The Auswine Forum

What a night!!! Absolute indulgence of the best kind. Food was generous and very enjoyable. $40 per head incl corkage was even better. More money for wine. 9 people attending. All pissheads.

Given we had 13 bottles for 9 people, we thought it wise to drink the older wines first before our judgement was affected too much. A wise move.

Grossett Polish Hill Riesling 1991 - Nice mid-golden colour. Very good riesling that is holding up very well with age. Very good balance and flavours. Will hold for a few more years. (Davo)

Seppelt Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz 1991 - Some said 'Bretty', but still it was lovely on the palate. Lovely complexities and length. Drink up. (Peter)

Aldgate Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills 2002 $32 - A well liked pinot offering great value for money. Nice mouthfel and tannins. Lots of complex flavours. A pleasant surprise. (Duncan & Julie)

Seppelt Dorrien Barossa Cabernet 1990 - Well liked. Some loved it others thought is was just 'very good'. Picked blind as a younger wine. Cabernet character, but hiding its warm climate origin well. A good honest drop that has become a very smooth aged wine with lots of charm. (Justin)

Penfolds Bin 920 Cabernet Shiraz 1990 - Thanks must go to Peter for this one. Needed decanting but didnt get it. Opened up well in the glass to prove the point. An excellent wine with lots of flavour and body. Very good balance. Has done 15 years in a canter, and will do another 10. (Peter)

Seppelt Great Western Shiraz 1991 - Lovely aromatics. A great wine at 14 yrs of age. So mouthfilling and long. Wonderful palate. We live forever this wine. Maybe another 10-15 years? Well done Davo on picking a GW shiraz! Could drink this until the cows come home (then some more). (Justin)

Penfolds 707 Cabernet 1991 - Awesome palate of forceful but smooth tannins with lots of old vine fruit evident. Had a slight medicinal nose that was pleasant to some but not to others. Thanks to Mike for decanting it into a Taylors cabernet 2002 bottle and bringing it across the nullabor. Lots of discussion about my selling these off from my cellar recently for $70 each. The consensus was that I was 'mad as a cut snake' (hope your enjoying them Fraze!). Great wine. (Muscat Mike)

Wynns Centenary Coonawarra Shiraz Cabernet 1991 - This sort of wine is exactly what we drink red wine for. Brilliant !!! (I am running out of original adjectives for these wines). Bigger tannin structure than the 707. True to form and will live for years, but may not get any better. (Muscat Mike)

Henschke Keyton Estate Shiraz Cabernet Merlot 1995 - A very good honest red wine with lots of fruit and flavour. Medium bodied. On any other night this would be a good wine, but tonight was out of company. Time to drink up. (Celina)

Glaetzer Shiraz Barossa 1996 - A well liked old vine shiraz. Lots of oak evident on both aroma and palate. Well balance and still has room to improve. A good wine. (Paul)

Houghton Gladstone shiraz 1999 - Wow. Lots of everything. Cool climate shiraz flavours coming through. Very tasty and with a gobsmack of tannin and fruit. All we could think was 'we would love to be drinking this in 10 years time!'. An excellent wine that is difficult to appreciate so early in its life. Early decanting may have helped. (Davo)

Battely Shiraz 2002 - Young fruity shiraz with lots of yummy flavours. Again, would be a good wine on any other night, but out of company on the night. (Duncan & Julie)

Morris Old Premium Muscat - Mmmmm....so yummy. Bottle empty in a flash. Absolute quality. (Muscat Mike)

N/V Perth Tap Water - some sensible folk drank lots of this, though none commented on the flavours. Time to drink up. (Perth)


Ok, Wine Of The Night votes were as follows (I have missed one vote):

Penfolds Bin 920 Cabernet Shiraz 1990 - 2 votes
Seppelt Great Western Shiraz 1991 - 2 votes
Too Many Good Wines To Pick - 2 votes
Grossett Polish Hill riesling 1991 - 1 vote
Penfolds 707 Cabernet 1991 - 1 vote
Seppelt Dorrien Barossa Cabernet 1990 - 1 vote

Thanks for the notes Justin.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening, good food and superb wines. I think we may have found a venue to call home, going by the owners promise of suitable glassware if we let him know we are coming.

Thanks to all for sharing such great wines.

I agree. If the owner gets on-side, we should be on a winner here. I also agree on his suggestion that next time we need a square table. Time and time again with the wine club I regularly visit I have seen that a square table works best for a wine dinner.

Good notes Justin,

Thanks Davo for organising another top evening, and of course the lift home which was a bit hazey.

Davo you are right, Romano's would make a great spot for off-lines in the future, the food was excellent, the service was good without being over bearing, the price was very reasonable and of course it is a central location.

It was good to catch up with the regular and new offline attendees, and our special guest MM.

See you all next time!

Peter.

No pics

Cheers

Paul

An excellent night, what a selection of wines. Sadly it will be another few years before I can pull wines of such calibre from our cellar. Thanks for organising it Davo, and Justin for the notes. And thanks all for the wines, not a weak one there. Particularly interesting tasting the blind Taylor's 2002 !

As we forgot to bring a camera, I used my mobile phone for a couple of bottle pics. They are crap quality and are not suitable for posting. We will get it right one day.

Big thanks to Davo for organising this one and well done on the venue, definitely one for a regular gathering. Its usually difficult with such good wines to pick a standout but for me, by far, it was the Penfolds Bin 920. Thanks Peter for sharing that one with us, I would rate this one of the best wines I have tasted. The rest of my top 3 would be the Centenaryand the Seppelt Great Western, but the Seppelt Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz was a damn fine drop too.

Not to detract from any of the others though, as Duncan said there was not one disappointment in the list, all top wines and very enjoyable. Also thanks to Muscat Mike for dropping in and sharing the evening, it was a real pleasure meeting you and I promise next time I am in Sydney I will let you know so we can organise something.

Welcome to Celina too being your first time, I hope you enjoyed yourself.

Maybe next time I will remember my digital camera, but don't quote me on that one.

Sparkling Shiraz...blegh! The rest sounded alright though and you weren't drinking out of vegemite jars (well done Davo ). Where was the decent french stuff??

Cheers

Mark G

Mark G wrote:Sparkling Shiraz...blegh! The rest sounded alright though and you weren't drinking out of vegemite jars (well done Davo ). Where was the decent french stuff??

Cheers

Mark G

Mark,
the lack of French stuff was greatly appreciated by me. (I don't drink it.)

I am now back across the mighty Nullabor and away from those fires. It was great to meet some of the westerners and share their wines. I was one of those that could not pick a "best of night". As said above they were all extremely enjoyable. The venue is to be recommended for food and service.
All in all a most memorable evening and I would suggest meeting up with these wine lovers if you head west.
Many thanks to Justin for his scribing.
MM.

Thanks for the TN's.

Interesting and a great line up.