The Auswine Forum

Hi Good Peoples,

Time for your weekly drinking reports.

I am finally back on the turps and that alcohol free week was the longest month of my life.

I kicked off with a Blesdale FRS; very good at the price point (I paid $16) even if a tad sweet. It was quite good with chopped herring salad and gefilte fish.

Last night I cracked the first of a six pack of Leasingham 1998 Classic Clare Shiraz. I must admit I was dissapointed in this wine and it had not developed as well as I would have expected/hoped. The tannins have resolved reasonably well leaving a harmonious mouth-feel but it is starting to dry out. Now that's interesting as the 94 and 96 are still kicking alone really well. I also found the flavour, whilst intense and good in that respect, a bit one dimensional, and the wine did not have as much complexity as it should have given its pedigree and fore bearers.

Now what have you guys and gals been drinking?

This week I've mostly been drinking French...

1996 Chateau Potensac textbook example of Bordeaux. Beautiful Blackcurrant and graphite nose. Great grip and acid structure. Plenty of life left.

1999 Nuit St Georges 1er Cru Aux Perdrix, Domaine de Perdrix I would have sworn I was back in Oz. Very forward, big and spicy. Reminded me a lot of the 04 Paringa Estate Reserve we had at Soho last month. Enjoyable, but not Burgundian for me.

1985 CnDP, Mont Redon This was my first ever aged Chateauneuf, and it knocked my socks off. Beautiful sweet fruit, some meatiness, just a hint of brett to add interest and a length that just went on. I am starting to see what all the fuss is about these wines.

Nothing horribly exciting, but here is what went down last week:

2001 Goeff Hardy K1 Cabernet Sauvignon, Adelaide Hills, SA
Approximately Price: $25.00

Appearance: Dark violet.
Nose: Intense. Primary aromas included beetroot, rhubarb, oregano and tobacco. The secondary and tertiary aromas from barrel and bottle aging were just barely detectable. Overall, the nose was only moderately complex, but enjoyable to smell none-the-less.
Palate: Started off with surprising fruit concentration on the front palate. An abundant amount of itty, bitty, little tannins, made for a dynamic mouth feel- not unlike being licked by a cat. The astringency was apparent, but enjoyable, as was the acid. It had a nice finish with moderate length.



2003 Nepethe “Good Doctor” Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills, SA.
Approximately Price: $35

Appearance: Light, brick red .
Nose: Moderate intensity, with primary characters of red cherries, cranberries, and a faint hint of dried oregano. Secondary characters of faint vanilla oak, and horse hair. It was still youthful, with enough complexity to make it interesting- although the bouquet struck me as being slightly contrived and perhaps a bit too paint-by-number.
Palate: The acid and tannins were in balance. The acid was refreshing, and the tannins were light and pleasant. Fruit concentration on the palate was low, and the finish was medium/short. However, overall the palate was quite pleasant although not mind blowing.

2002 Abercorn Hills “Growers Revenge” Shiraz/Cabernet/Merlot, Mudgee, NSW
Price: $39.95

NOTE: THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT BOTTLE-TO-BOTTLE VARIATION.
Appearance: Opaque, plum hue, with ruby rim.
Nose: Cleanliness questionable, displaying 4-EP/EG-like characters (“Brett”), and a little VA. However, the pungency of those aromas were challenged by big black cherry primary characters and toasty caramel oak notes. As the night progressed, they seemed to balance each other out and made for a curious, but alluring nose.
Palate: A lean medium bodied wine, with a watery mid-palate. The tannins were chalky in texture sand didn’t seem to carry, as the length was short. Overall the palate was disappointing and slightly off the mark.

2005 Gemtree Uncut Shiraz, McLaren Vale, SA
Price: $24.00
Appearance: Opaque, Violet.
Nose: Medium intensity. Primary fruit characters were in the black fruit spectrum, where secondary aromas of tobacco, licorice, and mint chocolate made for a wonderfully complex nose. The downfall of this bouquet came from its prickly hot nose.
Palate: Full bodied, mouth filling, and velvety palate. The tannins were very smooth and seemed almost non-existent which made the palate flaccid. The acid came off slightly sour. A fair whack of oak lingered beyond anything else on the finish. Overall, an unassuming smooth and approachable palate.


Cheers,
RR

Richmond Grove Limited Release Barossa Shiraz 02 - tried this after reading Mr Halliday's book - and I must say what a cracker of a wine - very impressed.

Turkey Flat Shiraz 01 - a definite smell and taste of liquorice, black fruits and all things nice as 01 was not a great vintage this bodes well for the 02 - woohoo

Rosemount Hill of Gold Cabernet 04 - nice easy drinking wine

cheers
Seddo

seddo wrote:Richmond Grove Limited Release Barossa Shiraz 02 - tried this after reading Mr Halliday's book - and I must say what a cracker of a wine - very impressed.

It is very good. Top value.

Hmmm ones worth noting
05 Balnaves Tally
06 Oakridge Chard
04 Finestra Pinot
05 Rutherglen Petit Sirah
06 Kaesler Old Vine Semillon
05 Torzi Frost Dodger
04 Mount Pleasant Philip
and a few tonight. Probably
06 Shaw & Smith M3
and maybe a few 05 Hunter Shiraz.
GW

Last night I cracked the first of a six pack of Leasingham 1998 Classic Clare Shiraz. I must admit I was dissapointed in this wine and it had not developed as well as I would have expected/hoped.

Friend cracked for me 2 wines on Friday night. 2000 Rosemount Split Label Grenache Shiraz and 2000 Rosemount Split Label Shiraz Cabernet. Like you TORB they hadnt developed how he had hoped. Good drain cleaner though

Thomas Hardy Cabernet 1993
Yes I know it was a poor vintage but this wine turned out surprisingly well. Still a medium red with just a tint of brown at the edge. No capsicum in this one and was a lovely middleweight claret style with typical coonawarra cigarbox and cedar with nutmeg spice. Slightly smokey plush french oak that because it was classy I didn't mind its slightly stronger presence. Let down by a slightly short finish. Very nice.

Yalumba 'D' sparkling 1999
Dark red black with a clear rim. Decent soft and fine bead. Cabernet dominant on nose and palate but moderated with a flavour like cured meat. Breseola actually. Spice and some oak also present. Very well balanced with a long off-dry finish. I have had a few sparkling reds recently that were too dry but this was perfect. Very nice

Mike Press Sauvignon Blanc 2007
This wine has gained weight in the last month or so. Clear colour. Passionfruit on the nose. Palate of sweet hay with some grass. Crisp finish with a lingering taste of passionfruit seeds. Solid textbook wine. Good and fantastic value.

cheers

Carl

I've been attacking too much Capel Vale MR cab 05, will need to leave the last couple of bottles to age a bit. JH's 96/100(outstanding) may be a bit high but it's definitely in the "excellent" category for both quality and value. Needs time to better integrate but has good MR cab character with nice compexity, cassis, dark berries, coffee, ripe and soft tannins, nice palate length. I did get a bit of alcohol heat on the finish though. Also not sure about JH's 20yr drinking window but it should last 10yrs, even though the back label says 2-4yrs for it to develop more complexity.

I'm drinking less white wine these days but one of my favourite good value chards is Di Bortoli Windy Peak. I also like Coldstream Hills chard, something of a benchmark for me. Well, Di Bortoli Gulf Station Yarra
Valley chard 05 easily meets that benchmark with plenty of complexity, varietal peach and some guava fruits, a bit of jubey character. The oak is subliminal and the lees stirring mentioned on the back label does add to the complexity. The best chard I've tried for a while and goes close to matching a couple of Cullen's I had in the past.

Cheers

daz

2004 Penfolds Koonuga Hill Shiraz Cab
Was brought round by guests a week or so ago and I was keen to try it as it has had some poor press. Sure may not be as intense as older vintages but nevertheless a decent drop in its style. Much better than the 04 Ingoldby Shiraz

2005 Capel Vale Margaret River Cab Sav
With the Halliday wrap and at $19 at the local definately worth a try. Fabulous lifted fruity nose on openning, great length good fruit in the blueberry blackberry spectrum yum. Relatively low in tanin - well be interesting to see how it ages, glad to have bought 6.

1990 Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna
Second las bottle - very enjoyable. Perhaps with slightly better cellaring conditions in its early day might have been even better. Good developed character, tarry Penfolds trademark could have done with a tad more fruit.

1991 Tyrrells Vat 9 Dry Red (Shiraz)
Not quite as good as the last bottle but that may just have been a matter of needed more air. Tanin slightly betting the fruit.

1977 Peter Van Gent Vintage Port (Mudgee)
A curio - time to drink it with the person who brought it round 7 years ago - probably would have been better then. Still alive but sweet spirity rather than great complexity of a great Aussie VP

Booths Taminick "Gold" White Port
Absolutely dominated by vanillian oak - still fun but not great

1998 Disgorge RockFord Black Shiraz
Boring cork showing signs of failure - drinkable but wasn't interested in finishing the bottle.

Besides the Saturday afternoon and then evening leisure quaff with a 94 Bin 28 (separate note) and DVD at home,

Paired with Sunday night take away Melt pizza (nice one)...

Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir 2005
Quite light in colour, a touch savoury with nice crisp, drying tannins. Lots of cherries and raspberries and a bit of earth. Tons of upfront sweet fruit and a pleasant finish. Pretty light weight and all the better for it. This really hasn't changed much since the last one I tried (some months back) which is probably not a bad thing. Perfect for the occasion...

Tyrells St Stevens Single Vineyard Shiraz 2003/4? - Had this over dinner with some friends. A really nice medium weight Hunter shiraz, white pepper, blackberries, elegant and balanced. Really enjoyable and will be buying more

Also tried some Zema at a local. Never tried the Zema range before and thought they were really good. The $20 Cab sav and Shiraz are really good easy drinking wines that are ready to go. Also tried the Family Selection ($45) and was really taken with the Cab Sav, an abundance of fruit with a lovely long drying finish. Definitely one to tuck away for a few years. Didn't find the family Selection Shiraz that much of a stand out vs its sibling though.

Will be buying some of the Zema ... oh dear this does hurt the bank balance

I tried the Moss Wood range at an instore Saturday, and have to say I was very disappointed, especially with the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon which was unusually briney/salty. The presenter said it would normally need an extended/vigorous decant to present better, although this bottle had been open half the day and by that stage I would have thought got a fair dose of air from all the pouring.

The 2005 Amy's Cabernet was decent but nothing special, the 2004 Merlot boring, and the 2007 SSB stinky with overblown armpit sweat/asparagus characters.

Cheers,
Ian

A lean weekend. Wynn's Coonawarra Estate 'Black label' Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 discounted to $22. 14.5%, dark dense purple colour. Notes of cedar wood, raw tanned leather and a touch of mint. Silky smooth into the mouth, medium bodied with dark plum flavours with rich cigar-like characteristics. Light feel of soft tannins. Good structure and balance, passes the standard for this price.

Craig (NZ) wrote

With the greatest respect to your friend Craig, these wines are $8.99 specials made to be drunk within a year or two of vintage. Never candidates for cellaring!