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1997 Tahbilk Old Vine Shiraz: A surprise packet this was. I was not expecting too much at the $25 asking price, but I was very wrong. A nice deep ruby red with a light brick rim in the glass. The nose told me this had some age with plum, wild strawberry leather and old bank notes. The palate matched the nose with impeccable balance very light integrated tannins and a long finish. Very nice stuff.

2004 Willow Creek Tulum Cabernet Sauvingnon. Mornington Peninsula. Screwcap. 14%: Beautiful bright colour. Upon opening it was very muted on the nose and the palate. Once it had been in the decanter for a couple of hours, it started to open up and display red and black fruits and quite chalky tannins. Even better on night two. Drink to 5+ years. 3.5/5

Cheers
Ian

2009 Greenock Creek Cornerstone Grenache Really nice Grenache, in fact, I enjoyed it so much. Very enjoyable drop of nice minced fruit-like aromas and dark spices just blended so well together. Fine Tannins. 8.5/10

2007 Paulett Polish Hill River Cabernet Merlot Very firm and ripe fruit flavours, bouquet oaky notes. Medium-bodied drop. 7/10

A lovely long weekend in the Hunter Valley for me, lots of tasting and drinking...

Stayed at a wonderful holiday home set in a vineyard. The owners mostly sell their fruit but also make small parcels of their own wine and were extremely generous in sharing with us after we invited them over for a glass of wine. If anyone is looking for a nicely appointed adults weekend (no kids, no pets) place to stay in the hunter with a reasonable price tag PM me and Ill share the details.

Some wine notes:
Lakes Folly... 2011 Chardonnay looking sensational, very linear, persistent flavour. Able to try a second single block Chardonnay which they give a bit more funk to and it was very interesting but without the same length. The 2010 Cabernets is a very pretty, fragrant, light-to-medium bodied style. They also have a "3 estates" Shiraz Cab blending Lakes Folly, Perth Hills and Margaret River fruit which was very spicy, intense and punchy flavoured.

Gundog Estate...a new one for me but 5* Halliday winery. Their 2012 Semillon is a cracker, all pristine, clean cut fruit. They do a wild semillon which I didnt like but their "off dry" semillon was very interesting - maybe 15g/l residual sugar, balanced with lots of acid - would go great with spicy food. They also make a sensational Hilltops Shiraz.

Tower Estate ... tried the excellent 2007 Aged Release Semillon (under cork though) which was still very primary with lovely pure lemon sherbert fruit. The even older 2002 Semillon from bin end is also lovely, still quite clean with some lovely toasty development.

Allandale ... Very impressed by their range here. A very punchy, funky Orange Sav Blanc, a single vineyard mudgee Sangiovese, and the Hunter shiraz all stand outs, along with their 2011 Semillon and 2007 Aged Release which are both excellent.

Scarborough... great cellar door experience, nice Chardonnay's in particular. A very good rose.

Briar Ridge... an old favourite, but not many of their wines really grabbed me. Their Dairy Hill Shiraz was the exception with a tremendous intensity of flavour - but you'd want that for the $47 price tag.

Also consumed:
2000 Tahbilk Riesling... Just about hanging in there, golden colour, developed petroleum/lime jelly nose. Rounded finish.

2011 Rockford Alicante Bouchet... good as always, not overly sweet, delicious cherry/berry and red lollies. Goes down easily.

1985 Seppelt's VP... Rich, ripe and alcoholic. Brandy spirit dominates. Still drinking well after 2 days, lovely depth of fruit.

2001 Johns Blend Margarete's Shiraz... Cracking wine, firm backdrop of US oak, crushed red berries, vanilla, spice, drinking well.

Numerous Bainton Family Wines courtesy of the estate we stayed at. Their 1999 Semillon and 1999 and 2000 Shiraz and 2005 Botrytis were all sublime. Unfortunately its all small production and not widely distributed. Most of their fruit goes to top labels with Tyrrell's and other HV wine makers.

rens wrote:1997 Torbreck Old Vine Shiraz: A surprise packet this was. I was not expecting too much at the $25 asking price, but I was very wrong. A nice deep ruby red with a light brick rim in the glass. The nose told me this had some age with plum, wild strawberry leather and old bank notes. The palate matched the nose with impeccable balance very light integrated tannins and a long finish. Very nice stuff.

do Torbreck ever make a bad wine?

IMHO, yes. The Woodcutters Shiraz 2010. So many people liked it, but I (and a fair few others luckily for my tasting sanity) couldn't get past an obvious 'paint' note. Other than that, great producer, a RunRig 98 tasted 3 years ago was particularly memorable (thanks to baccaebabe).

As for me (other than a memorable Friday night - notes for that later).

Thanks to the eternal generosity of dave vino at odyssey's wedding on Sunday, we enjoyed....

Lakes Folly Chardonnay 2007 - Lovely stuff, plenty of generous fruit, definite butter and oak, well crafted and all in pretty good balance. Drink now or for at least the next 3 years.
Yarra Yering Dry Red No.1 2004 - Still youthful, tannic grip, plenty of black fruit and some chewy licqorice notes. Good finish.
Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier 2008 - Finally starting to emerge! Previous bottles have been closed and fairly ungenerous, yet hinting at potential excellence. This was showing a tantalising glimpse of what should be a great wine in 5-10 years. Some sous-bois and deep set fruit hints with a touch of the familiar apricot lift. Still needs time, but quality stuff now or then.

Cheers
Tim

rocket wrote:

rens wrote:1997 Torbreck Old Vine Shiraz: A surprise packet this was. I was not expecting too much at the $25 asking price, but I was very wrong. A nice deep ruby red with a light brick rim in the glass. The nose told me this had some age with plum, wild strawberry leather and old bank notes. The palate matched the nose with impeccable balance very light integrated tannins and a long finish. Very nice stuff.

do Torbreck ever make a bad wine?

Yes!

For me anyway....04 'The Struie. ' Had multiple btls. Something weird about this wine. Stinky and just unpleasant to drink.


ross

TiggerK wrote:IMHO, yes. The Woodcutters Shiraz 2010. So many people liked it, but I (and a fair few others luckily for my tasting sanity) couldn't get past an obvious 'paint' note.

I was drinking this last night and thought the exact same thing! It was an otherwise nice wine, but I just couldn't get past it.

Paint/menthol in the 2010 Woodcutters, yes I agree. I find this usually blows off after a lot of airtime though. Settles down on night 2 from my experience.

rocket wrote:Paint/menthol in the 2010 Woodcutters, yes I agree. I find this usually blows off after a lot of airtime though. Settles down on night 2 from my experience.

I was having this on its second or third night at a friend's wine bar. I might try it again though as its going super cheap in Japan at the moment and behind that note, there was a lot that I liked.

ross67 wrote:

rocket wrote:

rens wrote:1997 Torbreck Old Vine Shiraz: A surprise packet this was. I was not expecting too much at the $25 asking price, but I was very wrong. A nice deep ruby red with a light brick rim in the glass. The nose told me this had some age with plum, wild strawberry leather and old bank notes. The palate matched the nose with impeccable balance very light integrated tannins and a long finish. Very nice stuff.

do Torbreck ever make a bad wine?

Yes!

For me anyway....04 'The Struie. ' Had multiple btls. Something weird about this wine. Stinky and just unpleasant to drink.


ross

Thats weird, I worked my way through 2 doz of this, and absolutely loved it.

Let's see ... Grand final weekend was yum!

Shaw Estate Isabella riesling
Half dry riesling, went beautifully with homemade chicken and lentil curry.

Yalumba D 2004 sparkling shiraz cabernet
Delicious dark fruit, fine persistant bubbles and dry finish. One left now, so sad, this was wonderful.

Angove mystery cleanskin ~2003
Turned out to be a very nice GSM, tasted quite young and fresh still.

2008 Wolf Blass Gold Label Coonawarra cabernet
Initially a bit sharp and minty, but softened nicely into quite a nice berry-driven cabernet. A touch too much acid for me still.

knocked over a '99 vat one last weekend at a bbq with 4 generations of my family assembled for the first time.

Accordingly, there was a little party going on in my mouth, as well as on the terrace.

2008 D'arenberg Footbolt Shiraz
Showing promise. Deep purplely red - Christmas cake, black current and licorice flavours. Grippy tannins. Revisit in 4 years.