TN: Adelaide Offline at T-Chow with Joe Cz - 21/11/09

[n4sir]

There was a small turnout of eight people for Joe's offline coinciding with his visit to Adelaide for a MW seminar, although in a lucky coincidence forum member crusty2 was also there having a party for his 50th and we exchanged some bottles with his group. My thanks to everyone for such an enjoyable evening, and of course to T Chow for putting up with us until closing (again).


1996 Tarlant Cuvee Brut Prestige Champagne (cork): Bight yellow/gold with a fine bead, but goes flat rather quickly. Very developed nose with lemon/marmalade, grass and some smoky oyster shell; the palate's more attractive and mineraly, with bready/biscuity and grapefruit characters and a zingy/tingly finish. A nice wine to begin with, although I also thought it was overdeveloped.

1999 Penfolds Reserve Bin Aged Release Riesling, Eden Valley (cork): Light to medium gold colour. Very honeyed and lemony, a little biscuity too with some ginger, but at the moment it's one dimensional and boring.

2009 Tim McNeil Clare Valley Riesling (screwcap): Very pale green, almost colourless. Slatey and sudsy, followed by vibrant juicyfruit/lime juice, basil and mineral; very good, but not as impressive as the other Clare rieslings I've tried to date.

1998 Lindemans Bin 9255 Hunter Valley Semillon (cork): Bright, medium gold. Honeyed and pithy, lemony and mineraly with a tingly finish, a little rotting banana creeping in with breathing; at times this appeared to be in a shut-down phase, at times a little past it.

1998 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Hunter Valley Semillon (cork): I only got the last dribble out of the bottle, so impressions were very brief - that said, it was easily vastly superior to the Lindemans, having a youthful, creamy citrus freshness, power and length that says it has a long way to go.

2006 Cullen Margaret River Chardonnay (screwcap): Bight gold. I wasn't as impressed as the others at the table with this, as I found the bouquet dominated by sweet cashew oak/milky malolactic characters; the palate's better with sweet stonefruit and a touch of fig, but the main drivers are still the winemaker's tricks.

1992 Petaulma Adelaide Hills Chardonnay magnum (cork): Bright yellow colour. Mineraly nose with yeasty/grapefruit and candied/pineapple elements at first, becoming smoky with creamy vanilla/iodine, then buttery figs with breathing. The palate's bitey, mineraly and sharp with tangy acid mid-palate and a bitter finish, but with breathing it fattens, becoming smoky and very buttery. Seemed to be just hanging in there at first, but it got better and better as the night wore on; it must have been ok because we drank the lot.

2005 Chapel Down English Rose (screwcap): The first thing that struck me was the label and name, with a very similar chapel window emblem to Chapel Hill; I wonder if they are related, or if they know their brand is being ripped off? Anyway, this rose is a blend of pinot noir and a whole lot of other stuff I couldn't be bothered writing down and comes from Kent in the mother country. It's a pale salmon/orange colour, and is a more savoury/grippy style, rather dry rose hip and slightly buttery/smoky characters, finishing very dry with some green tea on the end. Phenolics seem to be on the high side, and while I found it interesting I'm not sure I really enjoyed it.

1996 Ridge Monte Bello (cork): Medium to inky red/purple. Inky nose, and quite floral/tea rose and layered sous bois/leathery characters, reminiscent of Bordeaux & also Reynella; the palate’s very rich and velvety, with a chalky structure and exceptional length - absolutely brilliant. I've had a couple of Ridge wines in the past, but up until now they hadn't lived up to the hype; this rectified that in a big way. Unanimous WOTN, and thank you Joe.

2001 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): Medium to dark crimson. Tomato leaf, tar, liquorice and buttery oak, looking very ripe and more like something from Coonawarra than Margaret River. Being served with the Ridge showed everything it lacks, depth, length and complexity; maybe that's a little tough, but it was shown up by a few wines tonight and I expected better for what should have been a top vintage.

1996 Mt. Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz (cork): Medium to dark brick red. Are there any brett-Nazis at the table? (other than me). Opens with the classic Langi salvo of white pepper, matched with coffee ground, truffle/sous bois and sarsaparilla; medium-weight, sweet palate of cherries, mint and white pepper, definitely showing some strong influences of brett but still strangely attractive on the palate.

1996 Reynell Basket Pressed McLaren Vale Shiraz (cork): Dark to inky crimson. Slightly lifted, green/herbaceous characters contrast rich, sweet and slutty plum/black cherry fruit and buttery/bubblegum oak; the palate's just as full-throttle, chalky and minty with sweet raspberry sticks/plums and vanillin oak and a fine, long finish. Still a baby, and still a little Grange-like despite being medium bodied - I can see the '05 cleanskin developing a bit like this too. A strong second behind the Ridge tonight.

2000 Murdock Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (cork): Dark to inky crimson. When I've tried this wine in the past it's been variable, and while I didn't write much about this it was damn good this time. It's classic Coonawarra, tarry, blackcurrant/black cherry, mint and creamy/vanillin oak, all layered and balanced; my third favourite wine of the evening.

1999 Carlisle Russian River Valley Zinfandel (cork): Medium to inky crimson. The bouquet is very ripe with raisin/fruitcake & chocolate characters; the palate's light to medium weight and is the typical mix of green/porty characters that Zin can simultaneously throw; it hides its 16.2% alcohol pretty well, but it also seems rather predictable and uninspiring tonight.

1994 Charles Melton Nine Popes 3L double magnum (cork): Light to medium brick red. I have a recent theory lighter bodied Barossa reds at some point in time lose any sense of what they're made up of and just reflect the region; this is one of those wines. It's full of lovely aged, chocolaty/earthy petroleum characters that's very slurpable, but while it's easy to pick where its from what it's made up of is anyone's guess. A lovely drink all the same!

Barossa Settlers Commemorative Vintage Port 1887-1997 (cork): Medium to dark brick red. Lovely, mushroom/earthy and footy liniment characters matched with funky brandy spirit. A solid way to end the night, if only it was the end...

1981 Rovalley Royal Wedding Vintage Port (cork): I swore this was corked (not just bottle stink or the big floaty in the bottle).

Later on in the carpark with the winemaker...

2009 Caught Red Handed Langhorne Creek Cabernet (barrel sample): Rhubarb, also some herbs/eucalyptus and raisins; nothing brilliant but interesting and seems relatively well balanced at this very early stage.

...and later on in the evening at a local winebar:

2008 Passion Has Red Lips by Some Young Punks (screwcap): Very nice at the bar afterwards. No notes.


Cheers,
Ian

[daz]

Thanks for the notes Ian - an interesting line-up and it seems it was a great night. I hope Joe has formed a positive opinion of Australian wines in the course of his visit. But there's no reference to fruit characters in your TN of the Ridge Monte Bello and I'm a bit perplexed by your reference to winemakers' tricks in regard to the Cullen chard - did you consider the fruit had been subsumed by such? Vanya is a very accomplished winemaker but I'm sure her prime aim is showcase the quality of the fruit rather than her own undoubted ability.

Cheers

daz

[n4sir]

Thanks for the notes Ian - an interesting line-up and it seems it was a great night. I hope Joe has formed a positive opinion of Australian wines in the course of his visit. But there's no reference to fruit characters in your TN of the Ridge Monte Bello and I'm a bit perplexed by your reference to winemakers' tricks in regard to the Cullen chard - did you consider the fruit had been subsumed by such? Vanya is a very accomplished winemaker but I'm sure her prime aim is showcase the quality of the fruit rather than her own undoubted ability.

Cheers

daz

The references to Reynella & Bordeaux should have been a clue to the fruit spectrum of the Ridge - quite jubey with black cherries/blackcurrants.

Many people really loved the Cullen & thought it was a newer direction compared to the traditional over oaked, buttery Aussie chardonnays of the past - in comparison to many recent ones I have tried I disagreed, because the main things I picked up were the oak & malo. We are getting a hell of a lot better making chardonnay these days, but on the other hand I can think of a heck of a lot better examples than this to show why.

Cheers,
Ian

[daz]

Ian, thanks for your clarifications.

Cheers

daz

[Scanlon]

And I thought we usually had a lot of wine at these dinnes - all that for 8 people? i hope there were a few taxis booked!

[rens]

And I thought we usually had a lot of wine at these dinnes - all that for 8 people? i hope there were a few taxis booked!

My thoughts exactly. And then to end up in a wine bar after sampling barrels in the car park. Wow I'd have been lucky to find the carpark

[n4sir]

And I thought we usually had a lot of wine at these dinnes - all that for 8 people? i hope there were a few taxis booked!

My thoughts exactly. And then to end up in a wine bar after sampling barrels in the car park. Wow I'd have been lucky to find the carpark

As the quote from the movie 'Magnum Force' goes:

"Man's got to know his limitations"



Cheers,
Ian

[Joe Cz]

Wow. It's hard to believe I've been back in the U.S. for so long without having a chance to weigh in.

First, thanks to all of the gracious Aussie hosts and their contributions. It was a rare treat for me to taste some of the older wines.

Especially noteworthy was the '92 Petaluma Chard, which although sliding downhill showed a surprising (to me) amount of life. I may have to give some Australian Chardonnays more credit for longevity than I suspected. I had a nice visit with Andrew Hardy at Petaluma later in my trip.

Also worth singling out was the Cullen (who cares if the winemaker's tricks are the focus if it tastes good?), the Langi Ghiran (I'm not a brettophobe like some) ands the '94 Nine Popes, which went down verrry easily.

A fun night with a lot of new friends. Maybe it went a little long and I might have overimbibed a bit, but I managed to make it back to the hotel that night without any trouble. It was unbelievable to me that the bill for eating and drinking pretty much nonstop from 7 pm- midnight was so little. I hope to see some of you in New York for a U.S. repeat performance, just don't expect such a reasonable tab.