The Auswine Forum

Hi Good Peoples,

Its getting close and the silly season here, so hopefully you have been drinking some good stuff. So please tell us what you have been consuming.

Tasting notes, lists, impressions or what ever, all welcome.

In the last week, the impressive bottles have been -

the $2 cleanskin from Dan's Cab Merlot
Moss Wood Chardonnay 2007 beautiful fruit
Moss Wood Sem Sauv 2008
Dog Ridge the pup Shiraz 2006
Bleasdale Malbec 2005 wine of the week
Zuccardi Zeta 2005
Zuccardi Q 2006
Nepenthe Charleston pinot 2006 (under $20)
Tatachilla Shiraz 2000 (Cellar realease from Dans) velvet smooth
pierre brevin sancerre 2007
the ned pinot gris 2008


had last night that i hadn't tryed for a while and confirmed why there wines are icons at their price ranges -
Chandon NV
Bollinger NV

looking forward to this week, more wine more imports.

Kay Brothers Moscato 08 after a hard day doing little. Lovely sweet muscat fruit with enough acid to prevent it being sickly and an attractive amount of fizz. Very refreshing. Rated - Larry + a half Curly

Peter Lehman Stonewell 1997 after dinner (Crumbed coral trout fillets) with the cheese (Stracciato). Started with a slightly iodine nose and short palate which both became frankly faecal after 30 minutes. Not finished. Rated - Joe Bessers

Tried the 2006 Ben Glaetzer Wallace Shiraz Grenache for the first time. Really lovely on the nose, plum and I thought something like rosehip. Really nice burst of flavour at the front but that evaporates quite quickly. Certainly not too grippy and in general very approachable. It's been said here before that all the Glaetzers need some time which I'm not in a position to confirm or deny, but what I would say is that for my money I'd rather drink this now than the 06 Bishop.

Kays Block 6 shiraz 2006.

POwerful McLaren Vale shiraz, slightly hot to my taste, dark berry fruits, liqourice finish, will take years to show its best.

Dalwhinie Moonambel Cabernet 1993.

Drinking superbly, a generous Victorian Cabernet, just drinking it makes a person feel warm and snuggly. Violets and vanilla on the nose, lovely aged berry fruit and fine grained tannins on the palate.

Chateau Tahblik Marsanne 1996.

Very well developed, wouldn't keep it any longer. Quite a long way off dry, with apricot and peach on the mid-palate, not really my style of wine.

Orlando St Hugo 1998
Orlando St Hugo 1999
I tasted these together. The first was bought by a friend for dinner, and I felt it might have been slightly tca affected. I did not want to cause offence (you sometimes can in this situation if people are not conversant with tca)
so rather than open another 98 for a direct comparison, I opened the 99, as a "mini-vertical". It confirmed my thoughts of mild taint on the 98, as the 99 tasted much fresher and fuller, and with some "olivaceous" (as noted by GW previously) character. The 99 was very good, unfair to comment on the 98.
Penfolds Bin 28 2003
This had a spicy peppery character, more than I'm used to in this wine. Otherwise, I thought it lacked sparkle- a good solid wine. I wouldn't keep it a long time.

JamieH wrote:In the last week, the impressive bottles have been -

the $2 cleanskin from Dan's Cab Merlot

Seriously

A number of enjoyable wines including 2007 McHenry Hohnen Cabernet Merlot (91pts), 2006 Wombat Cabernet Merlot (88pts), 2008 Brown Brothers Pinot Grigio (91pts)...

...then the worst Riesling I have had for a long time, and I am slighted annoyed by it as the retailer's shelf I picked it up from was accompanied by a critic's recommendation, who I will name when I go back to the store to find out, and it cost around $18. The wine was the 2008 Hewitson "Gun Metal" Riesling. Nice high acid structure that I like but it seems that the grapes never reached flavour ripeness, except for some slightly bitter lemon peel. No citrus juice, florals or apple and even very little minerals. Avoid.

Adair

1996 Wynns John Riddoch - a bit of a funky nose, verging on what I'd expect from a pinot. Lots of olives on the palate, reasonable length. I expected more given the vintage.

1998 Penfolds St Henri - not a good bottle. When on song, this is a super wine. Sadly not on this occassion.

... and a few forgettable South American wines.

A few over the last week or so. Not a stellar week, I guess...

Kumeu River Village Pinot Noir 07 - awful (even at $11)

Ascension "The Benediction" Merlot / Cab / Malbec 06 - not up to much. I'm not particularly good at knowing what's brett and what isn't, but I'd say this had it, and it wasn't very nice, although it improved slightly over a few hours. Just not very interesting, brett notwithstanding.

Stoneleigh Riesling 03 - this is standing up pretty well. I like this wine.

Montana Hawkes Bay Merlot / Cab 07 - this was given to us by some friends. Crikey, I thought, here goes... but it was actually pretty good considering its such a cheap supermarkety label. Cheap as chips, but not a fault in sight and quite well balanced. Nose not half bad. I will try their reserve shortly and compare (which is also cheap).

Lindauer Reserve Brut NV - continuing the theme of really cheap NZ wine - not sure how this happened, it wasn't planned exactly; I must open something more expensive soon! This had been under the house for a couple years and was really nice.

Roscoe wrote:

JamieH wrote:In the last week, the impressive bottles have been -

the $2 cleanskin from Dan's Cab Merlot

Seriously

I tried the $2 Chardonnay & Shiraz a few weeks back.....nothing wrong with them for the price....not exactly a wine to pontificate over though

2006 Mansfield (Mudgee) Late Harvested Zinfandel

Very Interesting and different. Spicy and bir sweet, was a good match for thai curry. Very good value at $ 18.

2008 Mike Press Sav.Blanc. Very good value, much better than more expensive Ausiie Sav. Blancs but I would still prefer NZ SavBlancs.

DaveB wrote:

Roscoe wrote:

JamieH wrote:In the last week, the impressive bottles have been -

the $2 cleanskin from Dan's Cab Merlot

Seriously

I tried the $2 Chardonnay & Shiraz a few weeks back.....nothing wrong with them for the price....not exactly a wine to pontificate over though

At that price, "nothing wrong" only means it won't kill you.

Mike Hawkins wrote:1996 Wynns John Riddoch - a bit of a funky nose, verging on what I'd expect from a pinot. Lots of olives on the palate, reasonable length. I expected more given the vintage.

1998 Penfolds St Henri - not a good bottle. When on song, this is a super wine. Sadly not on this occassion.

... and a few forgettable South American wines.

This sounds like a most disappointing week!

05 fromm la strada spatlese riesling - beautiful!

deleted

a know a $2 cleanskin is scary, i'm just saying it impressed me because was actually drinkable and quaffable. lets just say i've had worse!!

Have to agree with Adair and the Hewitson 2008 Riesling, wasn't my cup of tea either, like he said it seemed to be missing something.[/quote]

Sean wrote:
1995 Hardys RR Classic Dry White - Gold colour, but bright, not dull, and while the cork broke it had done its job. Not oxidised, not petrolly, no unpleasant aromas and while a very mature wine, it was surprisingly good, with some fruit as well as honeyed, btl-aged character.

Isn't the RR their really cheap range? I recall a couple of weddings back in the day, being served the RR. This has presumably majorly over-performed if it's still drinking okay, 13 years from vintage!

JamieH wrote:a know a $2 cleanskin is scary, i'm just saying it impressed me because was actually drinkable and quaffable. lets just say i've had worse!!

Sounds fair to me.

deleted

I'd guess Riverland might be in there somewhere.!

Just enjoying and not enjoying a couple of nice bottles
Houghtons Gladstone 2001 first sip was a little pruney and over ripe, but the palate was as it should be nice smooth and a longish finish... over a couple of hours the nose didn't improve so am thinking heat or ox problem?!? it seems what should be a very good wine is nothing and as its not corked i have no grounds to return.... grrr
as quite annoyed i then opened a
Thorn Clarke William Randell 2004
Haven't had this since wine oz 2006, which i rated very well back then, but this is now a stunning wine, a little oaky at first, the dark berry fruit coming throu after a couple hours in the glass, a little heat, but will balance out in a couple of years.... great wine

I know there is plenty of talk about closures on wines but when you have a small amount of wines as i do and look after them over a period of time only to then open them up and find the quality is ruined is very annoying!
Cheers all
Simmo

Orpheus - spot on. I've had both of these on several occasions in the past couple of years and most of the time they've been great. Its the first dud 98 St Heri I've had and the 2nd dud 96 JR. Thems the breaks. I'm going to have a Penfolds Bin 90a on the weekend so I'm hoping its ok. The last one was corked.

with the failure of the 2001 gladstone shiraz, i opened another one to make sure it wasn't a whole case thing! and i can say with joy this bottle is smashing, definitely on the big side of wa shiraz, lovely nose of fruit and savory herbs, a little choc, nice smooth long finish! great wine.... needs a little time but can be consumed now!
cheers all
simmo

A bottle from the latest consignment of Charles Sturt University Chardonnay 07. It confirmed for me again what a very good value quaffing chard this is, with excellent varietal definition and complexity that belies it's price. Drink now or over the next year or so (for me) but it may go 4-5 years for those who like a bit of age on their whites.

Blue Poles Hopping Stone Tempranillo 07 Still very young, it needs to breathe for some time to show at it's best. It's a bit plummy on the nose with some spicy oak. On the palate it has some of the plum with sour cherry, savouriness and a fair whack of drying tannins that add to it's very good length on the finish. Should be singing in another few years.

Tahbilk Tempranillo 07 This was good but didn't have the cachet or complexity of the Blue Poles. Again plummy, less of the sour cherries to balance that but also savoury with gravelly tannins on a more medium finish. May improve over the next couple of years or so.

Tahbilk Cab Franc 07 Had this in the lead-up to last weekend. Think it had more fruit characters (in a lighter style) than the Tahbilk Temp 07, tannins more dusty, a bit more length on the palate. It's easy to see why this is one of Tahbilks more popular CD reds.

Tonight, Tahbilk Shiraz 05. This is more full-bodied, has sweeter fruit than the above wines. Nice depth on the palate with ripe black cherries, anise/licorice, some ripe dark plum. Tannins are soft and ripe but it does finish with a fair whack of eucalypt that carries over from the fruit on a medium+ length finish to add some character. I like it, should go 10years in the cellar, perhaps more - I just never know with Tahbilk Shiraz and Cab though I suspect the latter will generally cellar longer.

I'll post a TN of the Tahbilk Roussanne 08 when I taste another bottle.

Cheers

daz

Crikey Daz you really are the CSU, Blue Poles and Tahbilk man aren't you!?!?!

Wayno wrote:Crikey Daz you really are the CSU, Blue Poles and Tahbilk man aren't you!?!?!

Yep, sipping on another bottle of CSU chard 07 right now and have about 1/3 of the bottle of Tahbilk shiraz 05 to finish tonight. Have you seen Campbell's TN of the Hopping Stone on TWF? - may give you a better idea of why I like it too - but I'd already tried it at dinner with MarkG here in TSV - and had his generous complimentary bottle the next day to confirm, before it was released. Perhaps those with an aversion to eucalypt/mint characters should pass on the Tahbilk but hey, many coonawarra cabs have similar characters.

Can't see any problem with finding wines I like at prices I like then proceeding to drink plenty of them

Cheers

daz

I know, I agree. Just having a little, gentle stir. And I am a bandit for eucalypt/mint.
Must try this Blue Poles as I am developing a taste for Temp lately.

Mike Hawkins wrote:1996 Wynns John Riddoch - a bit of a funky nose, verging on what I'd expect from a pinot. Lots of olives on the palate, reasonable length. I expected more given the vintage.

Mike, I opened one of my '96 JRs several months back and found it hard to distinguish the flavours in the wine because of the massive tannins. The tannins were so hard I have marked my other 3 not to be opened until 2014 or beyond.

Wayno wrote:I know, I agree. Just having a little, gentle stir. And I am a bandit for eucalypt/mint.
Must try this Blue Poles as I am developing a taste for Temp lately.

Me too . You'd probably enjoy Tahbilk Shiraz 05, I did coz I too enjoy some mint/eucalypt/anise character when it adds complexity. The Hopping Stone is a very nice deeply-fruited, savory wine. I think CM mentions sweet&sour in his TN.

I'll post a TN of my first bottle of Mike Press Cab 07 after I've tried it tonight (soon).

Cheers

daz