Sunday Sunday

[monghead]

What's been tickling the tastebuds this weekend?

[jeremy]

Busy adjusting to new job, plus Birthday week, so highlights list from whole week, no notes:

2006 Mont Redon Chateaneuf du Pape Blanc
2001 Mont Redon Chateaneuf du Pape Rouge
1989 Mont Redon Chateaneuf du Pape Rouge
Mont Redon Vieux Marc de Chateaneuf du Pape
2004 Kangarilla Road Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Dutschke Oscar Semmler Shiraz
2007 Spinifex Shiraz Viognier
2007 Schloss Lieser Kabinett
2007 Kooyong Estate Pinot Noir
2009 Pizzini Pinot Grigio
2009 Pizzini Rosetta Rose

[Red]

2008 Wynns Cab Shiraz Merlot - Picked this up for $10 a bottle, and its delivers amazing drinking at that price. Lovely dark fuits, chewy tannins. Ripper!

[griff]

This afternoon we are listening to Sufjan Stevens and sipping 2007 Veronique GMS
A big and bold barossan red with funky earthy flavours from the mataro. Thick and chewy but mostly fruity and low in tannin. Goes rather nicely with a chicken liver risotto made with vin santo and homemade chicken stock. Could also substitute as a meal unto itself. Very Good wine.

Had a couple on Friday. From memory:

2000 Radenti sparkling
Classy sparkling. Its not champagne but it is one of the best sparklers made in this land. Great power and depth from pinot with fine copious bubbles. Excellent wine.

2004 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling
This is a Very Good wine. A little kero marring it but the intensity and purity is praiseworthy. Not sure if the kero will dominate in time to come.

2002 Wolf Blass Gold Label Riesling
This is a solid Good on the night. Opened further the next day to make it Very Good. Toasty and lime. Middle weight for riesling with moderate length but not a hair out of place.

2003 Evans and Tate Gnangara Shiraz
Spicy shiraz. From Great Southern? Good wine.

2008 Vasse Felix Cane Cut Semillon
Weird. Grassy and green but sweet and long. Bizarre but sweet and moreish.

Had the dregs of the 1889 Seppelt Para as well. I really should write up the wines we had when we opened it last week.


Breaking the rules and going out tonight. Opened a 2004 Marques de Riscal Reserva to take along but sadly it was a study of swamp water. Bottles so variable when brett is present. Need to seek an alternative now.

cheers

Carl

[pstarr]

For me, the Sunday thread is about drinking from the week, mainly highlights. So:
- Tahbilk 1996 cabernet shiraz (courtesy of Andrew Graham), lovely and well-resolved Tahbilk, great with roast lamb and roast vegies.
- 2005 Seppelt Jaluka chardonnay, still has years to go, but starting to drink nicely now.
- 2000 Primo Estate Moda, appalling cork had soaked, split, and gone spongey, but the wine was fine. Best bottle of the not-standout 2000 vintage of the Moda.
- Phi Lusatia Park 2005 pinot. Tasty, but needs a bit more time. Nice acids.
- bit more 2006 chianti as well.

Paul

[Michael R]

2008 Collector Reserve Shiraz
Very enjoyable. Really like a lot about this wine, 13.5% alc, light supple tannins, decent finish. Very balanced overall despite its youth. Yet another cracker from the Canberra district. Although expensive ($55) I’ll vouch for the hype and think this is a must-try, if you can find where to buy. A 60 mins+ decant will add value.

2006 Penfolds RWT Shiraz
Big, bold, and rich. Lots of muscle/power, with significant tannin and major legs. If it was steak, it’d be rare, slightly blue even.
Early days for this but very enjoyable nonetheless.

2006 Bannockburn Pinot
Not great. Known storage of the bottle suggested there had been some negative impacts, highlighted by the strangely acidic finish. The structure seemed to be loose at best.

2008 Spinifex Espirit GSM
Not sure what the % breakdown is, but it integrates very nicely altogether. Not overtly aromatic and a nice dry departure. Gentle enough to match well with Sushi (which we did by accident), but strong enough to compliment lamb.

Cheers
Michael

[PaulV]

2008 Mount Majura Tempranillo 14% Very impressed. Probably the best oz temp I have had. Lovely lifted nose of black cherries and plums. Similar on the palate with some spicy meatiness, crunchy fruit and firm but ripe tannins -in a way a much more european style palate than the ususal sweet oz palate. No more than midweight but great intensity.

Two duds

1998 Lindemans Reserve Padthaway Cabernet Merlot. 14.5% Lots of dead fruit and porty flavours as well as over extracted. poor , down the sink.

2002 Wirra Wirra McLaren Vale Shiraz 14.9% I recall this wine got pretty rave reviews at the time of release. Well time has not treated it kindly. While the colour is excellent rich dark red, and the nose is quintessential McLaren Vale soft earthy, with a touch of leatheriness, the palate is so unbalanced by the heat from the alcohol. There's some nice rich fruit there but the incredibly short hot finish created a very disjointed palate. very disappointing

[AaronL]

A weekend of bubbly things for me:

NV Emeri Sparkling Shiraz- a bit sweet and confected, and perhaps coming from younger vines. Fair but nothing to get too excited about.

NV Croser- Unusually fruity, and some sweetness showing through. Good/Interesting

Matso's Brewing Chilli Beer- Tastes like beer with chilli in it. Didn't really extinguish the burn I had from the "Ultra Death" chilli sauce at the chilli festival.

2003 Evans and Tate Gnangara Shiraz
Spicy shiraz. From Great Southern?

A mix of Great Southern and Margaret River, I believe.

1889 Seppelt Para. I really should write up the wines we had when we opened it last week.

A handy weekday quaffer

[via collins]

Roaring Meg pinot noir 2008 Mt Difficulty, Otago - earthy nose, strong cherry and tar palate, lingering raspberry and forest floor notes to follow. Very good.

[Sean O'Sullivan]

deleted

[orpheus]

Veuve Cliquot 2002 vintage brut - fantastic champagne, lovely, opulent citrus fruit with terrific, strong acidity keeping it all in balance.

Veuve nv yellow label - my friend brought this over, unfortunately after I had already put the 2002 in the fridge, and I, unfairly, opened the vintage first. Chalk and cheese as far as I am concerned. Not substantial enough for me, neither enough fruit nor enough acid, so that the effect is a bit bland.

Bannockburn 2002 shiraz - an absolutely beautiful drop. Complex, forest-floor notes, blackberry and a hint of violet on the nose carry through to the palate, which is nicely mature, and finishes long and attractively. Good, silty tannins on the finish. One of the wines of the year.

By Farr shiraz 2003 - had immediately after the Bannockburn, and much wilder and less accomplished. A bit all over the place, frankly. A good wine, but not a very together wine.

Mt Langhi Cliff Edge shiraz 2005 - much better than I was expecting, given that it is a second label from an unexceptional year. Muscular, thick, full-bodied Australian shiraz, drinking very well, but seeming as though it would be a good cellaring prospect.

[Wayno]

JC Centenary Hill Shiraz 2002
Love it. All choc mint slice and Barossa cigar box. Tannins softened and smooth as a baby's bum. Delicious wine.

[Ricardo]

AaronL. I spent a lazy afternoon at Matso's a micro brewery in Broome. The chilli beer is definatley hot. They also make a Mango beer

Cheers

Ricardo

[Mike Hawkins]

Veuve Cliquot 2002 vintage brut - fantastic champagne, lovely, opulent citrus fruit with terrific, strong acidity keeping it all in balance.

Veuve nv yellow label - my friend brought this over, unfortunately after I had already put the 2002 in the fridge, and I, unfairly, opened the vintage first. Chalk and cheese as far as I am concerned. Not substantial enough for me, neither enough fruit nor enough acid, so that the effect is a bit bland.

I agree with your sentiments. The 02 VC is the best for a decade plus IMO, but the NV is a very, very ordinary champagne that lives off its former glories due to savvy marketing.

[daz]

This afternoon we are listening to Sufjan Stevens and sipping 2007 Veronique GMS
A big and bold barossan red with funky earthy flavours from the mataro. Thick and chewy but mostly fruity and low in tannin. Goes rather nicely with a chicken liver risotto made with vin santo and homemade chicken stock. Could also substitute as a meal unto itself. Very Good wine.

Had a couple on Friday. From memory:

2000 Radenti sparkling
Classy sparkling. Its not champagne but it is one of the best sparklers made in this land. Great power and depth from pinot with fine copious bubbles. Excellent wine.

Carl

Yep, those Tassie bubbles can be impressive. Took a bottle to a 70th birthday celebration last March.

Cheers

daz

[Jay60A]

JC Centenary Hill Shiraz 2002
Love it. All choc mint slice and Barossa cigar box. Tannins softened and smooth as a baby's bum. Delicious wine.

Wayno - This was always a lovely wine, I drank heaps when younger and still have a few. How long will it last?

[monghead]

Ha, despite starting the thread, I had neglected to post my weekend wine...

2006 Hillcrest Pinot Noir- Concentrated plums, asian spices, and hints of jasmine tea. Supple, mouth filling, with an admirable length. Very Very Good.

Cheers,

Monghead.

[ChrisV]

My friends and I had a blind tasting competition on Saturday. We had 4 sparkling whites ranging from $6 to $80 (Queen Adelaide Brut, Grant Burge Pinot Noir Chardonnay NV, Clover Hill Brut 2005, Bollinger NV) and 6 reds of different varietals. The wines were all served blind and the idea was to identify them all. I chose all the wines and hadn't had any of them before. I did poorly in the sparkling whites section, only identifying one correctly (the cheapie $6 Queen Adelaide). In my defence, everyone was agreed that the Bollinger had for some reason showed very poorly, while the Clover Hill was frankly a bad wine. Nobody got more than 2 correct. I was able to come back in the reds section and identified all 6 correctly to win the event.

The reds chosen were, with my ratings on the night and some comments were:

2008 Running With Bulls Tempranillo ($15) - 7/10. Excellent food wine, minimal use of oak, good depth of flavour. Had a glass of this again today without decanting (all wines in our tasting comp were decanted 3 hours) and it was quite a bit worse, so give this some air if you can. Recommended.

2008 Richard Hamilton "Hut Block" Cabernet Sauvignon ($15) - 8/10. No mistaking this one. Simply oozed Cabernet on the nose. The palate is excellent, grunty but not overdone tannins, tons of structure, very restrained oak, and lots of pure Cabernet flavour. Big fan of this. Will be picking up 6 or so more. Along with Mike Press would rate this as one of the biggest QPR buys I've tried in ages. Campbell Mattinson on Wine Front gives this 93 as well FWIW.

2006 Katnook Estate "Founders Block" Merlot ($15) - 4/10. A bad wine. Smelt like a rubbish tip and while the palate was clean enough it was also featureless and boring. Skip it.

2008 Yalumba Bush Vine Grenache ($15) - 6/10. A good wine if you like Australian grenache. The problem with Oz grenache is generally cloying sweetness, and while there's a bunch of fruit sweetness here, there's enough structure to back it up so that it isn't cloying. I found it a bit lacking in complexity and slightly candied however. This wine was very popular with the less nerdy wine drinkers on the night.

2008 Tar & Roses Heathcote Shiraz ($15) - 7/10. Was getting a bit tipsy by this point and am struggling to remember. I remember a lot of nice pure fruit flavour, with some spicyness and a touch of eucalypt and other aromatic woods (not oak) on the finish. Good.

2008 Pizzini Sangiovese ($24) - 6/10. An interesting wine. Quite light through the mouth - almost medium bodied - without the earthy qualities of a lot of sangiovese. Some intriguing herby notes, an unusual and interesting wine, but I found it a little disjointed and lacking in weight. I would pass on this at the price.

A good evening with the red wines mostly showing well. I would give a buy recommendation on everything except the merlot and sangiovese.

[ChrisV]

Oh also on a humorous note, my girlfriend (who hates wine) was handling the pouring of the wine and did the reveals. She made a mistake on the third bottle, holding up what was actually the fourth wine served. If that had actually been the third wine, it would have meant that I had misidentified the $6 Queen Adelaide rubbish as the Bollinger. I was absolutely stunned. My world was dissolving around me. I was so in disbelief that I said to her "Are you SURE?!?!". At this point she double checked and discovered the error. Real heart attack territory, I was thinking of giving up drinking wine.

I did actually misidentify the $22 Grant Burge Pinot Chardonnay NV as the Bollinger, but I'm not so worried about that since as I said the Bollinger showed poorly for some reason. Heat affected maybe? Here are the actual wines and the opinions of myself and another guy at the event whose palate I respect.

Actual wines served:

1 - Bollinger
2 - Clover Hill
3 - Queen Adelaide
4 - Grant Burge

My scoresheet:

1 - Clover Hill (7/10)
2 - Grant Burge (5/10)
3 - Queen Adelaide (3/10)
4 - Bollinger (7/10)

My friend's scoresheet:

1 - Bollinger (7/10)
2 - Grant Burge (5/10)
3 - Queen Adelaide (2/10)
4 - Clover Hill (7/10)

As you can see, although he correctly identified the Bollinger and I didn't, he scored all the wines basically identically. It's funny because he said he basically put Wine 1 down as Bollinger on the basis of the nose, whereas I smelt it and thought "Wannabe champagne nose, not the real stuff, must be the Clover Hill".

[Pat]

I had a 4 day weekend away with friends, most who don't know much about wine (probably including me) The first night we arrived we played a variation of Wine Options mostly with quaffers of different grape varieties. Most wines were average however 2 were enjoyable.
2004 Tyrells Stevens Sem (7.5/10)
2003 Punters Corner Cab Sav (7.5/10)

The Stevens was a beautiful wine and the colour was relatively pale for 6 years. I had originally had it down to be opened around 2012 however IMHO should be left until a couple of years after that.

The Punters Corner was also good. I had tried it about 9 months earlier and found it to be average (possibly a bad bottle) however this had good length to it with the tannins not as overpowering as earlier.

One of my friends had brought along a Side Gate 2008 Pinot Noir and I had a glass. I thought was a great little quaffer and costs approx $10. Apparently it is from Broken Gate Winery and is mainly exported to China.

[Hindmarsh]

2008 Waterton Riesling - a taut, lemony Tamar Tasmanian. Will age for years
2006 Martinborough Estate Pinot Noir - dependable and delicious - on Saturday it was no different
2003 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon - another delicious Tasmanian wine - went very well with the rare lamb backstrap.

[Chuck]

From auction and reportedly from a good cellar was one of a 6 pack of Jamiesons Run 1998 Alexander Block (Coonawarra). This block of dirt has always tickled my fancy since the original Mildara Alexander in the 80's. Cork was stained to just 2mm and the wine is almost fully mature and did not disappoint. Pure essence of Coonawarra although I thought the '01 version is a point or 2 better but at least 5 years off its peak. Mate and I went 50/50 in the pack and I'd happily buy back his stash

Chuck

[dazza1968]

2002 Wirra Wirra McLaren Vale Shiraz 14.9% I recall this wine got pretty rave reviews at the time of release. Well time has not treated it kindly. While the colour is excellent rich dark red, and the nose is quintessential McLaren Vale soft earthy, with a touch of leatheriness, the palate is so unbalanced by the heat from the alcohol. There's some nice rich fruit there but the incredibly short hot finish created a very disjointed palate. very disappointing[/quote]

Hey paul could the wine be heat effected as some of the description you have noted heads that way . did the wine have a horrible or unpleasant flavour in the throat after you drank the wine ?

regards Dazza

[Wayno]

JC Centenary Hill Shiraz 2002
Love it. All choc mint slice and Barossa cigar box. Tannins softened and smooth as a baby's bum. Delicious wine.

Wayno - This was always a lovely wine, I drank heaps when younger and still have a few. How long will it last?

On the bottle gone, I'm not sure I'd choose to leave it much longer - not that it wouldn't probably go a few more years still... just that it was drinking so splendidly now.