It's Sunday again.....

[TORB]

Hi Good Peoples,

It's that time of the week again. Please let us know what you have been drinking.

In my case, I have been working my way through the latest releases of the 2004 Summerfield range and the four I have tried so far have all be bloody good stuff; excellent value too. I still have to type up the TN's so can't give you details yet.

Tasting notes, vibes or impressions welcome.

[roughred]

Two make the grade this week -

2004 Grampians Estate Rutherford Sparkling Shiraz
Fantastic vivid purple colour, fine bead, lifted savoury fruit. In the mouth its dry, with just enough fruit richness to fill out the mid palate. Fine chalky tannins are a little distracting at this stage, but should soften and integrate. Smart effort. Under crownseal.

2003 Yering Station Reserve Shiraz Viognier
Lean and spiky on opening on the first night. After an hour it still did not want to come out and play, so recorked and left overnight. Much better second night with perfumed red fruits, white pepper, and a lavender/violet lift. Slightest hint of peach kernel. Some cedar, spice and aniseed, nicely textured mid palate. Some slightly green phenolic/banana ester characters the only detraction.

LL

[Adair]

All imports this week and most from the land of the Kiwi as I am now starting to open some of the wines I brought back from my Auckland trip in July:

2004 Sacred Hill Deer Stalkers Syrah – Hawke's Bay – 14% - NZ$60
Sweetly perfumed and spiced with sweet rhubarb and blackberry of medium depth and complexity. Smooth ripe tannins. Noticeable fine acidity to its credit. Easy drinking in similar style to the 2004 Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz but far less depth. Given this wine’s reviews and, more seriously, its price, this wine is disappointing. I hope that my other 2 bottles are better but I don’t hold high hopes given they are under screwcap. 88/100 (16.5/20)

2004 Unison Selection – Hawke’s Bay – 14% - NZ$45
It look an hour for the fruit to rise above some seriously classy vanilla and slightly cedar oak but when the blackcurrants, mulberries, spiced plums and hints of spearmint came to the fore, this wine was worth its price tag. The palate opened with class and elegance with very finely grained, ripe, tannins and wonderful back palate breadth, however it was obvious that this wine needed a couple of years to reveal its full potential. It was still holding back after 24 hours. A solid silver medal for me now, I will keep my other 2 bottles for at least another 3 years before trying again. 91/100 (17.5/20).

2000 Kingsley Merlot/Malbec (14%) – Gimblett Gravels, Hawke’s Bay – 13.5% - NZ$30
Both delicious and serious, this wine is a favourite of mine. Blackcurrant, plums, dry red fruits, black olives, cedar and hints of smoke. Medium bodied, some might criticise a lack of mid-palate depth, but the structure of fine, grainy tannins providing power, class and elegance makes it easy to overlook. It continued to sing louder as the night progressed but could not stop myself from finishing off the bottle, despite it probably being a better wine today. 93/100 (18.2/20)

Also had a good sized Riedel Vinum Grand Cru Riesling glass of the 2003 Pfaffenheim Alsace Grand Cru Riesling but had only the time to drink it like a cold beer, which I actually enjoyed more than a cold beer but I did not give it the attention it deserved. Nonetheless, it was full bodied with power and depth, and with crunchy, fresh acidity. Interestingly, its colour of light gold looked more developed than the palate, which needed time to open up either the glass or the bottle. Spices were just beginning to open on the typical Alsace (sort of Victorian) Riesling fruit. Not sure of the price, but would buy it for up to $35 without much thought. 91/100 (17.5/20).

Kind regards,
Adair

[Dave Dewhurst]

Just some quick impressions:

Pizzini Riesling, 2005, Lemon on the nose, grapefruit and lemon in the mouth. Moderate acidity, very pleasant to drink but one for the shorter term I suspect.

Saltram Mamre Brook Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004, Decanted and left for a couple of hours. Inky dark with gorgeous cassis fruit piling off while decanting. Rich, mouthfilling blackcurrant fruit with a fair whack of mint, a hint of milk chocolate on the finish and soft drying tannins. There was a touch of sweet vanillary oak on the finish which I found a bit irritating but that is a minor picky complaint really. This was just lovely. Better on day 2 in fact as more chocolate came up and the fruit calmed down a bit.

Woodlands Margaret Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004, Again given a couple of hours in the decanter. Restrained black fruit nose. Gentle smooth blackcurrant on the palate with lovely soft juicy redcurrant finish. Very well balanced and elegant.

Penfolds Thomas Hyland Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004, Decanted for an hour or so. Sweet vanilla and restrained blackcurrant on the nose. Quite simple blackcurrant fruit in the mouth, not much interesting going on here. A bit formulaic perhaps. To be fair, on day 2, the palate was better with richer fruit and some milk chocolate, but a little bland overall.

Cheers

Dave

[Craig(NZ)]

Adair

Some of us use the royal 5 star scale. Would you mind including that conversion too in your notes. Also 1dp 20 point sytems are just so so yesterday!!

Unison Selection as everyone here knows is a great favourite wine of mine. The 04 more than most vintages i think needs time but wow its all class. The deer stalker I really liked but totally agree with you that the price tag is over the top. On expensive NZ syrah, I see the 05 passage rock reserve syrah has hit retail $49 - one you will have to try adair if poss. i was close to breaking my no buy post 05 bdx policy (wanted to buy another) but remained 'strong'. to me it is the best waiheke wine ive tried since the 99 Stonyridge Larose

Not much drinking here this week as been a bit under the weather. Did however chew through a bottle of 05 Main Divide Riesling which to me is a sensational wine to wake up a depressed palate, its all going on, slightly drier than most vintages I think and better for it at 25g/l. Super wine and only about $16-17

[Roddy]

Not too many details due to severe cold affecting the tastings.

04 Thorn Clark Shotfire Ridge Barossa Quartage

No fruit, no tannins, like an oak milkshake. Corked I presume.

03 Guigal Cotes Du Rhone

Lightweight palate, some jubey but thin redfruits, short length.

05 Zonte's Footstep Shiraz Viognier

Easy drinking Ben Riggs wine, nice lifted apricot viognier swirling around the jammy shiraz, the girls loved it.

[Adair]

I decided to end a not so inexpensive week, whilst waiting for the more than “not so inexpensive” Kay’s and Wendouree orders, with a:

Duval-Leroy Fleur de Champagne Premier Cru Brut NV – Champagne – 12%:
Light gold with hints of green. Lots of biscuit, nougat, autolysis and sweet developed complexity on strong lemon, green apples and red apples of very good depth. Powerful acidity is balanced by the mousse that provides a lightness to the length of the palate. At $70, this is one of the best NV Champagnes available, and could benefit from a year or two in the cellar. 92/100 (17.8/20)

This was also a good start to a week that will end with a Champagne BANG!

Kind regards,
Adair

[underwraps50]

After work Friday. Small send-off for a colleague in the conference room. One of my workmates gave me $10. & said how about we share a bottle of red. I bought an '03 Riddock Coonawarra Cab Sav. for $19.
What a nice wine. Lovely deep red colour, characteristic nose, rich fruit with good depth and a leafy-minty thing going on. Nice firm finish. Left me wanting more - but I was driving. bugger.

[Adair]

04 Thorn Clark Shotfire Ridge Barossa Quartage
No fruit, no tannins, like an oak milkshake. Corked I presume.

No, that is the way it is meant to be. Wine shopw judges like them that way. Seriously though, if you ever needed an example of medals not meaning anything, this has to be the wine... maybe with the 2001 Rosemount Traditional.

Adair

[Alex F]

Whats wrong with the Traditional? I had it at the cellar door and thought it was lovely. Actually I had the Quartage as well and thought it was a very nice wine.

[Roddy]

04 Thorn Clark Shotfire Ridge Barossa Quartage
No fruit, no tannins, like an oak milkshake. Corked I presume.

No, that is the way it is meant to be. Wine shopw judges like them that way. Seriously though, if you ever needed an example of medals not meaning anything, this has to be the wine... maybe with the 2001 Rosemount Traditional.

Adair

Really? I honestly thought it must have been corked, it was like drinking an oak branch. Tasted like a Queen Adelaide....what a shocker. I couldn't ascertain any fruit whatsoever.

[Adair]

04 Thorn Clark Shotfire Ridge Barossa Quartage
No fruit, no tannins, like an oak milkshake. Corked I presume.

No, that is the way it is meant to be. Wine shopw judges like them that way. Seriously though, if you ever needed an example of medals not meaning anything, this has to be the wine... maybe with the 2001 Rosemount Traditional.
Adair

Really? I honestly thought it must have been corked, it was like drinking an oak branch. Tasted like a Queen Adelaide....what a shocker. I couldn't ascertain any fruit whatsoever.

No, it sounds as if your wine was corked, but I am not a fan of it either way.
Adair

[Col B]

Hi there everyone.

This is my first post on this forum. I am a regular red wine drinker who has spent some time enjoying drinking red and occasionally reporting news to Brian. I also enjoy cooking, so I may put a couple of recipes on here.

Tonight I opened a bottle of Clairault Margaret River 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon.

The wine displayed a red-brick colour that was initially closed on decant. Several hours later the wine opened to exhibit some earthy cassis tones on the nose. The fruit appeared restrained, but some raspberry notes lifted after swilling the glass. The wine tasted soft, with some leathery overtones, however the fruit was short. The missus and I were disappointed, given it tasted much better nearly a year ago.

We look forward to sharing our thoughts on Sunday nights in the future.

Thanks


Colin.

[Jordan]

Bloody flu ruined any meaningful tastings but struggled through:

2000 Houghton Frankland River Shiraz: Quite pleasant, medium bodied number
2002 Barretts Bonython Pinot Noir: Pretty good, more "dry red" than real pinot characters, very servicable though
2003 Saltram Mamre Brook Cab Sav: Not too bad considering vintage, quite oaky but a decent amount of ripe fruit to make a good quaffer with pasta.

And the Crows sh#te form made me feel even worse

[Daryl Douglas]

Bloody flu ruined any meaningful tastings but struggled through:

2000 Houghton Frankland River Shiraz: Quite pleasant, medium bodied number
2002 Barretts Bonython Pinot Noir: Pretty good, more "dry red" than real pinot characters, very servicable though
2003 Saltram Mamre Brook Cab Sav: Not too bad considering vintage, quite oaky but a decent amount of ripe fruit to make a good quaffer with pasta.

And the Crows sh#te form made me feel even worse

Yeah, I've had a few bottles of the Mamre Brook Cab 03 and reckon it's a reasonable quaffer - seen it down to about $12-13 but probably available even cheaper.

[beef]

Bloody flu ruined any meaningful tastings but struggled through:

2000 Houghton Frankland River Shiraz: Quite pleasant, medium bodied number
2002 Barretts Bonython Pinot Noir: Pretty good, more "dry red" than real pinot characters, very servicable though
2003 Saltram Mamre Brook Cab Sav: Not too bad considering vintage, quite oaky but a decent amount of ripe fruit to make a good quaffer with pasta.

And the Crows sh#te form made me feel even worse

Yeah, I've had a few bottles of the Mamre Brook Cab 03 and reckon it's a reasonable quaffer - seen it down to about $12-13 but probably available even cheaper.

It's amazing how palates can differ in their sensitivities. I can't stand the Mamre Brook Cab 03. It has a horrible burnt-rubber characteristic on the nose, and tastes like poison. Also, I've found many widely-recommended wines to be horribly Brett-affected. And yet I can't pick a corked wine to save myself (for which I'm very grateful )

Stuart

[Daryl Douglas]

Seppelt Victorian Shiraz 2004 Deep purple/red, spicy, red/dark berry nose is reflected on the palate that's quite savoury, dry and underlaid with red berry fruits and a little licorice, finish is savoury with meat, licorice and chalky tannins. Oak is just in the background. Very good value but prefer D'Arenberg Footbolt for $1 more.

[rednut]

Bailey of Glenrowan 1904 Block 1999 Shiraz

Deep red colour, Plums, Blackberry and a long lasting taste.
Lovely wine that got better as time went by.

[Red Bigot]

Bailey of Glenrowan 1904 Block 1999 Shiraz

Deep red clour, Plums, Blackberry and a long lasting taste.
Lovely wine that got better as time went by.

I picked up a 6-pack of this for $20pb (incl commission) at Langton's earlier this year, hope they are as good as this one, I've got one on the bench to try soon.

[mkcoleman]

LENNARD'S CROSSING 2002 SHIRAZ MALBEC $5 in a clearance bin - impressed considering the price, black cherries, light spice with a smooth palate and some mulberries coming through. Got to say really good quaffer wine for the price of $5!

WOLF BLASS 2003 CAB SAV YELOW LABEL $10. Remember this in the UK selling for 8GBP, so straight a way a good deal. Medium bodied, plenty of fruit and cassis coming through and a smooth finish, another good quaffer in the $10 or below range.

ROBERTSON'S WELL COONAWARRA CAB SAV 2004 $13 - Not bad, easy drinking wine, medium bodied, plenty of fruit on the palate and smoothish, found it alot better with food. Not quite as good as the Wolf Blass Yellow, an ok quaffer

YARRA BURN, SHIRAZ VIOGNIER 2002 $17 - Started off thinking this was quite a nice wine, fairly light, smooth, no strong tannins, however there seemed to be some alcohol heat at end. Ok wine, but wouldn't personally recommend

LINDEMANS 1999 SPARKLING SHIRAZ $28 (Cellar Door) - My girlfriend's favourite wine of the moment. Great easy to drink when plucked out of the fridge and drank with some bacon and eggs. All too easy to drink in my book.

[n4sir]

04 Thorn Clark Shotfire Ridge Barossa Quartage

No fruit, no tannins, like an oak milkshake. Corked I presume.

Bloody flu ruined any meaningful tastings but struggled through:

2000 Houghton Frankland River Shiraz: Quite pleasant, medium bodied number
2002 Barretts Bonython Pinot Noir: Pretty good, more "dry red" than real pinot characters, very servicable though
2003 Saltram Mamre Brook Cab Sav: Not too bad considering vintage, quite oaky but a decent amount of ripe fruit to make a good quaffer with pasta.

And the Crows sh#te form made me feel even worse

Yeah, I've had a few bottles of the Mamre Brook Cab 03 and reckon it's a reasonable quaffer - seen it down to about $12-13 but probably available even cheaper.

It's amazing how palates can differ in their sensitivities. I can't stand the Mamre Brook Cab 03. It has a horrible burnt-rubber characteristic on the nose, and tastes like poison. Also, I've found many widely-recommended wines to be horribly Brett-affected. And yet I can't pick a corked wine to save myself (for which I'm very grateful )

Stuart

Have a quick search around the forum guys, and you'll see you're TNs are pretty similar to a couple of others.

In both cases it's batch variation that's the problem:

There are several batches of the 2004 Quartage which are quite different from each other - likewise a couple of samples of one batch we tried (straight after the 3 Trophy wins at the Adelaide Wine Show) were identical to your TN; very oaky and lacking fruit. These were under cork, while subsequent releases under screwcap the last few months were different - it's interesting to see the ones under cork surfacing at retail again, and surprise, surprise, comments such as oaky/lacking fruit and overrated come up again.

TORB struck a mercaptan related problem with the 2003 Mamre Brook Cabernet at cellar door last year, identical to the burnt rubber dominated sample you describe. I've tried it since, and while I struck a fair bit of charred oak characters I didn't find it faulty - clearly there's another batch/quality control problem here too.

Cheers,
Ian

[Sean]

deleted

[Roddy]

There are several batches of the 2004 Quartage which are quite different from each other - likewise a couple of samples of one batch we tried (straight after the 3 Trophy wins at the Adelaide Wine Show) were identical to your TN; very oaky and lacking fruit. These were under cork, while subsequent releases under screwcap the last few months were different - it's interesting to see the ones under cork surfacing at retail again, and surprise, surprise, comments such as oaky/lacking fruit and overrated come up again.

Cheers,
Ian

Interesting, yes this was under cork, obviously from an earlier run.

I've notice recently at a few different bottlo's i.e. Dans, that old vintages/stock are being racked up and flogged off at discount rates, and most punters would be none the wiser.

Went in to grab an '04 Mamre Brook Cab....all 03's on the shelf, oops. Wanted an 04 Penfolds Bin 138 at another store....only '03's.

Probably stored next to an old airconditioner in full sun, so no thanks.

[Jordan]

Interesting, yes this was under cork, obviously from an earlier run.

I've notice recently at a few different bottlo's i.e. Dans, that old vintages/stock are being racked up and flogged off at discount rates, and most punters would be none the wiser.

Went in to grab an '04 Mamre Brook Cab....all 03's on the shelf, oops. Wanted an 04 Penfolds Bin 138 at another store....only '03's.

Probably stored next to an old airconditioner in full sun, so no thanks.

This is what happened here, took a 2004 off the shelf to try that night and picked up a case below. Wouldn't you know it, 2003 cases below the 2004 display. This has killed any buying at major retail chains in the future for me... not that they would care, especially with the $2 cleanskins marching out the door.

[chillwrx]

I had a 2005 Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise red, which is a blend of shiraz, cab sav and petit verdot. I think the latter gives it the inky, dark colour and aromatics. It is screwcapped, and some air does wonders. A bit oaky to begin with, but it blossomed in the glass. A soft, sweet, fruit-driven mid-palate tasting of plums, small dark berries, blueberries and I found this wine rather tasty and gluggable.

After two tries now, I still haven't drunk a good bottle of the 2004 d'Arry's Original. It is a shiraz and grenache blend; and while it's one of the originals a lot of others compare more favourably to this one right now. Other 2004 GSMs and other vintages of this wine. It had some of the usual raspberry, spicy fruit, unobtrusive tannins, but it felt quite volatile. It comes in screwcap, but bottle variation could be a factor. Maybe I'll try another one.

The original is one of my favourite quaffers but the 04 is not one of their best attempts. It will get better with some bottle age though if previous vintages are a guide.

[Gary W]

I love the 2004 Original. Reckon it is one of the best since 1994.

Tried
2004 Kays Cabernet and 2004 Coriole Cabernet . The Coriole has the edge. Quite a stern wine though and it tastes like Cabernet. The Kays is bigger and black olivey. Both good wines.

GW

[winetastic]

Spent a day drinking great red wine with a mate, every saturday should begin with a sparkling red lunch. Only have some general impressions to post since the day was more about wine drinking than analysis

Peter Lehmann Black Queen Sparkling Shiraz 1998
Dark hearty Shiraz fruit supported by a fair whack of spice, really good.

Hanwood Sparkling Shiraz NV
Simple red fruit flavours, goes down very easy and is far better than the $8 price tag would suggest.

dArenberg Footbolt Shiraz 2004
Very much full bodied with lots of spicy oak after a couple of hours, fair whack of dry tannin too. I would not have picked this as Mclaren Vale, not as fleshy as some. Good value for money at $16.

[Sean]

deleted

[Gary W]

Don't know the date but the winery sent it out mid july.
Have your bottles been reductive? Some of them seem to be.
GW

[bacchaebabe]

It was a pretty acoholic weekend with a lot of beer thrown in on top of this lot.

02 Petaluma riesling A lot of kero on this. Not so much primary fruit and not aged yet. Tasted a bit flat too. I think it's in a hole at the moment and will be hoping it will improve as I have over a dozen. Needs time.

05 (I think) Rockford Alicante Bouchet I've written heaps of notes on this one. Still good. Quite a sweet and fruity style of rose but I love it.

04 Noons Rose Much drier style and much less sweet. A bit more body and structure. Good with Thai.

05 Stoneleigh Savignon Blanc Very friendly summer quaffer. Nice fruit and nothing offensive about this. Great wine for a sunny Sydney afternoon.

04 Penfolds Thomas Hyland I didn't look at the bottle and to be completely honest, I don't even know if it was cab or shiraz or what. I've never bought this wine so don't even know what they offer. It was red, it was pleasant enough, I'd had about five glasses of the Sav blanc by this stage so didn't really care. Not much of a trasting note really!