The Auswine Forum

Just a heads up for those hoping to get their 3 bottles of Block 6- it will be gone by Friday.

Scuttlebutt from CD staff yesterday.

Not available for tasting however the Coriole Llloyd Reserve 02 up the road is.

JamieBahrain wrote:Just a heads up for those hoping to get their 3 bottles of Block 6- it will be gone by Friday.

Scuttlebutt from CD staff yesterday.

Not available for tasting however the Coriole Llloyd Reserve 02 up the road is.

Yes

Very small vintage they tell me, well, that's certainly reflected in my retailer allocation.

I always think six each of the Block 6 and Hillside is a bit meagre for such excellent wines but three each - ouch. My order went in yesterday as soon as I arrived home from two weeks holiday.

Both of these labels are very consistent avoiding the large ups and downs of vintages. The 2000 of both are top notch despite the vintage, they really do have their sites and viticulture well nailed at Kay's.

Kays standard offerings very good aswell- the shiraz & melot 03 come to mind.

Alas, too much wine at the moment so the 3 bottle limit a blessing in disguise.

The Vales very quiet yesterday. But Kays doing a roaring trade for B6.

They've still got the excellent 2002 Cabernet available too, around $20 it's a steal. Don't miss it if you're visiting CD or fill up your case with it if you're having other stuff sent to you.

Never had a Kays. Is it an individual style or flavour & how do they compare to Noons? I know the Oak used is unusual.

Thank you for the tip. Order is in.

Re: Specials - the 2001 Cabernet for $15 per bottle looks great value.

Anonymous wrote:Never had a Kays. Is it an individual style or flavour & how do they compare to Noons? I know the Oak used is unusual.

Only had the one Noon but I feel that the fruit is not allowed to hang as long as it is done at Noon. I like it better at Kay's.

The oak is the same species as French but from the Balkans, not French forests.

Adair

Adair wrote:Thank you for the tip. Order is in.

Re: Specials - the 2001 Cabernet for $15 per bottle looks great value.

Anonymous wrote:Never had a Kays. Is it an individual style or flavour & how do they compare to Noons? I know the Oak used is unusual.

Only had the one Noon but I feel that the fruit is not allowed to hang as long as it is done at Noon. I like it better at Kay's.

The oak is the same species as French but from the Balkans, not French forests.

Adair

regarding the oak treatment, the 'Balkan' oak is only a component of the oak treatment, there's French and American also.

Also, it is my understanding that the balkan oak comes from the same forest as much of the French oak, simply 'over the border'.

The above information is, I think, correct, from what they told me while barrel tasting at Kays!

Anonymous wrote:Never had a Kays. Is it an individual style or flavour & how do they compare to Noons? I know the Oak used is unusual.

Nope, not individual, it's just damn good stuff. Hard to compare anything to Noons, now they are individual!

Get onto Kays, you won't be disappointed.

Gavin Trott wrote:Also, it is my understanding that the balkan oak comes from the same forest as much of the French oak, simply 'over the border'.

Huh?? are you saying that French oak is not from France? because the Balkan Oak forests would be in Bulgaria I assume??

Anonymous wrote:Never had a Kays. Is it an individual style or flavour & how do they compare to Noons? I know the Oak used is unusual.

No comparison. Let's say the Noons are TURBOCHARGED!!!

Let's not get too excited by European oak from places other than France. For most of the cold war there were far more French barrels made than French oak trees cut to make them

One of the keys to oak I understand is the climate they grow in, colder climates produce slower growing trees which produce tighter grained oak, tight grain being seen as a positive.

Therefore whole swathes of the colder parts of Europe are good for sourcing oak. There's nothing special about French forests, it's just that they were the traditional source.

I remember when I first started drinking wine that German oak was common, haven't heard of it lately, must be all cut down?

707 wrote:Let's not get too excited by European oak from places other than France. For most of the cold war there were far more French barrels made than French oak trees cut to make them

One of the keys to oak I understand is the climate they grow in, colder climates produce slower growing trees which produce tighter grained oak, tight grain being seen as a positive.

Therefore whole swathes of the colder parts of Europe are good for sourcing oak. There's nothing special about French forests, it's just that they were the traditional source.

I remember when I first started drinking wine that German oak was common, haven't heard of it lately, must be all cut down?

As we seem to have diverted to oak, 2 relevant things I have learnt that I think useful:
1) American oak and French (European) oak are 2 different species.

2) Tight grained is not necessarily the best for aging wines. If the winemaker wants the oak input but does not want to have the oxidising effects of barrel aging, "looser" grained oak might be better as it imparts the oak flavour faster. e.g. Chardonnay (oh sorry, no one else drinks that here)

Adair

Adair wrote:. Chardonnay (oh sorry, no one else drinks that here)

Adair

I do.

Well, really good ones anyway!

So do I! I had my annual quota in February when I had a mouthfull of Giaconda and it was so good I didn't spit it!

TORB wrote:So do I! I had my annual quota in February when I had a mouthfull of Giaconda and it was so good I didn't spit it!

So your 2005 quota was filled by Giaconda. I know your 2003 quota was filled by the 1973 Leroy La Piéce-sous-le-Bois Meursault. What was your 2004 quota? You seem to like a good Chardonnay then!

Adair

I think I must have given it up for Lent in 2004.

TORB wrote:I think I must have given it up for Lent in 2004.

A jew, lent and giving up something... there must be a joke in there somewhere...but I ain't touching it!

Adair

Adair wrote:As we seem to have diverted to oak, 2 relevant things I have learnt that I think useful:
1) American oak and French (European) oak are 2 different species.

2) Tight grained is not necessarily the best for aging wines. If the winemaker wants the oak input but does not want to have the oxidising effects of barrel aging, "looser" grained oak might be better as it imparts the oak flavour faster. e.g. Chardonnay (oh sorry, no one else drinks that here)

Adair

I'll add something else to the mix. When Wayne Dutschke did the launch of his 02 reds in Brisbane, he showed us 3 interesting Barrel samples. One was clearly American Oak, the second was French oak, then he showed us a third barrel. THis was a bit harder, ad the room was split 50/50 as to what the oak was. it turned out to be American Oak, but from Mississippi, not Kentucky. Much colder growing climate, much tighter grained, and a very different effect on the wine.

Diffrent oaks for diffrent folks,

AB

I can remembering touring the MacLaren in June 1998, going to the then unheard of in NZ Kay Bros.

Tried the shiraz and cab then was offerred the 95 Block 6. Wow. After 4 days absolute solid tasting and note taking Barossa and McLaren, it went bang to the top of the score sheet. bought enough to need to declare over allowance on the return to New Zealand.

The 95 is an extraordinary vintage which I thought had a bigger and more structured frame than the 98.

I have 2 left, among the most prized aussie reds I have. At $30 they were astonishingly good qpr!!

C

I am already broke from St Peters, Benno, Jasper Hill 04's

And the Wendouree's hit my credit card this month too.

And the Penley Reserves are out - the 02 Reserve Cab with an RRP from CD of $49.95 is a steal. I got mine yesterday.

OK guys, be fair - What is Block 6? I take it that it is a Kays' wine. Any more details? I notice that it doesn't appear on the Kays Website. Is it just for subscribers? Is it impossible to get on the list?

Regards,

Allan

Hi Ric

Just read about the Trading ban on your site. What crap. Some people have nothing better to do

bigkid wrote:OK guys, be fair - What is Block 6? I take it that it is a Kays' wine. Any more details? I notice that it doesn't appear on the Kays Website. Is it just for subscribers? Is it impossible to get on the list?

Regards,

Allan

Allan, there is a bit about the Block 6 on the Kays web site:
http://www.kaybrothersamerywines.com/block6hist.html

It's their top-level shiraz, hand-crafted from a single block of vines mostly planted in 1891 I think. The Hillside Shiraz is made from vines sourced from Block 6 cuttings.

I think it is still possible to get on the mailing list, Block 6 and Hillside are allocated to 3 bottles each for the 2003 vintage due to low production, it's usually a 6-bottle limit. Or you can buy them from Gavin if he has any left.

Thanks RB, picked up three of each from Gavin. They're in the post.

Allan

PS: plus another 3 of each from CD...I'm now on the list!!!

Wot? I haven't even got the mailer yet! Great way to save $$$ ...

Danny

I never received my mailer by mail or electronic means; and by chance found out about the release and picked up the wines myself.

Block 6 was for sale at CD to non mailing list members too.

I was in a Dan Murphys store in NSW yesterday, and they had 12 bottles of 03 Block 6 sitting in the rack for sale. I had ordered my 3 from the winery, and pondered about buying the lot, but not sure about the wine, and I was far from home. The price was around $56.
Bit sad to see that, when mailing list customers get 3 bottles, and anyone can buy the 12 from Dan Murphys. Do Kays have their priorities a bit wrong here?
Bruce

Baby Chickpea wrote:Wot? I haven't even got the mailer yet! Great way to save $$$ ...

A friend of mine who is on the Kay's list did not get the mailer either, His name seemed to have simply fallen off the list despite buying heaps of Kay's recently.

Adair