The Auswine Forum

G'day I've been through phases with Fermoy Estate. It was my favourite Margaret River winery in the early 1990s, and has moved in and out of my orbit in the intervening years. Chardonnay and Cabernet were always the go-to's. Medium yellow and bright in the glass. A moderately complex nose with prese...

G’day A few of the usual suspects descended on the wonderful Lulu’s Little Bistro for our monthly Grand Cru tasting. This month, it was wines from South America – red, white and no other restrictions apart from being from somewhere on the South American continent. Mark and the team at Lulu’s provide...

A further update, nearly 2 years later. Again, the colour does not seem to have shifted much. Quite a powerful nose, but not harsh, with mocha, coffee and cloves now coming to the fore. Red plums are now fully developed and retreating slightly, while the cranberry note is a little more evident. A to...

My prediction from the last TN in 2022 has turned out to be spot on - this has held for 3 years and has improved slightly. Colour hasn't changed noticeably. The nose opened initially with some leather, but this cleared to reveal red cherries and red plums. There's a touch of vanilla, tar and cedar, ...

G'day This is the flagship Chardonnay from Cape Mentelle, and 2023 has emerged as an excelent vintage for Chardonnay in Margaret River. Pale yellow in colour.A fairly intense nose with ripe stone fruits, a little tropical fruit, some struck match, and nutty oak. The palate adds a gentle splash of le...

Another couple of years down the track, and time to have another look. The colour has lightened slightly, and is now a paler crimson. Spice, especially cloves, and Christmas cake (brandy) dominate the nose, with a little furniture polish, and fully developed red fruits behind these. The palate shows...

I enjoyed the few bottles I tried years ago - the recent Langtons offerings are almost approaching the price where I'd take the risk on heat damage for a bottle two... I've bought (and shared a few bottles) of each of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Highbank red blends. No issues at all and no sign of heat...

GraemeG wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 4:08 pm Nice write-up. Has Highbank just disappeared into the ether? Family schism or something?

I'm curious about this too. The Highbank website is mostly back vintages,and there's been some bargains for 2014 - 2016 blends in the past couple of years through Langtons. Is there a story here?

Four years further on, and with Faber soon to release the 2022 vintage of this wine, it's time to look at the 2015 again. Still purple black in colour. I think this wine is in suspended animation. The nose is pretty much the same as in 2021 (blackberries, cocoa powder, mulberries, alongside a hint o...

G’day This month’s theme was the wines of the Great Southern region in Western Australia. We met at the evergreen Mayfair Lane in West Perth, for what turned out to be a larger-than-life tasting. We were privileged to be joined by Tracey Whooley of Great Southern Sips (and Tracey is also the cellar ...

G'day Purchased from the winery a couple of years ago. The Bowman is the top of their three ranges, and only 300 dozen of this wine were made. Silkwood also boasts a pretty good restaurant, and was well worth the visit. Ruby colour. A mix of savoury and fruit sweetness on the modest nose, with dark ...

G'day This pinot noir is made from vineyards in southern Tasmania. A pale ruby in colour. A perfumed and lifted nose, with clean and bright red cherry and strawberry, some spice notes and just a hint of earth or mushroom. The palate is similarly clean and fruit-forward, with supporting acid and fine...

Final bottle tonight, at 13 years of age. Decanted about 30 minutes before service. Still has a deep purple colour and has lightened only slightly. Initial impressions on the nose are tobacco and coffee grounds, with the developed dark berries emerging with some swirling of the glass. A touch of van...

Time for another look at this, three years on from last time. Colour has barely shifted and is still a medium yellow. The nose is still a little shy, with honey, toast and lanolin over honeysuckle and citrus. As before, the palate is more intense than the nose, with some palate richness, andmore of ...

G’day The first part of this write-up is taken from a similar vertical tasting I hosted in 2020. The full report can be found here: https://forum.auswine.club/viewtopic.php?p=162777&hilit=ashbrook+cabernet+vertical&sid=fc88721898077744643d45046d745ae6#p162777 My Story My history with Ashbroo...

G'day After visiting the winery for lunch today, and tasting/buying the 2023 Malbec, I rummaged aroundthe cellar and found a few back vintages. Worth opening one, I thought. Purple black in colour. The nose is quite vibrant, with sweet blackberry, ripe dark plums, tobacco, vanillan oak, spices (mayb...

G’day Durif is well known in Australia as a staple in Rutherglen, Victoria. Myattsfield planted the first Durif vine in W.A. in 2004. Named ‘Dudley’, this vine has been the progenitor of Myattsfield’s plantings from then on. 14.6% alcohol. Deep purple in colour. A powerful nose, with blueberries, bl...

WineRick wrote: ↑Thu Oct 02, 2025 12:07 pm Is it under screw cap? Sounds as if it is!

Indeed it was under screwcap. Craig may be right about cork until 2005 - certainly most of mine in the cellar are screwcaps.

Allan, thanks for the note, and between all the posters here, we probably have 40 vintages of Black label covered. I think its a 15 year minimum for any vintage, and another 15+ on top of that. I'm trying an '89 on Monday, not a great vintage, but the bottle has been well looked after, ullage is mi...

G'day I've not looked at one of these for some years. Decanted about 4 hours before service. Even during decanting, the primary blackcurrant and eucalypt flavours were climbing out of the decanter. The decanter was stoppered and put back in the cellar. It's settled down a little since then, but the ...

Great notes Allan. Way above my pay grade. I checked out Lulu and it looks great for a meal and BYO is a bonus. I'm getting tired of paying exorbitant prices for average wines with no age. Paying 3 to 4 times bottle shop prices is wrong. Much prefer to dine in these days although there are a few re...

G’day We celebrated a dear friend’s 50th birthday with a long lunch at our ‘regular’ – the fabulous Lulu’s Little Bistro. Mark prepared a buffet style lunch that matched the wines perfectly, and the wines were chosen (and supplied) by the birthday boy. The wines were entirely from Marchand and Burch...

G’day I was privileged to attend a tasting of selected vintages of two of Cullen’s top wines – the Kevin John Chardonnay and the Diana Madeline cabernet blend. Cullen Wines is one of the original wineries in the Margaret River region, and they have built up a national and international reputation fo...

Two years on, and time to have another look at this wine. Decanted about an hour before service. Purple in colour, although the colour has lightened slightly. Vanilla, cedar, dark and red plums, cloves, a little cinnamon, blue and blackberries on the nose. The palate remains full, with licorice and ...

G'day My last bottle of this wine, and interesting to see whether my 2-5 year prediction held up. It did. Purple red in colour. The nose still holds the dark fruits seen 5 years ago, and these have held up well. There's still vanilla and leather, and some signs of further development in the form of ...

A couple of years later, and time to open another bottle. The colour has lightened very slightly, and I am surprised at how much fruit is still dominant on this wine. Developed, yes, but lots of blackberry, black and redcurrant, mulberry, and a fair whack of eucalypt on the nose. Some graphite and m...

G’day A small group of us assembled at the wonderful Lulu’s Little Bistro for our monthly themed tasting. This month, the theme was wines from France’s Cotes Du Rhone. We tasted 10 wines in total – 4 whites and 6 reds. The notes below are mostly a composite of the group’s comments, and not purely my...

G’day Thirteen of us got together at our favourite Lulu’s Little Bistro for a quiet afternoon of wining and dining. At least, that was the intention- it got rather raucous indeed. Fortunately, we had Lulu’s to ourselves. We started in the best possible way – with a magnum of 2008 Billecart-Salmon Ni...

G’day My last bottle of this wine. Decanted an hour before service. Purple black in colour, and light purple at the rim. No sign of bricking. A dusty nose, showing graphite, leather and savoury notes over some developed blackberry fruits. The palate is a little more expressive, with some fairly thic...

G’day A moderate yellow colour, and light for its age. A delightful nose with vanillan oak, white peach and some lemon on the nose, along with cashew and toasted grains. The palate is slightly more citrus dominant, with lemon, lime and grapefruit alongside those white peaches. The texture is slightl...