Weekly Drinking Reports @ 21/10/2012

[dlo]

So what's gone down in your part of the world this week?

I've had a relatively quiet wine week, but the few I've opened have been pretty damn good. The star being a 1999 Jean Grivot Clos Vougeot. I bought a fair bit of this from Ultimo's "frozen reefer" clearance many moons ago and this is the first bottle that has really sung. The other wine was a 2002 Penfolds Reserve Bin Eden Valley Riesling, a very youthful and impressive wine in the mouth but with initial excessive petrol character (or TDN = trimethyldihydronaphthalene) found in the bouquet. A good breathe seemingly allowed some of this unwelcome character to blow off. This link http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/tom/riesling-petrol-2.htm explains some of the background/technical data on the "petrolly" character found in Riesling.

[dan_smee]

Nice Dave.

Opened up a Tyrrell's Vat 1 2006, and a Tyrrell's Vat 6 1999.

The Vat 1 was sensational. The fresh, acidic lemony / green pea characters were all still there, and still a nice tint of green. Nose was a bit more developed than the palate, showing some very Vat 1-ey toast and biscuit, but not the tour de force of the 1999 V1 - yet.

The palate itself was clean, focused and long. Such an incredible intensity of flavour year in, year out - and 06 was such a fantastic vintage (best of the 00's for mine). Could live another 10 comfortably, but right in that stage now where you still get some fresh primary flavours to balance out the richer aged caracters. Perfect as an appetiser wine with some cheeses, dips, crackers and freshly cut vegetables.

The Vat 6 was a slightly different story. Probably 2 or 3 years over in truth. For Huner Pinot though, there were some really nice varietal flavours in there, and dense raspberry conserve note on the nose. The colour was total brick red, but the palate itself wasn't too stewed or confected. It had been really well cellared. I nice drinking experience, but the Vat 6 usually performs well for the price (around 35 these days) as a youngster, and I probably preferred the 2010 to be honest.

That said, the 1999 did go incredibly well with the Kangaroo and Blueberry Pizza (remade after last week's success).

[damonpeyo]

Had a busy 3 days wine session with my old man and step mother down Tassie.

1996 Elderton Command Shiraz
2000 Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne
2002 Petaluma Riesling
2004 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling
2005 Tahbilk Eric Stevens Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Taltarni Three Monks Cab Sauv/Merlot <<< horrible.
2008 Saltram Mamre Brook Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Hollicks Cab Sauv/Merlot
2010 d'Arenberg The Stump Jump Sticky
NV Jansz Sparking Wine

The favorites would have to be the following: Elderton, Petaluma, Grosset, Tahbilk Eric Stevens Cab Sav.

The Elderton was just prefect, chocolately-port like characteristics with hints of sticky pudding and butterscotch went awesomely with BBQ Rosemary and Minted Infused Leg of Lamb.

'05 Tahbilk Eric Stevens showed mixture of pine-like combined with blackberry and earthy fruit characters whilst the finish is long and smooth, I really liked this one too, went with simple BBQ Pork and Fennel Sausages and Spuds, plenty of cellaring years left ahead, still nice drink now.

Noticed '04 Grosset seem somewhat little slightly sweeter, less acidic than the '03. '02 Petaluma had interesting kerosene like aromas.

[Rossco]

Had a pretty good week.

2010 Gibson reserve shiraz. Pretty freaking good. Wonderful silky mouthfeel.
Beautiful sweetish vanilla oak (quality oak at that!), dark chocolate and black fruits. The
Colour is dense and impenetrable. Fantastic value @ around $36ish.
Still so young but such a huge future, oak is very dominant and will hopefully
Calm down with time.

2002 katnook estate merlot. I dislike the majority of Australian
Merlot. Too jammy and over ripe. I have recently hoever discovered
The joys of coonawarra merlot....especially katnook estate. In the glass looked
A lot older than 02, but wow what a wine . Red currents, mocha and some
Slight olive/spice. Wonderful and a complete revelation.

1995 & 1999 tahbilk shiraz: bought as part of their mystery dozen.
Both Really hitting their strides. Oak and fruit in perfect harmony. One
Not dominating the other. Spice (anise?) And some very fine tannins.
If Anyone who has been down to the tahbilk cellars remembers the smell, well
The bouquet is exactly like that! Ahh the memories.

[Chuck]

Friday night withfish a Corner Creek 2010 Clare Riesling (nice) and a Geoff Hardy 1996 Adelaide Hills Cabernet. From the early days this was OK but a little tired. His stuff from the 2000's are really good stuff.

Saturday night with friends and BBQ rare Coorong Angus porterhouse by Richard Gunner with caramalised onions and mushrooms, salad and potato salad:

Thorn Clarke NV bubbles. Clearly old bit nice although bubbles were a little light on.
Cleanskin sparkling red. A surprise and quite nice.
Jeaneret 2002 Clare Cabernet. Lovely bottle aged cab.
Yalumba 2009 FDR1 Cabernet Shiraz. Quite approachable and good drinking
Taylors 2004 St Andrews Clare Cabernet. Yum and ready to drink.
A very old Yalumba Galway Pipe measured in pints and fluid oz so probably from the 1960's. Clearly well cellared and pure nectare
Crown Larger, James Squire Chancer, Coopers Sparkling ale.

After clearing out the cobwebs today working in the garden on a sensational Adelaide spring day a Coopers Sparkling ale refreshed the palate.

Carl

[daz]

Friday night withfish a Corner Creek 2010 Clare Riesling (nice) and a Geoff Hardy 1996 Adelaide Hills Cabernet. From the early days this was OK but a little tired. His stuff from the 2000's are really good stuff.

Saturday night with friends and BBQ rare Coorong Angus porterhouse by Richard Gunner with caramalised onions and mushrooms, salad and potato salad:

Thorn Clarke NV bubbles. Clearly old bit nice although bubbles were a little light on.
Cleanskin sparkling red. A surprise and quite nice.
Jeaneret 2002 Clare Cabernet. Lovely bottle aged cab.
Yalumba 2009 FDR1 Cabernet Shiraz. Quite approachable and good drinking
Taylors 2004 St Andrews Clare Cabernet. Yum and ready to drink.
A very old Yalumba Galway Pipe measured in pints and fluid oz so probably from the 1960's. Clearly well cellared and pure nectare
Crown Larger, James Squire Chancer, Coopers Sparkling ale.

After clearing out the cobwebs today working in the garden on a sensational Adelaide spring day a Coopers Sparkling ale refreshed the palate.

Carl

In recent months I've rediscovered Coopers Sparking Ale, have been thoroughly enjoying it.

[daz]

Grant Burge Holy Trinity 2008 seems to be in a good place at present, sweet and savoury, some smokey bacon notes lurking under the plum, black and red cherry fruit with a flick of licorice before the satisfying, medium-length finish of red cherry, some well-integrated charry oak supported by lively acid. Some pepper emerges with breathing. I think this was about $24/btl using a free freight code, making it very good value.

[Mike Hawkins]

2002 Paul Bara Special Club Champagne - 2 bottles, both superb. Lovely pinot richness highlighting the greatness of the vintage. Streets in front of the very good 2004.

1990 Yalumba The Reserve - from memory, the inaugural release. Lots of bottle stink to start with, but this blew off after 20 minutes. Majestic blend of aged cabernet and shiraz from a much hyped year. Stacks of rich ripe fruit leading to a long finish with fantastic tannins. This is a magnificent wine with the capacity for further improvement.

2006 (disg) Rockford Black Shiraz - really good which was unexpcted as the 2 previous bottles from this disgorgement were below expectations.

[sjw_11]

An atypical drinking week for me due to spending Friday night at Murray's pub at Manly for 1KG of ribs and then Saturday down in Melb at the Caulfield Cup and then spending Sunday... well, recovering.

Did discover a very strong contender for best beer in Australia... an Imperial Stout from Murray's called Into the Abys with 11.3% abv, the perfect night cap. All of the Murray's beers are good to exceptional and they also have the only hand pump Ive yet found in Australia. Dont think about it, go there, go there now! NB: I do not work for Murray's or have any pecuniary interest!!

Since this is a wine review site, the Pommery NV at a trackside marquee on Sat was OK, clean, crisp but ultimately a little simple... The crown lagers plentiful and refreshing. Many hours later the vodka red bull over 2am casino black jack... perhaps superfluous.

[Brucer]

2002 Paul Bara Special Club Champagne - 2 bottles, both superb. Lovely pinot richness highlighting the greatness of the vintage. Streets in front of the very good 2004.

1990 Yalumba The Reserve - from memory, the inaugural release. Lots of bottle stink to start with, but this blew off after 20 minutes. Majestic blend of aged cabernet and shiraz from a much hyped year. Stacks of rich ripe fruit leading to a long finish with fantastic tannins. This is a magnificent wine with the capacity for further improvement.

2006 (disg) Rockford Black Shiraz - really good which was unexpcted as the 2 previous bottles from this disgorgement were below expectations.

Rockford used crap corks in these for years. Heaps of leakers also. Could be worth a call to them, as they know about cork problems.

[jimbob47]

I opened up a McLaren Vale Possum Vinyards 2006 Shiraz. Really good typical shiraz from that region. Finished it off with one of David Franz new Golden Scrumpy Apple/ Semillon Cider.. fantastic!

[daz]

I opened up a McLaren Vale Possum Vinyards 2006 Shiraz. Really good typical shiraz from that region. Finished it off with one of David Franz new Golden Scrumpy Apple/ Semillon Cider.. fantastic!

Thanks for the reminder. I'd forgotten I've tried a Possum wine some years ago, can't remember the vintage but remember thinking it to be a pretty good wine, pretty sure it was a shiraz.

[damonpeyo]

Got question, what the heck is that black grey spot on the cork, it's from the 2000 Tahbilk 1927 Vines Marsanne showing both sides of the cork, sitting next to the cork from '02 Petaluma Riesling and '05 Tahbilk Eric Can Sav?????



Marsanne was drinkable, nice, just start past it's peak. It wasn't too badly oxidised. Strangely, the first cork out of the 6 I have opened from that vintage in the last couple years that in fact didn't crumble/break.





oh... the pictures were taken the day after of opening....

[damonpeyo]

Close call with 1996 Elderton Command Shiraz been sitting in father's mother-in-law in cellar unmoved for over 10 years, wonder if this happening during transport to my father's place couple months ago for his birthday?? See the cork.

Yet, still awesome and fantastic drop.

[bob parsons]

2006 Reserve Riesling Heath Wines Clare Valley, purchased this year. Light gold color, blah nose, short unexciting finish. Something did not vibe here! Do these guys have a track record?

[Michael McNally]

2006 Reserve Riesling Heath Wines Clare Valley, purchased this year. Light gold color, blah nose, short unexciting finish. Something did not vibe here! Do these guys have a track record?

Never heard of 'em Bob, but I am no Clare Riesling expert.

Kind regards

Michael