Sometimes you just have to open those special bottles...

[crusty2]

TN: Tues 30 Sept 2008

After having a couple of wines recently which were past their peak, some might say geriatric, I thought I should have a look in the cellar at what needed culling.

So decided to have a clearout tasting of some old wines in the cellar. Some were unexpectedly ullaged, some I thought the colour may be suss and some I had bought and had not tasted for many years.
So it was time to get together with some friends and present the wines to them "blind".

due to the age of some of the wines all were de-corked about 6.30pm and none were decanted

We were supposed to have about 11+ people and ended up with 5 actual tasters, and this is what we tried

Bracket 1

1982 Leo Buring DWL 16 Riesling-- Bright golden yellow, smells of toast and mild marmalade. Nice soft mouthfeel, reminiscent of icecream, maybe some residual low-level sugar?. Lovely rich palate with limes acid cleansing finish. Buttery, lovely to drink. Some initial bottle staleness blows off but for a 26 yo under cork understandable. You have to wonder how many modern Rieslings would last this long.
1970 Lindemans Bin 3870 Semillon-- Full yellow colour, definitely showing age although no browning. Smells of marmalade/marzipan with some aldehyde detracting. The palate shows a rubbery sulphide character which detracts. Palate bone dry and all vestiges of fruit gone. Recent bottles have improved with breathing and with food. Better 5 years ago.

Bracket 2

1993 Mt. Mary Chardonnay-- Not supposed to be a representative vintage (according to the Mt. Mary newsletter) but was pleasantly surprised. Mid yellow, buttery nose, fresh creamy palate showing no overt oakiness and low/no malo derived butteryness. Very nice drink with a sweet sour sensation on palate. Lemony citrus with creamy mouthfeel, nice.
1990 Tyrrells Vat 47 Chardonnay-- Dark yellow with amber hints. Musty nose, with aldehyde character. Palate a bit hard but nice body, not cloying. Dry clean finish with big vanilla oak, fruit has dropped out. Nice aged white with very oaky finish. Has seen better days.
1984 Aigle Vouvray Chenin Blanc-- Full yellow Alsace style nose, sweet with bot rot?. Palate flat uninteresting, very high acid. Some cardboardy characters detract. Bone dry finish reminiscent of sour chews.

Bracket 3

1965 Penfolds St. Henri Cab/Shiraz-- Colour of garnet with amber edge. Porty, caramel, meaty, leathery nose and slightly oxidised palate. Firm, dry, chalky tannins coat the mouth. Overall the coarse firm tannins dominate the meaty/caramel palate. Although not a renown vintage, at 43 yo still drinking well. I wonder if this is representative or a poor bottle. The remainder of the bottle tasted the next day surprised those who tried it at how nice it looked.
1966 Penfolds Grange Shiraz-- Amazingly dense colour of garnet with a faint amber edge. Nose has hints green leafy fruit. Palate was smooth with soft creamy tannins. Lovely complex prunes/plums/porty fruit with nice texture and palate weight. Caramel sweet oak and drying tannins leaves a nice impression and wants you to come back for more. This was my first time to try this vintage and what a treat. The remainder of the bottle tasted the next day was greatly appreciated by a couple who could not attend.

Bracket 4

1962 Penfolds Bin 60A Cab/Shiraz-- Another wine with a intensely dense garnet colour. A musty cork character initially on the nose, but with air this blew off. Palate had caramel/molasses red fruits and aged coffee/molasses and meaty/leathery characters. A great mouthfeel and lovely length, could linger over this wine for a long time. Comments around the table were that this wine seems a lot younger than 46 yo and is still fruit driven.
1966 Penfolds Bin 620 Cab/Shiraz-- Not as dense a colour as the last two. Nose has some green herbaceous hints. A dry tannic but elegant palate with sweet fruit and drying tannins. A slightly bitter finish with chocolaty sweet fruit. Outshone by the previous 2 wines but still lovely complex although elegant feminine palate (bin 60A would be masculine). On its own it would be sensational.
1967 Penfolds Bin 7 Cab/Shiraz-- Back to the dense opaque colour. Nose initially dog shit and salty, unexpected. Palate redeems with rich chocolate/molasses and some creamy cherry cola oak derived characters. Now smells of old tobacco ashtray and bitumen. Superb palate and great persistent length.

Bracket 5

1985 Tahbilk 1860's vines Shiraz-- Colour pale red ruby. Surprisingly elegant lightweight palate with elegant sweet fruit plums raspberry cedar. Coming after the Penfolds wines it suffered. On its own it would show quite well. Still nice to drink
1986 Henschke Cyril Henschke Cab. Sauv.-- Bright colour of pale red with amber edge. Nose of violets and leafy cab. Palate elegant young with cassis and chalky tannins. Nice refreshing acid finish excellent drinking with some dry fine powdery tannins. An impressively elegant wine which pushes all the right buttons for a classy cab.

Bracket 6

1976 Ch. Pavie Merlot blend-- Bright garnet in colour. As you swirl the glass the impression is of a thicker wine, viscosity. Perfumed aromatic rich nose follows to great sweet fruit palate and that viscous mouthfeel. Soft plummy aged characters and great length. Very nice drinking. Has not changed a lot since last tried in 2006.
1990 Mt. Mary Cabernets-- This was not decanted and hindsight tells me it should have been. Bright youthful crimson red colour with herbal capsicum nose. Palate lightweight with capsicum notes and some bright plummy fruit underneath. Expected more from this wine.

And finally

1987 De Bortoli Noble One Semillon-- The bottle looked dark and I wondered if it would open ok. Colour amber. Lovely sweet marmalade nose dispelled any doubts brought on the colour. The palate had lovely sweet bot. rot. Style of fruit and quince marmalade characters. A very nice way to finish the evening.

Many thanks to Blackie for the venue and everybody took home something to look at the next day

These are my notes of the leftovers. Due to the school holidays some people who I tried to contact and share these leftovers were unavailable

Day 2
1993 Mt. Mary Chardonnay -- Nutty buttery nose, fresh creamy palate. Very nice drink. Citrus with creamy mouthfeel, cashew oak finish
1962 Penfolds Bin 60A -- Had started to dry out but still retained that superb textural feel. Stewed fruits. Leather and spice. Very good but outclassed by the next wine.
1967 Penfolds Bin 7 -- Nose improved with none of last nights stink. Palate still impressive leathery vanilla cedar spice and liquorice. Firm but integrated tannins and a long finish. Fantastic
1990 Mt. Mary Cabernets -- What a transformation. Still looks youthful but the palate weight and depth of fruit has transformed, like a caterpillar yesterday to a beautiful butterfly today. Fantastic fruit and length of palate.


Day 3
1993 Mt. Mary Chardonnay -- Drying out and losing fruit. Still a nice drink with a sweet sour and oak finish.
1962 Penfolds Bin 60A -- Volatility showing but still structured. Cedar, tarry nice stewed fruits and still a very nice drink.
1967 Penfolds Bin 7 -- Palate structure still alive with leather and cedar, still superb. Savouring every sip.
1990 Mt. Mary Cabernets -- Still looks good with Petit Verdot plumminess starting to dominate.


Day 4
1962 Penfolds Bin 60A -- If I did not know what this was I could have taken it for a late 70's cab/shiraz that had seen better days but not dead yet.
1967 Penfolds Bin 7 -- Still a fantastic drink. What a shame there has to be a bottom to every bottle.
1990 Mt. Mary Cabernets -- fading. Looking like a youngish Bordeaux - angular fruit and hard acid. Will try another in 3 or 4 years time but will definitely decant beforehand.

A treat to taste and share with friends.

[Adair]

We were supposed to have about 11+ people and ended up with 5 actual tasters, and this is what we tried

You need to find some new friends!

Thank you for the notes.

Adair

[tim1210]

i really enjoyed reading your notes... and must say it made me feel even more excitement about the day in 30-odd years when i'll be able to have similar experiences with wines that i've started to gather.

thanks

[n4sir]

After the last couple of offlines I was thinking maybe a future one should be a special bottle or have a "relics" theme - whites at least ten years old, reds and fortifieds at least twenty.

After reading this I'm thinking it should be a goer, if not this year maybe next autumn when the weather's cooler again. Thanks for the report crusty, I'm hoping this should inspire a few people to open a few more old and special bottles.

Cheers,
Ian

[Nayan]

After the last couple of offlines I was thinking maybe a future one should be a special bottle or have a "relics" theme - whites at least ten years old, reds and fortifieds at least twenty.

After reading this I'm thinking it should be a goer, if not this year maybe next autumn when the weather's cooler again.

I'm planning on being back in February for a couple of weeks...

[bacchaebabe]

Pity the losers that failed to turn up.

Sounds like a wonderful line up.

[n4sir]

After the last couple of offlines I was thinking maybe a future one should be a special bottle or have a "relics" theme - whites at least ten years old, reds and fortifieds at least twenty.

After reading this I'm thinking it should be a goer, if not this year maybe next autumn when the weather's cooler again.

I'm planning on being back in February for a couple of weeks...

I was trying to source a couple of '71 Barossa reds for the event, but after today it looks like I struck out. I've got a few things in reserve though, not '71 but ancient and very, very nice, and definitely on the drawing board for your return...

Cheers,
Ian

[GraemeG]

Yikes! Failed to show up! With 66 Grange, 60A, 620, Bin7, 90 Quintet, 86 Cyril and 70 Lindies Sem on the table? What kind of madmen are they? I don't even think surgery would have kept me away! Fabulous tasting, and interesting to note the following-day development.
cheers,
Graeme

[Grant]

Crusty,

What a salivating array of wines. Some of the all time greats. I'm betting on full acceptances next time you even suggest you are opening something.

All the best

[Irregular]

Fantastic effort Crusty, I love reading about old wine experiences, almost as much as I love participating in them.

You certainly got into more than a few gems there. Wish I had a few friends who culled like that.

[Craig(NZ)]

on a related issue. im one that has looked at all the special occassion wines i have, looked at the quantity of special occassions which require such wines and shook me head.

big trim down on buying those types of wines this year and also 'inventing ' more occassions to enjoy the flash wines! hehe

[winetastic]

on a related issue. im one that has looked at all the special occassion wines i have, looked at the quantity of special occassions which require such wines and shook me head.

big trim down on buying those types of wines this year and also 'inventing ' more occassions to enjoy the flash wines! hehe

Simple solution: Tuesday is a special occasion.

[Adair]

on a related issue. im one that has looked at all the special occassion wines i have, looked at the quantity of special occassions which require such wines and shook me head.

big trim down on buying those types of wines this year and also 'inventing ' more occassions to enjoy the flash wines! hehe

Simple solution: Tuesday is a special occasion.

Opening a special bottle makes a special occasion.
Adair

[Roscoe]

Opening a special bottle makes a special occasion.
Adair

Didn't Maya say something similar in "Sideways"? Certainly worth repeating, in any case.