D'Giorgio Francesco'98, Reschke Empyrean'98 & Murdock'99

[MartinC]

The Francesco Cab(Limestone Ridge) was slighty browning on the rims showing some signs of age. The palate is soft, pushing ripeness to max., sweetish n a lil porty. This wine is lacking in varietal/ regional defination, more like a McLaren Cabernet. Lacking in structure and one dimensional.

After the lesser D'Giorgio, this is a mighty fine wine which fully deserved the RRP($). The nose simply jump out fr the glass. The color is youthfull deep purple/black(big contrast with the earlier wine despite fr the same vintage) Ample weight but extremely well balanced. This wine has got all the qualities of all those ICON Coonawarra 1998 which I've enjoyed rolled into 1. The ripeness & exceptional fruit quality of the Odyssey, the depth of the Balnaves Tally and also the finesse of the Wirra2 "Penley" Vinyard Series. The tannins is fluffy, powder fine & tongue coating. Extremely complexed - every little sips revealed a different characteristic which is synonmynous with the Cabernet typicity. Very intense without being obtrusive(stroking & carressing ur palate as u savour) This wine ozzes with class, the finishing is impressively long n lenghty which leave u with a "ginseng" aftertaste.

At a 3rd of the $ of the Empyrean the Murdock'99 is no slough either. Showing a lil more "structure" than their '98 with every inch of a full blown Coon Cab. Ample weight wine for the $ but after the Empyrean it's not a fair comparison. Complexity and refinement is where the price difference lies. On it's own, this wine will stand tall amonst it's peers and I thought this IS an exceptionaly well made 99 Coonawarra. I've always been a fan of their winemaker Peter Bissell of Balnaves.

Rgds,

[Dig]

Nice notes Martin. Agree with you re. Murdock, well structured with great varietal and regional markers. Nice people too.