These are what I have been drinking lately, well, over the past couple of months. All notes are from memory, and they are pretty basic comments, but should give an idea of wines for those that have them in their cellar.
There has been a fair amount of corked and oxidised wines recently.
04 Kilikanoon M Reserve McLaren Vale shiraz
Tonights bottle was Corked.
Previous bottle was very good, with the fruit starting to tame the oak
03 Standish shiraz
I am a fan. Brilliant
02 Shirvington shiraz
What a surprise. Fantastic. ripe,balanced, a Parker high scorer.
94 Metala Black label shiraz
Last bottle. 14 years old. Holding and drinking well. Was minty, but not overly so.
05 Two Hands Lilys Garden McLaren Vale shiraz
Not good. Random Oxidisation? I hope so
04 Two Hands Lilys Garden
2 bottles opened. Both not enjoyable. Fruit has faded, and oak dominates
Cork again?
05 Two Hands Ares shiraz
Fantastic. Top fruit, and good oak, and in balance. Would need to be good at $120
05 Clos Otto Old Vine Barossa shiraz
This is the most exciting wine I have tried in months.
I thought the 05 Ares was good, and this just had an amazing purity of fruit, and was simply sensational.
02 Scarpantoni Cabernet
This is a really yummy wine. Its rich, fruity, balanced and so easy to slurp.
The 06 version won the Jimmy Watson
04 Aramis The Govenor shiraz McLaren Vale
This wine is heavily oaked, and should come around in time.
This was very good on the third night.
03 Schubert Estate shiraz
I am starting to like the 03s from Barossa. This is good stuff.
05 Wayne Thomas shiraz
This won the best wine at the McLaren Vale show in its release year.
I have opened 3 bottles, two have been cork effected, and one was like I would expect.
05 Lloyd Bros White Chalk shiraz
A good drink, but slightly heavy on the oak currently, and could be a bit more complex
02 Tyrrells Heathcote Rufus Stone shiraz
corked
02 Wirra Wirra Angeles Cabernet
!st bottle brilliant.
2nd bottle corked
98 Grant Burge Cabernet
Mint and cassis dominate ......pass
04 Lunar Cabernet Barossa
I like this.
01 Rockford Rifle Range Cabernet
You could say, made in the old style. Good.
04 Shirvington Cabernet
This was very good.
02 Ross Estate Cabernet
Pass
02 Leibich The Darkie shiraz
This had a chemical taste to it, which I think could be a winemaking fault. I could not drink.
02 Mr Riggs shiraz
Corked
04 Cape Barren Old Vine shiraz
Needed a bit of time to breath, then opened up, and was very good.
02 Dowie Doole Reserve shiraz
Very good. Sweet,rich syrupy fruit.
04 Pennys Hill Red Dot shiraz
Good gluggable McV shiraz
02 Fox Creek JSM
Hard going for me.
96 Leasingham Classic Clare shiraz
I found this to be thin, angular, and not that nice.
04 Kilikanoon Greens Barossa shiraz
Great wine
05 Marius Symphony shiraz
Good wine.
05 Hently The Beast shiraz
Needs time for the oak to settle. Will be good
02 Two Hands Bellas Garden shiraz
Excellent wine
06 Koltz The Pagan shiraz
I am a fan. Rack dried grapes, Amarone style. Sweet, rich not that comples, but oh, so gluggable.
02 Olivers Taranga shiraz
Last of a doz. Great wine
05 Hewitson Private Label shiraz mataro
Mr Halliday is correct in his very high score of this wine. Brilliant.
98 Wendouree shiraz malbec
I enjoyed this more than I expected. I would not want to drink this every day, but as Wendouree goes, it was different to the usual.
04 Deisen shiraz
It took the second day to really open up, where it turned into something really nice.
05 Seppelt Original sparkling shiraz
Seems to have settled down, and it was so moorish.
The Past Months Reds
The Past Months Reds
When not drinking a fine red, I'm a cardboard claret man!