Christmas Day?

[Wayno]

So what were the highlights ?

Mixed bag for us, starting with an 01 Yarrabank sparkling, quite dry and a bit tired I think but pleasant enough.

08 Burge Moscato - sweet but well moreish - this is perhaps weighed a bit on the sweet side but a hard-to-argue drink for the price - and a pretty bottle which helps.

Then a Hoddles 07 Chardonnay which was very fine- an excellent, balanced wine that delivers the goods.

Massena Eleventh Hour Shiraz 06 - either mildly faulty or just characterful, this opened with extraordinarily advanced leather and perfume notes, reminiscent of an older Hunter wine but in time relaxed into a more Barossan mould. Unusual good.

We finished with a Jacobs Creek Limited Release Shiraz Cab 99 which is still a pup. Composed of seemingly indestructible grapes, this will carry on for ages - so youthful but with good, secondary leather and spice characters wafting through. Broke open a new six pack of these and may not touch them for another while yet.

[Jay60A]

Some good friends over for Xmas lunch ...

Pierro Chardonnay 2007 - absolutely lovely wine, seemingly feather-weight in the mouth yet with real purity and length. I will check out Cullen's 2007 based on this.

Rockford Basket Press 1998 - half bottle left over from Xmas eve. A shiraz with lovely balance and an elegance with belies the power. In fact I am struggling to recall a better shiraz I have had fullstop, and it's still improving. A great wine and really much better than the ...

Penfolds St Henri 1998 - a very good wine but to me lacked the class of the previous two. Big in scale. Some nice fruit but I find there's a lot of rather tough tannin, and overall it's still slightly clumsy at this stage. Age will help, but it lacks both the clarity and texture to achive greatness.

Pretty good overall though .

Cheers - Jay

[orpheus]

Mixed bag.

Lanson black label NV - one of my favourite big label, entry level NVs. Full bodied, generous champagne, lots of generous yeasty characteristics, with well judged acidity giving it excellent balance.

Cattier NV - never again, rubbish in my opinion, thin, insipid, you'd never get away with trying to make white wine out of these grapes.

Stonecroft syrah 2005 - was really looking forward to this, but it was oxidised, smelt like cabbage and had no fruit. Very disappointing.

Rouge Homme 1980 cabernet sauvignon - now you're talking! Sensational, special wine. Still smells as I remember it 10 years ago, fantastic, distinctive treacle/molases nose, and though it has lost some fruit in the mouth, it has held remarkably well. At 30 years old, it is remarkably good. Restored my faith. Merry Xmas.

[Julio G]

2006 Chateau de Beauregard Pouilly Fuisse Vers Cras
Lovely chardonnay from the Macon. Lovely melon and grapefruit with beautiful spicey oak treatment. Needs another few years in the bottle to be at its best. Wonderful with garlic prawns.

2004 San Polo Brunello di Montalcino
A beast of a wine showing the concentration from the vintage. Beautiful black cherry, herbs and a hint of charcoal... also a hint of something medicinal. Very ripe tannin still very much to the fore and definitely a food wine at the moment. It has at least a decade in front of it. Coped well with a very rich duck confit.

[Fortune 3rd reg. attempt]

2009 Camp Road Estate Sparkling Shiraz to kick things off

1992 Rockford Basket Press - the cork fell apart and I ended up triple-decanting it to filter out the pieces. With all that I was worried but it was a lovely smooth wine. Still drinking well but I'll make sure I have my last 92 before next Christmas.

2000 St Hugo Cab Sav - Certainly not as smooth as the BP but I was impressed at how well it had developed, and I'd suggest it could have gone a few more years.

2007 Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz - I'd bought a half-dozen to leave alone but wanted to try one having never tasted it before. Youthful as expected but a nice wine on the day, and to me has lots of potential to develop. This is an absolute bargain at $16/b and I can see myself getting some more to forget about for 10+ years if I can find a way to sneak it in the house without being detected.

[edit to correct the Camp Road vintage]

[Craig(NZ)]

xmas eve, xmas day and boxing day. as you can imagine my training has gone to the dogs!

NV Deutz Brut Cuvee
NV Deutz Rose
05 Deutz Prestige Cuvee
07 Fromm La Strada Spatlese
08 Fromm La Strada Spatlese
02 Mesh Riesling
09 Doctors Riesling
08 Pegasus Bay Riesling
04 Dry River Gewurztraminer
04 Matua Ararimu Chardonnay
07 Esk Valley Reserve Chardonnay
08 Westbrook Barrel Fermented Chardonnay
08 Julicher Pinot Noir
98 Te Mata Coleraine
94 Jim Barry Amargh

[Peter NZ]

NV H Lanvin & Fils
NV Deutz
'08 St Clair Wairau Reserve SB
'04 Clearview Reserve Chardonnay
'00 Te Mata Coleraine
'07 Alana Estate Pinot Noir
'09 Forrest Doctor's Riesling
'04 Pegasus Bay Riesling
'09 Haythornthwaite Gewurtz

Coleraine (again) a little disappointing; rest right on the money ...

Cheers
Peter

[Red]

NV Veuve Clicquot - a slightly sweeter champagne that kicked festivites off very well

1996 Knappstein Enterprise Cab Sav - a beautifully aged cabernet of blackcurrant and leaf

2005 Charles Melton Voice of Angels Shiraz - a classy, well structured Eden Valley shiraz with plenty of yum factor!

2004 De Bortoli Noble One - orange and honey. A bit too sweet, but at the end of xmas lunch it did the job!

[bacchaebabe]

Started with an 09 De Bortoli Dolcetto and Syrah Clean cold fresh and sweet. Good starter. 89
NV Orlando Trilogy Decent and uncomplicated bubbles for the price. 88
06 Disgorgement Joseph Sparkling Red Now we're starting to get serious. With some bottle age now this is really starting to come together. Deep plums and a touch of cassis. Smooth and long and very tasty. Drinking very well now but no rush. 94
94 Limestone Ridge Starting to brown a bit but not over the hill by any stretch of the imagination. Just beautiful on the palate with long blackcurrent and spice. Really enjoyed this. It's certainly one for those who enjoy their wines aged but it's a really good aged wine. 94
And later that night back on the bubbles with a NV Moet & Chandon Champagne. Getting through a bit of this lately due to the cheap prices around. Clean with good acid and a bit of yeasty complexity but pretty easy drinking champagne for the masses. 92

Boxing day more champers with NV Billicart Salmon Pretty honey nose which continues on the palate giving it a bit more depth and interest than the moet. Bread and sweeter brioche and good length. 93
NV Veuve Clicqot Managed to get through a couple of bottles of this. A little more acid and lemon than the Billicart but still with a good touch of yeast. 93
Then a couple of bottles of 96 Lakes Folly cabernets This was looking a little tired although I know the storage of these bottles was not optimal. I've had other bottles of this this year from my cellar that looked a bit better. Showing brown on the edges and bricking in the middle. Some nice flavours in the black berry range but just a bit dull on the finish unfortunately. Still completely drinkable though but if you have any, it's certainly time to drink up. 90

[n4sir]

All up it was a pretty quiet Christmas day late lunch with the relatives. Naturally, I didn't take any notes:

2004 Reynell Basket Pressed Grenache: It was a reasonably warm and muggy day which somehow seemed to suit this; not too heavy and not too sweet, it seemed to work pretty well with the cold turkey, prawns, ham & nibbles going around. The best of the trio today.

2003 Kabminye Barossa Shiraz: Looked a little flabby and flat compared to the Grenache, but still disappeared pretty quickly. At least it wasn't a major step down...

2008 Penfolds Rawson's Retreat Cabernet Sauvignon (screwcap): Ripe and raisiny, blueberries and chocolate, but the palate's thin, short, hot and jammy. My brother complains that the wines I like are too acidic, yet this cheap, nasty rubbish he brought along should have come with an attached tablet of antacid.

Cheers,
Ian

[griff]

2008 Noon Rose
Savoury style and has settled down some now. Good.

2002 Seppelt Sparkling Shiraz
Delicious goodness in a glass. Colour still strong and deep burgundy but flavours have developed to a good mix of berries with earthy liquorice emerging now. Very Good and the last bottle. Just wish the current vintage was as good as this.

2001 Rockford Shiraz
Not a contender for a great Rockford but a decent drop. Similar to the Seppelt in having that nice mix of primary, secondary and now tertiary character. French herbs with a lick of tar and a little floral as well. Nice and soft but has good length. Very Good wine.

I wonder what NYE has in store

cheers

Carl

EDIT: downgraded the Seppelt as it really wasn't better than the Rockford.

cheers

Carl

[AndrewCowley]

I had a late Christmas celebration with my family today (Monday) and it was a treat to drink the following -

2001 Mt Mary Quintet: Wow, a great restrained cabernet. Low alcohol made it a great starter before we'd really eaten anything. Great length, the tannins were well under control. Simply wonderful.

1996 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz: Crikey. Probably the best wine I've ever had. Had wonderful inky, peppery flavours. I reckon the oak had only just started to settle down; there is many years left in this. Wish I had more of it. Will be seeking out more.

I've tried to mix cabernet and shiraz before with no luck; the shiraz has always seemed out of place (too powerful). But these two went very well together. I am on cloud nine at the moment. Quality wines!

[monghead]

What a blurr this festive season has been...

2009 Wirra Mrs Wigly Moscato- Good
2008 Leo Buring Eden Valley Riesling- Good
2004 Clover Hill Sparkling- Good
2009 Clonakilla Viognier Nouveau- Very Good
2008 Clonakilla Hilltops Shiraz- Good
1998 Penfolds Bin 389 Shiraz Cabernet- Very Very Good
1998 Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz- Very Good
2001 Voyager Cabernet Merlot- Very Good
2007 Wantirna Lily Pinot Noir- Very Good
2007 Kooyong Pinot Noir- Good

Cheers,

Monghead.

[rooman]

Schafer-Frohlich Bockenauer Kabinett 2007. These refreshing German rieslings are a great way to start a mean, The clean crisp structure with a touch of residual sugar are the perfect way to set up the tastebuds for the meal ahead and with just over 8% alc one isn't out for the count before the evening has even begun

First up was the entree of mussells and goats cheese ravioli was the Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay 2005. The first wine out of the case it is still a tad too young but still has great structure and is everything I expected. A full bodied wine it was the perfect start to go with the mussell ravioli. Next up, an interesting Italian wine Falesco Ferentano 2007 from Lazio. made from Roscetto grapes. A full bodied wine with an appealling spectrum of layered flavours that banana and pineapple with a hint of vanilla and honey. I wish some one locally would plant and start to produce wine from this Roscetto. So far as I am aware nobody is growing this grape.

Next up veal escalopes with wild mushrooms, thyme and white wine ( a favourite new dish). With this another bottle of Savaterre Pinot Noir 2004. I was seriously disappoimnted with the first bottle out of the case a year ago. A tannins monster it lacked anything of interest. 12 months on the tannins are softening and some degree of complexity is starting to develop. A chewy style pinot with wild mushrooms of its own, undergrowth flavours and raspberries.

Finally a Chateau Guiraud 2005 to go with homemade meringue. I really need to leave the rest of this case alone for a few more years.

So with one exception an evening of wines from each of our children's year of birth. Yum