From this last week away from the cellar:
2001 Chateau Barreyres - 0/5 value at $29
Having had some luck with an $8 2002 vintage 'vin de pays' from somewhere in the south east (a very friendly pizza quaffer it truly was), somebody had the brilliant idea of aiming up the scale a bit. Sadly, the shot missed and landed squarely in the $h1t heap. (P)ass
2001 Cassegrain Chambourcin 3/5 value at $17
This wasn't the Reserve edition, but still turned out well. Reasonably clear medium red with slight pink and orange hues. Straight from the bottle the nose was an awful highly potent and pungent mixture of brett, red berry and a big Lemon Ajax(tm) tornado. No, it's not a screwcap. After a good 6 or 7 round trips between bottle and decanter, the stink is all gone leaving just some spicy soft red fruits (think Pinot), with a slight citrus overtone. This is really very pleasant drinking, good mouth feel with only medium body, more soft red fruits (raspberry, stewed strawberry), lemony spice (cinnamon too?) and a soft finish of acceptable length. Tannins are not at all impacting. Not really my style, but good company with open sandwiches, and it is at least a little different, to make it interesting. The Reserve is another thing entirely, from memory
1995 Leasingham Show Reserve Shiraz - 4/5 value at $28
Very deep blackish red in the glass, this is not showing its age at all. Moderate cling. Highly impressive nose, complex with buttery cherry, licquorice, tar, vanilla, crushed blackberry, mint, loads of cassis aromas. Wow!!! ...Initially the palate has more of the same, though (damn it!) there seems to be a bit of a hole in the middle. Even then, there's good length here, a clean dry finish with noticable tannin. Take the 1999 Bin 61 with layers of added depth and complexity and you're half way there. If it wasn't for the hole in the power curve, I'd give this wine another 5-10 years, easy. Still, good value. I've not heard or read of it before, and I might be mistaken but I suspect some old vine material might be involved here. Can anybody shed some light on this one?
1999 Tim Adams The Aberfeldy Shiraz - 4.5/5 value at $41
Subtly big in that way that old vine Shiraz does so well. No real notes, too busy loving the wine. Power, finesse, excellent balance, and gobs of fruit. Subtly sexy, stylish, this will be a beauty in time. I'm yet to stumble on a less than great Aberfeldy, and the standard Shiraz is never bad either. Thanks Tim
2001 Grant Burge Filsell - ?/5 value at $24
The Filsell is usually a wine I can side with, but this night it had the unenviable task of following the Aberfeldy. Though enjoyable, it was left wanting, feeling short and lacking depth of flavour. Simply outclassed, and not a true indiciation, I believe.
(useless as TOAB, but anyway...) Impressions of a few others. The 2002 Annie's Lane Shiraz was good, 2001 Wolf Blass Brown Label as usual felt like it needed time for the oak and fruit to marry. 2003 Taylors Shiraz is a 15% bruiser but showing well, give it time and it'll maybe even edge out the 2002. 1999 Tollana TR16 was good but not great. 1999 Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz (750ml x 2) was a wonderful bargain at a mislabelled $32ea!! 2001 Wynns CSM was typical, not as tannic as the 1999 and I can't recall the 2000, so this was probably better. The Cabs have already been mentioned, and a bunch of other wines are forgotten and hopefully most so with good reason
Cheers
Jakob
. I just love this stuff. I didn't take any notes, I was enjoying company and Osso-bucco (again home-made).
