The Auswine Forum

• Buy a few more bottles of 2012 Champagne.
• Buy 3 or 4 cases of 2016 Barolo from 'traditionalist' producers. I purposely didn't buy many 2015's to leave room for the 2016's.
• Send some oaky style (modernist) Barolo to auction. This is not a style I enjoy drinking. I bought too much Barolo before I knew which producers I like and dislike.
• Get rid of another 2 or 3 cases of Shiraz, either giving to my friend who likes drinking them or send to auction if he doesn't want them.
• Once my cellar becomes full, maintain a 1 to 1 ratio for purchases and consumption/removal. This will be an ongoing resolution for many years to come.
• Find a new or off-the-radar Burgundy producer which is good at the 1er level but also affordable. Perhaps this one more of a dream than a resolution?

Ozzie W wrote:[*]Send some oaky style (modernist) Barolo to auction. This is not a style I enjoy drinking. I bought too much Barolo before I knew which producers I like and dislike

JamieBahrain wrote:

Ozzie W wrote:[*]Send some oaky style (modernist) Barolo to auction. This is not a style I enjoy drinking. I bought too much Barolo before I knew which producers I like and dislike

Which ones? I'm not a fan of poorly crafted Barolo either. I just note some of the popular thought in Australia on the topic is well behind the times, due to a lack of broad availability and cost, of both producers and adolescent to mature Barolo.

If you're dumping the likes of Sandrone, Elio Grasso etc you could be making a mistake. At maturity many of these "modern" wines will be very good.

Mahmoud Ali wrote:I'm going to play devils's advocate so please bear with me. The wines you've listed, and are thinking of auctioning off, is only 30% of your Barolo collection, so clearly you have a lot of Barolo you like. Regarding the wines you want to auction off:

"- I've tasted before and didn't enjoy."

Then why did you buy them?

- I've read tasting notes on CellarTracker which mention oak in a negative way.

CellarTracker people have widely divergent opinions and are not to be take to heart.

"- Are/were classified as modernist."

Again, why did you buy them?

All the wines you've listed are young or adolescent wines, nowhere near maturity. My two cents, for what it's worth, is to keep them and see how they go, you'll never know till you cellar them.

cleanskinlover wrote:more half-bottles.

I just can't (shouldn't) drink a full bottle anymore.

Ozzie W wrote:
Ozzie, I've just all-day decanted a modernist Barbaresco, so I've poured a big glass and I'll endeavour to answer your questions tonight.

Being able to "play" with Piedmont wines so randomly, due ease of access and affordability, gives a little more freestyle approach in thinking. Perhaps its a bit out there but anyways.

Paolo Scavino

Yep, dump them Ozzie, from what I've picked up on your thoughts, not for you. Shame you can't host a vertical/ horizontal tasting but that said, they're young stock.


Azelia

Oh no, let's not be hasty here. OK, I suggest you dump Bricco Fiasco. It's from CF and I think its the wine in their line up that most struggles with their journey and philosophy.

Margheria is made traditionally. Keep.

San Rocco is a beast and the Serralunga vineyard sucks up oak like no other. The 2004 is a great wine and I suggest you leave it for 5 years or much, much longer. I rated SR 2004 96pts+ recently which is up there in my rankings!

Azelia outperforms in blind tastings with good age, I'm not a reader of Galloni though I have been drawn to this observation by others.


Domenico Clerico There is no more soulful nor passionate wine region that ties in culture, history, food and people. Clerico at an age where oak is integrated and harder to notice performs well blind.

I'm backfilling Percristina. Domenico Clerico made this in honour of his daughter who tragically passed. He died a few months ago and by all accounts he was a fanatical and passionate man. I can not ignore a man's lifetime of work in a bottling so easily available and having witnessed strong performances of older Pajana.


Elio Grasso Modernist? Yes, Runcot is! But his two Cru's are stunningly pure, well made and traditional in every respect except for faults! He was heavily influenced by the Conternos.


Luigi Einaudi Can't comment too little exposure


E. Pira & Figli I'd punt on these personally. But at 20 years. Passionate lady.


Conterno Fantino Not enough exposure though I've cellared myself and visited and been impressed. Probably not for you.


Aldo Conterno There is only one more simpler argument in Piedmont than modernist/traditionlist and this is oak! Big barrels do impart oak influences in a sometimes negative fashion. It took us a lot of detective work and arguments and many older bottles to discover oak influnce in Conterno is probably annual scraping of bog botti!

These guys show well in the long term though 12 may well be a gamble?


La Spinetta Haven't enough experience but I think Ozzie, like me, you'd prefer Olek's Starderi.

Massolino

Again, 2012?

Luciano Sandrone Keep the 2006. You've come this far. 2012 may be accentuated vintage issues - I got a magnum for Xmas.

I've all their top vintages and I believe they could be magical very long term.

JamieBahrain wrote:
Ozzie, I've just all-day decanted a modernist Barbaresco, so I've poured a big glass and I'll endeavour to answer your questions tonight.

Being able to "play" with Piedmont wines so randomly, due ease of access and affordability, gives a little more freestyle approach in thinking. Perhaps its a bit out there but anyways.

Paolo Scavino

Yep, dump them Ozzie, from what I've picked up on your thoughts, not for you. Shame you can't host a vertical/ horizontal tasting but that said, they're young stock.


Azelia

Oh no, let's not be hasty here. OK, I suggest you dump Bricco Fiasco. It's from CF and I think its the wine in their line up that most struggles with their journey and philosophy.

Margheria is made traditionally. Keep.

San Rocco is a beast and the Serralunga vineyard sucks up oak like no other. The 2004 is a great wine and I suggest you leave it for 5 years or much, much longer. I rated SR 2004 96pts+ recently which is up there in my rankings!

Azelia outperforms in blind tastings with good age, I'm not a reader of Galloni though I have been drawn to this observation by others.


Domenico Clerico There is no more soulful nor passionate wine region that ties in culture, history, food and people. Clerico at an age where oak is integrated and harder to notice performs well blind.

I'm backfilling Percristina. Domenico Clerico made this in honour of his daughter who tragically passed. He died a few months ago and by all accounts he was a fanatical and passionate man. I can not ignore a man's lifetime of work in a bottling so easily available and having witnessed strong performances of older Pajana.


Elio Grasso Modernist? Yes, Runcot is! But his two Cru's are stunningly pure, well made and traditional in every respect except for faults! He was heavily influenced by the Conternos.


Luigi Einaudi Can't comment too little exposure


E. Pira & Figli I'd punt on these personally. But at 20 years. Passionate lady.


Conterno Fantino Not enough exposure though I've cellared myself and visited and been impressed. Probably not for you.


Aldo Conterno There is only one more simpler argument in Piedmont than modernist/traditionlist and this is oak! Big barrels do impart oak influences in a sometimes negative fashion. It took us a lot of detective work and arguments and many older bottles to discover oak influnce in Conterno is probably annual scraping of bog botti!

These guys show well in the long term though 12 may well be a gamble?


La Spinetta Haven't enough experience but I think Ozzie, like me, you'd prefer Olek's Starderi.

Massolino

Again, 2012?

Luciano Sandrone Keep the 2006. You've come this far. 2012 may be accentuated vintage issues - I got a magnum for Xmas.

I've all their top vintages and I believe they could be magical very long term.

Mike Hawkins wrote:Load up on 2008 Taittinger Comtes and Dom Ruinart, and get more DP. Buy more 2012 grower champagnes as well. I think that if the US tariffs on champers come in and then stay for a while, importers and producers will reprice in markets like Oz to minimise arbitrage opportunities- though I hope I’m wrong.

I think I might revisit Clare Riesling as well...especially 2019.

Ozzie W wrote:
Domenico Clerico
2008 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin
2005 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra
2004 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra
2007 Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana
2005 Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana

Ozzie W wrote:Buy a few more bottles of 2012 Champagne.

• I only bought 2 bottles. Would have liked to buy a few more.

Ozzie W wrote:Buy 3 or 4 cases of 2016 Barolo from 'traditionalist' producers. I purposely didn't buy many 2015's to leave room for the 2016's.

• Success here. Bought 48 bottles.

Ozzie W wrote:Send some oaky style (modernist) Barolo to auction. This is not a style I enjoy drinking. I bought too much Barolo before I knew which producers I like and dislike.

• I made a start a few weeks ago and sent a dozen bottles to auction. Will send more to auction next year.

Ozzie W wrote:Get rid of another 2 or 3 cases of Shiraz, either giving to my friend who likes drinking them or send to auction if he doesn't want them.

• Didn't end up doing this. COVID got in the way.

Ozzie W wrote:Once my cellar becomes full, maintain a 1 to 1 ratio for purchases and consumption/removal. This will be an ongoing resolution for many years to come.

• I haven't really been put to the test on this one yet due to COVID. Couldn't access my cellar for a long time.

Ozzie W wrote:Find a new or off-the-radar Burgundy producer which is good at the 1er level but also affordable. Perhaps this one more of a dream than a resolution?

• Fail!

Benchmark wrote:More Chianti.

More Vulture.

More Brunello.

Less everything else.

mychurch wrote:Ozzie

i Like your positive thinking, but ‘1 in, 1 out’, sounds like a dream. Good luck. My guess is that ‘move house’, ‘extend house’ or ‘start a 2nd cellar in someone else’s house’ are on the cards. If not than ‘bigger drink now rack’, ‘bigger drink now fridge’, ‘2nd drink now fridge’ , ‘more external storage’ or even ‘sliding under bed storage’ will become options.

My goal for the year is the same as last year: 1 in, 1 out.

mjs wrote:

mychurch wrote:Ozzie

i Like your positive thinking, but ‘1 in, 1 out’, sounds like a dream. Good luck. My guess is that ‘move house’, ‘extend house’ or ‘start a 2nd cellar in someone else’s house’ are on the cards. If not than ‘bigger drink now rack’, ‘bigger drink now fridge’, ‘2nd drink now fridge’ , ‘more external storage’ or even ‘sliding under bed storage’ will become options.

My goal for the year is the same as last year: 1 in, 1 out.

Sounds a bit like my current situation which is driving a mildly robust resolution to catalog my wine more rigorously. Am in the throes of shifting from Melbourne to Adelaide, I have wine in a "cellar" under the house (really just underfloor crawl space) and separate storage at Kennards. Kennards started off fairly modestly a couple of years ago as an overflow from the house, which was getting over full, so I took a space for ~30 doz. Well, wasn't long before I had to shift to another locker for 60+ doz and that is now full

Back at home, I am pulling stuff out getting ready to shift it all to Adelaide next week, where the new house has a reasonable stand up cellar. I thought I had about 55-60 doz under the house. Turns out that it's closer to 75 doz and I doubt that it's all going to fit in the new cellar.

The Kennards stash in Melbourne will go to Kennards in Adelaide or similar later this year when the weather is more favourable, but it looks like I might have to send some of the house stash to Kennards in a couple of weeks.

So, I definitely need a better handle on cellar stock, the last Excel database went by the wayside about ten years ago I think. So, definitely room for improvement there. In that time I seem to have gone from a modest 50+ doz under the house to about 135 doz in a couple of places. I think I have also been in the 2 in, 1 out camp for the last 24 mths, so maybe I need to moderate my buying as well.

Best wishes for a festive end to 2020 and a Happy New year to all forumites. May you drink well in 2021!

Rossco wrote: More traditional Barolo & Northern Italian Neb. 100% Success here. Lots of Verduno, Gattinara, Bramaterra and Valtellina.


More white burg (dreaming here) so will just focus on
High quality chardonnay. Drank more than I bought....need to remedy that in 2021

No more shiraz/syrah with the only exception being my allocation from Fraser (Sami Odi). Just over it, have too much in my cellar and will gradually open it for family and friends who still love it. Some success here. Only bought Sami-Odi to cellar, didn't reduce my other holdings as planned through gifting and birthdays as much (they were cancelled due to covid).

Will try and hunt out more vintage champagne and vintage ports / fortifieds Not enough Champagne, some VP's bought but again will keep aiming for more in 2021 .