Weekly Drinking Thread Commencing 14/04/13

[monghead]

Hi all,

Don't see this yet, so I thought I'll kick it off.

Notes, impressions, vibes, lists, all welcome...

For me, just a list for now:
- 2010 Jean Claude Lapalu Beaujolais Villages
- 1991 Wynns Centenary Shiraz Cabernet
- 2000 Domaind Armand Rousseau Clos de la Roche
- 2012 Pikes Merle Riesling

Cheers,

monghead.

[Michael R]

Very nice Mong...love that 91 Centenary. Really enjoyed the 91 Michael and the Riddoch, but the blend is probably my fav.
Interested to hear feedback on the Rousseau.

Tonight we had a 2010 cape mentelle Shiraz. Opened for a glass last night,was decent, and improved when re opened today. black forest, with a cherry bias. I'm not a fair marker for Shiraz these days, going through a period where I find them very unexciting but my wife loved it so recommend for Shiraz fans.

Btw, had the 2012 pikes on friday, (not the merle which sounds superb), found it ok, somewhat tough going, incredibly young, but a touch aggressive. Certainly will improve with age but not sure it's worth the patience required.

[dan_smee]

Lunch today was

Nick O'Leary Riesling 2012 - always a winner, really luscious palate, tart lime, apple blossom nose.
Collector Marked Tree Red 2011 - total cool climate, white pepper, bright fruit, beautiful

Planned for this week at some stage:
Tyrrell's HVD & The Hill Pinot Noir 2012 - slated for Vat 6, but we were told at the CD that they held off, wanting the next Vat 6 to really wow and bring some credibility back to hunter Pinot. HVD & The Hill is a label that is meant to sit in the 'Hunter Heroes' range with brokenback Shiraz, Moon Mountain Chard etc. On tasting this was very light coloured, surprisingly flavoursome though with ample strawberry and leather. Pretty good, especially considering we got it at 16 bucks a bottle. Bought 6.
Meerea Park Terracotta Semillon 2003 - who gets a 2003 sem at the CD for 30 bucks??? Is right in the zone now, fruit not totally gone, still some interest there, but the aged characters are showing nicely.

Both of those wines I am looking forward to having full glasses of, rather than cellar door tastings.

[Craig(NZ)]

2008 Kumeu River Chardonnay. Really complex with plenty going on. Lots of weight with meal and bottled grapefruit flavours. Lots of depth and layering. It has lost a bit of focus though over the last 12 months which suggests it is time to drink up. Satifying and morish, went down well

[monghead]

A mate just moved into a new place, and to celebrate, he invited us over for a “simple” meal. It may read simply- steaks on a barbie, lettuce and tomato salad, and roasted kipfler potatoes with thyme and garlic, but the steaks were David Blackmore wagyus 9+ scotch fillets…
I could only think of “beef and burgundy”, but I knew they liked a heavier style of red, so I brought along these 2 wines.

2000 Domaine Armand Rousseau Clos de la Roche
I had just purchased this, but I could not resist opening it. Right from the moment the Ah-So broke the seal of the cork, even before it had been extruded, beguiling aromas of cherries and rose water, fallen autumn leaves, and hints of smoky pancetta fat began to tantalise. It was vibrant ruby in colour, and the palate did not disappoint with a great depth of flavour, but at the same time, the litheness of a ballet dancer. Silky, sensuous, complex.
Extremely Good (almost Out of Control Good)

1991 Wynns Centenary Shiraz Cabernet
Deep garnet in colour, this was an opulent wine with no hints of fading. Blackcurrants, cassis, sweet vanilla, black olives, a humidor full of cigars, and a touch of saffron lavishly coats the palate, finishing in fine grainy persistent tannins.
Very Very Good

[dlo]

Thanks for kicking this week's thread off, mong, I've been extra busy all weekend with visiting muso's from Sydney staying with us and doing an important gig at the Jazz Club on Sunday arvo.

Some good wines over the last week ..... no duds.

2007 Christian Moreau Chablis Valmur - ready to rock'n'roll, developing orchard fruit with a surprising hint of butterscotch and a chablis-like chalky minerality. Not quite up the lofty heights I was expecting but still an excellent wine. 90

2008 Eileen Hardy Chardonnay - heaps of trophy's and golds on the bottle - lifted, heavily worked new barrel charaters (including flint, struck match and char) galore on the nose - too much so for me - palate much better balanced with great harmony of tight quality melon and underripe stonefruit and classy subdued, integrated oak, heaps of nicely-judged acid and a long, quite classy finish. Probably needs more several years in the cellar to be fully ready. 89+

1983 Ch. Beychevelle - a most successful vintage for this mostly overperforming lowly St. Julien classified growth - fully mature bricking colour, ever unfolding complex, mature nose of some considerable class and a silky, ohso good palate of identical excellence, both in it's aged definition and immaculate structure. This drank almost increasingly well for almost 8 hours until the bottle was exhausted of its delicate precious contents. A memorable drinking experience. About 92.

Bullers Premium Fine Muscat - 375 ml (screwcap) - for just over $20 this is one helluva good sweet fortified. Wonderful old aged material blended expertly with fresher, grapier, material to produce an outstandingly smooth and sumptuous liqueur muscat. 93 Fantastic value.

Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet 1984 - I have been drinking this wine in small quantities for over 24 hours (cork not back in) and it has hardly budged. Nice deep ruby colour with only minimal lightening in the edges. A little worrisome when first poured with seemingly some DMS character, this wine improves dramatically on the nose shortly after sitting in the glass, offering up classic inky Coonawarra scents of weedy blackcurrant, plums, herbs, cedar, sweet damp, earth, saddle leather, savoury oak and regional mint. The palate is an absolute treat, medium bodied, everything nicely integrated, still good levels of lively acidity but almost fully resolved, delicate lacy tannins with still quite fresh dark berried fruit with bits and pieces of wonderful complexity similar to what I describe on the nose beautifully woven throughout. I read rather ordinary things about this wine from a lot of supposed fine palates from time to time. For the life of me, I have not had one bad experience with this wine in recent years. I'd rate this a solid 93 and could be drunk safely over the next 5 -10 years if in as good condition as the bottle reviewed here.

I am being taken out for dinner tonight with my family for my birthday (tomorrow) and I intend to crack a 2009 Spatlese, a 1985 Ch. Leoville Barton and then try a 1998 Gold Capsule Auslese Riesling from a producer I've not tried before, if the troops are at all thirsty. I'll report back on what goes down in due course.

[phillisc]

Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet 1984 - I have been drinking this wine in small quantities for over 24 hours (cork not back in) and it has hardly budged. Nice deep ruby colour with only minimal lightening in the edges. A little worrisome when first poured with seemingly some DMS character, this wine improves dramatically on the nose shortly after sitting in the glass, offering up classic inky Coonawarra scents of weedy blackcurrant, plums, herbs, cedar, sweet damp, earth, saddle leather, savoury oak and regional mint. The palate is an absolute treat, medium bodied, everything nicely integrated, still good levels of lively acidity but almost fully resolved, delicate lacy tannins with still quite fresh dark berried fruit with bits and pieces of wonderful complexity similar to what I describe on the nose beautifully woven throughout. I read rather ordinary things about this wine from a lot of supposed fine palates from time to time. For the life of me, I have not had one bad experience with this wine in recent years. I'd rate this a solid 93 and could be drunk safely over the next 5 -10 years if in as good condition as the bottle reviewed here.

Thanks very much for this note David.
I am worried with my erratic disorganised cellar that the dozen I bought of this on release has all gone. Am hoping I have hidden 1 or 2 somewhere, if not will be scouring the auction houses as it is the only JR of 21 vintages that I cannot account for. Great note...very promising.
Cheers Craig.

[michel]

A mate just moved into a new place, and to celebrate, he invited us over for a “simple” meal. It may read simply- steaks on a barbie, lettuce and tomato salad, and roasted kipfler potatoes with thyme and garlic, but the steaks were David Blackmore wagyus 9+ scotch fillets…
I could only think of “beef and burgundy”, but I knew they liked a heavier style of red, so I brought along these 2 wines.

2000 Domaine Armand Rousseau Clos de la Roche
I had just purchased this, but I could not resist opening it. Right from the moment the Ah-So broke the seal of the cork, even before it had been extruded, beguiling aromas of cherries and rose water, fallen autumn leaves, and hints of smoky pancetta fat began to tantalise. It was vibrant ruby in colour, and the palate did not disappoint with a great depth of flavour, but at the same time, the litheness of a ballet dancer. Silky, sensuous, complex.
Extremely Good (almost Out of Control Good)

1991 Wynns Centenary Shiraz Cabernet
Deep garnet in colour, this was an opulent wine with no hints of fading. Blackcurrants, cassis, sweet vanilla, black olives, a humidor full of cigars, and a touch of saffron lavishly coats the palate, finishing in fine grainy persistent tannins.
Very Very Good

Rousseau sounds champion
I like the 'rose petal' nature of the lighter 2000 vintage- I have a Rousseau 2000 CSJ in the cellar hiding- cant find the critter

[Mike Hawkins]

DLo, I don't profess to be one of those who have a fine palate, but i had the last 4 bottles of a 6 pack of 1984 John Riddoch a couple of years ago, and I felt they were looking tired - much moreso than the 82, 86 and 88. That said, I'm pleased yours have all been enjoyable. To be honest, I find many of the Wynns labels from the 80s and first half of 90s to be variable in quality. Many times I've had bottles from the same six pack side by side, and there are no similarities between the two.


Mike


PS - i drank several ordinary grower champagnes this week. None of them were worthy of a write up.

[Mahmoud Ali]

I am being taken out for dinner tonight with my family for my birthday (tomorrow) and I intend to crack a 2009 Spatlese, a 1985 Ch. Leoville Barton and then try a 1998 Gold Capsule Auslese Riesling from a producer I've not tried before, if the troops are at all thirsty. I'll report back on what goes down in due course.

Happy Birthday.

Enjoy the wines and let us know how about the '85 Barton.

[sjw_11]

Saltram Metala Shiraz Cabernet 1993... Cork. Auction buy. I didnt take detailed notes as was a casual Saturday night dinner at home and we had a bottle of Croser NV before hand, but this was terrific. Just a gentle, medium bodied, slightly "etheral" wine with a bouqet of residual red fruits mixed seamlessly with the secondary characteristics... reminds me of some of the great 80s era Black Labels and Grey Labels I have had which also used a lot of langhorne creek fruit (actually the GL was all L Creek)... a totally under-rated region.

De Bortoli Noble 1 2008... Knee weakening, I love these. Madarin liquer, orange blossom, apricoty goodness. Yum yum. Not quite the acid to age this vintage though I don't think.

Hugh Hamilton The Villain Cabernet 2010... Speaks mostly of place and less of varietal, rich, ripe, McVale stylistic. There is a bit of varietal black currant and some very faint "green" notes. I like it, good for style, good QpR, these guys have tremendous consistency to their reds (only the merlot can be a bit variable, no surprises there).

[dlo]

The 1985 Leoville-Barton was a rip snorter. Great colour for its considerable age followed by a quite mesmerizing powerful nose of loam, sandalwood, complex mature red and black fruit amongst umpteem other much smaller things going on ("good" barnyardy stuff at first (blew off quicky), cigar box, herbs, green peppers, iron, beef blood and lots more). The palate was just as impressive although didn't quite match the bouquet for intensity but was in no way any the worse for it. A wonderful array of beguiling, integrated flavours mimicking the bouquet, near perfect mouthfeel and wonderful structure, including a lengthy, soft, delectable finish. A textbook St Julien from a wonderfully elegant but sumptuous vintage and one of my all time favourites. Simply amazing how French Bordeaux red wine can just keep on keeping on. 94 points.

As a pre-dinner quaffer we cracked the 2009 Willi Schaefer Juffer Sonnenuhr Spatlese that was very good to excellent in all respects, piles of crunchy green apply fruit with some tropical top notes, perhaps a wee too sugary for me for the spatlese level but has the potential for a lot better things down the track. Quite decent extract in the mouth - expansive with plenty of balancing acidity. I'd leave it for at least 3-4 years. 88+

No-one wanted desserts so the gold capsule Auslese has gone back into the fridge ......

And my eye fillet with a fantastic mushroom jus was near perfect. Good night.

[dlo]

DLo, I don't profess to be one of those who have a fine palate, but i had the last 4 bottles of a 6 pack of 1984 John Riddoch a couple of years ago, and I felt they were looking tired - much moreso than the 82, 86 and 88. That said, I'm pleased yours have all been enjoyable. To be honest, I find many of the Wynns labels from the 80s and first half of 90s to be variable in quality. Many times I've had bottles from the same six pack side by side, and there are no similarities between the two.

.... know how you feel, Mike. And please don't run yourself down, mate, I think you're tastes in wine are impeccable. I reckon we can only report how we see it and at times it's difficult to reconcile when one person says "great", yet another says "not much chop", especially when you're drinking from the same bottle!

I bought a case of 1996 Wynns Cabernet that was ok at first that became fruitless and astringent - terrible juice. Ian n4sir thinks the opposite. His bottles/tasting notes read as "excellent". I had exactly the same problem with my batch of 1994 Black label. The 1998 Cabernet is also variable bottle to bottle. My last few bottles of 1990 Black label have really started to show the 14+% alcohol and I would hardly rate any of them above low eighties. Prior to that the fruit was so intense, it masked the alcohol in the finish and I was rating them all in the nineties (mostly 92/93). My first two cases were so variable - superb or green or weedy or corked (a 1in 3 hit rate as described) - an absolute disgrace. My last bottle of 1986 John Riddoch (auction buy - high fill level, great cork) was a dog's breakfast, an absolute mess. The 1982 John Riddoch is another vintage with bottle variability, but if you get the "really good" bottle, it is something to behold. I have had some variation with my '88 Riddoch's but not a great deal - mostly excellent. '88 Magnums have been terrific!

[monghead]

2012 Pikes Merle Riesling
Extremely floral, juicy limes, sweeter (and less acidic) than I had anticipated, thus giving the sense of flabbiness...
Solid Good to Good Good.

2012 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling
Taught, tight, linear. Impressive racy granny smith apples, mouth-puckering astringent grapefruit pith, impeccable slate like minerality. I really enjoyed this...
Very Good to Very Very Good

[phillisc]

Thanks for the note on the Drumborg Monghead, am planning to get a few of these.
Will have to look at another Merle, I felt it was laser sharp, pristine, buts thats what great about wine, we all look at things a little differently.

Cheers Craig.

[griff]

Bollinger Champagne NV
Does what it says on the tin. Bold, brassy, slightly oxidative style with a firm spine of acid, Creamy mouthfeel and decent amount of reserve wine character. Very Good.

2005 Nicolas Joly Clos de la Coulée de Serrant
A yellow wine. Withered golden delicious apples on the nose. A weighty palate of pear. The better half thinks it tastes like a prototypical french white wine. You know it is an alcoholic wine but 15% still surprises. Good.

2005 Woodlands Colin Cabernet Sauvignon
Cherry red. A leafy, fragrant, almost cabernet franc nose. Violets and decayed mulch emerge. Intriguing. A medium weight palate yet fleshed out with red fruits. Some vanillin from oak but overall a harmonious wine. Sadly the palate didn't deliver what the bouquet promised. Very Good.

2005 Mas de Daumas Gassac
Bretty and something wrong here. Not rated.

2004 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz
Corked. Bugger.

2001 Marqués de Murrieta Rioja Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial
Another bad bottle perhaps? I think I need a beer. Stewed fruit with vanilla, cola and acid tones. Not rated.


cheers

Carl

[Craig(NZ)]

#3000, where do the years go?

2007 Te Mata Awatea. Absolutely sensational, in a fantastic spot at the moment though will go another decade. I can not speak highly enough of this vintage. The best Awatea ever by a large margin IMO and will sit easily next to basically any vintage of Coleraine. Huge intergrated complex and textured palate. Fantastic liquorice, black olive and graphite flavours. One of the buys of the last decade, I am chomping though them way too quickly!

2010 Te Mata Awatea. A smaller, lighter wine. Good, but I can't see this going anywhere. A shadow of the 2007 and a good margin off the coleraine now. It was attractive on release but seems a bit lost now

2004 Unison Selection. Another fantastic Hawkes Bay in a good place. More savoury than the 07 Awatea, gorgeous texture and poise. One of the very best selections. It has shed some of its formible size and now is very suave, sleek and sexy

2010 Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir. I liked this much more than I expected. Some serious weight in here and darkly coloured

2010 Church Road Reserve Syrah. Fantastic QPR, really dense and tightly wound. One to keep in the cellar for 3 or 4 years. It is too young. Impressive though, lovely dark compact fruit and silky tannins

2012 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. All class, this is a great vintage, so much delicacy and restraint. Paired with half a doz gorgeous Bluff Oysters too

[sjw_11]

#3000, where do the years go?

Congratulations! Keep up the great posting Craig!

[jafa]

2005 Mas de Daumas Gassac
Bretty and something wrong here. Not rated.
Carl

Arrrgh Have a few of these tucked away.

For the last 4-5 weeks been on a beer journey. Been picking up a bottle any craft beers that I see. Some pretty good ones about.
When I got into wine, the beer consumption declined to a few litres per year. Figured time to re-aquaint. Nuff of that, wine forum.

No notes but cracked a bottle of;
2000 Ch. Gigault "Cuvee Viva" Cote du Blaye a couple of weeks ago. Cheap, or more correctly, cheap on Bdx prices. Purchased ep back in the day,
and well cellared since release. Really, really enjoyed this. Everything there. OK, top notch vintage, but saw a thread requesting entry level bordeaux
recommends, and this ticks all the boxes. Quality, price, availability.

cheers jafa

[Gavin Trott]

2005 Mas de Daumas Gassac
Bretty and something wrong here. Not rated.
Carl

Arrrgh

For the last 4-5 weeks been on a beer journey. Been picking up a bottle any craft beers that I see. Some pretty good ones about.
When I got into wine, the beer consumption declined to a few litres per year. Figured time to re-aquaint. Nuff of that, wine forum.



cheers jafa

me too

Please feel free to share with us really good ones you have found, always interested.

.

[via collins]

"#3000, where do the years go?"

I concur with Sam here Craig. Good to have you back in full flight, I recall you dipped a couple of years back, but the passion is well and truly back!

[dlo]

Had another mini-post-birthday-celebration last night with the family and cracked an excellent bottle of 1989 Calon-Segur. Poured like an old-coloured wine and, initially, not much of note to report on the nose, this morphed out beautifully over many hours picking up on both bouquet and palate - mostly aged red fruits, lots of leather, sweet earth, gently sweet tea-like tannins, pretty well fully resolved wine. Drink up if you have any. About 88 from me.

Today after band practice, I opened an 1988 John Riddoch over lunch, with a fill level of bottom of the neck. Cork was evenly saturated to within 1mm of it's end. This bottle was beyond outstanding and somewhat better than the 1984 I opened the other night that, too, performed very well indeed. It was a more youthful and statuesque version of the marque with gloriously fullsome and complex aromatics and a fantastically rich, well-endowed (but only just over medium-body) palate with simply superb counterbalancing structure. At a very moderate 12.3% alcohol, this wine is the perfect Coonawarra Cabernet. At least 10 years drinkability on this bottle's showing today. Somewhere approaching 95 points for this bottle today.

[phillisc]

Wow David what a note on the 88 JR. Cheers Craig.

[Craig(NZ)]

Please feel free to share with us really good ones you have found, always interested.

My sport of trail running has done wonders for my appreciation of craft beer. A number of the runners I train with have a love of craft beer equal to my love for wine. After a run we usually visit a suitably stocked liquor outlet and try a few more as "post run goodness". Had some great IPA's from Yeastie Boys, Epic, Croucher, Reniassance, Twisted Hop, 8 Wired. And some nice dark beers too especially 8 Wired Smokey Porter and some good coffee stouts too.

It just so happens that planning is underway for a group of us to do an off road ultra marathon in Adelaide in September followed up by some recovery therapy in the Barossa. Thinking seriously about getting on board. it's only 56km

I may be bugging you South Australians for ideas!

[griff]

2005 Mas de Daumas Gassac
Bretty and something wrong here. Not rated.
Carl

Arrrgh Have a few of these tucked away.

Just had a look on cellar tracker. Looks as if it has a fair bit of bottle variation. Some calling it a new world cab. Others saying it is light like burgundy. Only a couple talk about barnyard or stink so YMMV and live in hope

cheers

Carl

[Mike Hawkins]

Nice to read your note on the 88 JR DLo. You've inspired me to open one next week.

Mike

[dlo]

Hope you open a good one, Mike.

Also forgot to mention, we opened a 1996 Dom Perignon on Tuesday night with my wife, daughter, her boyfriend, Henry and our guitarist friend, Victor Rufus that is finally showing some wonderful complex bottle development and was gloriously stunning from start to finish (95), followed by a mildly corked 1978 Leoville Las Cases (NR). & .... F@#*ing corks!

[monghead]

2009 Staete Landt Paladin Pinot Noir
Fragrant cherries, cloves and hints of shoe polish. Good savoury brambly undergrowth, but for me, a little hot on the finish.
Just Good to Good

[Teisto]

2008 Ten Minutes X pinot Noir - Burst out of the bottle very fragrant strawberry dominant but much leaner on the palate.
2007 Tyrrels Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz - Very good, gave it a good splash and took an hour or so to come round. No rush to drink these, plenty left
2009 Printhie Merlot - Picked this up on the way to Forbes a couple of years ago - the wife wanted it and wasn't too bad actually

[sjw_11]

2012 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling
Taught, tight, linear. Impressive racy granny smith apples, mouth-puckering astringent grapefruit pith, impeccable slate like minerality. I really enjoyed this...
Very Good to Very Very Good

I tried this in the qantas lounge on Friday ... I absolute get the "mouth puckering astringent grapefruit pith", even though I enjoy the firm acidity of most young riesling this was almost too young for me... I think it will age well, should get some and put it away