TN: Blacktongues - Shiraz & Blends 26/5/04

[n4sir]

Last Wednesday night I was invited by Steve Norman (aka 707) to fill in at a sitting of the Black Tongues to sample a line up of ten reds. All were tasted blind and served in the order listed. All participants then scored the wines, and voted for their two most preferred and their least preferred drops. All the wines displayed very different characteristics, and the voting was very even; I didn’t find out the final rankings, but I’m sure it would be interesting. Thanks again Steve and Co for a great evening!

2002 Ladbroke Grove Shiraz: Dark red/purple colour. Very obvious coffee oak on the nose matched to blackberry fruit. With breathing the oak drops off, and some blueberry begins to appear, with some cedar and VA that get even stronger over time. The palate features a soft entry and medium weight, and a slow build up of blueberry and blackberry fruit, mocha oak, and some nutty nuances in the finish. With time that VA on the nose starts to become noticeable on the palate too.

2002 Kay Brothers Amery Shiraz : Very dark red/purple colour. The fruit, with plum, sweet blackberry, and confectionery/marshmallow wafting from the glass dominates the nose. Again that plummy fruit is powering the palate, featuring a big entry, slightly hot alcohol mid-way through, finishing with lingering fruit and mocha on the aftertaste.

2002 Seppelt Victorian Shiraz: Inky black/ purple colour. Extremely closed nose that hardly budged during the entire tasting, revealing only hints of charred oak and blackberry, and after extensive coaxing, hints of blueberry. The palate has very sweet blackberry/black cherry fruit, a hot peppery mid-palate, finishing warm and a little short with some lingering cherries on the aftertaste. At the time I first sampled it I didn’t think this was going to be my worst wine of the night, but that’s how I scored it. I got a bigger shock when I found out what it was, as I thought this was the best wine of the Seppelt table wine line up at Melbourne Street a few months ago!

2002 Marius McLaren Vale Shiraz: Deep, inky red/purple. Ground coffee/spice & mocha barrel ferment characters dominate the nose; I tried the wine at the second last forum tasting panel, and wrote down the note “Marius?” when I recognised these characters! The palate features a very soft entry, a hot, spicy/peppery mid-palate, and a smoky aftertaste with some lingering blackberries and chocolate. At first the palate seemed to lack fruit or was completely closed up, but it was just starting to reveal some of its secrets at the very end of the tasting. I felt it was among a number of wines that needed more time and air to get a better judgement.

2002 Macaw Creek Clare Valley Shiraz: Inky purple/black colour. Powerful and exotic nose of licorice, allspice, herbs and earth, with a layer of sweet blackberries and stewed plum underneath. The palate has a soft, sweet syrupy entry with slight medicinal characters, a lush and sweet blackberry/cordial mid-palate, and a gentle lingering finish like jelly babies. The most exotic wine of the line up, and my favourite; a bit like a mixture of a bag of licorice allsorts and a young vintage port without the high alcohol.

2003 Zonte’s Footstep Shiraz Viognier: A youthful inky purple. This was the second wine I immediately recognised, with those perfumed apricot and yet gamey characters. Again the palate featured stewed plum fruit, apricot and gamey/sausage characters, but this time those chalky tannins seemed more integrated resulting in good length. Not my style of wine, but amazingly it didn’t finish last this time.

2002 Pondalowie Shiraz Cabernet: Glowing inky purple. The nose was extremely closed at first, only under heavy coaxing hinting at the delicate perfumed mixture of dusty blackberries/blueberries to come. The lush, mid-weight palate features sweet plummy fruit, and a soft cherry finish that like the nose grew in intensity at night’s end. A very classy wine that seemed a little reserved at first (I think being after the Zonte’s may have had something to do with this), but blossomed to tie on points with the Macaw Creek on my scoresheet to finish a very close second.

2002 Scarpantoni Block 3 McLaren Vale Shiraz: Dark purple. Barrel ferment coffee characters with a hint of VA opens up to a perfumed mixture of dusty/musky blackberry fruit, and some complex bread dough characters. With breathing that VA becomes more obvious, and the dusty palate with its big alcohol and chalky tannins seemed to lack rich fruit. Powerful and complex but feels like it’s been overdone considering the fruit weight.

2002 Penley Estate Hyland Shiraz: Dark red/purple. The nose was very green on opening, with hints of mint, menthol and leaf characters, developing some coffee with breathing. The palate seemed very soft but lightweight, and went absolutely nowhere. At first this was dead last on my scoresheet, but improved a lot at night’s end, making me think it was another wine that needed a lot more breathing time to strut its stuff.

2002 Ingoldby Shiraz: A very closed nose at first, with some herbs and coffee, and slightly meaty characters that intensified with breathing, making me wonder if there was a splash of Viognier in this. The palate is very savoury, with black olives and medicinal characters, finishing with a burst of hot alcohol and VA. This was another wine that stayed near the bottom end of my scoresheet all night.

Cheers
Ian

[Paul T]

Great notes..sounds like a solid tasting. I'm drinking the 2002 Seppelt Victorian Shiraz which my wife opened yesterday and i'm really enjoying it..probably a bit too much as the last has just been poured and i've cracked a 2001 Rockfords BP to follow it up.For $14 its a steal.Sensational value and a wine to buy a few case of.I find many good wines dont show well in blind tastings..they either dont stand out on their own or need food..drink a bottle with dinner and its a different story.

Thanks for the notes

Cheers

Paul

[707]

Ian, good notes, glad you enjoyed the night.

You're right about the 2002 Marius Shiraz which I took home and it just got better and better as it breathed. This is a very classy wine from a a dedicated very small producer. Very complex with wonderful mouthfeel this is a must buy at the price.

The other wine that impressed with more air was the 2002 Kay's Amery Shiraz but that plays second fiddle to their 2002 Cabernet which is just wonderful even now as a young wine. IMO as good as Mc Laren Vale Cabernet gets, it's got powerful ripe fruit but not jammy, a fair degree of complexity with supporting oak in the background and another wine with good mouthfeel finishing with fine grained tannins. At the price, well it's one of my bargains of the year. I'm grabbing a couple more cases for the long haul but will continue to drink the odd bottle in the next twelve months as well.