The Auswine Forum

In 2002, for their 75th anniversary, Burge chose not to make a Draycott Shiraz, and instead blended with Grenache (52%) and Mourvedre (6%) to make this Barossa wine. I opened this tonight, no decanting. At first, I was mildly disappointed with the overabundance of muddled road tar, it seemed monolit...

Oh yeah. Dark garnet color, medium body, this is still very youthful; dark, brooding, blackberry/boysenberry fruit, restrained but flavorful, good balance of nicely mellowed tannins, and a strong acidic backbone give the wine an excellent note of tart crispness on the finish. Drinking beautifully, b...

Can someone give me an idea about the oak levels on the 04 Majella? I bought in to a few bottles of vintages 98-01 (relatively affordable up here in the States), but so far have found the wines to have too much oak for my tastes. Is the 04 any different?

Thanks,
Alan

One more thing, be prepared for some traffic in a few places. Particularly the 101 stretch through the center of Santa Rosa, which can get pretty slow in morning and afternoon rush hour. The routes from the Bay Area up to Sonoma/Napa can get pretty nasty as well, depending on time of day and directi...

I'm always asking for wine help here, so it's a pleasure to be able to provide some assitance in the other direction for once Wide open question, but I'll try to help. The two places you've chosen (Healdsburg and St Helena) are both good choices, probably the best places to stay in each Valley. Here...

Mark, the label doesn't say anything special, I'll assume it was the original release (of course, imported here to the States). I bought this in 2001. Used to be quite rare to find Rockford, though in recent years I've seen it more widely available.

Been shying away from a lot of newer Aussie Shiraz lately, so decided to try this more "classically" styled wine to see how it's doing. Doing well Beautifully sweet (but not overripe) syrah fruit, a nice medium body, fairly resolved, fine tannins, and a perfect balancing acidity. This is d...

First night this was a bit tight, with some apparent toasty oak, only drank a glass. Tonight the in-laws arrived for Thanksgiving, and we drank the rest of the bottle. What a difference 24 hours makes. The wine is now smooth and elegant, most of the oak notes are gone, replaced by a subtle smokiness...

Rick Morcom wrote:I still have a 6 pack of the 1996 Classic Clare, but it is also labelled Show Reserve. Is this the same wine ?

Rick, the label on my bottle does not say "Show Reserve." It is a properly imported bottle, with the U.S. Government warning label integrated into the back Leasingham label.

That's very interesting, Brian. I often have the opportunity to try California wines I plan to age when first released, but not always the more difficult to find Australian wines. Is there something of a recent vintage you might compare to the Leasingham in its youth?

Always heard that this is a wine that needs a bit of age, so this is the first bottle I've opened. If anything it's still too early. Still youthful dark garnet in color, the nose is a bit smoky, meaty, even garrique; Beautiful focused flavors of dark berry fruits, some black cherry, turning juicy an...

Deep garnet in color, a slight hint of a shift toward rust; nose is cedar, some tobacco, sage, touch of mint; nicely balanced, more red-ish fruits than black, a touch of sweetness countered by hints of savory earth; tannins are still noticeable, though fine and silky, and there is a nice kick of aci...

In Chicago, try to get to Sam's downtown, or one of the Binny's. Sam's in particular is a huge store, with thousands of wines - a candyland even for an American wine buyer, with a good selection from every wine region in the world. For California wines, there are so many it is hard to know where to ...

I believe that the real problem is that most Aussie Shiraz (for example) taste very similar (structurally sound with dark fruits and vanilla) and so the serious drinkers are learning that here is no point in collecting a bunch of different wineries. They are learning to be more selective in their c...

Wondering if anyone has done a recent vertical tasting of Dalwhinnie Shiraz, to include 95-98 vintages? I had the 96 a couple of years ago, and it was superb, wondering what the others are like at the moment. And is there a difference between the "Victoria" designation, and "Pyrenees&...

Oops, edited to add the vintage: 1997. Although I've been to Oz on business a few times, never been to any wine regions. Spending a week in SA is a dream I hope to fulfill some time.

Cheers,
Alan

2004 Descendent The first of the SV blends deep purple to almost black in colour. Blue and red berrys on the nose, pepper, spice and after a couple of minutes just a hint of apricot pokes it's head up. Plums raspberry and just a magnificent depth and length on this wine it just waltzes across the p...

Been hanging onto this for some time, the first of two bottles opened about a year ago was oxidized, and well over the hill. This wine is terrific. Medium garnet in color; smoky pine needles and earthy spices on the nose; Flavors are concentrated cherry wtih touches of mineral, earth, and a brillian...

Wendouree seems to be one of those under-the-radar cult wines that I see talked about here, but almost never written up in the major wine publications or review journals - and it is as rare as hen's teeth here in the States. So when I had the chance to buy a few bottles up here I took the plunge. Ha...

Found Ultimo's web site, but they don't list prices so I can't give any advice there (and probably why they don't appear on Wine Searcher). There are indeed some fine wines listed, particularly Ridge Monte Bello (their "Santa Cruz" Cab is very decent as well), Montelena (particularly the "Estate" Ca...

From what I can tell, you have almost no hope of becoming more experienced with California wines if you have to rely on the local retail shops. Just a quick check on Wine Searcher shows almost no decent wines from even the major brands (Mondavi, Beringer, etc.) with the exception of a few of their l...

Attila, Great note. I tried the Godolphin in early December (having bought it up here on spec for $43 earlier in the year), and was very happy with my purchase. http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=4361 I actually think it has a good chance to age incredibly, with pretty high acidity and some...

Aren't you a lucky bugger! Uh, assuming that I translate this to mean "fellow," then yes Did you find any oak evident with the Command? Nothing on your tasting note, and I'd be interested to hear based on my experiences with previous vintages of this wine (and also the Ashmead). Max, in all honesty...

Another nice shop tasting. Wines had been opened a few hours before. FWIW, I happen to like many styles of Syrah/Shiraz, from French Hermitage & Cote Rotie, through the numerous California styles, to the wide range of Australian wines. These are all "high scoring" Parker wines, and I feel comfor...

Decided it's time to try one of these, and am taking it to a small dinner tomorrow night. Opened it tonight, just to make sure it's OK, and took a 2 oz pour to check it out. Half the cork came out initially, leaving the other half, which I extracted with an Ah-so opener - lower part of the cork was ...

Yep, it's the top wine. Special one-time closeout deal, don't know why, didn't ask. All I know is that the wine is in perfect condition. Given the parallel discussion going on about Parker taking Mt Mary out to the woodshed, it's interesting to read his note on the Moss Wood: "The ripe 2000 Cabernet...

Deep, rich, dark cab fruit, cassis, hints of leather, herbs, smoke, soy, a touch of oak showing, moderate/medium fine grained tannins, can't wait to drink this in 10+ years. A beautiful rendition of Cabernet in a New World, yet classic style. Went back and read Ric's review of this wine, and it was ...

Dark but not opaque garnet in color, the nose is earthy pine forest; bright, black cherry, laser acidity, strong finish with tannins mostly resolved. Here in California you hear talk of Pinot being made in a Syrah style - ripe, extracted, over the top. This is the counterpoint to that: an Aussie Syr...

Andrew, gotta love that Wine Exchange! I recently bought a few bottles of Wendouree, the only place I've ever seen it up here. $17 is an insane price for a wine of this quality, I think I paid something like $23, after it started to get noticed. Steve, I've read good reviews on the 2002s, but we don...

Still a pup, but drinking pretty well. Nose has a touch of green vegetal character, but the flavors are nicely dark, very balanced ripeness, acidity, tannic structure. My only complaint is what seems to be a fair amount of oak flavors, which distracts a bit from the fruit. Overall pretty nice wine, ...