Be comfortably assured GiacondaÂ’s new releases are superb, but tread carefully in the minefield of 2002 Central Otago Pinots: the hype is not all reflected in the glass.
The cult of Giaconda continues apace. For many years Ric Kinzbrunner released his wines at Judy FarrowÂ’s, Richmond Hill Cellars in early December. So popular was this event that in later years one had to book a time during the Friday night or Saturday morning tasting to attend. And even then spots were booked out within hours of the newsletterÂ’s release. Alas the institution that was RHC is no longer. Judy retired due to ill health. So in an age of internet tenders and high end marketing the PWS gets the gig.
The Prince Hotel Deck has seen some smart wines over the last week with SaturdayÂ’s public release of 2002 Giaconda[Free] and Monday eveningÂ’s 2002 Central Otago Pinot Noir Masterclass with winemaker Rudi Bauer.[$65 with a small entree of Rabbit confit ravioli and a serve of duck and foie gras charcuterie].
Entering the formal entrance to the hotel, Circa to the left, we punters had the chance to waltz through Paul HeckerÂ’s dramatic interior design of the top lit foyer. Red foils the black. Ascending steep stairs past design classics Charles Eames' La Chaise and Arne Jacobsen's Womb chair and Marc Newson's prototype Felt chair we were greeted with the 2002 releases.
The Deck, designed by Wood Marsh architects borrows on the Moorish St Kilda traditions, famously the old St Kilda baths. But the Deck is all zen meets Al Hambra. St Kilda chic. Dramatic blades of corten steel are inset with an abstract mosaic pattern to screen the bath of western and northern sun. The languid classic patio furniture from Richard Schultz’s 1966 collection (now via B & B Italia) sits cooly among the backdrop to the setting of The Secret Life of Us. The interior is crisp white with emphasis on the fine grained mosaic of white tiles off set by a pool reflected in pink light. Think Moroccan tea glass. A water wall àla NGV International gives allusion to the spa facility. At night the lighting is flattering and cool. This is a great room in which to taste wine. It is restrained luxe; hedonistic, urbane and sophisticated. The Prince turns it on like no other.
Giaconda 2002
The 2002 chardonnay($120/ML$93) is as good as it gets: a magnificent refined, lean, gravelly structure with layers of organza.
The pinot ($90/$65)was velvety textured with all sorts of unknit tangles vying for your attention.
Warner shiraz ($85/$60)points heavily towards Northern Rhone. Exciting; fruit driven, seamlessly integrated oak with long elegant palate. A different type of Aussie shiraz and of one strand I would dearly love to see more.
After the shiraz the cabernet($70/$50) seemed almost an anticlimax, but typical of the Giaconda marque. It is classical, well integrated and balanced. These are ELEGANT wines with real finesse, charm and poignancy. They are crafted. All power to Mr K
Central Otago 2002 Pinot Noir
Don’t believe the hype that this vintage marks the “coming of age†for Central Otago Pinot Noir. [Andrew Caillard-Langtons]. Of the 12 wines presented the dominant theme was the turbo- charged alcohol richness. There is a lot of heavy handed winemaking.
Rudi Bauer of Quartz Reef (& ors) commented that the vintage really did not show which winemakers appreciate the combination of site and fruit selection. The ripeness of the vintage was all too telling in many wines. He suggested that 2004 will demonstate those winemakers who appreciate an invisible hand in the process and allow terroir to determine expression.
Notwithstanding the pinot literate audience the room was divided between those who prefer rich, fleshy voluptuous wines even at the expense of balance and those who crave elegant and structured wines with harmony and purity of expression.
This is just one punterÂ’s impressions which may well be diametrically different to other tastersÂ’ thoughts on the night. Prices are insdicative only and I have no idea about availablity. Often price is totally unrelated to value.
My overall impression is that the vintage is too hot and ripe and as such be wary in accepting unqualified assurances that this is a great vintage and that one can buy blind with success. You canÂ’t. However, the tasting again highlighted that many very good wines are emerging from this exciting region, but the full picture is far far from developed.
GIBBSTON VALLEY
Drystone Pinot Noir 2002 ($45)
A very pretty wine. Pristine pure crystalline aromatics; delicate soft attack without much backbone. Finishes clean. Well made and not tricked up: a young puppy in the style of Diamond Valley and Chambolle- Musigny or Volnay.
Peregrine Pinot Noir 2002 ($55)
My favourite of the bracket. Firmer acid and structure. A serious wine with very Burgundian backbone. Restrained voluptuousness, but the palate doesnÂ’t deliver the strength apparent on the nose.
Two Paddocks First Paddock Pinot Noir 2002 ($55)
Wild, brambly and funky. Hot, slightly harsh and aggressive. Unknit, forced and worked. Provenance is everything in a wine like this and absent pedigree I would have severe doubts as to whether the jumbled elements will commingle well with age. Harsh. Many liked this polarising wine.
Nevis Bluff Pinot Noir 2002 ($50)
Firm, solid, rich. A bit out there. Powerful and alcoholic, yet controlled and corralled. It has earthy, gamey, meaty extract. It has potential. Being a little bit forgiving it could go either way, but it is not taut.
CROMWELL BASIN
Akarua Pinot Noir 2002 ($55)
Gamier, powerful and fascinating with controlled clunkiness to forgive the oxymoron. Grippy, chunkier and feral promises more on the nose than the palate delivers: a hot choc top with moccha.
Amisfield Pinot Noir 2002 ($50)
Complex, gamey autumnal leaf nose with Asian and exotic spices. There is initial promise of gorgeous mouthfeel, enveloping and explosive, yet at the same time it is quite extracted and viscous. Disappointing and caricaturish.
Carrick Pinot Noir 2002 ($60)
Lovely balance on the nose. Impressive spicy and knit, but a tad left footed on final impression. Very attractive and delivers. My favourite of a relatively weaker bracket.
Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2002 ($50)
Expressive cherry. Attractive but wet on initial approach. ‘Wet’ is a funny word, but it is pejorative of a limp dullness. Demonstrative meat cleaver weight. Porty finish with little varietal typicity: too hot. A strine shiraz drinker’s pinot
This was a closer bracket showing generic tendencies towards ungainly brazen ripeness and uneven balance.
FELTON ROAD, BANNOCKBURN
Mount Difficulty Pinot Noir 2002 ($55)
Very happy with No. 9: a lot going on. Mealy, meaty vegemite extract. Concentrated and balanced. Powerful chocolate and berry with lovely firm balance and structure.
Mount Difficulty Pipe Clay Terrace Pinot Noir 2002 ($70)
Warm, rich, luscious and generous. There is the reminder of primary school yard dust. It is also heavy handed. A bully of wine.
Felton Road Pinot Noir 2002 ($75)
Perfumed, classy. Sensual. Racy and refined: a terrific wine with great intensity and structure. Equal Favourite of what Philip Murphy described as the “Grand Cru†bracket. It certainly was a step up from the earlier wines with apologies to a couple in the first bracket.
Olssens Jackson Barry Pinot Noir 2002 ($60)
Smoky toasty oak. Voluptuous, but balanced. Walks a thin line between racy finesse and richer, choc moccha largesse. Hints of the distinctive flavour of a HellierÂ’s choc nut sundae, (for those old enough to remember HellierÂ’s & Tim the Toyman on the site where the Westin Hotel /City Square now sits).Beautiful and Equal Fav.
In the interests of science, Sanjay ( a well known forumite) and I with dinner later opened a Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2002 and a Mongeard Mugneret Echezaux 1988 (1/2) to keep it honest.
Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2002
The Block 3 was broad, beefy with firm and round structure. Deeply coloured. Bold and long. If the “standard†was pretty and feminine this was a vin de garde masculine wine. The standard looks much better at the moment and the Block 3 has an atavistic brawn, not usually related to Felton Road. Hold.
Mongeard-Mugneret Echezaux 1988
Showing signs of browning on the meniscus. Pale colour. Lovely broad mouthfeel and weight. Vigorous attack. Good length. Very good, not great.
The bubbles upon arrival, Quartz Chauvet Methode Traditionelle 1998 werenÂ’t bad either. Would fool most as Champagne.
A Sydney guest suggested that these type of Masterclasses seem to be a Melbourne phenomenon and perhaps, moreover, a PWS specialty. I won’t get into any comments about the Prince’s sometimes rapacious pricing, but its service and educational tastings are first class and deservedly make it the store of record in Melbourne. I wish there were more doing the same. I should add that I have no commercial ties to PWS than as a faint local customer. To any retailers- there is plenty of interest in these type of informative tastings. As they say, ‘build a field, the people will come.’
[/b][/i]
Central Otago Pinot Noir 2002/ Giaconda 2002 TNS
What NOT to do with pinots in a good vintage.
Hi,
I agree with Neville's comments. To add my 2 cents worth...
The second bracket wines (i.e. no 4 to
showed what one must not do with pinots in a ripe vintage. All the wines appeared to have very ripe fruit but had a distinct lack of acid structure to carry them through. The alcoholic heat was easliy noticeable both on the nose and in the body. In short one could be forgiven for thinking that they were tailor made specifically for TORB!!!! Unfortunately, the pinot-philes weren't so appreciative. Most vines yeilding the grapes were very young (less than 5 years). To avoid green-ness is one thing but to go to the other extreme in playing with fire as far as pinots are concerned. Shiraz may be a forgiving grape but pinot isn't.
The third (last) bracket had better balanced wines (of the lot). However, here too there were two instances which clearly proved that too much of a good thing is not better as far as pinot grape. Both the "regular" pinots i.e. Mount Difficulty and Felton Road were better than their reserve counterparts.
Sanjay
I agree with Neville's comments. To add my 2 cents worth...
The second bracket wines (i.e. no 4 to
showed what one must not do with pinots in a ripe vintage. All the wines appeared to have very ripe fruit but had a distinct lack of acid structure to carry them through. The alcoholic heat was easliy noticeable both on the nose and in the body. In short one could be forgiven for thinking that they were tailor made specifically for TORB!!!! Unfortunately, the pinot-philes weren't so appreciative. Most vines yeilding the grapes were very young (less than 5 years). To avoid green-ness is one thing but to go to the other extreme in playing with fire as far as pinots are concerned. Shiraz may be a forgiving grape but pinot isn't.
The third (last) bracket had better balanced wines (of the lot). However, here too there were two instances which clearly proved that too much of a good thing is not better as far as pinot grape. Both the "regular" pinots i.e. Mount Difficulty and Felton Road were better than their reserve counterparts.
Sanjay
Great notes Neville - much appreciated.
Brilliant description of The Prince Deck as well - the ultimate Melbourne tasting experience: The Prince, St Kilda, Riedel glasses and Giaconda wines.
Agree whole-heartedly with your descriptions of the chardonnay, pinot and shiraz. I was however quite disappointed by the cabernet. I have tried several vintages and normally love it, however this year I found it green and with an unleasant barnyard nose.
Also nostalgically remember the old tasting room out the back of Richmond Hill Cellars (RIP) and happy days fossicking around the underground cellar. Good to see Tim Feistl making his own way at Tannins in Clifton Hill.
Cheers
Andy
Brilliant description of The Prince Deck as well - the ultimate Melbourne tasting experience: The Prince, St Kilda, Riedel glasses and Giaconda wines.
Agree whole-heartedly with your descriptions of the chardonnay, pinot and shiraz. I was however quite disappointed by the cabernet. I have tried several vintages and normally love it, however this year I found it green and with an unleasant barnyard nose.
Also nostalgically remember the old tasting room out the back of Richmond Hill Cellars (RIP) and happy days fossicking around the underground cellar. Good to see Tim Feistl making his own way at Tannins in Clifton Hill.
Cheers
Andy