The Auswine Forum

Hi Good Peoples,

It has been a very warm week in my area and today is going to be the worst of it; close to 40 degrees is predicted so its not great red drinking weather, so I have been getting through some inexpensive FRS as that is perfect for these conditions.

What have you guys been drinking?

02 Tintara Reserve Shiraz lovely wine typical classy Mclaren Vale much nicer now the weather has cooled considerably here in Adelaide, hope the cool weather helps out the firefighters

Vague memories rather than detailed notes

04 Barratt Pinot Noir Slightly earthier than the average Adelaide Hills Pinot, reminded me more of Burgundy. In the end maybe lacked a little fruit on the palate, but nice length & overall good wine.
03 Hugh Hamilton Shiraz Viognier Opened very spirity with too much alcohol heat on the palate. Actually settled down by the 2nd glass with a good balance of Shiraz & Viognier, just a slight floral touch from the Viognier, still with that alcohol heat. Fell apart on the 2nd night.
05 Tscharke Albarino Pale green/straw in colour, nice grassy nose with a touch of lemon & pineapple, consistently good.
NV Shingleback Sparkling Shiraz Really very drinkable, I thought at some point that maybe it was a touch sweet, but the bottle didn't last long at all. Really good length of red fruits through the palate.
02 Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz Have tried this three times now and each time it seems a shame that there's so much oak all over it. The bottle's covered in medals, so I guess this style performs well in the show context. There's some nice dark fruit in there somewhere, but it's just too much charry wood in there for my palate.
01 Meeting Place Pinot Noir This was a surprise packet, beautiful vibrant fruit and great length.
96 Peter Lehmann Shiraz Drinking at its peak - wonderful complex nose that you could smell all night, everything integrated nicely on the palate, bit of blackberry, bit of dark chocolate, all good. I'm guessing this was around $10 on release - punches a long way above its weight.

Went tasting at Rockfords yesterday to collect my 02 Magnum of BP and some 04 BP.
Tried the whole range including the 04 Basket Press which was lovely now but will age beautifully.
Also took home some 06 Alicante and a bottle of Black Shiraz Sparkling....my day was complete there and then..

1995 Fritz Becker Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
Clear, bright straw coloured, with a classic though slightly restrained nose.
Quite apricotty fruit, with decent level of sweetness for a Kabinett, accompanied by fresh but balanced acidity and a pretty long finish. 8% alcohol makes it a treat. If I had to criticise, it wants for a bit more complexity.

It's good to keep seeing aged german rieslings cropping up for sale at fair prices

2004 Cave De Lugny Mâcon-Lugny Les Charmes
Good mid-weeker half-bottle. Not especially complex, but also not trying to be something it's not - which makes for a good satisfying drink and and easy food match.

1998 Penfolds Shiraz Bin 128
Really impressive, more so for the price. Showed that even the big corporates can produce wine with character on a large scale.

No rush, but won't be a long-term cellaring prospect

Turns out this was my last bottle of the Bin128 which is a shame

regards

Ian

With the stinking hot weather at the start of the week it was a good chance to try a couple of chilled rose's (no TN taken).

The 2004 Foggo Cinsaut Rose was quite a slender/dry style, with fairly simple raspberry fruit at this stage - I can't see it getting any better with more age.

I found the 2006 Turkey Flat Rose on release strangely tannic and resultingly harsh. A bottle on tasting at the end of last year was much better, but this week's well chilled bottle was just as harsh as the first. It's a lot better when it's allowed to warm up though: it's an unusual one that may just be better at room temperature, or with a couple of years to smooth out the rough edges.

Nick wrote:02 Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz Have tried this three times now and each time it seems a shame that there's so much oak all over it. The bottle's covered in medals, so I guess this style performs well in the show context. There's some nice dark fruit in there somewhere, but it's just too much charry wood in there for my palate.

I've tried this about half a dozen times in the last couple of years (mostly blind too), and only one bottle actually shook off all that wood and looked stunning. More often than not it's an expensive disappointment.

Cheers,
Ian

Ps. Hey TORB, we're still waiting with eager anticipation for chapter six of your tour diary.

Haven't you got a good airconditioner at your place Ian?

Don't let 35-40 degrees outside lower you to drinking Rose! Just crank it up full bore and sit under it with a good red.

TORB is having to work at his shop for long hours at present due to staff shortages therefore he's got no creative time left to complete the next chapter.

Anyway, it will probably be about the Red Bigot and the Pie King at Elderton both buying T-shirts that say "Real friends don't let friends drink Pinot"

rednut wrote:Went tasting at Rockfords yesterday to collect my 02 Magnum of BP and some 04 BP.
Tried the whole range including the 04 Basket Press which was lovely now but will age beautifully.
Also took home some 06 Alicante and a bottle of Black Shiraz Sparkling....my day was complete there and then..

oh the basket press is released? I didn't think it was yet.

Don't suppose you have a contact to order some and prices?

mopiko wrote:

rednut wrote:Went tasting at Rockfords yesterday to collect my 02 Magnum of BP and some 04 BP.
Tried the whole range including the 04 Basket Press which was lovely now but will age beautifully.
Also took home some 06 Alicante and a bottle of Black Shiraz Sparkling....my day was complete there and then..

oh the basket press is released? I didn't think it was yet.

Don't suppose you have a contact to order some and prices?

If rednut is collecting an 02 Magnum he must be a stonewaller. The usual public release date is March from memory, and it wil help if you are on mailing list,

rednut wrote:Went tasting at Rockfords yesterday to collect my 02 Magnum of BP and some 04 BP.
Tried the whole range including the 04 Basket Press which was lovely now but will age beautifully.
Also took home some 06 Alicante and a bottle of Black Shiraz Sparkling....my day was complete there and then..

What price the BP magnum?

n4sir wrote:The 2004 Foggo Cinsaut Rose was quite a slender/dry style, with fairly simple raspberry fruit at this stage - I can't see it getting any better with more age.

Do Foggo have a cellar door? If so, where is it.

cheers
Graham

Foggo's cellar door is a fairly understated affair in McLaren Vale, probably half way between McLaren Vale and McLaren Flat. Good people, great wines.

Cheers
Nick

Wines from a week long trip to Melbourne with friends. Just vague impressions here:

1998 Grosset Polish Hill: Somewhat thin and simple. I knew this wasn't one of the better vintages, but still a little disappointing.
2001 Cape Mentelle Cab Sav: Excellent. One of the best Australian cabernets I've ever had, with my preferred style of dark, rich tannin-driven power.
2000 Torbreck "The Factor" Shiraz: Appeared a little over-oaked, although the oaky stink might have blown off with a little more air time. Quite good, but a bit disjointed.
2006 Petaluma Riesling: Very good, much better than when I tasted it very soon after bottling. Could use a little more power, but very nice.

Champagnes:

Louis Roederer NV: I remembered this as being quite good, but here it appeared a bit sweet and simple, like an inferior Moet NV.
Billecart NV: Slightly corked, hardly any fruit or length.
Pol Roger NV: Still my favourite NV other than Krug. Just excellent.
1999 Moet: Good, a more serious wine than NV Moet, preferred the Pol though.
1998 Dom Perignon: My first ever Dom. Very good of course, but disappointingly we all felt like it was lacking "x factor". For the price I would far, far rather have the power of Krug, but perhaps in time I'll start preferring the subtler wines, that's normally the pattern.

NV Shingleback Sparkling Shiraz Really very drinkable, I thought at some point that maybe it was a touch sweet, but the bottle didn't last long at all. Really good length of red fruits through the palate.

My thoughts exactly.

GrahamB wrote:
Do Foggo have a cellar door? If so, where is it.

cheers
Graham

Foggo Road off McLaren Flat Road, it's signposted from memory

Majella Sparkling Shiraz 2004
Lovely fruit nice complexity and great length, this is very nice FRS that is only going to get better with a few years on board.

Chateau Reynella Cab Sav 2002
Starting to take on some aged characters developing nicely.

Dog Point Sav Blanc 2006
One of the nicest Sav Blanc's I have had lovely grassy herbal and lemony flavours.

Glen

Hot, hot and hot in Sydney, so much beer was consumed and little wine, only one of note was

2002 Seppelt Sparkling Shiraz - lots of positive comments re this on this and other forums, and have to agree a great easy to drink sparkling shiraz especially given the low price it can be got for ... will definitely buy again

Light on week for wine. Unusually cool weekend in the Adelaide hills for this time of year hence the following wines were consumed:

2004 ‘Deviation Road’ Lenswood Pinot Noir – light to medium bodied wine, lovely nose of strawberries, musk, cherries and slight french oak influence. Palate was very good, nice tannin with a long smooth finish that lingers. This will drink well over the next 5 years. Very good. Perfect match with spiced lamb shanks.

2004 Evans and Tate Shiraz Cabernet (Stelvin) – wine was quite closed at first, needed 30 or so mins for the wine to show it characteristics of dark fruits, aniseed, hints of liquorice and spice. The cabernet gives a hint of cassis, overall a pretty good value wine. The oak / tannin structure of the wine is quite sound with a reasonable finish. It got better as the bottle was open longer. Rating about a ‘B’

A cool day yesterday provided an opprtunity to launch into a red or two...

2004 Killibinbin Sandtrap Shiraz
Pleasantly surprised with this, great depth of colour, some straightforward blackberry fruit, some earthy McV regional influences, and some interesting olive, sumac, graphite characters. Probably not going to improve a whole heap, but good value glugging.

2001 Johann Shiraz Cabernet
Drank over 3-4 hours watching the Aussies nearly blow a simple run chase. As onemight expect opened oak dominant, but not the usual sweet Orlando oak one would expect, rather a hot overbearing charry/coffee oak. Got the occasional hint of some fleshy raspberry fruit coming through, some aniseed, ground spice and more, but it was soon beaten down by oak again. As the wine opened rather than the oak dissipate and the fruit evolve, I found the oak went rather hard and resinous, again masking the fruit, and upsetting the structure of the wine. I gave it plenty of time to strut it's stuff, and will return to the last glass tonight. Nothing obviously wrong with the bottle and 47000 gold medals tend to disagree with me, but far from impressed.

On a NWR matter, mccoleman, I have noticed that your sign-off features a quote which is attributed to Stephen Covey.

While I admire some of the work of Covey (and his 7 points for better living), there is just a small point of order I'd like to draw to your attention: this quote is attributable not to Covey but to a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, around 600 years ago.

I know this seems a fairly trivial point, but if you give the plagiarists an inch they're liable to take a mile.

I'm also reminded of that famous incident where some bright spark attributed to President Lincoln the quote that 'a family divided against itself cannot stand' [I paraphrase, of course], until someone pointed out that this was actually attributable to Jesus Christ during His time on earth.

As I said, I recognise this is a small point, but I raise it in the interests of accuracy. Please don't take it as a pejorative dig against you for that is not my intention.

Best,

PJ. [/quote]

GrahamB wrote:

rednut wrote:Went tasting at Rockfords yesterday to collect my 02 Magnum of BP and some 04 BP.
Tried the whole range including the 04 Basket Press which was lovely now but will age beautifully.
Also took home some 06 Alicante and a bottle of Black Shiraz Sparkling....my day was complete there and then..

What price the BP magnum?

2002 BP magnum - $150 + freight. I called them and found out a few weeks ago. One bottle limit per Stonewaller. You can place order over the phone. They also advised that I could simply add the magnum order to the Oct form.

HenryL wrote:

GrahamB wrote:

rednut wrote:Went tasting at Rockfords yesterday to collect my 02 Magnum of BP and some 04 BP.
Tried the whole range including the 04 Basket Press which was lovely now but will age beautifully.
Also took home some 06 Alicante and a bottle of Black Shiraz Sparkling....my day was complete there and then..

What price the BP magnum?

2002 BP magnum - $150 + freight. I called them and found out a few weeks ago. One bottle limit per Stonewaller. You can place order over the phone. They also advised that I could simply add the magnum order to the Oct form.

Someone's cheeky enough to already have one 2002 magnum up on eBay, asking $250+ and additional freight.

On a NWR matter, mccoleman, I have noticed that your sign-off features a quote which is attributed to Stephen Covey.

While I admire some of the work of Covey (and his 7 points for better living), there is just a small point of order I'd like to draw to your attention: this quote is attributable not to Covey but to a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, around 600 years ago.

I know this seems a fairly trivial point, but if you give the plagiarists an inch they're liable to take a mile.

I'm also reminded of that famous incident where some bright spark attributed to President Lincoln the quote that 'a family divided against itself cannot stand' [I paraphrase, of course], until someone pointed out that this was actually attributable to Jesus Christ during His time on earth.

As I said, I recognise this is a small point, but I raise it in the interests of accuracy. Please don't take it as a pejorative dig against you for that is not my intention.

Best,

PJ.

Perhaps a PM would be the best way to relay your thoughts.

PJ,

Non probs at all, I am sure there are thousands of sayings that stem from the past.

I did do a quick Google and it is in a large part correct, apart from the reflection part of the Covey saying, i.e. before being understood, as opposed to 'rather than'.

I think that's why it works well in business, i.e. understanding a person's situation before getting them to understand your viewpoint you ... mind you if you ask my work mates they'll tell you I don't do that ... a quote from the wife "why do you seem to lack any sort of emotional intelligence" ...Ouch!


I suppose it doesn't help when I wrote "I prerfer this to my wife" when talking about Cloudy Bay Sav Blanc ... Oops!

roughred wrote:Perhaps a PM would be the best way to relay your thoughts.

Roughred

Why didn't you just PM this ?

Sorry, I am just kidding, but couldn't resist!!

Michael

A backlog of notes (attributable to infant-induced sleeplessness). I have only just noticed that I seem to be drinking a lot more cabernet than previously.

1998 Jacobs Creek Limited Release Shiraz Cabernet. 13.5%. Cork
Strong colour. Vanilla mint on the nose. Great structure. Loads of red and black berries with some mint/menthol. Great length. Fantastic wine that got better as it developed in the decanter.

2003 De Bortoli ‘Noble One’ Botrytis Semillon. 10.5%. Cork.
Light golden yellow. Nose of honeysuckle and cut sugarcane. Deliciously sweet front palate of mandarin apricot and fig. Not a lot of acidity so the finish is a little close to cloying for mine.

1996 Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. 13.5%. Cork.
Deep dark red. Nose of stewed prunes and mint with a smoky (cigar box/tobacco leaf?) background. Sweet blackcurrant and cassis fruit with decent depth and complexity. Some earthy tones. Finish is fine and long with resolved tannins. Very Good.

2002 Brokenwood McLaren Vale/Padthaway Shiraz. 14.5%. SC.
Nose dominated by coconut, vanilla, menthol and acid. Palate a bit of a mish mash of flavours. Some plum, some raspberry (highlighted by the acid tang). No serious structure here. Enjoyed this on tasting at my local last Saturday. Not sure why on this showing.

1986 Sandalford Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon. 13.5%. Cork.
Past it.

1994 Grant Burge ‘Filsell’ Barossa Valley. Shiraz. Cork.
Had this with scotch fillet at a bbq with friends. A bit stinky on opening, but opened up nicely and was excellent despite the warm day. Good fruit, with only a bit of portiness creeping in and great length.

2000 Penfolds ‘407’ South Australia Cabernet Sauvignon. 13.5%. Cork.
Dark red. Nose of cassis and powdery vanillan oak. Bright youthful wine with plum, cassis and red berry fruit layered over some firm savoury tannins. Acid still in play. Reasonable length. Nice resolution. Some aged characters, which surprised, and the bottle fell apart fairly quickly.

1994 Peter Lehman Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Cork.
Nose – dark fruit with a dusting of vanillan oak. Some sweet dark fruit (fading,. Dark chocolate dominates the palate. Savoury streak in there too. Probably past its prime but still most enjoyable.

1996 Stoneyfell ‘Metala’ Langhorne Creek Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon. 13.5%. Cork.
Cork crumbled on opening – fair pong. Nose settles down with a hint of VA, some prunes, blackcurrant and tobacco. Juicy fruit (blackcurrant and blackberry) leads to a pleasantly long savoury palate. There is still plenty of life here. Charry charcuterie finish. Classy wine for the price, though appears to be at its peak so drink up.

Michael