TN: AFWAC - Old & New Rockford 25/2/08

[n4sir]

Last night the Adelaide Fine Wine Appreciation Club (AFWAC) kicked off the first of their monthly meetings, and started at the top with a selection of current and museum vintages of Rockford, which not surprisingly had a good turnout of members keen to share these wines.

I’d like to thank Phill and everyone there again for another great night; AFWAC meets the last Monday of every month, and anyone in Adelaide who’s interested in joining and/or attending as a guest should PM crusty2 for details.


2004 Rockford Vine Vale Riesling: Medium straw colour. Aged, toasty nose with a hint of honey and fig, then apples, pears and wax; toasty, soft palate with a hint of kerosene already, with a nutty, lemon finish – nicely drinking at its peak now.

2005 Rockford Eden Valley Riesling: Bright straw/green. Much more youthful and floral than the Vine Vale, with some honeysuckle and blossom, then sweet lime/lemon and fennel. The structure is also a contrast, tight and crisp with an excellent long, sweet lime finish; this was my favourite of the whites.

2004 Rockford Local Growers Semillon: Medium to bright gold. Attractive nose of spicy citrus, vanilla, lemon, fennel and perfume; the palate’s not in as good shape, the lemony/spicy entry drying up rather quickly leaving a rather unpleasant, bitter finish. I feel the boat’s already been missed on this one.


2007 Rockford White Frontignac: Pale straw/green. Sweet, grapey characters with just a little lychee and similar racy acidity and lemon sherbet characters like the Kabminye. The palate’s not bad either, a sweet and slightly oily entry leading to a spicy mid-palate, finishing mineraly with some rose water on the end – this really needs a good Thai green curry to match it.

2007 Rockford Alicante Bouchet: Surprisingly medium to dark pink/purple. The appearance is a good clue as the nose is also surprisingly heavy for this label, with strong Turkish delight, rose water and liquorice characters; the palate’s rather simple and not as delightfully fruity as previous vintages, the finish rather short too. Disappointing.


2003 Rockford Moppa Springs Grenache Mataro Shiraz: Very dark crimson with a little brick already. Ripe and developing quickly, quite minty and earthy with earthy/ironstone and raisin nuances to the raspberry fruit; the palate’s medium weight with plenty of mint, black pepper, raisin and liquorice, drinking very well right now.

1996 Rockford Dry Country Grenache: Dark red/brick. A bit too old & bretty for my liking, with lots of horse saddle/leather, sweet cloves and mint on the nose; the palate’s likewise smoky with some cloves, the finish thin but long and rather metallic. Others liked it a lot more than me.


2005 Rockford Rod & Spur Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz: Dark to inky crimson. Attractive nose with minty/spicy plums backed by vanilla oak; the palate opens with a soft but thunderous rush of raspberries, dark chocolate and liquorice, but the finish suddenly drops off and is surprisingly bitter and disappointing.

2005 Rockford Rifle Range Cabernet Sauvignon: Dark to inky crimson. More restrained nose than the Rod & Spur, but look deep and it’s rewarding with earthy menthol and tobacco lurking in the depths; the palate also opens with that surprising lick of earthy black liquorice, but the structure is far superior along with the spicy cassis fruit, finishing minty. Maybe a little on the warm side, but still one of the stars of the tasting.


Rockford Sparkling Black Shiraz (disgorged 1989): Dark to inky red/brick with a decent mousse to begin with. Unfortunately our bottle was corked – a small sample of the other was very nice with lovely earthy mushroom and leathery characters, and a sweet, long finish.


1994 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz: Very dark to inky brick red. Quite minty and leathery/stocky at first, but with breathing it improved and sweetened up, finally revealing some dark chocolate and petroleum characters. The palate’s actually much better than the nose, with velvety dark chocolate and mint, and an earthy, long mocha coffee finish. I had a much better bottle of the 1994 a few years ago, but this is still pretty good.

2005 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz: Dark to inky red/purple. Coming straight after the 14-year-old the youth of this wine immediately stood out, with concentrated plum and mint, a little rubber and scrubbed black cherries/blackberries. There’s more black liquorice here too (a common thread with the 2005 reds) along with sweet blackberries, the grippy structure and finish excellent with a tinge of nutty chocolate to round it off. Despite being opened way too young this was still my clear WOTN – get some for the cellar.


Rockford P.S. Marion Tawny: Bright tawny with a bright olive rim. In contrast to a few others I found the nose quite attractive, with heavily developed rancio, wood varnish and petroleum characters; the palate’s not in as good shape, the lovely fruitcake entry leading to quite a very tired/dried out finish. I suspected this may have been old stock, but it was apparently purchased direct form the CD just two weeks ago.

1997 Rockford Shiraz VP: Very inky crimson. Very sweet, with thunderous black liquorice, black cherry, cough medicine/sarsaparilla and spearmint characters, and a long earthy palate. Very enjoyable, although there’s a lot of other alternatives for a lot less than $62.50/bottle.


The results of the final votes to determine everyone’s most preferred wines for the night (excluding the sparkling & fortifieds) were:

Whites:
2004 Rockford Vine Vale Riesling (1st)

Reds:
2005 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz
1996 Rockford Dry Country Grenache (equal 1st)


Cheers
Ian

[Gustav]

2005 Rockford Basket Press Shiraz: Dark to inky red/purple. Coming straight after the 14-year-old the youth of this wine immediately stood out, with concentrated plum and mint, a little rubber and scrubbed black cherries/blackberries. There’s more black liquorice here too (a common thread with the 2005 reds) along with sweet blackberries, the grippy structure and finish excellent with a tinge of nutty chocolate to round it off. Despite being opened way too young this was still my clear WOTN – get some for the cellar.

I tried this yesterday at the Rockford CD. It was a stunning wine indeed! Enthralling aromas and flavours. Excellently restrained. I was smiling the whole way home with a sixpack in the back.

BTW, they were just finished pressing shiraz. I wonder at what baume they picked their fruit....

Gustav

[Davo]

I tried this yesterday at the Rockford CD. It was a stunning wine indeed! Enthralling aromas and flavours. Excellently restrained. I was smiling the whole way home with a sixpack in the back.

Gustav

I agree, it is a superb wine.

Interested in how you got a six pack at CD tho, as it was restricted to 3 bottles per customer when we were there the 1st weekend in March.

[Gustav]

I tried this yesterday at the Rockford CD. It was a stunning wine indeed! Enthralling aromas and flavours. Excellently restrained. I was smiling the whole way home with a sixpack in the back.

Gustav

I agree, it is a superb wine.

Interested in how you got a six pack at CD tho, as it was restricted to 3 bottles per customer when we were there the 1st weekend in March.

I brought the wife (and kids) along . Unfortunately the kids didn't count as persons

[Davo]

I tried this yesterday at the Rockford CD. It was a stunning wine indeed! Enthralling aromas and flavours. Excellently restrained. I was smiling the whole way home with a sixpack in the back.

Gustav

I agree, it is a superb wine.

Interested in how you got a six pack at CD tho, as it was restricted to 3 bottles per customer when we were there the 1st weekend in March.

I brought the wife (and kids) along . Unfortunately the kids didn't count as persons

I love the way this mob change the rules to suit themselves. Only last year my mate had a heated discussion with them because they would not let his daughter buy a 6 pack (as it was then), despite the fact she lived in Queensland and he was from WA, because it was a per family deal.

This year we had a warm discussion as to why we weren't advancing off the "Junior" mailing list despite rather large expenditure at CD for the last 5 years and were told that it did not matter how much you spent, you had to be on the "Junior" list for at least 6 years. This despite my knowing folk who have gone onto the "Stonewaller" list after only 2 years and never having spent a cent on Rockford wines.

Guess I will never advance onto the senior list now

[GravyMaker]

I went two weekends ago with my partner - we bought a six-pack with no questions asked.

Brett