Sunday 1st November....

[TORB]

Hi Good Peoples,

It's that time of the week yet again. Please let us know what you have been drinking over the last week. Notes, vibes, impressions, lists and what ever, all welcome.

[orpheus]

2006 Chateau Reynella BP shiraz (clean-skin).

Had a bottle again last night. This is a lovely wine, well-balanced and elegant.

I have said before that I think it significantly better than the 05, and others respond that they think the two vintages are similar. Again, I think it is significantly better than the 05, which to me has some under-ripe, stalky characteristics. At least the batch I bought.

2006 St Hallett Blackwell shiraz.

Lovely wine. Lovely, focused, particulate tannins, giving the wine great weight and long finish. Dark, briary, blackberry, liquorice palate. Buy some!

[griff]

2006 Chapel Hill BP shiraz (clean-skin).

Had a bottle again last night. This is a lovely wine, well-balanced and elegant.

I have said before that I think it significantly better than the 05, and others respond that they think the two vintages are similar. Again, I think it is significantly better than the 05, which to me has some under-ripe, stalky characteristics. At least the batch I bought.

2006 St Hallett Blackwell shiraz.

Lovely wine. Lovely, focused, particulate tannins, giving the wine great weight and long finish. Dark, briary, blackberry, liquorice palate. Buy some!

Chapel Hill or Chateau Reynella?

cheers

Carl

[orpheus]

Sorry, slip of the typewriter.

Quite right, Chateau Reynella.

[pizzler]

2006 R Wines Shiraz Chris Ringland "CR" Ebenezer Really pleasant easy drinking wine, well balanced with a hint of pepper, which belied the initial monsterous alcohol nose (15/8%), viscous, not very complex, but a crowd pleaser

2006 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Grace Vineyard Very un-pinot taste. Surprisingly sweet, undeveloped, thick, viscous, and hard to see where the tannins are hiding. Clearly this wine should benefit from age

2004 Alto Cedro Malbec Ano Cero First opened this bottle two weeks ago and was impressed with the power it exhibited, but it was too disjointed and rough to be entrancing. Corked it and forgot about it for two weeks. It was still a massive brute, but the edges had smoothed out and you could see that it had great potential. My 91 may prove to be way low in ten years when this wine is finally drinkable.

2004 Glaymond Wines Landrace More disjointed than prior bottles. It was like the Mataro was to the side of the Shiraz and they weren't at all integrated. Still, very good wine.

2006 Cedric Bouchard Champagne Blanc de Noirs Roses de Jeanne "Les Ursules" Lovely champagne; started with a startling trace of grapefruit juice behind a light well balanced spritz. That subsided and over the course of the hour the bottle lasted several other tasted emerged, lime, nougat, coconut, among others. Nice way to start a meal.

[jeremy]

2009 Greystone Gewürztraminer- searingly awful

2006 Terrazes Reserva Malbec- stale, wet oak, weedy mess with some jam

[seddo]

Eden Road The Long Road Shiraz 08 A cracker of a wine, I normally dont like Hilltops shiraz, but this is a persistant and long shiraz(pardon the pun) with beautiful red fruits and spices. This was even better over the second night - light to medium weight, will be trying to source more.


cheers
Seddo

[qwertt]

Eden Road The Long Road Shiraz 08 A cracker of a wine, I normally dont like Hilltops shiraz, but this is a persistant and long shiraz(pardon the pun) with beautiful red fruits and spices. This was even better over the second night - light to medium weight, will be trying to source more.


cheers
Seddo

Along with the rest of Australia

[seddo]

Eden Road The Long Road Shiraz 08 A cracker of a wine, I normally dont like Hilltops shiraz, but this is a persistant and long shiraz(pardon the pun) with beautiful red fruits and spices. This was even better over the second night - light to medium weight, will be trying to source more.


cheers
Seddo

Along with the rest of Australia

I think I know where there may be 2 cases

cheers
Seddo

[Daniel Jess]

A few tastings this week, but I wasn't impressed with the 08 d'Arrenberg Noble Mud Pie. My teeth are still hurting...

Six or seven Medoc's for a vertical tasting this week - was interesting.

Am anticpating Beaujolais Nouveau for this year!

[Mike Hawkins]

2006 Cedric Bouchard Champagne Blanc de Noirs Roses de Jeanne "Les Ursules" Lovely champagne; started with a startling trace of grapefruit juice behind a light well balanced spritz. That subsided and over the course of the hour the bottle lasted several other tasted emerged, lime, nougat, coconut, among others. Nice way to start a meal.

I love this wine. Not the easiest to find, but it goes down a treat.

[Jay60A]

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 1998
I wanted to like it but found it classy yet disappointing. Drunk over 2 days I found it marginally over-ripe with porty and raisined nuances ... musky nose ... very long, and needs another ten years ... "Incredible Hulk" tannins is a phrase that comes to mind ... but I doubt it will be to my liking ... I have one bottle left but I'd buy more 2002 and 2004 rather than this vintage. Or buy the Magill Estate 1998 instead ...

[monghead]

Hi all just a quick update...

2000 Dom Perignon- Tighter, more focussed yet complex than the Louise, I enjoyed this more, but wifey liked the creaminess and sweetness of the Louise more. Superbly Good.
2002 Faiveley Clos Corton- Darker berries, spicier than the '02 Rousseau, the tannins were also harsher. Clearly a few rungs below. Good.
2006 Martray Corton Charlemagne- Tight, linear, acidic backbone. Beautiful. Scintillatingly Good.
2004 Georges Roumier Morey St Denis 1er Cru- Soft, silky, earthy. Solid Good.
2000 Leroy Bourgogne- Complex, earthy, layer upon layer stuff. Sexy Good
2007 Bouchard Pere et Fils Bourgogne- Very fruit driven and primary. What you see is what you get. Simple Good
2005 Michel Mallard et Fils Sauvigny Les Beaune 1er Cru- Cherries, foire gras, succulent mushrooms on the nose, but palate a little simple. Good.

Cheers,

Monghead.

[Peter NZ]

1998 Te Mata Awatea Didn't get any of the odd nuances reported at the Auckland off-line, & markedly better than the last bottle I had -- mature but still a few years left on this showing.

1998 Wynns Coonawarra BL Cab Sauv. Drinking nicely now, but plenty of life left.

Cheers
Peter

[DaveB]

2007 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling Trocken - very good
2006 Stonecroft Chardonnay - good
2007 Willi Scaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Kabinett - very good
2002 Egon Mueller Scharzhoffberger Kabinett - outstanding
2006 Jacques Puffeney Arbois Poulsard - very good
2008 Domaine Gramenon Sierra du Sud Cotes du Rhone - Very good

[Stavros]

Fraser Gallop 2008 Cabernet Merlot, Lovely fleshy wine, great fruit, soft tannins, no
leafyness and at a smidge over $15 at one of the big chains a bargain if there ever is one..
i'll be going back for more...2 left in the cellar just ain't enough for this little ripper....

[jeremy]

2005 Clos Pierre Reserve Shiraz- think I would have picked this as NZ over Yarra. Sarsaparilla, cherries, blackberries, vanilla and some nice tannins. Juicy. Liked it

2006 Brand's Coonawarra Shiraz- Plums, chocolate, vanilla with some other stuff. Quite spicy and lithe. Lacked a little thrust through the back palate, but good for the price (2 for $30)

[mychurch]

2007 Viognier, Van de Payes des Collines, Cuilleron - Singing now and the last few bottles won't make it past Xmas. Loads of lush fruit, a touch of glycerine and a long finish. At less than half the price of his Condrieu this comes into the "must buy" category. 90 pts
2001 Gruner Veltliner, Ried Loibenberg, Knoll - Tasted a bit oxidised to begin with, but with air it came to life. Lots of minerality, slate, pepper. Good acidity. Seems to be ready to drink now. 88pts
75 Figeac - Pop and poured. Crunchy acidity. Earth, truffles and hints of red berries. On its downslope, but a nice mid week claret. 88 pts
2005 Palladius, Sadie, South Africa - One of the top SA white wines. Massive wine initially, with concentrated apricots, candle wax and oak. Some minerality appeared after an hour but it really only hit its stride the following night. Minerals, well balanced stone fruit, waxiness within a shell of balancing acidity. Needs a long decant or a few more years in the cellar 91pts

[peterlynnwine]

Wine last night....

59 Petrus very tasty
28.59 VCC were exceptional
76 Dom was Ok
47 Cheval from 3L was corked AGHHHHHHH
85 Dujac was a highlight
59,99,01 DRC were out of this world

and there was a pet lion in the room!!!!! weird.

[milky]

Looking at some of the wines others have enjoyed, the only drop I got in over the weekend is...
But, I'll put it up any way, since I have yet seen this appear on this forum.

Two Hands "Brilliant Disguise" Moscato 2008
Nice & refreshing for a stinky hot day - 1st smell/taste that hit me was lychees! It's lightly spritzy, and comes up quite sweet... not quite 'sticky' sweetness, but perhaps halfway there... should check the amount of residual sugar! Enjoyable, and a hit with the missus.

[WineRick]

Wine last night....

59 Petrus very tasty
28.59 VCC were exceptional
76 Dom was Ok
47 Cheval from 3L was corked AGHHHHHHH
85 Dujac was a highlight
59,99,01 DRC were out of this world

and there was a pet lion in the room!!!!! weird.

Not only was the pet lion there, but also the Toronto Police Commissioner - don't know what was scarier.
(Last year there was an elephant outside the tasting, which, in a state of boredom leaned against an adjacent jeweller's window, pushing the glass in and setting off the alarms - TRUE!)
Great tasting, started at 6 pm, finished at about midnight - 53 wines - about a wine every 8 minutes.

Only two wines stuffed - the '47 Cheval Bl. (mag) and '28 Vieux Ch. Certan (mag)
Rest ranged from tired but fascinating, through to remarkable and then just mind-numbing.

(I think Peter must have been focussing on some feminine tasters, because he missed quite a few.)

No particular order, but the first wine set the mood for the night, a '29 Mouton - tired but hanging in there.
Then,
'29 La Chapelle which was mind-blowing, and a great wine to get us focussed!
Also had La Chapelle '59,'61,'99
DRC Richebourg '07, Vosne Rom. '99, Rom. St Vivant '76 and La Tache '59, '76,'82, '01, as Peter would say "all very tasty".
Dujac Clos de la Roche '80,'85,'01 - all fantastic.
Remoissenet Clos Vougeot '64 (mag), Richebourg '49, '61
Ch.Latour '29 (mag), '59 (mag), '61 (mag) - Frederic Engerer pronounced them all authentic!
Ch. Margaux '85, '97 (6 Litre)
Ch. Lafite '29, '98
Ch. Mouton '92,'94,'96,'01
Ch. Haut Brion '29,'95
Cheval Blanc '47 (mag), '97
Leoville Les Cases '45, Palmer '83, Ducru '61, La Mission H B '59
Ch. Petrus '61 (mag), '70,'97, Chapoutier La Sizerane '04, L'Ermite '04 (6 Litre) Fantastic wine, v. fresh.
Dom '76, '78 (mag), both fantastic, Taittinger Comtes '76 (mag) also.
Ramonet Batard Montrachet '92, Boillot Mersault ' 02 - both great.

But the wines of the night would have to have been the 1921 Ch. dYquem and a double-magnum of 1985 Yquem.
The '21 was golden brown but with some life left, and the '85 simply sensational.

Last wine poured was a 1827 Madeira, needed a 'slash' by this stage, put the glass down, and when I came back - you guessed it - it was gone. A staff member cleaning up at midnight had tipped it out! Had tasted it though - searing acidity.

Sorry for the skyte Ric, but you did ask what we had been drinking.

[bacchaebabe]

So how exactly do you get invited to these tastings???

I now have something new for my bucket list. Go to a wine tasting with a lion - or an elephant. Either would be cool.

[Julio G]

Wine last night....

59 Petrus very tasty
28.59 VCC were exceptional
76 Dom was Ok
47 Cheval from 3L was corked AGHHHHHHH
85 Dujac was a highlight
59,99,01 DRC were out of this world

and there was a pet lion in the room!!!!! weird.

Not only was the pet lion there, but also the Toronto Police Commissioner - don't know what was scarier.
(Last year there was an elephant outside the tasting, which, in a state of boredom leaned against an adjacent jeweller's window, pushing the glass in and setting off the alarms - TRUE!)
Great tasting, started at 6 pm, finished at about midnight - 53 wines - about a wine every 8 minutes.

Only two wines stuffed - the '47 Cheval Bl. (mag) and '28 Vieux Ch. Certan (mag)
Rest ranged from tired but fascinating, through to remarkable and then just mind-numbing.

(I think Peter must have been focussing on some feminine tasters, because he missed quite a few.)

No particular order, but the first wine set the mood for the night, a '29 Mouton - tired but hanging in there.
Then,
'29 La Chapelle which was mind-blowing, and a great wine to get us focussed!
Also had La Chapelle '59,'61,'99
DRC Richebourg '07, Vosne Rom. '99, Rom. St Vivant '76 and La Tache '59, '76,'82, '01, as Peter would say "all very tasty".
Dujac Clos de la Roche '80,'85,'01 - all fantastic.
Remoissenet Clos Vougeot '64 (mag), Richebourg '49, '61
Ch.Latour '29 (mag), '59 (mag), '61 (mag) - Frederic Engerer pronounced them all authentic!
Ch. Margaux '85, '97 (6 Litre)
Ch. Lafite '29, '98
Ch. Mouton '92,'94,'96,'01
Ch. Haut Brion '29,'95
Cheval Blanc '47 (mag), '97
Leoville Les Cases '45, Palmer '83, Ducru '61, La Mission H B '59
Ch. Petrus '61 (mag), '70,'97, Chapoutier La Sizerane '04, L'Ermite '04 (6 Litre) Fantastic wine, v. fresh.
Dom '76, '78 (mag), both fantastic, Taittinger Comtes '76 (mag) also.
Ramonet Batard Montrachet '92, Boillot Mersault ' 02 - both great.

But the wines of the night would have to have been the 1921 Ch. dYquem and a double-magnum of 1985 Yquem.
The '21 was golden brown but with some life left, and the '85 simply sensational.

Last wine poured was a 1827 Madeira, needed a 'slash' by this stage, put the glass down, and when I came back - you guessed it - it was gone. A staff member cleaning up at midnight had tipped it out! Had tasted it though - searing acidity.

Sorry for the skyte Ric, but you did ask what we had been drinking.

and what does one pay for the pleasure of attending such an event? Are you sure this wasn't a vivid dream??

[Bick]

59 Petrus very tasty
28.59 VCC were exceptional
76 Dom was Ok
47 Cheval from 3L was corked AGHHHHHHH
85 Dujac was a highlight
59,99,01 DRC were out of this world

Maybe there could be a separate forum here for slightly smug, blase reports of ultra-decadent tastings, short on any useful detail, that the great unwashed (like myself) will never get the chance to attend. Then I could ignore them, without getting a touch vexed before I've even had my first cup of tea for the day. Is it only me?

Back on planet earth, in the last few days I've had: 06 Kumeu River Hunting Hill chardonnay - very good; 08 Cloudy Bay sauvingon blanc - good; 03 Waipara Springs sauvignon blanc - still hanging in there, surprisingly (screwcap)!

[DaveB]

If there is going to be a smug wine ponce section I'd like to be moderator please

[Wayno]

Just the usual down-to-earth bollocks for me:

Voyager SSB 2008 - asparagus and herbs but got less so over time. Nice drink.
Wittman Dry Riesling 2007 - salty, flinty and suitably dry palate, terrific wine that sits alongside the Aussies with aplomb

[Wayno]

59 Petrus very tasty

Yes, brilliant. More detail please.

[monghead]

Another...

2002 Meo Camuzet Vosne Romanee 1er Cru Les Charmes- Sexy Good.

Monghead.

[Gavin Trott]

If there is going to be a smug wine ponce section I'd like to be moderator please

Note to self

When starting the new

Auswine Smug Wine Ponce Forum

Make Dave B the moderator!

Dave, couldn't think of a better choice!

When do you want to start?

.
.

[peterlynnwine]

Wine is fun, it doesn't matter what is on the label, it is about enjoyment...way too many people take it way too serious.
The notes I made is the way I enjoy wine whether it is 59 Petrus or 07 Samuels Gorge Tempranillo which is a seriously sexy drop...

Cheers,