The Auswine Forum

Hi Good Peoples,

Firstly thanks to all those that took the time to post last week, especially the first time posters, see it didn't hurt.

What a great result, we had 45 posts and it was viewed 1,500 times (even if I had to click on it twice to get it up from 1498. ) The thread has now been archived in "The Best of Archive."

On to this weeks agenda, please keep the notes coming and tell us what you have been drinking. I had a glass of Dumb something yesterday, actually it may have been called 1993 Dom something, enjoyable for a c-through.

Also had a 95 Orlando Centenary Hill Shiraz, this wine just keeping getting better and better. Almost seamless it still has years left and don't be in a hurry to drink it. Excellent!

Now what have you been drinking?

Penfolds Clare Estate 1994

On the way down hill, it still has some nice hints of violets and blackberrys but was much better a couple of years ago.

Hello Ric,

Not so much quantity, but quality, this week. A cuppla French pearlers worth mentioning.

Robert Arnoux 1995 "Suchots" 1er Cru Vosne-Romanee

Of Grand Cru status and quality. Secondary characters of black truffle, leather and well-hung game back gorgeous sappy, sour cherry and black plum fruit. A pretty solid wine for a Pinot with plenty of extract, medium body, lovely input from the new oak and fine tannins on a lengthy, sleek finish. Low acidity. A racy, fleshy Burgundy to be drunk over the next five years. Excellent. Value**(of course )

Ch. Beychevelle 1996 St. Julien

Drinking beautifully, this wine possesses excellent colour, a terrific nose of sandalwood, cedar, blackcurrant, sweet corn, damp earth and Provencal herbs. The palate is of medium body, still fresh as a daisy, endowed with a pile of fruit, good acidity and (surprisingly) well-mannered, nicely integrated, soft tannin on an extremely long departure. A smooth, classy, seamless Claret drinking near its peak and should hold for many years to come. Outstanding for a Fourth-growth. Value***

At dinner last Monday had a couple of Tyrrells, the 98 Vat 8 and 99 Vat 47. Both were absolutely delicious. The Vat 8 went very well with an aged piece of beef, plus some other good stuff on the plate. The Vat 47 went very well on its own, some lovely aging colour and gobfulls of flavour but also went well with food.
If you ever get a chance to eat in Bellingen, go to 2 Oak Street Restaurant. The food is really excellent and reasonable, but not cheap prices. They also allow BYO.
Also had Tintara 96 Shiraz- excellent.
Heggies 02 Riesling very good, great QPR at $11.
01 Stepping Stone C/S - very pleasant quaffer at $10.
MM.

I hope this doesnt hurt as much as my head does Ric,

Croser recently disgorged 1992 70 % pinot
brilliant balanced appley wine that satisfies any red wine drinker

Martinborough Pinot 2000 good pinot bit ferally initially and surprisingly the half glass in the bottle the next day was even better with scrambled eggs

Martinborough Pinot Reserve 1998 developing well still has another 5 years to go excellent kiwi pinot

Leeuwin AS chardonnay 1993 magnum this wine is ready and I opened it as Mr Honan at a tasting recently said get into it now. this is mature and needs to be drunk now . good wine not great AS chard

Freycinet pinot 1998 did I tell you it was corked oh yeah I think I did . Will the vineyard replace it ? NO

cheers
michel

Took a bottle of the new red from Primo Estate, the 2001 Angels Gully Shiraz 2001. After being a big fan of the Joseph Moda Amarone and Sparkling red I was expecting big things from this wine.

What a let down! Whilst it doesn't lack anything in alcohol, it certainly doesn't show in the palate. If anything it comes through a touch green which is surprising. Whilst not a bad wine, it is hard to justify the $45 price tag. I will be sticking with the Moda Amarone 01.

cheers

anthony

.. A few last night with dinner:

'98 Main Ridge Estate Chardonnay
Confirms itself as consistently one of the best Australian Chardonnay producers every time, and this was no failure.
Big buttery nose with power to spare, figs and melon.
The palate follows with the power, but it has structure and finesse with crisp acid still evident. A long rich full finish.
'02 Knappstien Clare Valley Riesling.
Great lime and lemon fruit palate with crisp acidity and a length of palate reflecting the great vintage. Lovely floral lift to the nose too. Geeat wine!
'91 Bin 407.
Classic Coonawarra nose of mint and cassis, and a rich entry to the palate that unfortunately went nowhere from there. Too short a finish. Dissapointing after the nose and initial richness.

Geez , what a week - no Wendouree this year , case of 2000 Ch Haut-Batailley order fell thru AND Port lost to the Swans.

On plus side :

2002 La Corte Anfora Zinfandel , Puglia : Italian Zin made by Chris Ringland. For me on the enjoyable side of Rustic whereas my partner thought it grubby. Went down quickly which is always a good sign. Nice and earthy , old wood flavours along with dry herbal bits like marjoram and oregano and some licorice type nuances. Good stuff and $27 is reasonable too.

2003 Grosset Polish Hill : won't bother to describe but I'd like to say THANK YOU to all the Red Bigots who keep this great white wine AFFORDABLE.

2002 Two Hand Angel's Share McLaren Vale Shiraz

Very pleasant dark plumb and mild spice with a hint of black chocolate. Slightly warming on the palate which is a distraction from the fruit characters. Medium weighted palate before a medium length finish.

Enjoyable if a touch unexciting.

Bottled in screwcap but not great value at $20+

Murray

Had the GSM on Friday night. Have to say I enjoyed it far more than the Traditional from the same vintage. Fairly dumb nose, a good, warm swirl released alcohol and some floral smells. On the palate the wine "felt nice" big soft warm fruit flavours and earthiness. Firm tannins were wierd, they were noticable early on...but vanished quickly. Not a wine to think about too much, but a very enjoyable drink none the less.

I was not particularly enamoured with the 02 Mesh last year, found it quite tight and reserved:
"Don't understand all the fuss, subtle fragrant nose. Very mineral mid palate. A bet for the future rather than today?"
So I was a little cautious approaching the 03, which I've heard nothing about. I was much more interested in this wine, found it less forbiddingly (that may or may not be a real word) acidic. The real difference for me was that the 03 seemed to have more fruit weight and richness on the mid palate. Still an acid finish, but not quite the puckering lime juice I found on the 02.

On a different track, I bought a bottle of Brown Brothers familly reserve Cabernet blend '78 earlier this year. It appeared to be a special anniversary reserve, from an underground airconditioned cellar beneath a local liquor store. 78 is the year I was born, hence the impulse purchase, anyone tried this wine? I'd love to get some idea of whether I should make a great song and dance about drinking this wine, or quietly suffer it on my own.

Fathers Day

Just goes to show, if you bring your kids up right, they buy quality wine for Fathers day.

My fathers day wine was a:

1995 Peel Estate Shiraz from Baldidis in WA. I had never had any wines from this winery and with several trips to the wine areas there had not seen it. About 80Km south of Perth and an elegant example if ever I tasted one. Quite closed on opening but finished beautifully several hours later. Lovely balance of fruit with just a little tannin remaining at this time. Not a wine that I would now buy to cellar but one I will certainly look to for recent vintages.

2000 Miranda Family Barossa Shiraz - lovely soft wine with lots of up front fruit. Easy drinking and what I would consider a good quaffer.

I agree with some earlier postings - it is extremely difficult to write notes of wines while finishing off the bottles. Difficult to make the fingers go where they are supposed to on the keyboard.

Graham

03 Mt Horrocks Riesling-Intense, slightly backward Clare valley Riesling. Searing acid backbone, pristine lemon & light grapefruit grape flavours. An impressive followup to the 02, with none of the sweet, fatter, riper tropical fruit flavours that some 03 Clare Rieslings have shown (that I'm not a fan of). Excellent. 18.5

03 Cape Mentelle SSB-My favourite WA classic white, this is everything you would ask for in a SSB, and is exceptionally consistent vintage to vintage. Herbacoues nose, palate is super crisp and still locked up tight, faint vanillin edge to the palate suggests some barrel ferment characters, but this only adds a fleck of creamy complexity to this powerfully youthful white . Superb. 18.5

00 Jacobs Creek Reserve Shiraz-Yeah it a nice example of South Australian shiraz, and a great result for a mass market wine, but its just a little bit boring: Its just your archetypal commercial $15 shiraz, plum fruit and plenty of oak, good supporting tannin backbone but thats about it. I think that the poor 2000 vintage is on show here, as previous vintages have been consistently impressive. Drinkable, but not memorable 16.3

2001 T'Gallant Cape Schank Pinot-A very light pinot that is almost a rose, but smells and tastes like it may have been made from Pinot Noir grapes, rather than the usual concoction of sweet straw/raspberry cordial that is the trademark of $16 Pinot. Nice 16.5

2001 Rosemount Orange Chardonnay- This wine is like a cool climate take on old fashioned chardonnay-it is thick rich, mealy and rounded yet there is some good quality chardonnay grapes in there. The cashew and milk chocolate fruit flavours are tightened up thanks to the nice Orange fruit, but this style of chewable, winemaker tinkered, Rosemount house styled chardonnay lacks elegance, acid or interest.No 15

2002 Miranda High Country Chardonnay-the Penguin Guide Value White this was a real suprise. Light, peachy Chardonnay that is fresh and clean, with an edge of oak that adds a little creaminess without intruding onto the wine. It's not complex, and its quite light, but this friendly white is exactly what under $15 Chard should be.16.0

Junior

A few 97 shiraz, all on Saturday at Peel :-

Grange
HOG
Eledrton Command
Peel
Cape Mentelle
Tyrells Vat 9
Guigal Chateau d'Ampuis
Guigal Hermitage
Isole olena Syrah
Yalumba Octavius
Majella
Tim Adams Aberfeldy
Jim Barry Armagh
Gilberts
Orlando Lawsons
Peter Lehman Stonewell
Coriole LLoyd
Best's Thomson Family
Mount Langi Ghiran
Mt Ida

Notes to follow when the head gets straight.

With dinner on Saturday night a 1996 BVE Black Pepper Shiraz which was unfortunately badly corked , rescued by a wonderful 2000 Craiglee Shiraz.

With lunch yesterday a 1999 Yeringburg Cabernet and a Katnook Riddoch Sparkling Shiraz followed by a 1998 Rockford Basket Press with Dinner.

Friday night - 2001 Kilibinbin Shiraz- a really interesting wine. My limited vocabulary finds it difficult to describe.

Saturday night - 1996 Rockford Moorooroo Shiraz - a cracker. Wish I had bought more.

Sunday night - 1993 Penfolds St Henri - soft, sweet fruit. Typical of a developed St Henri. Much better than the previous bottle I had a few weeks ago.

Leafing thru the Parker OZ report, I discovered that I had already bought the 92-pointed Coriole Mary Kathleen, and knew that it was still in stock at the local gov't monopoly. Good reason to crack one and see if I should pick up any more.

Had that smell that I can only call the Burgundy pinot stink. Can you tell its not my favourite! Very well made, balanced etc.. but I have trouble getting past that smell! I enjoyed the 98 Murdock can last week much more....


Voyager still good. Bin 65 (at an open house) surpirsingly yummy!

Big jammy fruit nose. Palate a bit simple and short. Still quite tannic, but a pleasant Sunday night drink.

Frog Brother-in-law dropped in for dinner "on way to US" :-

1991 Lindemans HR semillon: he thought this very unusual but a bit "simple". I can live with foreigners not understanding aged HR semillon...but it is a pity that it was "wasted" as nearing the end of my stock...drink it up although it will hold for a while and just delicious as a change from riesling

1988 Hollick ravenswood CS: the first vintage of this wine and a wonderful nose of pure Coonawarra. It opened a trifle lighter in the glass than I remember - and is at it speak of fruit and wood integration. Funnily enough this wine has gone from impenetrable both in colour and denseness of palate to a normal colour with hints of fruit sweetness in the space of the last 12 months. Does not seem like a 15 year old wine at all. Still - drink now. Frog enjoyed enormously

1987 Willespie CS: this wine seemed restrained and tight and is still huge. Over an hour it opened up to show delightful Margaret River character and belies its 16 years. What a wonderful wine - and how is it htat this vineyard has never come close to a repetition of this ripper of a wine. Frog blown away...and suggests few Bordeaux short of First Growth (elevating LLC ) could live with this wine.....drink from now over the next 5+ years- who knows this is such a freak wine...

1990 Bin 28 Kalimna: ok, it's a much simpler wine and shiraz but this fills out the mouth and for a relatively cheap price on release it is wonderful drinking now but will improve for another 2-3 years and hold for perhaps another 5....without ever reaching 1986 heights.

Quiet week-end , mostly quaffers but two better quality wines worth mentioning.

2003 Richmond Grove Watervale Riesling: floral, citrus /lime nose followed by a wonderful limejuice, minerally palate that was long with superb acid balance - drinking beautifully now but will last a decade - better than the '02 I think

1999 Winstead Pinot Noir (Tasmania) Had one of these a week go and nose a bit muted and finish surprisingly short and thin. This maker and vineyard has always been one of my favourite tassie pinots so thought 'd try again this week-end. Well all i can say that the first one must have had a slight TCA problem as the nose on this shone brightly with strawberries and cherries, - thankfully no plums or prunes- still all primary. Palate was mid weight with juicy, fleshy cherry fruit with already soft and fine tannins. needs to be drunk quite cool to bring out the structure. Not a long liver but will drinkl superbly for a couple more years.

Cheers

paul

Hi all, very brief account.

2001 Stefano Lubiana Sur Lie Chardonnay - Excellent. Nice cool climate Chard.
2001 Diamond Valley Blue Label Pinot Noir Excellent, maybe heavy handed on the oak.
1998 Seppelts St Peters Shiraz Very good, but after seeing many positive reports on this wine I expected it to be better.
Seppelts Grand Tokay Absolutely Bloody Fabulous. If you like Tokay's and haven't tried it do your self a favour and buy a bottle and try it.

jezza

The Clonakilla keeps going up in price at $56 the 2002 would normally be outside my price range, but I had bought 2 bottles of the 2001, could it possibly be worth the money? So Saturday opened a 2001 (had tried it at the winery but cold morning and freshly opened bottle I had no real idea what on earth it was like).
2001 Clonakilla Shiraz Viogner
Decanted for an hour - initially very closed - little bit of earth, what on earth? $56?! another hour or so what a difference - better half is seeing heaps of pepper (a character I can't see in wine) great length, richness complexity - bugger the bottle is empty and its still openning up - conclusion great wine will probably by 2002 as a Canberra birth year wine for our Canberra born 2002 little boy but likely to be out of price bracket after that - especially if it goes up by 15% again

2002 Turkey Flat Semillon Marsanne
What the hell?! There is nothing wrong with this but why have they stopped making the straight Semillon which was very enjoyable to make this? Crisp but not a lot of character $15.50 plus postage from cellar door - there is too much else at this price to be excited

deleted

375ml Katnook Cabernet Sauvignon 2000-Needs time and a touch raw at the moment. All the positives cassis,cedar,palate density, grippy tannin and cutting acidity. None of it integrated yet but I think a year will do it.

Thanks to Changi Duty Free who stocks more Cullens 2001 Diana Madeline than anybody else this side of Margaret River! Aircrew Discount of 15% pleasing. Next weeks notes maybe!

There was plenty of Grange too-just not the 98!!!

Tasted a fair bit of wine last week but the highlights were:

2003 Hewitson Riesling -fresh citrus and minerals...lovely fruit

2000 Leeuwin A.S Chardonnay - pears, nutmeg, malt....seamless

2000 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon.....just bloody good!

2002 Moss Wood Green Valley Chardonnay -peaches and pears and grilled
nuts....nice weight and finish

2001 Mount Langi Cliff Edge Shiraz.....a bargain

2002 Pierro Chardonnay - grapefruit, peach,melon and cashews lovely oak
treatment.

2002 Pegasus Bay Riesling - citrus and stone fruit with floral notes. Pristine
fruit with a nice soft finish and impressive length

1999 Delas Freres Cote Rotie - Blackcurrent, liquorice and smoky..lovely
wine

1997 Giacomo Grimaldi Barolo -big and rich with tar, violets and minerals.
Full bodied with ripe tannins that suck your cheeks in......yum

1999 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco Rebaja - Big and rich with plentiful smooth
tannin. Velvety with a very long finish.

2000 Domaine de la Vougeraie "Terre Familie" - mainly Pommard fruit,
lovely meaty nose and nice ripe fruit, good entry level Burgundy.

1999 St Hallet Faith Shiraz - managed to score some magnums of this for
$20 each and it is drinking beautifully.

Cheers

Dave

A couple of Italians...

1999 Corte Rugolin Valpolicella Classico Superiore di Ripasso

Made in the same manner as Masi's Campo Fiorin reviewed by Murray a couple of weeks back. Bright ruby in colour, a nose of ripe cherrry fruit, which follows through on the palate; medium-full bodied (though not as much weight as some Ripasso wines I have tasted), loaded with sweet (almost too sweet for my palate) dark cherry fruit moving to bitter (not quite bitter enough for my palate) chocolate. Finishes soft and slightly alcoholic. On the whole, quite a pleasant wine, but I would have preferred it more had it been fermented fully dry.

Reasonable value at £10.95.

1999 Chianti Classico Riserva - Tesco Selection

Straight from the supermarket shelves and quite a respectable wine. At £7.00 you can't complain; it's a decent Chianti, medium bodied, good fruit intensity, albeit the finish is slightly drying and woody. Yet to taste a disappointing Tuscan (or Piedmontese) wine from the 1999 vintage. Whike 1997 seems to have got all of the hype, 1999 seems to have produced wines that my palate prefers.

2002 Yalumba Y Series Viognier

Reliable as always. Great match with Pakistani food at a great little restaurant off Whitechapel Road.

2002 Jacob's Creek Grenache Shiraz

Brought by a couple of "friends" to same restaurant. This was actually decent stuff showing surprising structure for a cheap Grenache blend and definitely more interesting than your bog standard lolly water Grenache. Might be a signal of the quality of the 2002 vintage ie. even Jacob's Creek is drinkable?

Cheers
Phil

Not a lot of drinking this week, just three wines. Notable for all being under stelvin:

01 irvine Spring Hill Merlot:
Boy, this is a bargain at $16 or so. Deep red, purple tints. Nose of plum and tobacco, initially quite closed. Eventually also showed a dusty note.

Palate follows similarly, and shows more plum with time and some milky chocolate (others saw caramel). Full fleshy texture, also some dusty oak, fine but grippy tannin and acid, soft finish. Very rounded, lovely. Still going strong after 48 hours in the fridge. 92/100

03 Turkey Flat Rose
Like the back label says, rose petal pink.
Raspberry, rosepetal/turkish delight tinged nose, and a smell like this is going to be sweet and cloying.
But it isnt!
In the mouth its a decent slosh of strawberries, raspberries, and then some musk & boysenberry (think this is the dolcetto?), with a freshness of lighter fruits, perhaps gooseberry. A hint of bubblegum character.
Closes crisp and clean. Lovely. 89/100

03 Charles Melton Rose of Virginia
Pale almost watery pink.
Smells like rasberries, and tastes like them too, as well as some red cherry, even glace cherry.
Light weight, clean, simple and finishes a bit short. Not as good as I expected. 84/100

DJ wrote:2002 Turkey Flat Semillon Marsanne
What the hell?! There is nothing wrong with this but why have they stopped making the straight Semillon which was very enjoyable to make this? Crisp but not a lot of character $15.50 plus postage from cellar door - there is too much else at this price to be excited

DJ, I asked myself exactly the same thing; why didn't they bottle these as separate varietals, could have been two interesting wines.

Oh well.

cheers

Andrew

Almost too many wines to count.
Highlights of the week were
- a swag of Rieslings - NZ, Aus and German that I don't know the names of - but I will in a month's time when the Liquorland Top 100 results are released. Some absolutely gorgeous wines.
- a swag of Aussie cabs, including a Moss Wood 92 (thanks Huon Hooke)
- a swag of Kiwi merlots
- a swag of glorious Aussie muscats - I'm guessing my favourite was the Morris Old Premium - can anyone else produce wines like that?

Right now I'm finishing the dregs of a Forefather's McLaren Vale Shiraz 2001 opened a week and a half ago - a very good wine indeed.

But wine of the week was the Esk Valley Terraces 2002 - a pre-release sample - the best NZ red wine I've ever tasted. Red Bigot stuff for sure. A taste to savour.

Cheers,
Sue

2000 Henry's Drive Shiraz - opaque reddish purple as usually, bordering on black. This has evolved some since the last time I had it, and is showing more prune and a hint of tar, along with blackberries, plums and licorice. I hope this doesn't descend into the land of the '01 Marquis-Phillips wines, which tasted overripe and loaded with burnt rubber and prune. Rated as Recommended, down from Highly Recommended.

1998 Best's Great Western Cabernet A fairly acidic, but good cabernet with dark purplish color, interesting nose of herbs, cassis and brush. Similar flavors, with a tangy bit of citrus poking into the cassis flavors. Decent finish. Rated as Recommended.

Brian

corcoran wrote:2000 Henry's Drive Shiraz I hope this doesn't descend into the land of the '01 Marquis-Phillips wines, which tasted overripe and loaded with burnt rubber and prune. Brian

Brian,

Just wait till you read this week Irregular Update!