The Auswine Forum

Heck what a great night. Lots of great wines and bit of interstate rivalry. Us v them. Real men's wines v those sissy wines from 'that other' side of the country. Who would come out supreme???

Davo led off with a Peel Estate sparkling shiraz. Liked by everyone except Ric I think.

WA then furthered its lead with the Houghtons Frankland River Show Reserve shiraz 1995 courtesay of Peter. Seductive wine of genuine class. I think it would have benefited from some more decanting first and some bloody red meat to compliment its wonderful flavours.

WA was joined in the lead ahead of the Bradman corner with the Moss Wood cabernet 1995. A first time for most present to see this particular wine. Had the 'Easterners' respecting what was in the glass. Super wine of immense balance and youth. Maybe a 2000 or 2001 said some!!! Can only be from Margaret River. A pleasure to drink such a classic wine. My contribution.

Breaking out of the Bradman corner we were treated to our first East Coast wine. My early thoughts on this wine was, 'well I'll be a stuffed monkey if this doesnt end up WOTN'. 'F...k its good. Really, really, good !!!' What else can I say,.......it was a Bests Thompson Family shiraz 1994, courtesay of Brian. And it was his last one too.....Thanks mate !!!

WA had another good crack to regain the lead with the Woodlands Kevin cabernet 2001. Minty and full of structure. Another cracking wine. Cant wait for those 2003's to be released that are even better than this 01. Thanks David.

East Coast threw up a Jasper Hill Georgia Heathcote shiraz 1995....and bugger if it wasnt corked !!! A good wine underneath the corking. WA sighed in relief.

Thankyou Astred for your Voyager cabernet 1994. We played 'options' on this one and before the wine was finally revealed a few of us guessed it was a 'Cullen 1995'......Wrong! I love those chewy MR tannins. A great wine. I think I guessed this as the Devils Lair 1995 in the options.

Ric bought out a McLaren vale wine about now, but I have temporarily forgotten what it was. Can anyone remind me???

Bryce then produced his 'non-blind' Moss Wood cabernet 1995. Opened up gradually in the glass to match the other bottle of the same wine. Classic vino.

Celina then produced another blinder of a blind wine that we thought was another excellent MR cabernet. Great to try the Woodlands Kevin cabernet 2001 again. Yes thats right, both the Moss Wood and Woodlands were duplicate tonight. We've got such great taste over here yes????

Ok, Rics turn to step up to the plate by producing a Seppelt Great Western shiraz 1996. Very very delicious. These are great wines, these Great Westerns. Thanks Ric.

Stoffel then produced a ???? Pemberton merlot 1999. Trophy winner and just jumping out of the glass to remind us this wine has a very seductive side. A great wine, if only a bit 'out of company' tonight.

Oh and I what would a top wine night be without a 2000 shiraz from Esperance??? I'll leave Davo to scribe the superlatives for this wine. 'Unique' comes to mind. Esperance is located on the coast at the beginning of the WA side of the Great Australian Bight. In other words 'in the middle of nowhere!!!'.

Sorry Davo, I forgot what your wine was, and David's second wine as well???

Then we finished with a Peel Estate tawny port. Excellent wine.

I know I have forgotten a few wines. I need some help to fill in the blanks???? Great to see some new faces. A seriously classic 'offline'.[/b]

The Pemberton was a Chestnut Grove, Ric's 2nd was a blend of Langhorne Creek and McLarenvale and was supposedly a Grenache Shiraz but to me reeked of Mataro, can't remember the maker.

The Dalyup Shiraz was for interest as I guess no one at the table will have tasted one, and probably never will again.

David Bs second wine was a white and not opened for some reason.

The Peel fort was a Liqueur Shiraz.

My take on the wines is slightly different.

Loved both Gt Westerns, the Mclaren Blend, the Houghton and the Moss Woods. pretty much a tie for 1st across that lot. In second place the Voyager and the Chestnut Grove.

I found the Woodlands both to be showing very green characters and to have xs acidity, Nothing seemed to be in balance.

The Dalyup Shiraz showed it's cold climate characters and while excellent with the food paled against the more robust competition.

All in all a pretty good night which ended with me finding my car vandalised at the station when I got off the train, just to bring my mood back down to earth, and perhaps a little lower.

Thanks guys, great turnup and some very interesting wines.

Thanks Justin, it was a really great night, good people, good wine and hearty, authentic Italian food.

Ric's second wine was the Noon Eclipse (grenache-shiraz) 2001, the Seppelt Gt Western Shiraz 1996 was my second bottle. Notice I was smart enough not to bring Vic Cabernets to try to match the WA cabs.

Thanks to Davo for organising it all (he should be here in MR pretty soon for a weekend of tasting, despite the trashing of his car left at the station) and everyone for bringing some great wines, even the Chestnut Grove Merlot was a a very good wine, I think the best Aus. merlots come from WA and mostly MR and Pemberton.

It would be nice to have a bit more variety next time though (Just joking, the two bottles of Moss Wood and Woodlands showed slightly differently but were each good).

Just a short note from me to say how much I enjoyed the night. Terrific food, great wine; it was just a pity about the company but then Davo was on the other side of the table so it was all right.

Agree with Davo's comment on the Kevin, a bit green but the biggest problem was the acid was sticking out which is not good for an $80 wine!

There were some very fine wines in this line up, thanks to eveyone (excpet the proctologist ) for making Brian and I so welcome.

(Davo said he would be in Margaret River for breakfast but he had better hurry or he will miss out as its 8.10 and we have to head out soon for our first appointment.)