The Auswine Forum

My taste buds are still OK, but they are now butt ended by severe tannins.

What, wait for another 25 yrs? Even if I am alive, my taste butts might not.

Got my arms twisted (very good prices) badly to get these:
2 X Yangarra High Sands Grenache 2017
1 X Tyrrell's Vat 9 Shiraz 2017
1 X Best's Bin 0 2017
When would I be able to drink these well aged? At my age, I will drink them 5 yrs down the road. Vinfanticide!

I did! After seeing Grange 06at $600, Bin 169at $250 I finally gave in for two Elderton Command '16at $60 each to complete Elderton collection (which includes three Fifteen '13). NO MORE ...

McLaren Vale Scarce Earth Project (SEP) has been around more than 10 years, so I was lucky to acquire two Kangarilla SEP 2010 in this neck of the woods. Let us see how it has evolved after some 10 years. The wine shows itself inky black with purple/red rim. Very leggy on the side, very full bodied. ...

Curb side pick up! 6 x 2017 Yangarra McLaren Vale Shiraz 6 x 2017 Yangarra Old Vine Grenache All at about CAD$26 each, cannot pass the opportunity in this neck of the wood. Same wine store also offered the latest 2014 Grange for a mere CAD$600. What's up? Is the price OK? I did not grab any, being t...

It's heirloom tomato season, so find the wines for the like of Cherokee Purple, Old German, Pruden Purple etc... In consecutive dinners, the wines being served were: - 05 Lindeman Reserved Verdelho Hunter Valley . Bright gold with green reflection, it sent a nose of lemon, lemon flower, apple and he...

I had my 01 YY Dry Red No1 for dinner with my friends and had similar experience to you. I however double decanted the wine at 8-9 am and the wine was served at 6-7 pm. It was perfect as mentioned, considering the second red for the night was a 02 Cullen Diana Madeline. Still have 4 left to taste! C...

Covid buy!
(6) 2016 Yangarra McLaren Vale Shiraz
This is the one that Halliday refuses to spit during tasting. I probably will never know how it tastes aged. Great drink after about 1h decant, with Alberta steak of course.

A wine is memorable for a couple of reasons: its quality and the moment of consumption. It was July 2007, when we moved to our present house. You know how stressful a move is, with about 30 cases of good wine. Our friends suggested a restful retreat. So we booked into the Num-Ti-Jah lodge, a chalet ...

How about Eperosa Stonegarden 1858 Grenache? Another ancestor vine, but much cheaper.

The problem is there is no left for more enjoyment! Alcohol level was 14.5%.

Bannockburn is more famous for its Pinot, but I acquired two 03 Geelong Shiraz late 2005. I immediately took one to a tapa-style restaurant and decanted the wine on arrival. I shared the first glass with the chef (friend of our son). The first whiff spoke of meaty, earthy and truffy nose and among t...

Still have 3 bottles left in my fridge ( got them at CAD40 a pieces from a wine store which knew nothing about YY, along with a 6-pack of YY 2000 Portsorts!). Almost the same reaction from my friends and myself, except that I have learnt that decanting the Dry Red 1 for about 10 hrs brought out the ...

Had my second 94 Show Reserve quite a while ago. After sabering the top, the wine was served the Canadian way with moose carpaccio, smoked elk and caribou. I am thinking of opening the last one to celebrate the end of Covid-19! Hope not wait too long.

At home a bit apprehensive to go about (my immune system is BAD) so what else but reorganizing the wine cellar! Found a bottle of Tahbilk Marsanne 2009 with deep gold colour. Ha, this should go well with fish soup with Argentinian shrimps. What a glorious nose of apple, apricot, lime and lime grass....

After declaring that the Wirra Wirra Chook Block 2006 as my WOTY, I realized that I still had Xmas dinner to deal with. So came the WW Chook Block 2002 for sake of comparison. After one hour decanting, the wine appeared as a black core surrounded by a dark red rim. the nose was loaded with cedar, bl...

What a year of tasting! I managed to go through, in no special order, these ones that I remembered to make notes: 2001 Terra d'Oro - midpalate mostly 2001 JJHahn 1914 Shiraz - concentrated flavour, fine well aged, lots to go yet 2001 Castello Omitario - still lots of tannins, still powerful 1999 HOG...

Thanks Graeme for the notes. I must be the luckiest guy sometime because the other day I walked into my usual winestore (one of the bigger ones in Calgary) and found three 2008 T1927VM on the shelf with the price of a standard Tahbilk Marsanne (less than CAD20). The manager told me that nobody knows...

Time to taste one old one, one Terra d'or Aix-en-Provence 2000 by M.Chapoutier . RP 94, drink to 2025! Not so fast, the bloody cork is kind wet at the bottom, and breaks down in pieces. Two hours' airing at least to get rid of the cork taint smell! I do not think that Chapoutier would replace that w...

The name created a mad rush for registration, and I made it with my wife. After a refreshing Dourthe No1 2015 (100% Sauvignon Blanc Bordeaux Blanc) with massive citrus aromas surrounding passion fruit, we were confronted with the following: - 1996 Chateau Lafite Rothschild - 1998 LR - 1999 LR - 2004...

The Chook Block vineyard was planted in 1960 with the "heritage clone" shiraz. The first vintage was made in 1998, possibly by Greg Trott. Since then, the wine was produced every 4yr, except after 2010, when strangely this was changed to two yrs. Both the '02 and the '06 were made by chief...

Hi Phillisc
The price in the US is $150, about $200 in Canada. I paid about 160. Just wonder there are more out there. I also have three 2002 Chook Block left from a rare (in Canada) six pack (another long story on how I got them). Obviously none of the '12, or '14 or '16 will get here soon!

Walked into a winestore the other day and decided to look at its vintage section. Well surprise! Three Wirra Wirra Chook Block 2006 in their original black wrapper! However they had an outside sticker saying 'Product of U.S.A'. I guess those were originally shipped to the US and could not sell them ...

It was the wife's birthday and what better choice than the '99 Hill of Grace! Opened it for a 3 hour decant. The first whiff was a warning of what to serve, a nose full of charred meat with some charcuterie followed by dark berries, cedar and anise and this for the first hour of airing. Needless to ...

I would echo Mahmoud's feeling, but only add that you can list a few more Aussie icons, the like of beside Grange, Rockford, HoG, my '94 Show Sparkling Shiraz etc... The one that most people do not know is Hunter valley Verdelho, try the simple Cockfighter's Ghost 2010 edition, earning the accolade ...

Thanks Mahmoud. Those were the wines of the tasting, all by Nicolas Catena. My only complaint was, as mentioned, that the wines were labeled as Cab, not as Cab Malbec, just like the good old Aussie Cab Shiraz etc...the question is why! Otherwise, the wines were plenty tasty and certainly age worthy.

Belonging to a wine club with a deep cellar has its advantage. Recently we had a series of verticals that involved wines mostly out of reach in most cellars. Thinking about reconfigurating your own cellar? It would take time! This vertical consisted of the following: '01, '05, '06, '07, '08, '09 Cat...

For our anniversary? Let us try Rockford BP Shiraz '01! Thanks for the guts for keeping it hidden so long. The cork showed stain for half of it, so a 3 h decanting was long it enough to open a nose full of anise, tobacco, cedar and leather and what else. The palate was long with all black fruits and...

Strange stuff you could find in this neck of the woods. I wandered into a wine store recently and came across with five 500 ml Lou Miranda 50 yo Rare Muscat. The second surprise was the price: $10 a piece! I did query (honesty?) but the clerk checked with the boss and told me that was the clearance ...