McLaren Flat in the 1970s. The winery was sold in 1994 and it is now a part of the James Australia Group. http://fernhillestate.com.au/

I suspected that this would be better used as salad dressing after the cork crumbled on opening. But after pouring it into the decanter there was immediately a strong porty smell (which blew off). The colour was also very surprising – deep and dark. A good sign. After a two hour double decant:

Dark crimson/purple with some red/brown bricking. Slightly porty initially, but this gave way to a lovely nose of sweet, toasty oak, leather, herbs, cocoa and surprisingly prominent dark blackberry, blood plums and blackcurrant. Very soft mouthfeel, with ripe tannins and good acidity and a good fruity finish. A surprisingly youthful 33 year old wine.

1991 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard cabernet sauvignon (Hunter Valley, NSW)

A vary rare wine – I had never seen one before. Apparently the Graveyard vineyard was initially all cabernet.

The cork was soaked through and the wine needed a good hour before it started to come into its own. David M put it best when he said “this wine has seen its best days, but tonight is certainly not its worst”.

Red-brown and slightly translucent. Some cedary oak, dry leather, fading red berries and tobacco. Light mouthfeel and some dusty tannins and acid still present. Certainly past its best but not without its charm. An interesting wine nonetheless.



1994 Petaluma Coonawarra cabernet merlot (Coonawarra, SA)

Dark purple. Blackberry and blackcurrant, charry/smoky oak, leather, aniseed and a bit of earthiness. Intense yet supple on the palate, with the tannins and acidity balanced nicely by the core of black fruits. Long finish. Excellent wine.

1997 Wendouree cabernet sauvignon (Clare, SA)

Ruby red/purple. Completely unique wine – dark fruits, chocolate, liquorice, earth, cedary oak, eucalypt and mint, mint and mint – this level of spearmint on any other wine would be a point of distraction, but the black fruits and savoury elements carried it through. Good fruit through to the palate and a nice fruit choc finish. Very interesting to try, and I personally really enjoyed it.

2001 Penfolds Bin 389 cabernet shiraz (multi-regional)

Impenetrable purple. Smoky vanillin oak, blackberry, plum, brown spice, milk chocolate and some nice secondary notes. Great mouthfeel and finish. A really delicious wine. Someone remarked that this wine is clinical, and I think that’s a great way to describe it – this wine does not put a foot out of place in the classic Penfoldian way, and is reminiscent of the sort of style that I have always thought makes Bin 389 both interesting and boring at the same time.

2003 Chateau Ponet-Canet (Pauillac)

This was initially tasted blind. All present immediately agreed that it was French: there is no mistaking a good Bordeaux.

Dark purple with crimson edges. What immediately struck me as I put my nose in the glass was the understated balance between the dark plums, red and blue berries, pencil shavings, smoke and tobacco leaf. The purity of the fruit on the palate did not go unnoticed by anyone; layers of fruit flavour, minerality and fine grained tannins. Superb finish. An absolute pleasure to drink, and my personal WOTN.

2004 Eagle Vale Estate Whispering Lake Single Vineyard cabernet sauvignon (Margaret River, WA)

A relatively young wine to finish which was good in its own right, but could hardly stand up against the wines that preceded it.

Deep crimson/purple. Dark fruits, coffee, pepper, cassis and cedary oak. Good mouthfeel, and a pleasant finish. Very nice MR cabernet. On any other night this wine would have been better appreciated; this wine is certainly better than Halliday would lead you to believe.



Wine of the night

We did a count, and although there was no clear winner, the votes tallied up as follows:

1. Wendouree
2. Thomas Fern Hill Estate
3. Chateau Ponet-Canet

[Hacker]

Great writeup Quaffer! And a lovely night it was too. Seven bottles between five of us; no wonder I have a sore head today . Each wine was lovely in it's own right, in fact over the last three offlines I don't think we have had a bad wine yet.

At this stage we have set the date of the next offline as Thursday 21st March at most probably a Surry Hills restaurant yet to be decided, but up for negotiation by all parties. The theme most probably will be Rockford.

Cheers,
David M

[burges]

Great writeup Quaffer! And a lovely night it was too. Seven bottles between five of us; no wonder I have a sore head today . Each wine was lovely in it's own right, in fact over the last three offlines I don't think we have had a bad wine yet.

At this stage we have set the date of the next offline as Thursday 21st March at most probably a Surry Hills restaurant yet to be decided, but up for negotiation by all parties. The theme most probably will be Rockford.

Cheers,
David M

Please count me in for the next offline on Thursday 21st March.
Thanks.

[Mike Hawkins]

That 2003 Pontet Canet is one awesome wine - and I hear the 2009 and 2010 versions are even better. Can't wait to try them. This house has gone ahead leaps and bounds in the past decade - more than any left banker I can think of.

[Hacker]

That 2003 Pontet Canet is one awesome wine - and I hear the 2009 and 2010 versions are even better. Can't wait to try them. This house has gone ahead leaps and bounds in the past decade - more than any left banker I can think of.

Seems you are right....his eminence has given the 2010 the ultimate accolade; 100 points, to go with the 2009.

http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/201 ... 00-points/

I suppose we shouldn't care about it though.

[daz]

I can't remember the vintage I think I had a couple of bottles of nor just when, likely the late 80s/early 90s. But I do remember being very impressed by a Thomas Fern Hill Estate cabernet with that label many years ago, glad to know I wasn't mistaken. I like the story of the bottle too! Nice one.

[Hacker]

Hope the offline goes well tonight. I'm watching a Hot Cat at Belvoir.

The Bigot boys have organised an offline coming up on Thursday 21st March. I hope Bistro Fax at the Radisson in the CBD meets with people's approval. Booked from 6pm. http://www.radissonblu.com/plazahotel-s ... ing/bistro
The theme is Rockford, and I will kick it off with a 1998 BP. If you can come, please respond, and mention what Rockford treasure you are able to bring along. Maybe we can get a mini BP vertical going.

Cheers,

David M.

[Hacker]

Quick update on early numbers for the Rockford offline...
So far,
Hacker, with a BP 1998
Paul BP 1996
Burges BP 2002
Ross H BP 04 or 06
SASTROOPER BP 2010

More Rockford enthusiasts welcome! Just respond below.

Cheers,

David M.

[Michael R]

Hi Hacker

Please include me in the booking, and thank you for organising and the warm invitation.
Youngest BP I have left is 06, alternatively can bring an 04 SVS Flaxman. Let me know which suits best.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Cheers
Michael

[TiggerK]

Hi David and friends,

if there is still space, I'd love to come along too!! Only choice I've got would be a BP 2004 though, so maybe if Ross H bought the 06 and Mick bought the Flaxman, that could work and I might squeeze in??

Cheers
Tim

[Hacker]

Hi Michael and Tigger, great to have you both join in.
Numbers and bottles now as follows:
Hacker BP 1998
Paul BP 1996
Burges BP 2002
Ross H BP 06
SASTROOPER BP 2010
Tigger BP 04
Michael R SVS Flaxman 04
Quaffer Black Shiraz
GD Rifle Range vintage TBA
pc79 BP 05
dave vino 03 BP and 98 semillon

That's quite a nice run of Basket Presses!

[Hacker]

Bump. Just a reminder to all participants about Thursday's Rockford dinner at Bistro Fax at the Radisson, 27 O'Connell St Sydney, at 6pm. Participants in post above.

To quote the late and great Big Kev, "I'm excited!"

Regards to all,

David M.

[Polymer]

There still space for one more?

[dave vino]

1998 Semillon - Dave

Black Shiraz - Quaffer

Rifle Range - GD

1996 BP - Paul
1998 BP - Hacker
2002 BP - Burges
2003 BP - Dave
2004 BP - Tigger
2005 BP - pc79
2006 BP - Ross H
2010 BP - SAS

2004 SVS Flaxman - Michael R

[Hacker]

There still space for one more?

Bloody hell, last one then!

Polymer 07 RR

That gives us all a 60ml pour on all bottles. Probably more than enough to give a good impression on all wines.