TN: Auswine Forum Tasting Panel

[n4sir]

All the following wines were tasted blind and served in the order listed. Thanks to Gavin and Lynn Trott for the hospitality and BBQ, Gavin & Chaz for the samples, Lynn’s mum for the savoury pancakes, and fellow panellists Steve (aka 707) and Roger Pike (Marius Wines) for their priceless input. Please note that these are notes made from mostly my own impressions, which were at times quite different from the other panellists.

2003 Cleanskin Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir: Dark, clear raspberry/brick red colour. Sweet perfumed nose of raspberries, chocolate and a hint of musk. The palate opens with a powerful shot of tannin and alcohol heat with meaty flavours, and a cherry aftertaste. A very light, hot and stalky style of Pinot that frankly isn’t to my taste; the others were more forgiving.

2001 Margaret River Cabernet Merlot by Brad (Stelvin): Deep dark red colour. A very impressive perfumed nose, initially very minty at first, then savoury/meaty, and finally some dusty tea/cloves. In comparison the palate is lightweight, with a big hit of acid and tannin. It features green/minty/stalky flavours, and finishes very dry, almost astringent, occasionally with some chocolate/mocha in the aftertaste. A final note on the very original label concept: a comic book strip, very much in the same vein as the Kiss “Unmasked” album cover. The wine seems to be aiming at a specific market – maybe the female Chardonnay set looking to buy something red for the first time?

2001 Raydon Estate Tails South Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon: Deep, dark purple colour with a glowing purple hue. Deep set chocolate/mint and menthol, with some varnish lingering in the background. A powerful palate of chocolate and cassis fruit which becomes more minty with breathing, and some licorice on the aftertaste. It is on the slightly hot side (14.5%), and while there is no noticeable hole in the palate, the tannin structure is rather clumsy. Thinking (hoping) the wine may improve with additional breathing we tried it again at the end of the night, but unlike the 2002 Reschke Vitulus at a previous tasting panel, it never really came together.

2001 Kilikanoon Blocks Road Cabernet Sauvignon: Deep, inky crimson colour. A very big and sweet nose, with tar/coal, mint, vanilla oak, and a very sweet residue, almost like marzipan. The palate continues the sweet theme, with syrupy raspberry/blackberry/blackcurrant fruit, a soft entry, and fine chalky tannins. I thought it was an accurate reflection of the Kilikanoon style over the years, although Chaz thought it wasn’t like what the wine should’ve been at all!

1998 Geoff Merill Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: Deep rich crimson with no signs of purple. Magnificent complex nose featuring some black olive and smoky/meaty notes, some herbs (Vietnamese mint/fresh oregano), coal, chalk and hints of vanilla. The palate features dark chocolate, blackcurrant fruit, occasionally some herbs, and fine, classy tannins. I felt the palate seemed to drop away at the finish, but everyone else couldn’t fault the wine. A very classy drop to match the classy label.

2003 Zonte’s Footstep Shiraz Viognier (Stelvin): A youthful glowing purple. Very exotic, perfumed and yet gamey nose; some chocolate, mint and apricot, and to me very meaty/sweaty, like spicy pork sausages drenched in BBQ salt. The palate features stewed plum fruit, spicy/gamey characters, and immature chalky tannins. It’s by Chester Osborn and it’s awfully young, but it still makes you ask where these blends are really going?

2002 Grant Burge Balthasar Shiraz Viognier: Dark crimson/red colour. Delicate perfumed nose with some herbs and mint, but it closes up very quickly. The mid-weight palate features some olive, mint, blackberry, pepper and plum, a very chalky finish, and rich chocolate on the aftertaste. A couple of us commented that in Grant Burge’s line up recently where it was tasted after the Miamba and Filsel and before the Holy Trinity, it was really lost among the heavier weights. It looked really good in this line up – especially after the Zonte’s Footstep – but on its own those meaty/sweet apricot Viognier notes are far more noticeable.

1998 Geoff Merill Reserve Shiraz: Deep red with a purple hue. The nose was very oaky, with a big dose of formic acid and mint. The palate featured big alcohol and syrupy cough medicine characters, and at that stage Gavin and Chaz picked up there was something really wrong with the bottle. While there was no hint of it on the nose, the wine was written off as being cork-tainted. A pity after the impressive Reserve Cabernet.

1999 Orlando Lawsons Shiraz: Bright, clear, glowing purple colour. A huge, sweet complex nose of mint, menthol, chocolate and coffee, and some formic acid with breathing. Obvious tar/coffee oak dominates the superbly structured palate; a soft entry and extremely fine chalky tannins woven through the big, plush body. Gavin said he could sniff this all night – and then poured a good chunk of the bottle on the lawn at night’s end!

1998 Jamiesons Run Alexanders Block Cabernet Sauvignon: I double decanted this about three to four hours before serving. Dark crimson/purple colour. Very complex nose, featuring some savoury notes, mint, green/leaf, some herbs, and tar. The soft entry features a huge and slow build up of slightly tarry, blackcurrant/cherry fruit culminating in a long chalky finish with some coffee appearing in the residue. A much-maligned wine on the forum in the last few months, but this was an exceptional bottle.

2002 Penna Lane Cabernet Sauvignon (Stelvin): Roger pulled this out at the end of the night (not in a sock this time!) and had us all fooled again. Dark, inky purple colour with a glowing purple hue. Rich, plummy nose with what seemed to be obvious oak, and to me some rather pungent/stinky characters, which flowed through to the palate. It was medium bodied with fine, drying tannins, finishing with coffee on the aftertaste. Roger was surprised that I thought this was a bit stinky, since he thought it was as clean as this style of wine could be.

Roger produced a bottle from his Marius winery after this, but I my attention was diverted to another topic and I stopped taking notes. I honestly can’t remember what it was, but the entire panel thought it was pretty good – my apologies for missing this Roger!

Cheers
Ian

[TORB]

2002 Penna Lane Cabernet Sauvignon (Stelvin): Roger pulled this out at the end of the night (not in a sock this time!) and had us all fooled again. Dark, inky purple colour with a glowing purple hue. Rich, plummy nose with what seemed to be obvious oak, and to me some rather pungent/stinky characters, which flowed through to the palate. It was medium bodied with fine, drying tannins, finishing with coffee on the aftertaste. Roger was surprised that I thought this was a bit stinky, since he thought it was as clean as this style of wine could be.

Hi Ian,

Once again, excellent and detailed notes. I dont know if your nose was off by this stage of the proceedings - or if it was an off bottle and Roger was remembering his last bottle and not feeling any pain whilst drinking this one.

The wine I tried at the winery was certainly very "clean".

[RogerPike]

Ric,

I definitely remember some French bread on the table, and I probably ate some, but I think that you are right, I don't remember feeling it!