Right, what are we/you drinking now .. tonight

[Ian S]

FWIW I always tended to prefer the Bin 128 over the Bin 28, but felt I was in a minority of one. More elegant to my tastes. Bin 407 often disappointed but they clearly wanted to move the price up. Perhaps with all the cross-region blending, comparisons with Bin407s from times gone by is spurious - who knows what vineyards supply the grapes now & then.

[Rossco]

2010 Vinteloper Touriga Nacional
Langhorne Creek.

Such a great wine. Completely different and
Unlike anything i have had.

Its like a savoury port. Loads of asian and indian spices. Think nutmeg, cloves, cardamon, cinnamon and chinese 5 spice. Delicious and really intersting.

[Ian S]

2006 Isole e Olena Syrah. Whilst being wary of Italy growing more 'international grapes' this one does speak of Italy and has a good degree of elegance.

[rens]

1996 Penfolds Bin 28- Aged perfectly and it got better and better as the bottle reached its end. Fully mature and time to drink up.
1994 Wynns Black Label- Again fully mature with cigar box and fully resolved tannins. Another one to drink up.

[Phil H]

2009 Chateau Haut-Peyrous (Graves) 65% Merlot, 15%Cab Sav, 15% Cab Franc. A mid price/cheaper Bordeaux (($35), however totally enjoyable. Med bodied, elegant with some fine tannins in the background, red berries with a touch of earth and liquorice.

2016 De Bortoli La Boheme Act 4 Syrah Gamay Decided to try this wine after a favourable review by Huon Hooke recently in the SMH, and my interest in Gamay. Consumed over 2 nights - showing much better on the second night. Still too young - needs a few years to show its best. Medium bodied, dark red fruits - Syrah giving it body, Gamay giving it a slurpable, spicey fun touch. Nothing too serious - however priced under $20 worth investing in a few for the mid week quaffer(14% alc) in a couple of years.

[Hacker]

2001 Howard Park Cab Sav. Too ripe. No distinguishing aspects to give a sense of place. Disappointed.
2012 Gomersal Reserve Shiraz. Honest, beautifully Barossan. Thank you for the experience. This does have a sense of place.

[mjs]

Pennies 389, 128 and 407 all from 2014. Thought these were pretty solid but about 50% overpriced (and that's on the DM price list of $73, $35, $73).
The 389 is typical of its breed and will take some time to integrate but has good bones. The 407 is a lovely cabernet but VFM is questionable. It's as nice a 407 I've had for a few years. The standout is the 128 which is head and shoulders better than most of its predecessors. Wish they'd had the 28 as I hear it's a cracker. No Grange, Magill, or other premiums - like to hear if anyone tried these at the masterclasses.

Had a Penfolds "Discovery Workshop" on Sat, 407 was pretty impressive for a change I thought, St Henri was very good, 128, 389, 150 all ok. RWT was good. First bottle of 2912 Grange was corked! Second bottle was a little underwhelming for a wine that Andrew Caillard has bestowed 100pts.

[mjs]

1986 Wynns John Riddoch. This is about the 6th bottle or so that I have had and perhaps I am expecting too much.
The first 1-2 were very good, the next 3-4 a bit meh
Quite brown on the rim, perhaps indicating some sort of bottle variation, as the last few still had reddish purple hues.
Low neck, 1 mm stained cork, nose dominated by cinnamon and mixed spice, palate was what I considered tertiary, varietal characters nearly all gone, No real evidence of berry, sweetness or the like, and a rather dry finish.
4 mates and The Missus looked at this and consensus was past its best, but definitely no taint...question whether some supposed marque vintages are going to last forever.

Have about 8 left and will try another.
Will be interested Ozzie how the one planned for your offline shows itself.

Cheers
Craig

I've experienced more bottle variation with Wynns JR than any other high-end Australian red, even with late 90's vintages. I reckon Wynns didn't use very good quality corks. I'm so glad they switched to screwcap. Hopefully the cork gods will be on our side at the next offline.

I tend to agree with Ozzie - lots of variation in JR, and in particular, the 1986. I've probably had it a dozen times and 4 have been pretty ordinary and the rest absolutely sensational.

Had an '86 on Fri nite which was really on song, no complaints from me about corks etc

[mjs]

I had an extraordinary bottle of 1966 Mildara Coonawarra Cabernet last night. At 50 years of age and with a soggy cork, I feared it would be doa. Instead, it had a glorious nose of varnish, mahogany/ teak and earth. The palate still had plenty of fruit sweetness with a fair whack of coffee and baked beans (weird, I know) thrown in for good measure. It had a really long finish and all up was a fascinating old wine. Who says Aussie wines dont age?!

Just love these odd old bottles that deliver so much. Had a '59 Rouge Homme last weekend in Coonawarra which was perfect. More notes soon

[Ian S]

This might amuse - the lineup for the latest 'Oddities' tasting which was on last Friday - my first time attending. The aim is not simply to find the weird, but to broaden horizons of those that attend. Blind guessing is virtually impossible, but that didn't stop us. What I really enjoyed about the tasting, is how it seemingly transported me back to the early days of wine-tasting, where everything was quite unknown.

Christoph Hoch Kalkspitz Pet Nat 2015 (Austria)
Grace Koshu Kayagatake 2012 Yamanashi (Japan)
De Kleine Schorre Pinot Gris, Auxerrois Schouwen Duivenland Barrique 2013 (Netherlands)
Craven Clairette Blanche 2014 Stellenbosch (South Africa)
Turner Pageot Le Rapture 2013 (France)
Vinas del Cambrico Rufete Blanco 2014 Salamanca (Spain)
Pardas Aspriu (Xarel-lo) 2012 Penedes (Spain)
La Garagista Vinu Jancu Vermont (USA)
Batič Pinela 2012 (Slovenia)
Camille Loye 1988 Arbois (France)
Cave Spring Gamay 2014 Niagara Peninsula (Canada)
Maccario Dringenberg Rossese di Dolceacqua Superiore Posau 2012 Liguria (Italy)
Ministry of Food Industry of the USSR Pink Muscat 1950 Massandra, Crimea (USSR)

The most striking wine was the Vermont wine, making Gewurz seen like the shy retiring sort. One to really awake the senses. I thought I'd guessed the Arbois, but I was thinking over the border in Aosta / Northern Piemonte. That was the closest I got in any of the guesses.

[michel]

2001 Howard Park Cab Sav. Too ripe. No distinguishing aspects to give a sense of place. Disappointed.
2012 Gomersal Reserve Shiraz. Honest, beautifully Barossan. Thank you for the experience. This does have a sense of place.

Geez Louise
I have two HP 2001
Birth year wine for my daughter
How could they get it so wrong??
A great year!

[Ozzie W]

I've experienced more bottle variation with Wynns JR than any other high-end Australian red, even with late 90's vintages. I reckon Wynns didn't use very good quality corks. I'm so glad they switched to screwcap. Hopefully the cork gods will be on our side at the next offline.

I tend to agree with Ozzie - lots of variation in JR, and in particular, the 1986. I've probably had it a dozen times and 4 have been pretty ordinary and the rest absolutely sensational.

Had an '86 on Fri nite which was really on song, no complaints from me about corks etc

That was certainly a great bottle, despite the extremely poor condition of the cork.

Had a Penfolds "Discovery Workshop" on Sat, 407 was pretty impressive for a change I thought, St Henri was very good, 128, 389, 150 all ok. RWT was good. First bottle of 2912 Grange was corked! Second bottle was a little underwhelming for a wine that Andrew Caillard has bestowed 100pts.

At least Wynns went to screwcap in 2004. 908 years later and Penfolds is still using cork. They never learn!

[mjs]

^^

[Dang]

It never rains, it pours, even in a space of one week!
First I served for the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner (roast duck in tarragon) 02 Stonewell Shiraz. Lovely cork, lovely wine as everybody knows. Two days later I decided (why?) to open the 02 Feudi Di San Gregorio Platima. Maybe to compare with the Aussie. Surprise. First the cork was broken in half, one end completely wet. Secondly, the wine was not only OK, it was great. Thirdly, this Irpinia Rosso is full-bodied Merlot from the Campania region (near Mount Vesuvius with ample black cherry/black currant flavour soaked in dark chocolate/anise/tobacco/fine tannin. My poor taste buds just enjoyed the show without trying to decipher any further. A Merlot from Southern Italy, unfiltered with lots of sediments just like the Stonewell! The only difference was the bottle weights a stone !

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A couple of days later it was our club tasting. This time it was a vertical of Dominus, a hot Napa Valley Bordeaux blend. Dominus vineyard is near Yountville, centre of all Napa big Cab. This tasting gave me 1983/84/91/94/01/02/04/11 to decipher! Dominus first vintage was the 83 and continued to climb up the ladder to a Parker rating of 97 for the 94. The 21st century wines continued with 98/99 rating until it came down to earth in 2011 with a rating of 89. Bad year? Even the 83 got a 90. To my taste, after the Aussie and the Italian, Dominus is far too austere, lots of complexity and plenty of harsh tannin. Fruit was there but toned down. My favorite of the night was the 04, which has a 97 rating. Better air time than the other? We had dinner and since nobody wanted the 83, I helped myself with the leftover. Surprise, the 83 tasted well with the dinner, with promise of more enjoyment if someone has it stashed somewhere!
After the storm I promised not to touch any for a week. Well, promise easily broken.

[Rory]

New from the Mornington Peninsula, Ocean Eight 2006 3gm/l Sparkling. Just recently disgorged, and I believe Blanc de Blanc. Stunning wine, certainly a new benchmark for the Peninsula. Complex bready nose, good fruit/acid balance, excellent length and complexity. Expensive though.
2007 Paringa Estate Reserve Pinot Noir. Typical of the warm vintage, full palate, considerable weight of fruit, but not by any means over done. Drink this whilst waiting for the '06 & '05's develop further.

[Matt@5453]

2014 Wirra Wirra Woodhenge Shiraz, McLaren Vale

Team Wirra Wirra were very happy with themselves for getting a gold medal with this wine in Melbourne recently. Thought I'd have a look at it. Popped and poured; nothing, muted, industrial. Gave it a vigorous decant and left for an hour. Much better. A nice McLaren Vale style, Plumy type fruit, fruit cake and nice oak, but a savoury edge. Medium to full bodied, it finished with good length. Under screw cap this would last nicely for 10 years under good conditions. Better than a recent Bondar Wines Shiraz I had. Enjoyable

2014 Leconfield Merlot, Coonawarra

Delicious. Mulberry fruit, supported by nice French oak, very good length and mouthfeel. I really enjoy the weight and mid palate to finish, quite elegant but still a good depth of flavour. Liked it.

2015 Taylors Wines Merlot, Clare Valley

Very similar to the above wine but much better. A richer wine in terms of depth of flavour and finish, a touch more spice to it. Bang for buck, sensational value. Double decant for it to show its best. Sublime mid week pasta wine.

[mychurch]

98 Samur Blanc, Yvonne
New name for me. Seriously long cork. Very intense wine. Mature colour and maybe past its best. Creamy and structured after an hour. Quite like an old Burg. Yum, but 2 out of the 4 guests handed me their glass as they found it too intense

66 Chateauneuf-Du-Pape, Saint Pierre
Good level and none of the oxidation I was expecting. ET smells cork, but does not taste it. It's still got some silkiness, but the fruit is muted. Hard to tell at this age with what's bottle age, Forrest floor or a fault. Least favourite wine for the guests at the table

99 Oscar Semmler Shiraz, Dutschke
Thought this had gone, but another bottle appeared in the cellar. This was stood up for a week and on opening filled the room with its scent of liquorice, spice and eucalyptus. Rich in the mouth, with a lot of sweet fruit, this is in a very good spot. Not the best Shiraz ever, but it shows why it's good to age these wines.

14 La Ripassa De Montagne, Benjamin Darmault
It's not got his name on the front, but this tastes like a Jeff Carrel wine and it is available from his web site. The ripasso element has probably added some sweetness to the mid palate, and it's still smooth, with a touch of cream and some red berry fruit. Very well made and a real bistro wine

98 Graacher Domprobst Auslese, Willi Schaefer
This coped well with Trudis baked nectarine desert. Mature, but no hurry. Yum

14 Novísimo Merlot, Canepa, Chile
2nd favourite wine of the dinner - behind the Ripasso - this shows that there is not much point in bringing out old and mature wines for non collectors. It's a fine, with typically smooth Chilean Merlot fruit. Bought as a 2 euro bin end for cooking and for end of dinner drunkenness. Did it's job well.

[michel]

98 Samur Blanc, Yvonne
New name for me. Seriously long cork. Very intense wine. Mature colour and maybe past its best. Creamy and structured after an hour. Quite like an old Burg. Yum, but 2 out of the 4 guests handed me their glass as they found it too intense

66 Chateauneuf-Du-Pape, Saint Pierre
Good level and none of the oxidation I was expecting. ET smells cork, but does not taste it. It's still got some silkiness, but the fruit is muted. Hard to tell at this age with what's bottle age, Forrest floor or a fault. Least favourite wine for the guests at the table

99 Oscar Semmler Shiraz, Dutschke
Thought this had gone, but another bottle appeared in the cellar. This was stood up for a week and on opening filled the room with its scent of liquorice, spice and eucalyptus. Rich in the mouth, with a lot of sweet fruit, this is in a very good spot. Not the best Shiraz ever, but it shows why it's good to age these wines.

14 La Ripassa De Montagne, Benjamin Darmault
It's not got his name on the front, but this tastes like a Jeff Carrel wine and it is available from his web site. The ripasso element has probably added some sweetness to the mid palate, and it's still smooth, with a touch of cream and some red berry fruit. Very well made and a real bistro wine

98 Graacher Domprobst Auslese, Willi Schaefer
This coped well with Trudis baked nectarine desert. Mature, but no hurry. Yum

14 Novísimo Merlot, Canepa, Chile
2nd favourite wine of the dinner - behind the Ripasso - this shows that there is not much point in bringing out old and mature wines for non collectors. It's a fine, with typically smooth Chilean Merlot fruit. Bought as a 2 euro bin end for cooking and for end of dinner drunkenness. Did it's job well.

that 66 cndp sounds muted and corked ? maybe

[Matt@5453]

2016 Jim Barry Wines Watervale Riesling, Clare Valley

Balmy night in SA, BBQ and Riesling required.
What a great drinking wine. A very heady and perfumed nose of lime, lime cordial, faint hint of musk and talc. Beautiful fruit driven palate, limes, citrus, touch of lemon pith, talc with good acidity. The acidity is balanced now, its ready to drink. The finish is lovely and balanced, leaving you wanting more. Very seductive and very drinkable. Well played! highly recommended.

[Matt@5453]

2013 St Hugo Shiraz, Barossa Valley (14.9% alc)

I am a general fan of the St Hugo Cabs and wanted something to match a rich meaty meal tonight. A very nice nose of ripe plums, mocha, biscuit, fruit cake. On the palate, Barossa style plum fruit, with some dark sour cherries, dark cholocate, hint of bitterness. Plenty of dusty / drying tannins. The mid palate was lacking a fullness and weight the nose promises; there was a slight hole and not totally balanced. The wine was nearly there, but not quite for me. 14.9% alc stated, but after a couple of glasses, I'd say it's more than that, but you would not pick it tasting it. Good wine, but not great.

[rooman]

I took two bottles to lunch yesterday in Pyrmont with potential clients. I know Pyrmont is not close to any train lines at present but the The Trader at 191 Harris St is a superb tiny French restaurant that cooks good food, is BYO and CHEAP! The filet de boeuf I had as an entre was $22 and cooked superbly. Definitely not flash but well worth considering for an offline.

In terms of wines, first up was a Wynns JR 1998 under cork and the other was a Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2006 under cap. When we pulled the cork on the JR, it stuck of wet newspaper - well that was a waste of 15 years of cellaring. By way of contrast the Clonakilla stopped clients at the table in their tracks as people slowed down to appreciate the power of the wine. The 2006 is so much more in the zone at present than the older 2005 which I tried back in July.

[JamieBahrain]

Rockfors Semillon 2009- super focus, primary pithy lemon fruit great length needs time which surprised me for a Barossa! 90pts+

Rusden Full Circle Mataro 2004- Full Circle or Full turbo? A bit of a slain moister with age- still enjoyable but after one glass and a week in jungle couldn't get out of my chair! 89pts

Battely Syrah 2004- slightly muted aromatically but lovely and even across the palate. Perhaps scalped as it wouldn't have dropped off so much aromatically in a few years since I last tried. NR

Wild Duck Springflat 2002- The last needed a screwcap and this needs a cork. Some smokey interest in a layer of dark licorice fruit- lovely texture but just a tad boring and not like the last experience. 89pts

[Dragzworthy]

Wet and relatively cold night in Busan, South Korea. Visited a nice BBQ restaurant and brought my own bottle of Grant Burge Cellar Cut Shiraz Cabernet which the restaurant reluctantly let me open. Not the best wine I've had recently, tasted much more Shiraz than Cabernet with lots of spice and not much follow through. Next please.

[Bobthebuilder]

In terms of wines, first up was a Wynns JR 1998 under cork and the other was a Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2006 under cap. When we pulled the cork on the JR, it stuck of wet newspaper - well that was a waste of 15 years of cellaring.

So it was TCA?
You sending it back for replacement?

[Bobthebuilder]

In terms of wines, first up was a Wynns JR 1998 under cork and the other was a Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2006 under cap. When we pulled the cork on the JR, it stuck of wet newspaper - well that was a waste of 15 years of cellaring.

So it was TCA?
You sending it back for an attempt at replacement?

[rooman]

In terms of wines, first up was a Wynns JR 1998 under cork and the other was a Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2006 under cap. When we pulled the cork on the JR, it stuck of wet newspaper - well that was a waste of 15 years of cellaring.

So it was TCA?
You sending it back for replacement?

Whilst i would love too, its simply too hard.

[Chuck]

Just back from visiting my uncle's farm in central west NSW (Parkes). For his 70th birthday last year I gave him a 1945 Penfolds Grandfather Port. I was not there when it was opened and it was not good. Probably oxidised. His son gave him another one and we opened it last week. It was in excellent condition and seemed a few decades younger than it was. All gone by the night's end with 4 very happy campers.

Inspecting the label it noted the bottling date as 1969 so it was in barrel for 25 years.

[michel]

Just back from visiting my uncle's farm in central west NSW (Parkes). For his 70th birthday last year I gave him a 1945 Penfolds Grandfather Port. I was not there when it was opened and it was not good. Probably oxidised. His son gave him another one and we opened it last week. It was in excellent condition and seemed a few decades younger than it was. All gone by the night's end with 4 very happy campers.

Inspecting the label it noted the bottling date as 1969 so it was in barrel for 25 years.

I have had that port 3x
2 times it was seriously gorgeous!

[timnit]

2015 Taylor's One Small Step Shiraz
Given from a friend in the industry to let them know what i think of it.. Its a midweek wine, very fruit driven with reasonable QPR

2015 Seppelt Drumborg Pinot Meunier
Light and spicy, gorgeous fruits.. Sophisticated and silky... Really really enjoyed this wine...

[Phil H]

2009 Coolangatta Estate Chambourcin This is one of those wines that you buy when you do a wine tasting tour, not impressed with any of the wines - however you have to buy something - the best of the worst. Dinkable - high in acid despite sitting on the shelf for about 5 years. Red berries, simple, drinking best on the first night - a bit awkward on the second night. Still have fond memories of the Shoalhaven Coast - great scenerary, can't say the same about the wines.

2014 Domaine Astruc Chardonnay A French cheappie from DM's . Heavily worked, oak, cashew, melon and a touch of honey. Despite this Great VFM, everything in balance, enjoyable.