Weekend drinking thread 17/4

[Sean]

deleted

[Pat]

2001 Johann Cab Shiraz - Good wine - Not as much oak as I was expecting.

1998 Tyrells Vat 1 - Great wine - Golden colour, toasty, drinking beautifully now.

[Wizz]

Friday night:
2010 Framingham Riesling Lovely, elegant off dry riesling.
2006 Dog Point Pinot Noir In its prime, sappy red pinot fruit
2005 Beronia Rioja: Every time I taste a wine like this I lament we cant get these tannins into our warmer climate styles. Chocolately dark frit and jam, but with those lovely old world tannins.

Last night:
D'Arenberg Peppermint Paddock NV A very old bottling, and none the worse for the age. A touch confected for me but a nice surprise.
09 Carrick Jospehine Riesling My least favourite on the night. Lovely acids to balance about 55g/l sugar, but flavour wise in a bit of a hole at the moment.
08 Seifried Gewurztraminer Perfect with a spiced asian broth of mussels and prawns. Floral, lychee and rosepetals.
09 Te Mata Zara Viognier Also lovely in its gingery apricots, in a nicely restrained (for viognier) package. Only just shows its 14%.
05 Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir Freak wine. Everything you could ask for in a pinot from Central Otago. Fruit, spice, savoury notes, tannins in good shape, lots of life left in this.
05 Amisfield Pinot Noir Another shining star from the freaky 2005 vintage. More primary fruited that the Mt Difficulty, and came up well in the decanter. Very pleasant drinking right now.
08 Dry River Lovat Vineyard Syrah Black pepper or white pepper? All who tried this saw one or the other, along with juicy small berries. Another lovely wine, which really shows what NZ can do with Syrah.
02 Terravin "J" Cabernet Merlot Malbec I was not as much a fan of this as many with its minty, green pea cabernet streak. But thats an issue of style not quality or ripeness. A lovely integrated Cabernet blend from Marlborough.
09 Tierracalar Tempranillo (Navarra, SPain) I think this is a quaffing level red, that most thoght was grenache based from the ripe redskin lolly fruit.

Greetings from Central Otago,

Andrew

[Rossco]

Friday night:

2003 Tahbilk Wine Club Shiraz - Geeeeee for $10 delivered to your door, 8 years old...its a great wine. Its my everyday drinker and I absolutely love it. (I should point out Tahbilk is my favourite winery so im probably a bit bias). For a while I thought it was so good, it was just relabeled normal tahbilk shiraz....so i went to the cellar and grabbed a proper one.

2003 Tahbilk Shiraz - Had to compare back to back with the wine club shiraz....did a blind taste with 3 other and everyone picked the normal tahbilk as the better one. Totally different wine. Way more fruit and quality of fruit is just better. I am assuming more mature vines are used and much better use of oak with great tannins. Just an all round better wine. Clearly the wine club shiraz uses younger fruit and (possibly?) even different/quality oak.... i wonder if they buy in some nagambie regional fruit for the wine club shiraz too? Either way both great wines at their price points.

Sat:
2009 Astrolabe Voyage Sav Blanc - Gooseberry, lots of mineral / slatey flavours typical of Marlborough. Very crisp and still very youthful with good colour. I got some banana and tropical fruit, with some slight lemon/lime on the back palate. I like this wine, but at the same price point, Catalina Sounds kills it.

1995 Bornheimer Schönberg Ortega Beerenauslese (German Icewine) - A little tired and just on the way down. I have one bottle left, so will have to crack it very soon....still however, once it opened up a bit, there was apricots, some slight honey and a faint hint of rockmelon in there. Beautiful mouthfeel though... 2 years ago this was amazing and went down like silk.

[griff]

2005 St Cosme Gigondas
Dark inky red with red froth on pouring. Unfortunately it was full of barnyard flavours. With time some cherry emerges but no fruit explosion. Agreeable.

2009 Paul Zinck Gewurztraminer Eichberg Grand Cru
Stelvin Lux! Nice to see Alsace are coming to the party. A lighter Gewurz what was perceived to be off-dry. Tropical but good line. It improved as it warmed up and wound up as a wine of interest. Good wine.

2001 Marques de Murrieta Rioja Gran Reserva
A pale dusky red colour. Nose of roses and tar. Like a Barolo without the tannin but perhaps better to say it simply is a lovely old style Rioja. Nice acid profile with leather (in moderation), vanilla and cedar supporting the soft cherry fruit. Should age nicely but drinking well now. Very Good.

cheers

Carl

[TiggerK]

Thanks for the note on the St Cosme Carl, good to know what I'm likely in for with mine.

Joseph Perrier NV Champagne - had never tried this marque, and was very impressed. Lemon freshness with a nice balance of power and weight. Now on my shortlist for $50 Champers (with Pol and Mumm) Very Good.
Cape Mentelle Shiraz 2004 - Syrupy, blackberry, blackcurrant and raspberry, minimal tannin grip and good finish. Maybe even a touch porty. Not sure about further aging, could go either way. Good Good.
Chateau Tanunda The Three Graces 2007 - Bit awkward, but lots of earthy fruit. Just Good.
Pio Cesare Il Nebbio 2009 - A nice mouthfeel, and great to have an Italian Neb for under $40, but I'm not really seeing lots of Neb character, just a decent red wine. Solid Good.
Kalleske Clarry's SGM 2010 - Good value quaffer, bit of character and will improve with another year or three in bottle. Solid Good.
Waipara Hills Waipara Pinot Noir 2008 - Got to be the best value NZ Pinot bar none. $15 and really easy drinking with a bit of Pinot goodness, hard to find fault at that price. QPR Great.

Cheers
Tim

[Michael R]

Pat wrote ...1998 Tyrells Vat 1 - Great wine - Golden colour, toasty, drinking beautifully now

...100% agree

Had a tasting at work, plus friends visiting from Singapore so its been a social period.

Henri Giraud 'Esprit' Champagne NV
2009 Salomon Gruner Veltliner 'Wieden & Berg'
2009 Collestefano Verdicchio
2004 Fromm 'Clayvin' Chardonnay
2010 Domaine Lucci Pinot Noir
2008 DJP Petalos Mencia
2006 Margan White Label Aged Shiraz
2001 Chateau Dauzac Margaux
2000 Crawford River Cabernet
1999 Balnaves Cabernet Merlot…corked
2008 Yarra Yering Gruyere Shiraz
2009 Felton Road Bannockburn Pinot
2010 Bloodwood Riesling
2005 Hillcrest Premium Pinot
2008 Clonakilla O’Riada Shiraz

The standouts were:
Definitely the Margan, beautiful shiraz, not too much Hunter stinkiness gong on, great fruit and acid balance, reminded me a touch of the 07 Maurice O’Shea.
The Yarra Yering was very drinkable now, no decant required, soft elegant tannins and plenty of juicy red fruits to keep the masses happy. I sensed some Viognier might be included although it didn’t show on the label.
Probably improve over the next couple of years but not much beyond that, ready to go now in my book.
Domaine Lucci Pinot…about $25 and very good QPR.

The disappointments were:
2004 Fromm Clayvin Chardonnay. Ben brought a bottle of this to Grape mates session last year which I voted WOTN. This bottle lacked any of the structure of length of finish I was expecting.
05 Hillcrest Premium Pinot, gave it 2 hours in the decanter, acid was poking out and unfortunately dominated the fruit and finish. Didn’t really improve in the glass either. No one else seemed to care but I like this label a lot so was very disappointed.

Sing out if you're interested in any others.
Cheers
Michael

[ticklenow1]

A few we have had lately.

2004 Brick Kiln Shiraz. McClaren Vale - A nice drink with lots of black fruit and silky smooth tannins and nice balance. But not as good as the '03, which is strange considering the quality of the 04 vintage. Brick Kiln really nailed the 03 vintage. 3.5/5
2004 Chain of Ponds Corkscrew Road Chardonnay. Adelaide Hills - A real letdown. Not a bad drink, just that for a long time I was a huge fan of their Chardonnays, and this one, while OK, just did not stand out like others they have produced. Maybe past it's best, I am not sure. I will be drinking my other few bottles before the cooler weather sets in as I don't think there is any improvement left in it. 3/5
2008 Noon 12 Bells. McClaren Vale - I love this wine, every vintage I have ever had has been amazing VFM. I decanted for 4 hours and it was really good. Medium bodied only but lovely balance and the fruit was the star with this one. 4/5
2006 Kalleske Clarry's GSM. Barossa Valley - I have grown the opinion that the Clarry's really does need 2 to 4 years in the cellar. This was a wonderful wine that was drank with gourmet sausage pizza and it was perfect. Really godd VFM. 4/5
2002 Ingoldby Golden Vine Reserve Shiraz. McClaren Vale - The last couple of bottles I have had of this were faulty in some way. They had a terrible acetone smell and were quite frankly horrible and were tipped down the sink. So we approached this one with some apprehension, especially after emailing Fosters wine's and not even recieving a reply (which won't be forgotton either!), but this bottle was stunning. Probably close to the best Shiraz we have had this year. Inky black colour with huge amount of black fruits and really well intergrated oak. This still has a good few years in front of it and I only have a few bottles left, so I am not sure whether to drink now or take the risk and leave them for a bit longer. 4.5/5
2005 Greenock Creek Cornerstone Grenache. Barossa Valley - Still my favourite affordable wine. Like a turkish delight crossed with a cherry ripe bar in a bottle. So smooth and easy to drink. Only medium bodied. Fantastic VFM. 4.5/5
2004 Peter Howland Pine Lodge Vineyard Shiraz. Mount Barker - Upon release this wine was only average at best and I thought I had bought another highly rated Halliday dud. But with a few years it has developed into a much better than average wine. A little herby and some nice light spice surrounded the nice core of black fruits. The oak wasn't really evident but certainly there. Right in it's window for mine. 4/5

[Craig(NZ)]

A couple of really good kiwis

2005 Foxes Island Chardonnay. This was my last bottle of a wine that bowled me over at Wine NZ a few years ago. Bought a 6 pack at $25 each. Just gorgeous wine still, layered, fresh, vital and precise. Super sweet lemon and red grpefruti flavours, salivating palate, gentle ripe defined acidity.

2004 Unison Syrah. Air NZ wine of the show from memory, definitely trophy winner. Best vintage under this label. Another superb NZ wine. Long, structured and primary with deep black fruits, pepper, a touch of salami. Lovely definition, weight and freshness. Another good 5 years in this. 2004 was one of the great Hawkes Bay Syrah vintages and this just underlines that fact. Complex to the 2nd and 3rd glass.

[griff]

Thanks for the note on the St Cosme Carl, good to know what I'm likely in for with mine.

You never know with brett. You could be in luck as I feel there is a nice wine underneath. But it showed to me that I need to be careful with provenance over here as well.

cheers

Carl

[milky]

Been a bit lonely, in terms of drinking buddies etc here in Singapore...
Just 1 bottle over the weekend:

2008 Rockburn Pinot Noir (Central Otago)

I'm really loving Central Otago pinot right now.
All started with a Maude 2 years back, since then, have on & off been buying & trying CO pinot.
Also just ordered 6 btls of another CO pinot...

Maybe it's because I'm physically not in Adelaide now, I'm finding myself drinking less shiraz & riesling, more pinot & sav blanc...

[Luke W]

Down in Brissie to buy a car for the trouble and strife and landed back at my brothers at the Sunshine coast on the way back north. He has some wonderful old bottles of all sorts of interesting wines and these 3 we ripped into:
1990 Wynns Black label cab sav - awesome wine with many years of life still left and some glorious flavours/aromas typical of the breed but so together.
1994 wine of the same ilk but all over the place and not overly appealing
1993 Tyrrells Vat 9 shiraz - the surprise of the night - stunningly good with all sorts of wonderfully earthy flavours - perfect now but I wouldn't think will survive another 5 years

cheers

Luke

[Teisto]

2005 Teusner Avatar - This is drinking very well.
2009 Domaine Lucci Natural Red - I bought a couple of these out of interest. Firstly because I was in the same year at High School with Anton Klopper back then - he didn't have the Van in his name. Secondly to try a "natural wine". This was cloudy grape juice with rather a sour taste. I was warned to drink it with food and it didn't go too bad with the chorizo pasta we had. It had a very deep nose however the taste & nose were totally opposed. I am not sure how or when I will approach the next bottle? Maybe leave it another couple of years and try it again - of course with food. I wouldn't go and stock up on this as an everyday drink but it is still interesting to try. I have some of his Pinot and some of his Domaine Lucci Red which I am still looking forward to opening up at some point.

[sjw_11]

A few we have had lately.
2004 Chain of Ponds Corkscrew Road Chardonnay. Adelaide Hills - A real letdown. Not a bad drink, just that for a long time I was a huge fan of their Chardonnays, and this one, while OK, just did not stand out like others they have produced. Maybe past it's best, I am not sure. I will be drinking my other few bottles before the cooler weather sets in as I don't think there is any improvement left in it. 3/5

Hey sorry to bump this thread two years into the future but I just opened one of these myself.
I found it in a Cold Storage supermarket in VivoCity Singapore... under cork, no idea where it has been before now, but I thought "why not"

It opened a relatively good looking yellow straw colour, the nose falling into the buttery end of the spectrum and the palate mid-weight with moderate length, good cleansing acid balance still present. Rather enjoyable to be honest, and at 9 years old with uncertain provenance, I am impressed.

Ian did you end up opening the remaining bottles you had?

[Panda 9D]

2009 Domaine Lucci Natural Red - I bought a couple of these out of interest. Firstly because I was in the same year at High School with Anton Klopper back then - he didn't have the Van in his name. Secondly to try a "natural wine". This was cloudy grape juice with rather a sour taste. I was warned to drink it with food and it didn't go too bad with the chorizo pasta we had. It had a very deep nose however the taste & nose were totally opposed. I am not sure how or when I will approach the next bottle? Maybe leave it another couple of years and try it again - of course with food. I wouldn't go and stock up on this as an everyday drink but it is still interesting to try. I have some of his Pinot and some of his Domaine Lucci Red which I am still looking forward to opening up at some point.

I drank the 2012 of this and found it to be complete junk. Sour (but not a nice, fresh sour) and it seemed like a cheap red that was well past it had been mixed with juice that had only just turned into wine. I did like one of his Pinots but found it overpriced. I feel like this is an extreme reaction to the fruit bomb years of Australian (and other places) wine. I wanted to like this wine but over here I can get a sulfite free Lapierre Morgon for less money that is enjoyable with or without food.