The Auswine Forum

Tasting at Ultimo Cellars Saturday 9 May 09

08 Carmen Valle Central Savignon Blanc Chile A fresh passion fruit gooseberry nose. Slightly bitter finish and a bit brassy. Not as immediately friendly as a NZ version but might be quite good with food. 87

08 Urban UCO Torrantes Argentina Honey notes on nose and lovely riesling like aromas. On the palate more apricotish and quite dry with some hints of rose. Strong metallic taste too. The nose promised a lot more than the palate delivered and I wasn't so keen. 82

06 Mount Mary Chardonnay 13.5% Beautiful butterscotch and melted butter nose. Quite fresh on the palate. Tastes very young and austere. Almost steely. Very structured but hard work at the moment in terms of enjoyment. This one needs some time. A bit hard to judge at the moment but based on the promising nose 90.

06 Mount Mary Pinot 13.3% Brick red colour. Looks like an older wine. Glace cherry and sweet meat nose. Again an almost astringent finish. Obvious tannins that are quite grippy. Needs time to develop. 89

06 Mount Mary Quintets 12.9% Deep red colour. Cherry brambly red currant nose. Very fine grained tannins. Not too different from the pinot to be honest but a bit more body. Feels very lightweight at this stage. There's a bit of pepper there too. Also needs a good long rest. 90

06 Goats do Roam Pinotage South Africa This is primarily pinotage but with some shiaz and other Rhone varieties thrown in the mix. Pinotage is a mix between pinot and syrah apparently. Something I didn't know as I haven't had many South African wines. Anyway, bright red purple colour. Cherry confected earthy smokey nose. Bordering on sweet with spiky pepper and a slightly bitter finish. Not my style so much but might be better with food and a bit of bottle age although I get the impression this is a drink now style. 85

So in summary, I wasn't particularly impressed with anything in the tasting. The tasting was at 12.30 so I am wondering if there was a little leftover toothpaste from my morning routine affecting my tastebuds at all. I hadn't had lunch. The nose and palate on all wines told very different stories. The Mount Marys were clearly very well structured but all tasted very young and lightweight. This is actually the first time I've tasted any new release Mount Marys so it was interesting. I usually buy them and put them away for quite a while. I certainly know where they end up and have bought 4 06 Quintets and 2 06 pinots fairly safe in this knowledge but they are certainly not early drinking styles and do require a bit of patience to truly reveal their worth. Saying all that, I didn't notice anyone else at the tasting in raptures either. Everyone pretty much did the tasting and then ran off. I didn't see anyone buying any Mount Marys either although the price was at something of a premium over the cellar door even though they had a special on for the day.

Agreed Kris. Went to the same tasting. It was the first time I had tried a mount mary quintet, and despite it having good structure and being well made, I was pretty underwhelmed, especially at $120 a bottle. Obviously it should get better over time, but wouldn't be prepared to buy any.

Perhaps its an unfair comparison but on the same day I tried the 2002 Geoff Merrill Reserve Cab Sav at Dan Murphys. It was a beautiful cabernet, and at $35 a bottle is an easy choice over a $120 Mount Mary

Hi Andrew, yeah it was a difficult tasting but Mount Mary wines are a bit notorious for needing extending cellaring. It really is a minimum ten year proposition and ideally 15-20 but when matured they are stunning. So you buy on spec obviously.

bacchaebabe wrote:Tasting at Ultimo Cellars Saturday 9 May 09

08 Carmen Valle Central Savignon Blanc Chile A fresh passion fruit gooseberry nose. Slightly bitter finish and a bit brassy. Not as immediately friendly as a NZ version but might be quite good with food. 87

08 Urban UCO Torrantes Argentina Honey notes on nose and lovely riesling like aromas. On the palate more apricotish and quite dry with some hints of rose. Strong metallic taste too. The nose promised a lot more than the palate delivered and I wasn't so keen. 82

06 Mount Mary Chardonnay 13.5% Beautiful butterscotch and melted butter nose. Quite fresh on the palate. Tastes very young and austere. Almost steely. Very structured but hard work at the moment in terms of enjoyment. This one needs some time. A bit hard to judge at the moment but based on the promising nose 90.

06 Mount Mary Pinot 13.3% Brick red colour. Looks like an older wine. Glace cherry and sweet meat nose. Again an almost astringent finish. Obvious tannins that are quite grippy. Needs time to develop. 89

06 Mount Mary Quintets 12.9% Deep red colour. Cherry brambly red currant nose. Very fine grained tannins. Not too different from the pinot to be honest but a bit more body. Feels very lightweight at this stage. There's a bit of pepper there too. Also needs a good long rest. 90

06 Goats do Roam Pinotage South Africa This is primarily pinotage but with some shiaz and other Rhone varieties thrown in the mix. Pinotage is a mix between pinot and syrah apparently. Something I didn't know as I haven't had many South African wines. Anyway, bright red purple colour. Cherry confected earthy smokey nose. Bordering on sweet with spiky pepper and a slightly bitter finish. Not my style so much but might be better with food and a bit of bottle age although I get the impression this is a drink now style. 85

So in summary, I wasn't particularly impressed with anything in the tasting. The tasting was at 12.30 so I am wondering if there was a little leftover toothpaste from my morning routine affecting my tastebuds at all. I hadn't had lunch. The nose and palate on all wines told very different stories. The Mount Marys were clearly very well structured but all tasted very young and lightweight. This is actually the first time I've tasted any new release Mount Marys so it was interesting. I usually buy them and put them away for quite a while. I certainly know where they end up and have bought 4 06 Quintets and 2 06 pinots fairly safe in this knowledge but they are certainly not early drinking styles and do require a bit of patience to truly reveal their worth. Saying all that, I didn't notice anyone else at the tasting in raptures either. Everyone pretty much did the tasting and then ran off. I didn't see anyone buying any Mount Marys either although the price was at something of a premium over the cellar door even though they had a special on for the day.

hey kris have you tried the 05 quintet

bacchaebabe wrote:Hi Andrew, yeah it was a difficult tasting but Mount Mary wines are a bit notorious for needing extending cellaring. It really is a minimum ten year proposition and ideally 15-20 but when matured they are stunning. So you buy on spec obviously.

I have one of these - talk about requiring faith! my heart will break if it is stuffed when I open it finally.

Hi Dazza, sorry, no haven't tried the 05 Quintets.

Scanlon, your faith will be rewarded as long as the cork holds. Actually, I've never had a bad Mount Mary wine to date.

Ive been lucky with Mount Marys too. Never had a bad one yet, Just jinxed myself in future i think

I have not tried the 06 yet but have had all the recent vintages at release and 04 is a standout for me although I have heard the 05 has improved alot in the last 12 months by someone who had it recently and at release..