Any experience with these?

GravyMaker · Post by **GravyMaker** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:23 pm

Hey all,

Anyone had any recent experience with these:

Fox Creek Reserve Cabernet 1999
Yalumba The Menzies Cabernet 2000
Knappstein Enterprise Shiraz 1999
St Hallet Old Block Shiraz 1997
Wirra Wirra RSW 1999
Yalumba Shiraz Viognier 1999
Peter Lehmann Mentor 1998
Peter Lehmann Mentor 1999

Interested to hear impressions and suggested drinking windows.

Cheers,

Brett

dave vino · Post by **dave vino** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:29 pm

Both Mentors are drink now.

n4sir · Post by **n4sir** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:06 pm

With the possible exception of the 1999 Knappstein Enterprise, I'd guess all of them would be drink-now prospects if you're counting both the Mentors Dave. I would have picked them and the Knappstein as being the potential sleepers of this lot.

Cheers,
Ian

TORB · Post by **TORB** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:48 am

The Mentor lasts really well. The 96 is only just peaking and the last time I tried the 98, decided to leave them for a couple of more years.

dave vino · Post by **dave vino** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 8:03 am

I just recently had a 1999 Mentor and thought it was pretty much right to go. I had a 1997 as well which I thought was past it, bad bottle? I've still got another one so I might try it and compare.

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 8:26 am

I've got 1 94 Mentor left, the 94 took forever to soften, a couple of 96's that are drink now or in the next year or so, a few 98's that I have listed as just entering peak drinking, but will hold for 3-4 years, then none until the 2002 and 2004.

Didn't buy any of the others.

rooman · Post by **rooman** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 10:05 am

n4sir wrote:With the possible exception of the 1999 Knappstein Enterprise, I'd guess all of them would be drink-now prospects if you're counting both the Mentors Dave. I would have picked them and the Knappstein as being the potential sleepers of this lot.

Cheers,
Ian

Ian

I have a couple of magnums of the 99 Knappstein. I have held off opening them so far. Any thoughts on when I should open the first one. There is no rush.

Mahmoud Ali · Post by **Mahmoud Ali** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:49 pm

I hope that when people say "drink now" or "right to go" they mean that the wine is drinking well, and not that it won't last much longer. It is inconceivable to me that the Mentor, a premium Cabernet, cannot last 10 or more years.

Jeremy Oliver has the '98 Mentor's drinking window at 2010-2018, and Parker's reviews of older vintages have 10-15 year drinking windows.

I have a couple of '99 Mentors and I haven't even thought about drinking them in the near future.

Cheers...........Mahmoud.

n4sir · Post by **n4sir** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 10:54 am

rooman wrote:Ian

I have a couple of magnums of the 99 Knappstein. I have held off opening them so far. Any thoughts on when I should open the first one. There is no rush.

James Halliday picked a drinking window of 2004-2014 for the Enterprise Shiraz in his 2003 Wine Companion. 1999 was a strong vintage for Clare (as good if not better than 1998) and I reckon that's around the mark - for a magnum in ideal storage conditions, I'd say it should be drinking well now-2019.

Interestingly his predicted drinking window for the 1999 Peter Lehmann Mentor was 2004-2009 which mirrors Dave's drink-now suggestion, but his prediction for the 1998 vintage was much longer (2005-2015).

Cheers,
Ian