Labour Weekend Auckland Offline - 1998 Hawkes Bay Reds

[jafa]

Jafa - and ??? - are you on your own J?
Cheers, Sue

Yep, only one. Everybody else is well organised for the long weekend.
I had to suggest the meal option to save face.
6pm is fine with me.
jafa.

[Craig(NZ)]

Jafa - and ??? - are you on your own J?

And Claire

[SueNZ]

And Claire

Of course - note the 'edited 1 time in total' on that entry.

[Craig(NZ)]

Hi Sue

I have possible interest from 2 others, will confirm tomorrow. Both from Hamilton WCS. One is an ex winemaker form villa and has an extensive cellar. Fingers crossed they decide to make the trip

C

[Craig(NZ)]

Sue

Looks like the +2 is very likely. question was what wines are coming to avoid clashes

i told them coleraine, awatea and esk reserve are taken care of. any others to avoid?

[SueNZ]

no others to avoid. Curt had his name alongside Unison but ....

[SueNZ]

Today I will finalise the booking for 9 people at La Bocca at 6pm on Sunday evening. Seven of us are drinking. We have the private room.
Cheers,
Sue

[Craig(NZ)]

Sunday 25 October 6pm

The other two people are prob bringing Unison Selection and Trinity Hill Cab/Merlot.

We'll bring (prob) Aviator and one of either Vidal Reserve, Church Rd Reserve or Brookfields Gold Label.

[SueNZ]

Well it is the day after the event and what an interesting tasting it was, with Coleraine simply crushing the other contenders. What an oustanding red - deep, rich and sumptuous - on top of the pinnacle, all by itself. Everything you hear about this wine is true.

My ranking of the wines were
1 Te Mata Coleraine 1998 (19.5/20) - a standout wine

2. Unison Selection 1998 (19/20)
3. Alpha Domus The Aviator 1998 (18.5/20)

By consensus these three wines were the most preferred of everyone, although one taster placed the controversial Te Mata Awatea 1998 in his top three - comments, Craig?

4. Stonecroft Ruhanui 1998
5. Te Mata Awatea 1998, despite the marginal corkiness that I picked up
6. Thornbury Merlot 1998
7. Church Road Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 (bretty)
8. Trinity Hill Gimblett Road Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 1998 (dried out)

More comments on my blog, although notes made from memory as I lost my notebook.

Cheers,
Sue

PS We also had a Lanvin Champagne for starters, which I bought along, and a gorgeous von Kesselstat Kabinett Riesling from that superb 2005 vintage, and with just 8% alcohol it was more like a spatlese. Beautiful wine. Thanks jafa.

[Craig(NZ)]

Was a bit drained after a weekend of full on climbing and hours of driving. After arriving back in auckland needing a shower at 5pm, I did pretty well to get to parnell by 6pm. I was in no mood to take notes though, just needed to relax and enjoy so these comments are impressions from memory

My rankings basically the same as Sue. i think everyone agreed on the top 3 or 4. I dont remember any strong discenters

1. Coleraine. Its a lovely rich layered wine with years still in it. To me it showed a bit of the vintage and didnt quite have the precision and definition for me to say without doubt it is the greatest coleraine vintage. definitely up there though and no fears to hold this for at least another 5 years

2. Unison Selection. A genuine surprise this was a pristine bottle and reminded me why I am an advocate for this label. The last vertical tasting of this label I attended a coupel of years ago showed 1998 at the end of its life. Beautifully complex, soft and long. Drinking now

3. Alpha Domus Aviator. On release it cleaned up many 98 HB comparative tastings. This had a gorgeous tannin structure, fine long and focused. I want this structure in the coleraine. unfortunately i think the fruit has faded away a little and id drink it up though some reckon it has time left id be cautious.

4. Stonecroft Ruhunui. On release I wasnt a fan of this but it grew over the evening. It is fresh and quite youthful left with clean acids and plenty of good fruit.

5. Te Mata Awatea. A bit of bottle variation perhaps. People waved around the words like Brett and Corked (how could any tasting survive without someone saying these terms) but sorry I don't agree, it is just a 11 year old Hawkes Bay red showing what 11 year old Hawkes bay reds show - some development. not the most stellar bottle of this wine I have ever drunk but it still was pretty tidy. Some didn't like this, some did.

6. Church Road Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Was showing its age more than I expected. I dont agree that it is Bretty (im drinking it as I write this). A mature quite open knit cabernet that tonight im enjoying more than last night. Very good but it probably is now approaching end of life procedures. Wasn't as good as the last bottle I drank a year or so ago. Drink up

7. Thornbury Merlot. To me just plain to simple to ever be cellared for this long. Can't see how this wine could be better today than it was 5 years ago. Drink up

8. Trinity Hill Reserve Cabernet Merlot. On release i didn't really rate this. Again lacking complexity and stuffing. Should have been drunk 5 years ago. Hardly touched by anyone

Overall I think its time to drink up the last 1998's lingering in the cellar with very few exceptions. When you think of it the vintage is only 11 years old, so although i don't think there is any proof the doomsday merchants that predicted this vintage would never age are correct, I think 1998 is in line with basically every other 1990's HB vintage where you could expect 10 years out of the best wines of the vintage.

Interesting night and im already looking forward to the next get together which has been decided unanimously as Esk Valley Terraces Vertical (yum). We will be looking to put that together in the autumn of 2010

Thanks to all, was a fun night and thanks alan for the scrummy riesling and sue for the starter fizz

[jafa]

Thanks to all for an interesting evening.
Agree with everyone that the Coleraine was the stand out.
Very impressed with the '98 Unison Selection. This is a wine I've tasted several vintages of, but never been excited by. May have to take more notice of this in future. Clearly second wine of the night.
I was quite critical of the Awatea, thought it was loaded with brett. Others, with more experience of this wine couldn't recall brett in other tastings, so no history there. Whatever,this bottle was certainly faulty, and outside my tolerance levels.

The Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt 2005 Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett AP# 3561077 17 06 QmP surprised with the early appearance of petrol characteristics. I've moved the drinking window for these to the next couple of years.
And this post takes the thread count to 100
jafa

[Peter NZ]

2. Unison Selection. A genuine surprise this was a pristine bottle and reminded me why I am an advocate for this label. The last vertical tasting of this label I attended a coupel of years ago showed 1998 at the end of its life. Beautifully complex, soft and long. Drinking now

Spotted this directly after reporting that I've picked up a couple of bottles of the '98 -- currently available ex winery for $63.

Cheers
Peter

[Curt]

I had a bottle of the Trinity Hill 98 ( Black label ) in the cellar and going on comments above, did not delay in pulling the cork ...
The colour was classic 10 year old Bdx ( with some sediment ), nothing special on the nose but Wow was it ever youthful & primary to taste. Still has some years to go if you have good cellar conditions, judging by this bottle. Perhaps a little too much acid for my taste but it was a very nice bordeaux style with bright smooth berry fruit flavours that went great with the pasta meal. Even the next night, it was still in OK condtion

[Craig(NZ)]

Perhaps a little too much acid for my taste but it was a very nice bordeaux style with bright smooth berry fruit flavours that went great with the pasta meal. Even the next night, it was still in OK condtion

I think you hit the nail on the head. it seems to be aging on its acids instead of tannins - something im not a huge fan of in reds. just didn't shine against some of the bigger labels but you know comparative tastings can be brutal

[jafa]

The weather on Saturday was well short of a decent summers day so I decided to change the diet with a red for dinner. Out from the cellar came;
1998 Villa Maria Reserve Merlot/Cab Sav/(Malbec) Hawkes Bay. Still black/red, not as bright as in youth, and the fabulous bouquet still leaps out of the bottle, not with the same intensity however. Cassis, plum and spice, with good acidity and still some tannic grip on show. With the lower but still substantial fruityness I think there's slight heat now evident, and suspect the 13.5% on the label is pushing it. In context of the other wines from the Nov tasting this wine is in the front runners. Not up to the Coleraine, and past its very best, time to start an unhurried drink up. On the monghead scale: very very nice.
Sunday, weather still not beach/bbq style so I continued the 98 theme with;
1998 Babich Irongate Cabernet/Merlot Hawkes Bay. Good colour and bouquet but on the palate lean mean and slightly green. How that can happen from the hottest vintage ever beats me. I've never been happy with this wine, which is why I still have several bottles hanging around. I need to take these to someone else's bbq and drink their quaffers. monghead scale: not good. Half of the bottle remains in the refrigerator whereas the Villa Maria was slurped up double quick.
cheers jafa

[Craig(NZ)]

1998 Babich Irongate Cabernet/Merlot Hawkes Bay. Good colour and bouquet but on the palate lean mean and slightly green. How that can happen from the hottest vintage ever beats me. I've never been happy with this wine, which is why I still have several bottles hanging around. I need to take these to someone else's bbq and drink their quaffers. monghead scale: not good. Half of the bottle remains in the refrigerator whereas the Villa Maria was slurped up double quick.

ive had 3 of these and have thought they were pretty good without being great. one more to go. i did buy them for $16 at a booze barn closing down sale. didn't detect any unripe characters in it, but you are right hard to see how people got em not ripe in 98 - guess vines shutdown in extreme heat but still....

had a 98 coleraine a few weeks ago, it was sensational. showed even better than at the dinner we had

[Peter NZ]

1998 Babich Irongate Cabernet/Merlot Hawkes Bay. Good colour and bouquet but on the palate lean mean and slightly green. How that can happen from the hottest vintage ever beats me. I've never been happy with this wine, which is why I still have several bottles hanging around. I need to take these to someone else's bbq and drink their quaffers. monghead scale: not good. Half of the bottle remains in the refrigerator whereas the Villa Maria was slurped up double quick.

ive had 3 of these and have thought they were pretty good without being great.

That's been my experience too. My only '97, however, drunk maybe 3 years ago & from an off vintage, was surprisingly excellent.