April 2023 Purchases

[phillisc]

Might get the ball rolling here, another month spins by, bit like that Joe Jackson song, a couple of lines anyway..."and so it goes, round and round"
Some 2021 Setiono Flaxman's EV Shiraz
12 2022 O'leary Walker Watervale Riesling

Cheers Craig

[mychurch]

Enjoy the Setiono. Lovely now in its youth.

[Andrew Jordan]

Enjoy the Setiono. Lovely now in its youth.

Agree ... had this up against a Sami Odi a few weeks ago. Close call but Fraser's wine just pipped it.

[Teisto]

I've got a 6 pack myself and wondering thoughts on aging potential?

[mychurch]

It will probably age well in the medium term Teisto, but I dont think it wil be any better than it is now. I'm a big lover of older wines, but I make an exception here. I will keep 1 bottle though to have in the future as part of a vertical.

[Con J]

Ordered in March delivered in April.

No Cameron I haven’t tried any yet, the wife put dibs on them soon as I opened them.

Interesting about the blend No 6 Rare Tawny. From the 4 bottles over 2 deliveries there was 3 X No 5 and 1 X No 7. Not that this bothers me I’ve sent them an email to see what blends they have In stock. I got blend No 2 and 3 for the 1978 Pedro Solero.

I really hope they have some older blends available.

Cheers Con.

[mychurch]

They look great Con. I love the enthusiasm - that would keep most people in fortified for the rest of their lives.

I tried to order some of there dry aged Verdelho earlier this week, but it seems to have sold out.

[Con J]

You know this is your fault Cameron.

I don’t think I’m done yet, the wife claimed them as hers so it’s a good excuse to get more.

Cheers Con.

[VinoEd]

It will probably age well in the medium term Teisto, but I dont think it wil be any better than it is now. I'm a big lover of older wines, but I make an exception here. I will keep 1 bottle though to have in the future as part of a vertical.

I reached out to Sam about the wine when I received it and posed the question on drinking window. Obviously it’s unique to personal preference but here is what she said:

“It's drinking really well at the moment, especially in terms of aromatics. Something you'll get from a young wine is fresh, bright aromatics which you get less of as a wine ages and is exposed to a controlled amount of oxygen in bottle. But what you'll get from aging is the wine sort of relaxing a bit and really coming together. Optimal cellaring time is a hard question to answer because I find a lot of it comes down to personal preference, but it certainly has been made in a way where it has the potential to age for a very long time. Personally, I'd do both; I'd drink some now and also age some for a few years.

What could be a really interesting thing to do is for you to open one up now but drink it over maybe two days and see how it evolves. I did that a few days ago and I'm finding, with some air, the fruit has turned from dark black fruit to more blue fruited and has brightened up. There was a meaty sort of Rhone-like character which had melded into a savory olivey type character as well.”

Cheers Ed

[Teisto]

Thanks Ed and MyChurch for the feedback and thoughts.

[Mike Hawkins]

Enjoy the Setiono. Lovely now in its youth.

Maybe I need to open one. I was planning on leaving them for years

[phillisc]

Enjoy the Setiono. Lovely now in its youth.

Maybe I need to open one. I was planning on leaving them for years

I only purchased 4, will look at one shortly and give the remaining 3 a decade plus. If its as good as everyone says, might email Sam for another 3.
Trying to save up for Standish, so many good 2021s.
Thought of you the other day Mike, are you going long on the latest Henschke's??

Cheers Craig

[mychurch]

Enjoy the Setiono. Lovely now in its youth.

Maybe I need to open one. I was planning on leaving them for years

I only purchased 4, will look at one shortly and give the remaining 3 a decade plus. If its as good as everyone says, might email Sam for another 3.

Craig,

It’s a very good wine, but it’s the 1st vintage and it will take a bit of time to turn this into a great wine - let’s hope the quality continues for the next 5+ vintages.
Personal preferences make comparisons difficult, but it’s roughly as good as the Agricola of the same year and probably a little bit behind Sami-Odi. Not jumped on the Standish band wagon, so can’t compare. If you have 4 I really think you should have 1 now and then make a decision, based on your preferences, about how long to age.

[phillisc]

Yes MC, will do, I don't have a lot of EV shiraz ( plenty of EV Riesling ) but are branching out a little. Most of the BV Shiraz I have is central , northern, southern and western. I am looking at the likes of Max and Me, Stonegarden and if Setiono stays reasonable with price, might look at the 2022 vintage. There are certainly some good things coming out of Flaxmann Valley, ringland etc., but often very exxy. Won't mention the elephant in the room.
Cheers Craig

PS. Melbourne Street Wine Cellars had their closing down clearance auction today. I was a regular 25-35 years ago, but haven't been in the shop for years. Anyway 2021 Setiono sold for $32. There were half a dozen unopened six packs. I guess buyers premium needs to be added, but would have thought final price well south of $40, which could be considered a bargain. However, there was plenty of other stuff that went for crazy prices...fools and their money
Cheers Craig

[VinoEd]

I was having a look at the Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay but it’s getting harder to justify at a price of $150. I do love it, but you can often get back vintages from good years at some of the larger chains for much cheaper. Anyone else having a look?

Have you heard any reports on the 2021 Standish Craig?

Cheers Ed

[JamieAdelaide]

Didn’t buy a thing at Melbourne St. Sad to see them go as I’m living about 100 steps away.

Firstly I’ve too much SA stuff. Secondly the Italian stuff I’ll start buying abroad again for half the price as I commute from USA.

One point I got from the auction- buy your Wendouree and Rockford allocation! Prices investment class !

[phillisc]

I was having a look at the Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay but it’s getting harder to justify at a price of $150. I do love it, but you can often get back vintages from good years at some of the larger chains for much cheaper. Anyone else having a look?

Have you heard any reports on the 2021 Standish Craig?

Cheers Ed

Well Ed, that's funny and your timing is impeccable. Had a great chat to Nicole Standish today, but that's another story. Nicole and Dan are super impressed with the 2021s and 2022s are in the barrel, with blending to start in a few months. 22s will be smart wines too. Nicole said despite a little rain , harvest for 2023 very pleasing with above average yields. They have been picking the Lamella EV vineyard and Greenock vineyards today.
Better start saving up
Cheers Craig

[phillisc]

Didn’t buy a thing at Melbourne St. Sad to see them go as I’m about living about 100 steps away.

Firstly I’ve too much SA stuff. Secondly the Italian stuff I’ll start buying abroad again for half the price as I commute from USA.

One point I got from the auction- buy your Wendouree and Rockford allocation! Prices investment class !

Yes the Wendouree blends brought a premium $200+ along with current Rockford prices of about $170 a bottle. Surprised that the 90 HoG magnum 'only' fetched $1100.
End of an era, Thursday tastings were monolithic, John asked us to open something we all fancied from the rack. Sadly those days are long gone.
Cheers Craig

[platinum]

12 giaconda Chardonnay 2021

[VinoEd]

12 giaconda Chardonnay 2021

Up to a whopping $150 a bottle…. And scored a few 100 point reviews too.

suddenly en premiere purchase looks good - what were they doing that for…$110 or so??

Cheers Ed

[platinum]

Tbh I know it’s expensive but for my personal palate nothing outside of top French gets near it in its best vintages, and many of this cost somewhere between 4-20 times the price

Once again just my personal palate, but as you said a couple of 100 points and one from a western Australian biased reviewer, so given some of the previous best vintages I’m holding great hope. For my palate I love neudorf moutere though not quite giaconda

I believe given 2020 was a wipeout and not produced and a couple of smaller quantity vintages there song be another en premiur for at least a couple of years

Not that I’ll do anything except drink
Mine but I will not be surprised at all if 2021 goes 2-3 times the price on the secondary

[Alan Foo]

12 giaconda Chardonnay 2021

Up to a whopping $150 a bottle…. And scored a few 100 point reviews too.

suddenly en premiere purchase looks good - what were they doing that for…$110 or so??

Cheers Ed

Could not get my hands on any. They were sold out in less than 6 hours.

[TravisW]

I got the email yesterday at 8:45am, managed to get 2 bottles in my basket, but then it wouldn't process the payment as it said that I had too many bottles of it. Go figure.
Reset, cleared everything out three times but with the same result.
By about 9:05am it had sold out.
Oh well.

[VinoEd]

Crazy how quickly they sold out… I think Platinum is right re the resale market and what these could end up going for.

Cheers Ed

[mjs]

6 x 2021 Domaine Michel Rebourgoen Bourgogne Rouge

[mychurch]

Crazy how quickly they sold out… I think Platinum is right re the resale market and what these could end up going for.

Cheers Ed

Is is a great Beechworth vintage in general ? Not much of a Chardonnay drinker any more, but if it’s the vintage then there are a lot of good winemakers out there.

[platinum]

Crazy how quickly they sold out… I think Platinum is right re the resale market and what these could end up going for.

Cheers Ed

Is is a great Beechworth vintage in general ? Not much of a Chardonnay drinker any more, but if it’s the vintage then there are a lot of good winemakers out there.

very good to exceptional vintage ,

But also a great site , a lot of experience 50 years, full gravity fed winery (no pumping ), certified organic, deep underground 16 degree year round high humidity for maturation granite


Definitely some other excellent beechy chards though , Savaterre 2021 gets excellent reviews but I haven’t cracked one yet

[mjs]

3 x 2020 Failla Savoy Vineyard Pinot Noir,

[mychurch]

Happy birthday to me.

Spent the afternoon at Granite Hills. Managed to pick up a 06, 08 and 13 Riesling, a 19 TOR Riesling, a 22 Block 71 Riesling and a pack of 3 vintage wines which had a 99 Cabernet, a 99 Shiraz and a 06 Syrah. I was hoping to pick up some other older bottles, but it’s harvest time and they were busy. I was though given an old bottle of unlabeled Sparkling wine. Apparently it’s slightly sweet.

[phillisc]

6 2021 John Duval Entity Shiraz.
Cheers Craig