The Auswine Forum

Partly for interest and partly to poaching any new ideas!
so... what will you be opening on Xmas and if it will be side-by-side with food, what will it be?
me? This amazing yet mysterious wet-cork 11yo Hunter Valley Semillon (no idea of producer sorry) with bbq'd yabbies.
I know there is talk of a Turducken - maybe Ashton Hills Estate Pinot Noir.
Spill the beans folks.

Hey CraigNZ if you're about. We want to crack a Te Mata Cape Crest SVB 2007 I haven't ventured into yet. Any suggestions?

Hey CraigNZ if you're about. We want to crack a Te Mata Cape Crest SVB 2007 I haven't ventured into yet. Any suggestions?

I have a bottle in the cellar somewhere but every time ive looked for it i've failed to locate it!!!! Sauvignon Blanc changes in the bottle so much there is only one way to find out. Should be fine drinking at xmas. Its a good idea actually, i might have another hunt for my remaining bottle

Im also into some 02 Dry River Estate Gewurztraminer and something to go with bbq fillet which I havent really though about yet

As usual spending the day with the inlaws, who don't really drink wine, so my wife and I are lucky and don't have to share (except for the odd 'that looks nice can i try that?'). this year its -
Jansz vintage 2004
Grant burge shiraz cab sparkling red
Brokenwood Ilr semillon 2002
Grosset Springvale 2008
and a couple of import Beaujolais-villages, Louis Jadot and Pierre Brevin Sancerre.

Big selection of wines because the Xmas table is like a smorgasboard.

Jamie

rocknoise wrote:I know there is talk of a Turducken

Talk of Turducken and actual Turducken are two very different things. Having been down the Turducken path, I can assure you the rewards are glorious however the toil is noteworthy.

You may have to consider three wine matches to pair with it, all at once.

I think it's ordered rather than toiled over
but I don't know if it's a traditional one. Maybe just one poor bird stuffed inside another but not the 3 or the full feast made for kings.

We'll be visiting my family for lunch then the outlaws for dinner so I'll be taking a Moet and a Joseph for lunch and maybe an 02 Mount Mary chardy for dinner.

Boxing Day I do a huge feast which is more or less Christmas all over again for about 30 of my closest friends. Yes, it's ridiculous but I have a lot of orphan friends who don't get a big traditional feed. It usually turns into a party and we eject the last people at 6am the next day. For this, there'll clearly be a lot of beer. We might even get the tiki mugs out and do some cocktails from the hawaiian bar. Tiki mugs look like this and we have lots: http://www.tikifarm.com/tiki_mugs_p1.htm Mai tais are always a favourite although I have some friends that can't drink them any more - lightweights. They can have a blue hawaiian instead.

Anyhoo, there will definitely be at least one bottle of Rockford's Black shiraz early on and with lunch and possibly a few 02 Seppelt Original Sparkling shiraz and maybe some 05s. I strongly suspect there could be a few moscatos going down too. It's mostly BYO but I usually throw a few nice wines in the mix.

Seafood is the order of the day, so something appropriate.

Most of the people I will be dining with are godless, heathen people who deserve nothing more than the $5 Sauvignon they regularly pray to. I on the other hand will be sneaking a bottle of Weingutt Kabinett or two, as well as a Curly Flat Pinot 05.

bacchaebabe wrote: Anyhoo, there will definitely be at least one bottle of Rockford's Black shiraz early on and with lunch and possibly a few 02 Seppelt Original Sparkling shiraz and maybe some 05s. I strongly suspect there could be a few moscatos going down too. It's mostly BYO but I usually throw a few nice wines in the mix.

Kris, I'm sure there would be no shortage of drinkables at your Christmas events. You've picked up on Seppelts Original Sparkling Shiraz, and specifically 2002 and 2005 (both of which I have cellared, along with 95, 98, 99, 04). I admire your taste (good years) but would like to know why you are selecting thse two vintages. I'm tempted to go down the 'aged' road myself.

I hope you and your very fortunate partner have a delightful Christmas

Cheers

Allan

Deleted - duplicate post.

Hi Allan,

I'm mostly choosing those vintages as I have the most of them. I might still have one, maybe two bottles of the 98. In fact I should search them out too but I know I've got more than 6 of each of the 02 and the 05. I like to try and save a couple to drink them aged.

I tend to think of the Seppelt orginals as the cheapie but very good sparkling Shiraz that I don't mind sharing with my friends any time. I save the rockfords, sparkling ducks, leasinghams, josephs and the better Seppelts for the more special occasions and smaller gatherings where they can be appreciated a bit more. Boxing day can turn into a bit of a swillfest at our place.

I hope you and your partner also have a wonderful christmas and drink and eat well over the festive season.

Kris (and everyone else)

FYI, I cracked my last remaining 1995 Seppelts Original Sparkiling Shiraz Friday night. Delicious - not overpoweringly full or rich, but well balanced with some earthy notes accompanying the chocolate and berry fruit. Probably will hold a little longer, but why wait?

I had a 1998 or 1999 earlier in the year, and that was a better wine - not sure if it is the vintage or the age.

Cheers - and lots of bubbly red for Christmas!

Allan

Well, call this juicy irony, call it what you will...

It will be another year of being condemned to (for lack of a better term) "cheap shit".

My brother (who got me into drinking wine about 15 years ago) actually prefers bag in the box style low-acid wines. It will probably be a bottle of Lengs & Cooter Sparkling Red & maybe a magnum of 1998 Kingston Estate Merlot or Shiraz on the day (or something equally cheap and lacking in substance) to keep the masses happy. Maybe boxing day & NYE will be better, I bloody hope so...

... that or Dad & I get stuck into something good before everyone else shows up!

Cheers,
Ian

Ian

You always need an escape plan, or at least a cunning plan (hello Baldrick) to get around the common denominator that can be Christmas.

Your idea of cracking one with Dad before festivities commence should just be stage one of the cunning plan.

I have found that, when having dinner parties for a dozen, and especially BBQs for twice that number, that you can keep a common stash, and a private stash. This works best if you are taking on the wine service role yourself (and/or leaving the common stash in easy reach of those likely to partake).

This is something that applies particularly for me, where some friends (who I share my good stuff with) arrive with more good stuff, and other people arrive with nothing. The latter get the 'lower end' stuff (which is still better than what they drink at home). Most of these people know that I know my stuff, and that they are being served according to their tastes.

There have been occasions where someone picks up on the 'good stuff' being quietly passed around. They get a glass as a reward for noticing, and it is possible they will be converted and bring something decent next time.

Overall, however, I don't find it a big deal. I even know/knew people (a couple have passed away) that were millionaires who didn't want me to waste the good stuff on them, because if it was red, they would drink it - end of story. I did waste a few bottles of decent red on these people (they were very good friends) but I didn't really assist their vinous education, despite their dollars.

So, Ian, my advice for Christmas is serve the commercial wine to anyone that wants it, and don't be afraid to use whatever means you employ to take advantage of a secret stash - and pour one for Dad~

Cheers

Allan

Off for Christmas lunch at a property up in the Eden Valley.....we've been kindly taken in as it's our first Barossan Christmas and we are orphans

I'm taking:

Egly-Ouriet Grand Tradition
Rockford Sparkling '08 Dis
F.X. Pichler Loibner Frauenweingarten Gruner Veltliner Federspiel 2007
Domaine de la Vougeraie Bonne Mares 2005
Domaine Prieure-Roch Vosne Romanee Les Clous 2005

a couple of kilos of yabbies and a 6 kilo "The Black Pig" ham from Eli and Saskia Beer.....

I'm sure there will lots of lovely booze there....it's a real mish-mash of Aussie, Kiwis, South Africans and a lone Canadian

These are the wines I dragged out of the cellar this week for Christmas consumption. Christmas lunch this year is at the folk's place. Ultra standard fare here as usual.

Egly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs GC N/V

Moet & Chandon N/V - very smart, appealing youthful blend of yeast, pastry shop and citrus, nice balance 88 points*

Tyrrell's Vat 47 Chardonnay 2000

Mount Mary Chardonnay 2000

Chateau Trotanoy 1979 - richly endowed but quite old and tertiary, excellent fully mature Pomerol, 89 points*

Mount Mary Quintet 1985 - brilliant, incredibly young and bright, high-toned bing cherry and green plum fruit, rich in cleansing acid and still firmish tannin, needs more time! Real surprise packet, 93 points*

Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2001

Anderson Sparkling Shiraz 1998

Chateau Suduiraut 1983 - excellent, melange of creme brulee, coconut, mango, pineapple, nougart, apricot and peach with the merest suggestion of aldehyde, compact, good acid, not overly fat. 90 points*

Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 1983

Campbell's Vintage Port 1965

Seppelt Rare Muscat N/V - beautifully luscious fortified brimming with raisans, Christmas cake, great balance, long astringent finish, outstanding 93 points*

Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 1996 - gorgeous bright yellow gold colour, oily lanolin and toasty/herb/grassy nose; spritzy acid-rich palate with good fruit weight aka nose and a solid cleansing finish. Needs some more time methinks - about excellent - 89 points*

* - drunk last night with a group of good friends at an early Christmas dinner party

So far,

Early festivities with friends over. The loose theme was machine picked just to make things difficult. No idea how well we did.

2007 Saint Clair Pioneer Block 2 Sauvignon Blanc
Palate of paw paw but needed to warm as served too cold. Textured palate of gooseberry, paw paw and mango. Good but preferred the block 8.

Lustau Los Arcos Amontillado
Brown. Somewhat muted on the nose. Tangy oxidised palate finishing with rancio. Acceptable and a poor showing after a great bottle a few months ago. This was bottled early 07. Maybe that was the cause?

2005 Lilydale Chardonnay
White gold. Lovely white peach on the nose. Palate of unforced white peach and grain. Lingering finish. Truly punches above its weight. Excellent.

1998 Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay
Yellow gold colour. Classy smokey palate that leads into a mealy, worked palate. Lovely stuff but lacking freshness for top marks. Very Good but sadly declined upon opening. If drinking, finish in the first hour.

1972 Wynns Cabernet
Poured a medium red with brown rim. Still good colour. Dank and first and no redeeming features. After a quarter of an hour the fruit started to improve but still remained tasting like wet hessian. Corked

1999 Cape Mentelle Cabernet
Ohh classy nose. Very clean but cool climate cabernet without anything being unripe. Lovely. Berries and redcurrant on the palate with spicy cedar holding it together. Worth looking at but should improve. Excellent.

2004 Saltram Mamre Brook Cabernet
Dark red. Smelled like cabernet. Medium heavy on the palate. with a fleshy mid palate making me think a blend. But no its a warm climate cabernet. Great fruit with a lot of tannin still. Giant killer number two.

1996 Wynns Michael Shiraz (magnum)
Dark red. Lovely fruity flavours with black cherry and cedar noted. Rich palate just starting to drink well but still finishing with a lot of tannin. Excellent wine and it opened further on the next day.

1993 Orlando Lawson's Padthaway Shiraz
Inky dark red. Looked like the youngest wine here. Intense spicy licorice nose with some mint but not as much as cranky thinks Dense palate drinking in the zone of primary and secondary flavours. Excellent and a standout from the 93 vintage.

Seppelt Rare Muscat
Dark brown with yellow rim. Christmas pudding in a bottle. Excellent.

A quiet night tonight.

2000 Speri Valpolicella Classico Superiore
Animal and new leather nose. High toned yet sweet palate with unnoticeable tannins that somehow build to a mouth-puckering finale after a few glasses. Nice with a spaghetti carbonara.

No idea for Christmas eve but maybe a sparkling red and the main event to come. My contribution with be two whites

cheers

Carl

EDIT: Mamre was 2004.

griff wrote: No idea for Christmas eve but maybe a sparkling red and the main event to come. My contribution with be two whites

cheers

Carl

Given the line-up you've quoted, I would have to ask "how do I join this tasting group?" and "what will the two whites be"?

In my case, I've just raided the cellar for Christmas plonk, and I'm not having Christmas at my place, for the first time in four years:

1994 Wynns Black Label (with my Dad Christmas Eve)
2001 Wynns Black Label (Christmas Day BBQ lunch)
2004 Plantagenet Riesling (with my Dad Christmas Eve)
2006 Cullen Chardonnay (with the delightful Sue, after we dispense with friends and children around 5pm Christmas Day)

I'm sure I will throw a bubbly red in there, and grab a couple of 'standbys'.

Cheers

Allan

Andre Clouet Brut NV (Bouzy)
2001 Himmelsfeld Chardonnay (Upper Moutere, Nelson)
2001 Brookland Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Marg River)
Seppelt DP59 Rare Tokay

Just myself and the wife as every man and his dog has joined the mass exodus from London.

Waiters Friend wrote:Given the line-up you've quoted, I would have to ask "how do I join this tasting group?" and "what will the two whites be"?

Sunday was friends over for dinner who happen to have very nice taste in wines As for the whites for Xmas I am thinking of options so will get back to you on that

Have to say while family is best, Christmas with friends is good as well!

cheers

Carl

I'm hauling out a few older wines this year:

2005 Majella Sparkling Shiraz
1998 Kumeu River Chardonnay (Magnum)
1996 Noble One
1991 Mount Pleasant Rosehill Shiraz ('cos the last one was so damn good)

There will be others, but not sure what they might be yet.

I have my fingers crossed that the Kumeu is in good nick...
I met the winemaker earlier this year, and he reckoned it'd be OK if it wasn't one of the ones with a dodgy cork....well no signs of leakage...so I'm hoping...

Lanson 1996 vintage (prawns)
various 2002 rieslings from the usual suspects (seafood)
05 Majella sparkling shiraz (turkey)
08 disgorgement Joseph (turkey)
03 setanta cuchulain (wagyu)
05 Penfold 389 (wagyu)
04 Kalleke (wagyu)
98 Bin 0 Bests (wagyu)
71 grange x 2 (just in case, both bottles from friends cellar and look perfect)
Morris Cellar reserve muscat

For the unwashed masses;

Moet imperial whatever (the sweet one)
Fleur de lys vintage 06 - great value sparkling white.
Stephen John MGS Loquat Tree ( great value quaffer - bretty to me but sweet)
Balthasar Ishtar - as above but without the brett.other than that good drinking.

Massive gathering for us (20 +) most of which never met. Understand they make their own bourbon so I do not suppose they will bring anything other than beer/bourbon. The 71 grange will be kept under my table....

I am liable to be proved wrong though - I hope so! I like sharing my wine with those who appreciate it!

N.V. Adinfern Sparkling Malbec
2002 Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling

In the end ...

Piper NV
Saint Clair Foundation Block Sauv Blanc 2008
Clearview Reserve Chardonnay 2004
Neudorf Moutere Pinot Noir 2002
Alpha Domus 'The Aviator' 1998
Escarpment 'Hinemoa' Riesling 2006
Ramos Pinto 10 year tawny port

... forgot to open a bottle of Seppelt Original '98 sparkling shiraz to go with the turkey ... maybe tomorrow with the left-overs ...

Clearview was the WOTD, with the Alpha Domus a close second, though all were good ...

Cheers
Peter

99 Morton Estate Blanc de Blancs
03 Dry River Gewurztraminer
07 Neudorf Nelson Chardonnay
96 Stonyridge Larose
98 Vidals Resrve Cabernet Merlot
96 Eileen Hardy Shiraz
06 Pegasus Bay Aria Riesling

The Larose is probably the best wine I have drunk this year. It was just absolute class. stunning. sensational, words fail. Made the other wines (which were excellent) look second rate

Two wines were:

2005 Kooyong "Farrago" Chardonnay

2002 W. Fevre Chablis Grand Cru "Bougros"

Also had Moet NV, Perrier Joet NV, 2008 Villa Maria Reserve Warua Savignon Blanc, 1998 E&E Shiraz (wine of the day for me), 2002 Brown Bros Patricia Cabernet, 1996 Alkoomi Blackbutt, 2004 Inniskillin Ice Wine, 2004 Villa Maria Reserve Noble Riesling.

Now for some beer...

cheers

Carl

Hill of Grace 1985
Grange 1983
Rockford Basket Press 1996
All with Roast Turkey.
The first two in fine shape, the Grange still on an upward curve.
Alas the Rockford was somewhat oxidised.
Interestingly, the HoG was labelled at 12.0% alc/vol and the Grange at 12.9%.
Unheard of numbers in a red these days.

Just the one bottle as my (NZ) family come over in Summer this year and the wife's (HK) family are over this Spring. But what a bottle ...

Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 1996.
Almost perfect Shiraz. Needed an hour to open up and the menthol to blow off. Then powerful, balanced, persistent while being only a heavy-middleweight compared to the modern bruisers. Evolved over about 5 hours and still improving. Another 10 years from peak I think. I probably marginally prefer the 1999 BP which I think has a better flavour profile (less sweet, marginally more complex) but it's splitting hairs, this is a great wine in it's class.

Merry Christmas all ...

Jansz NV
98 Bin 389 - superb -4hr decant
99 Voyager Estate Cab Merlot - very delish- 2hr decant

cheers
Seddo

Jay60A wrote:Just the one bottle as my (NZ) family come over in Summer this year and the wife's (HK) family are over this Spring. But what a bottle ...

Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 1996.
Almost perfect Shiraz. Needed an hour to open up and the menthol to blow off. Then powerful, balanced, persistent while being only a heavy-middleweight compared to the modern bruisers. Evolved over about 5 hours and still improving. Another 10 years from peak I think. I probably marginally prefer the 1999 BP which I think has a better flavour profile (less sweet, marginally more complex) but it's splitting hairs, this is a great wine in it's class.

Merry Christmas all ...

You had the bottle we should have had. I love this wine, but sadly not the bottle we had on Christmas Eve.
The cork roulette If I didn't know the wine, I may well not have picked it as being not up to standard.

Not as varied as I might have liked - some bottles haven't been opened due to oversupply by guests - but Christmas tends to last a few days here, and I'm sure some TNs will be posted:

Briarose (MR) Cabernet Merlot 2005: Pretty good for a quaffer (which is what it was presented as)

Plantagenet Riesling 2004: Fabulous, no kero, clear as a bell, and probably opened too soon. Glad I have more.

Wynns Cabernet Sauvignon 1994: 6 hours in decanter, very good wine, cassis and black olive on full and firm palate.

Croser sparkling - as consistently good as ever.

Mountford (Pemberton) Chardonnay 2002: Full, peachy, buttery, and not going to improve further. Caught just over the peak.

Gibson Barossa Vale Shiraz 2001 - a raffle prize, and surprisingly drinkable.

Upper Reach Reserve Chardonnay 2008 (two bottles) - as per previous TN. Good, but overpriced for Swan Valley chardonnay.

Surprisingly, I have put a couple of wines back in the cellar for other occasions. Therefore, not THAT big a Christmas

Cheers

Allan