Weekly Drinking Reports as at 20/1/2013

[dlo]

Another week gone and what an amazing week it was. One of the busiest weeks of my life comprising two great jazz albums being recorded, another one mixed and edited, plenty of people staying and visiting the house, many good eating and drinking experiences but also, for me, lots of cleaning, washing and heaps of commuting! Good times all round I hope for everyone involved. Good luck and happy days for these young jazz musicians now continuing their tertiary and postgraduate studies anywhere other than the now decimated Australian National University's School of Music.

Wines consumed this week -

Another 2010 Grosset Picadilly Chardonnay - a very finely honed and classy white delivering the requisite green varietal fruit of a top label intermingling with a fair dollop of worked barrel character. It's a tad bigger wine than my initial recollection of a bottle opened recently and does not suffer for being just that.

Seabrook Special Release 1972 Vintage Port (W. Chambers, Rutherglen - maker) - some of these releases have been quite spectacular over the years. This bottle was very good but I felt the spirit is now dominating the fruit ever so slightly and the astringency in the finish only got more intense the longer it sat in the glass.

Rutherglen Estates 2009 Sparkling Shiraz/Durif - reasonably smart sparkler with some attractive spice and earth complimenting the intense berried fruit with some hefty sweetness aided by the dosage of vintage port. Went well with my old fashioned egg and bacon pie!

A bottle of 1999 Frederic Esmonin Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Estournelles-St. Jacques revealed a level of elegant sophistication you love to see in a fine red burg with all the usual players in place and singing with seamless harmony. I particularly enjoyed the resolute persistence in this outstanding wine's finish.

Probably the most impressive wine of the week was an incredibly pristine bottle of 1998 Jamieson's Run Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. For some reason every bottle I've pulled from my stash of late impresses more and more. The first bottle was, admittedly, a little dusty and tired but this wine seems to just go from strength to strength.

With the atrocious heat wave conditions in the second half of the week we mostly stuck to lighter meals and lots of very cold imported Becks, Fat Yak, Little Creatures and James Squires Nine Tails!

Please feel free to let us know what has gone down in your world this week!

[Craig(NZ)]

1993 Yalumba Octavius. I expected my palate to have moved on from this style, but was surprised how much i enjoyed this. This has really improved since the last bottle I had a decade ago! Complex, understated and really interesting. Went down a real treat to be honest, happy! Am I moving back to Shiraz? This is the third top Aussie Shiraz I have drunk and enjoyed over the last 3 months!

1999 Stonyridge Larose. This bottle seemed more developed than the hand reared bottle I had about 3 months ago which topped a very classy line up. Today, piles of pencil shaving and graphite on the nose. The palate was classical and fresh blackberry, violets and graphite but now moving away from the primary flavours/ oak that have held tight to this wine for so long. A great exhibition of bordeaux style but what district?? Maybe today even margaux?? I would though have liked to see just a tad more texture which usually is there with SRL but this bottle was missing. Sitting today where the 1996 did 3 years ago...they are true siblings

[Waiters Friend]

G'day

The only wine I have consumed this weekend that I haven't posted on before is the very good 2008 Devils Lair Chardonnay I am finishing now (opened last night). All the good things you would expect from a Margaret River Chardonnay, in a well balanced and satisfying package.

Cheers

Allan

[rens]

2005 Peel Estate Zinfandel: Big plum, and raspberry fruits mixed with leather and old bank notes. The alcohol gives some heat on the finish. Not an extraordinary wine, but nice enough. Drinking at its best now, and should hold for the next 3 years or so.
2010 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon: A big plush cab that has all the good things in spades- Layered fruit, polished tanins, good balance and nice lingering finish. I must go and buy a few for the cellar.
2003 Saltram No1: Corked. Awaiting the winery's response...
1996 Tahbilk Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: A great combination of layered fruit, leather, subtle oak and integrated tannins. A nice wine.

[Chuck]

Heaps of good wines while on a beach holiday after working right through the Xmas/New Year period. Of note is my first decent Pinot Gris. Leabrook Estate 2010 Pinot Gris. Yum. This is what I have been waiting for in a Gris. There's a lot of ordinary stuff out their.

Carl

[Chuck]

2010 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon: A big plush cab that has all the good things in spades- Layered fruit, polished tanins, good balance and nice lingering finish. I must go and buy a few for the cellar.

Couldn't agree more. It continues a very good run for this wine since I first drank it in the 2005 model. MR at it's best and damn good value.

Carl

[monghead]

2010 Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon

Powerful dark plums, blackcurrants, and menthol. Assertive tannins. Needs time. Solid Good.

[porschemad911]

2010 Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon

Powerful dark plums, blackcurrants, and menthol. Assertive tannins. Needs time. Solid Good.

I thought this one was pretty good when I tried it at the cellar door recently. Ended up buying the Glengyle instead, but in terms of VFM the black label's brilliant. Now you've got me thinking about picking up a bottle!

Drinking a glass of the 2010 Maipenrai pinot now. It's sensational, powerful dark cherry flavours with a hint of soy sauce. Not a ripe or sweet wine yet somehow great depth of fruit. Beautifully balanced with a long finish. Each sip is better than the last as it opens up, so might keep the other 2 bottles for a few years. Very happy with this one!

[rens]

2003 Saltram No1: Corked. Awaiting the winery's response...

Replaced, no problems.

[monghead]

2010 Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon

Powerful dark plums, blackcurrants, and menthol. Assertive tannins. Needs time. Solid Good.

I thought this one was pretty good when I tried it at the cellar door recently. Ended up buying the Glengyle instead, but in terms of VFM the black label's brilliant. Now you've got me thinking about picking up a bottle!

Drinking a glass of the 2010 Maipenrai pinot now. It's sensational, powerful dark cherry flavours with a hint of soy sauce. Not a ripe or sweet wine yet somehow great depth of fruit. Beautifully balanced with a long finish. Each sip is better than the last as it opens up, so might keep the other 2 bottles for a few years. Very happy with this one!

Yes, am going to look for more of this for the cellar- The Wynns black label that is.

[dlo]

I am just about to start another thread for Weekly Drinking Reports commencing 27/1/2013 but following on from the comments on the 2010 Wynn's above, please be aware that one of the wine's I opened this week was the 2004 Wynn's Black Label - an absolute cracker redolent with varietal blackcurrant, black olive and classy regional red earth, mint and slowly emerging cigar box character and well worth cellaring for another 10+ years. It's not a "big wine" but is beautifully balanced and so easy to drink. 92+ points.