What has taken you by surprise from the cellar?

[Broughy]

Interested to hear tales from the cellar. What has exceeded expectations in your mind?

Some recent welcome surprises:

1996 Penfolds Bin 28 This represents excellent value for money. solid generous wine with real character and judicious oaking.

2001 Seppelt Chalambar Some unexpected complexity and depth of character.

1999 Fonterutoli Chianti Classico in halves nice and savoury but nicely rounded too.

1999 Seppelt Drumborg Cabernet Stated 12% ABV, a quenching cabernet, seemed to hit the spot as being satisfying

[dazza1968]

91 Peter Lehmann Stonewell

72 Hardy's Eileen

91 Wynns Michael


There are a few others but would have to think about it

Regards Dazza

98 Mt Ida shiraz

[griff]

Recently the one that stood out was an 1986? Oakridge Cabernet that a friend opened. It had the zen of a wine being consumed at its apogee. Aaron may be able to confirm the year. Excellent to Outstanding wine

cheers

Carl

[Bick]

Precious few, as I'm a relatively recent cellarer of wine, but one comes to mind:

Stonecroft Syrah 1997 - a pretty old syrah for NZ, from a not so special year and bottles of unknown provenance - yet both bottles I acquired drank beautifully (consumed a year or so ago).

[qwertt]

2001 Bowen Estate Shiraz
and
2001 Bannockburn Shiraz - the surprise with this is that it was as good as it should be and not bretty as hell like the first bottle I had!

[Aaron Lovett]

Recently the one that stood out was an 1986? Oakridge Cabernet that a friend opened. It had the zen of a wine being consumed at its apogee. Aaron may be able to confirm the year. Excellent to Outstanding wine

Yes you're right. It was the 1986 Oakridge Cabernet Shiraz Merlot. I love it when the auction gambles pay off It was just lovely

[Mike Hawkins]

I'd have to say various vintages of Bin 389 - 71, 82, 86 and 88. I had stopped buying this label, but with 20+ years on them, these wines are world class value, even at $50 per bottle. I had forgotten just how good they can be. I've loaded up on 04,05 and 06 as a result.

[Gary W]

A large rat.
GW

[Michael McNally]

A large rat.
GW

What did you drink with it Gary? Beaujolais??

[Gary W]

A large rat.
GW

What did you drink with it Gary? Beaujolais??

Everyone knows that Pinot Gris is the perfect match for rat.
GW

[Craig(NZ)]

my final bottle of 95 Awatea. astounding wine. that one bottle could be the best Hawkes Bay red ive ever had.


not every bottle was that way. such is wine, such is life

[Bick]

A large rat.
GW

What did you drink with it Gary? Beaujolais??

Everyone knows that Pinot Gris is the perfect match for rat.
GW

Good call, but you could pair it with baby mouse wine?

[rooman]

2001 Bannockburn Shiraz - the surprise with this is that it was as good as it should be and not bretty as hell like the first bottle I had!

Funny you should list this. I was going to say the same about the 2002 Shiraz. I threw a few of these into some mixed case lots for my 50th birthday bash and spent most of the night chasing these around the various tables. The other wine that really surprised that night were the last of the Rosemount Traditional 2001 which won the Jimmy Watson trophy. That also proved reallly popular with some of the punters. Now it has all gone, I wish I had kept back a couple of the Traditional to see if it actually warranted the Trophy.

[orpheus]

I am not surprised when I open a good bottle of the 2001 or 2002 Bannockburn shiraz, I bought a fair bit of it on Langtons a few years ago after tasting it.

I don't mind the occasional barn-yard quality of this wine. Both these vintages are great to drink at the moment.

More surprising to me was a Howard Park Leston shiraz from about 2003. (Not completely sure of the vintage)

I bought a dozen, and didn't think much of them when they were young. I have opened a few over the last year and found them to be superb.

[Mandingo]

2001 Greenock Creek Seven Acres Shiraz - a stunning wine.

[cuttlefish]

My gimp ?

[dazza1968]

2001 Greenock Creek Seven Acres Shiraz - a stunning wine.

I second that

[Luke W]

The other wine that really surprised that night were the last of the Rosemount Traditional 2001 which won the Jimmy Watson trophy. That also proved reallly popular with some of the punters. Now it has all gone, I wish I had kept back a couple of the Traditional to see if it actually warranted the Trophy.

I agree this is a wonderful wine and is often underestimated. It's still freely available through Langtons and other secondary auction houses for not much more than it was originally purchased.

I sometimes get quite surprised by the quality of the old Leasingham bin 61's (particularly the 1999). There was also a wine I bought through Getwinesdirect about 6 years ago which was called the Normans Peacock Shiraz 1998 which has unfailingly surprised with its wonderful nose and taste.
Another wine which sometimes is amazing is the old Pipers Brook cabernet sauvignon. I have had a few of these from the early 80's in the last couple of years and am astounded by the freshness and life still within.

I find the old McWilliams Mt Pleasant Rosehills and OP&OH's sometimes emulate this as well.

cheers

Luke

[ufo]

2002 Marius Shiraz
2003 Brick Kiln Shiraz

[Peter NZ]

Stonecroft Syrah 1997 - a pretty old syrah for NZ, from a not so special year and bottles of unknown provenance - yet both bottles I acquired drank beautifully (consumed a year or so ago).

'97 Babich Irongate Cab Merlot is pretty well at the top of my list of cellar surprises -- my only bottle a year or so ago was against all expectations absolutely stunning; as you say from an unheralded vintage.

I sometimes get quite surprised by the quality of the old Leasingham bin 61's (particularly the 1999).

Belatedly started on a dozen of these this winter, & very pleasantly surprised for a wine that was circa $15 on release.

Cheers
Peter

[xsorxpire]

In Perth we have a place called "Steve's" which has some sort of wine storage system where they can do wine by the glass.
For my birthday i wanted to find out what all the fuss was about Grange, so for $110 i bought a glass.
(It was my fortieth).
They opened a fresh bottle of 1989 and i got a glass.
I wanted to spend time enjoying this rather expensive glass of red, so slowly sipped it.
That was my first mistake.
You see at first the wine was lovely. Many wonderful mouthfilling flavours.
I had experienced all these flavours befor, but not from the same wine.
But twenty minutes of sipping this wine and it became rather acidic.
It put a burn in my chest.

Then it went kind of vinegary.
Thirty minutes into a $110 GLASS of Grange and it was shit.

So definately a suprise from the cellar.
Fortunately not my cellar.

I have a couple of wines that fall over quickly.
A 1996 Sandalford Shiraz that three of you have to drink quickly or it becomes acidic, but never like vinegar.

But this was unexpected.

The concencus was that we have better in my cellar.
(I was with my mother and as the wine changed i gave her a sip to see if it was me or the wine).

[Wayno]

It shouldn't really surprise but it still does - Jacobs Creek Reserve Shiraz 2002 - I have a few left of these and each time they deliver very impressively for their relatively small cost.

Another surprise was a 1977 Racehorse VP that was leaking through the capsule (on it's side, cork floating in the bottle). I must have got to it within minutes/hours of cork failure by pure fluke. It was surprisingly potent and drinking well.

[daz]

A couple of friends flew me from Townsville to Brisbane for a small, week-early celebration of my 55th birthday at their place a few kms from
Fernvale, outside of Ipswich the weekend before last. It was a week early due to visitors' attendance considerations, at my sister's two-weeks-after celebration of her 60th which was held on my birthday last weekend. For those with a mathematical/numerical bent, the digits of my birthdate in **/**/** format add up to the day/date.

Anyway, I took a few bottles of Tahbilk cleanskin dry white 2008 and my last bottle each (TN's are hazy recollections - it was a big weekend) of:

[b]Jasper Hill Georgia's Paddock 2000[/b] which had some brick colour. The fruit was still rather plummy with some red fruits in support, oak was obvious but integrated. Big, gutsy wine still with slightly chewy, drying tannins on the finish. That was at lunch on Saturday.

[b]Turkey Flat Shiraz 2001[/b] Bloody lovely, elegant, everything in balance, drinking perfectly now but will hold for some years yet. At dinner.

[b]Jeanneret Denis Reserve Shiraz 2002[/b] Another biggie in a similar category to the Jasper as I recall it, but it suffered from following the Turkey Flat. Also at dinner.

I probably shouldn't have been surprised by the Turkey Flat but then I wasn't totally convinced by the 1998 I had last year.

Not from the diminishing collection but I was pleasantly surprised by the piccolo of Rolling cab/merl 08(?) I had with dinner at the Fernvale pub we went to on the Friday night before last. I kept buying more while we mingled with the locals - one was a sputnik but entertained with her conspiracy theories. Had a great weekend but was shattered after it.

Same-same last weekend. A bloke who's become a bit of a family friend had a bottle of Haywards shiraz 1998 from a now defunct winery near his hobby cattle farm in Victoria . It was still in fine condition with reasonable fruit and a very dry tannic finish. Also tried a Mt Langhi Ghiran Billi Billi shiraz 08 and a Kirrihill shiraz 08, both pretty good quaffers.

Cheers

daz

[Brucer]

1990 Galah shiraz. Simply blew me away. (Wendouree fruit) Far better then the 90 Wendouree shiraz IMO.

[Hacker]

1990 Galah shiraz. Simply blew me away. (Wendouree fruit) Far better then the 90 Wendouree shiraz IMO.

Funny you should mention Galah. I opened up a Galah 1996 Cab Malbec just the other day and it was also just brilliant.Slightly different in structure to the Wendurees but at least as good.

The 1990 Wendouree shiraz you mention may have suffered in quality (compared to other years) because of the magnum bottlings which were from the 1895(?) bush vines only, and hence this higher quality material didn't find its way into the 'standard' bottling in that year.

[kwattro]

2005 Arakoon Selleck's Beach - much more approachable than it was a year ago.

[rooman]

Following a good review in WS, I put away some Rosemount GSM 2001. Subsequently lost it at the back and only found it again when looking for wines for my birthday bash. JO had given it a poor score and suggested it should be well over the hill by now. Quite the contrary when I opened a bottle the other night, the fruit and tannins have integrated well but with still enough guts to go for a few years yet. At the same time it has taken on an enjoyable savory/mocha aspect that makes it very moreish.

[GrahamB]

St Hallet Blackwell 1999 - A great bottle which really impressed.