Mount Mary Quintet vs Penfolds 707 + others

[Baby Chickpea]

NV Pol Roger Champagne
Very nice mousse. Primary and secondary characters. Medium bodied. Good length. Solid finish. Drink up.
86/100

2005 St John’s Road Single Vineyard Eden Valley Riesling
Lovely tropical nose of limes and grapefruit. Palate is tart, youthful and finishes short.
87/100

1996 Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay
Buttery, full textured, all butterscotch. Hint of smoke. Palate slightly scalped. Others cried out TCA. I just thought it more tired.
NR

2000 Blain-Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Caillerets
Subtle and elegant and flinty. Smells of ozone. Medium bodied. Good length. Clean. Lacking excitement. Perhaps from being opened 24hrs earlier!
86/100

2005 Mount Mary Chardonnay
Flowers and jasmine. Passionfruit tang. Excellent structure. Fabulous potential. Needs 5+ years. Although quite approachable already. A bargain at $43.
92/100

1986 Mount Mary Cabernets
Beautiful voluptuous nose – exotic, leathery, blackcurrants, foresty. Darkest colour of this flight (which included 1990 and 1991). Palate not as uplifting, but perhaps in gentle decline. Lovely balance. Still excellent wine. Seems highly variable now – at its best, one of best Aussie cabernets ever made.
90/100

1990 Mount Mary Quintet
Robust. Tannic. Bit short. Hard and needs time (perhaps another 5-10 years at least). Not enjoyable.
88/100

1991 Mount Mary Quintet
Sweet. Almost stewed. Good palate. Slightly vegetal. Very good length. Drinking well. At its peak I think. Will hold for long time as the structure is there.
89/100

1993 Mount Mary Quintet
Lean and under ripe. Typical of vintage but drinks surprisingly well. Not bad. Not helped in past by crappy corks.
86/100

1994 Mount Mary Quintet
Too tannic at present. Very oaky. Very good length. A “big” wine destined for great future. Perhaps.
88/100

1996 Mount Mary Quintet
Lovely structure. Super fine tannins balanced by rich cassis fruit. Excellent length. A top wine.
92/100

1986 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Never really liked this wine. Too brutish and oaky and unbalanced. Massive amounts of cedar, formic acid (crushed ants). Way too much tannin. Youthful yes, but don’t think it will ever integrate despite the great vintage and its reputation.
87/100

1990 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Mute. Little underlying fruit at this stage. Palate bitter and overtly tannic. Very disjointed. I thought this was a below par bottle.
86/100

1991 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Pomegranate juice and beetroot galore in a nice way. Palate has lovely sweet fruit with excellent length. Really lovely balance. Fine wine.
91/100

1993 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Sherry-like aromas. Almost fortified in nature! Length is clean and chalky. Fruit less concentrated. Not bad for vintage.
86/100

1994 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Hard. Tannic. Good length. Monolithic in structure. Even younger than the 94 Mount Mary. Solid structure and very muscular in texture and build. Give it plenty of time.
87/100

1996 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon
Deep purple. Very fine tannins. Excellent length. Top wine. Fine balance. Will be the goods in 10 years.
91/100

1996 Chateau Rausan-Segla (Margaux)
Sweet ripe blackcurrants. Lovely balance and elegance. More suited to Mount Mary in style than 707. Nice but not overwhelmingly so. I liked it. Tannins are there but not obtrusive.
89/100

1998 Orlando St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon
Ripe blackfruits. Rich and lovely wine. Very good length and structure. Entering peak drinking window. Touch of oak.
89/100

1998 de Bortoli Noble One (375ml)
1st bottle: very developed and oxidative in style. 2nd bottle much better: fresher, full of apricots and marmalade. Lovely length balanced with zippy acidity. Not too rich.
91/100

[Adair]

You did write them up!

Thank you.

Adair

[Finney]

Hi there,

1994 Mount Mary Quintet
Too tannic at present. Very oaky. Very good length. A “big” wine destined for great future. Perhaps.
88/100

Had this 4 weeks ago and interestingly enough found a substantially different wine, little tannin, balanced fruit and some oak. Absolutley sensational! Then again we were at Eschalot....Sorry Ric!!!

Regards Finney (Craig)

[Grant]

Danny,

I was fortunate enough to be at a dinner with Len Evans a couple of weeks before he died where we were tasting many of the great Cab/Shiraz's of the last 30 years. He made the point a number of times that the winemaking style "du jour" in some of the big companies around 1990 and subsequent years was "boring" and produced wines that lacked finesse and interest. An interesting observation, perhaps backed up by your impressions of many of the 707's.

I had the 94 a couple of years ago and it was hard going. Not sure when this beast will ever come into balance.

Cheers

[GraemeG]

Danny,
I was fortunate enough to be at a dinner with Len Evans a couple of weeks before he died where we were tasting many of the great Cab/Shiraz's of the last 30 years. He made the point a number of times that the winemaking style "du jour" in some of the big companies around 1990 and subsequent years was "boring" and produced wines that lacked finesse and interest. An interesting observation, perhaps backed up by your impressions of many of the 707's.
Cheers

Any hint from Len about the reason for this? Insufficient triage of grapes, over-enthusiastic filtering, too much something, not enough something-else?
cheers,
Graeme

[Grant]

Danny,
I was fortunate enough to be at a dinner with Len Evans a couple of weeks before he died where we were tasting many of the great Cab/Shiraz's of the last 30 years. He made the point a number of times that the winemaking style "du jour" in some of the big companies around 1990 and subsequent years was "boring" and produced wines that lacked finesse and interest. An interesting observation, perhaps backed up by your impressions of many of the 707's.
Cheers

Any hint from Len about the reason for this? Insufficient triage of grapes, over-enthusiastic filtering, too much something, not enough something-else?
cheers,
Graeme

I should have asked, but never really got around to it. I guess you always think that there will be a better time and place to do so.

Grant