The Auswine Forum

Wynns Black Label Cabernet 2004
What a terrific, young wine with loads of plucky tannin and varietal definition this is. Beautiful cedary nose with herbal characters and touches of capscium but also completed with heaves of well balanced fruit flavour - redfruits mostly that I could pick and overlaid with a blanket of gentle and fragrant eucalypt. Tannins are very fresh and young and I think this needs loads of time to soften up and integrate. Exemplary commercial wine and an absolute bargain for the price it was going for.

Tomboy Hill Nittinbool Vineyard Pinot Noir (Ballarat) 2003
A bit rank at first, stinky, savoury nose of smallgoods and tomato but before long, this blew off to be replaced with quite a refined, savoury quality with quite stalky, pronounced tannins. Quite crisp and sharp, this is a good wine and I've left it for tonight as I think it needed a breather.

Coldstream Hills Pinot Noir 2004
Quite a contrast to the Tomboy Hill, this was quite dark in colour with a nose redolent of plums and cherries. Lacking in structure and relatively flabby, this is probably at it's peak and I can't see it living much beyond the next year or two (at least not in my cellar). A slight bitter end note. Drank a touch better the day after but still not great. I think I preferred the 03 of this although this one seems to have been pretty well rated. One more which I think I will be glugging sooner rather than later. Then it's onto the 05s!

agree re the wynns 04 cab. the first bottle i had was slightly lightweight, but the last one rocked. very very good stuff

For what it's worth, last night I walked hand-in-hand with a bottle of 2004 Peter Lehmann BV Shiraz. I say walked because it was just so easy to drink and made for pleasent Thurdsay night companionship.

Cassic varietal definition (within reason), loads of spine, juicy fruit (without compromising the spicy flavour or becoming cloying), hint of wood - puts some bigger branded more $$$ SEA and BV wines to shame. Or shows just how good Aussie Shiraz really is. Glad to see the use of screw cap, too.

To add to the weeknight mix, some other bottles to round out an all round varied week.

Remains of the Tomboy Hill Pinot
Lightweight style but with quite nice crisp definition and decent length. Not sublime but worked well as a food wine and a fair beast.

Dalrymple 03 Chardonnay
Nice pale colour with hints of yellow. Lovely melony nose and lifted, fresh fruits but quite sweet palate, just shy of cloying. Smooth, linear and fresh and would work well with spicier foods. OK.

Seppelt Jaluka 05 Chardonnay
Maybe it's the cold weather that's doing it to me but this opened beautifully, subtle, fragrant oak and a lingering waft of perfume (initially rather muted but in a good way) but after a time became quite sweet and even a touch blowsy. Good palate texture and length. Quite a good wine but not a great one.

Some real mixed goods last night...

... Rymill Botrytis Gewurtztraminer 1998
Stored in woeful conditions by my sister, gathering dust in a fireplace (not used) for many years, I had my straight-up doubts. Very dark, bordering on orangey brick, this surprised me... slightly. Very, very sweet, loaded with slightly cloying sugar but with still some semblances of secondary character - some honey and dried fruits barely alive beneath the liquory swamp of sweet. Decent, all things considered but one glass was enough!

Turkey Flat Pedro Ximenez (Current release)
Good.