weekly drinking thread commencing 17th feb

[monghead]

Hi all,
TNs, vibes, lists all welcome!

2010 Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir- Good Good
2004 Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz- Good Good
2010 Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon- Solid Good
2012 Heggies Riesling- Good

[Chuck]

Geoff Hardy 2008 Meritage. A blend of cabernet and other Bordeaux grapes this wine is sold in north America. Canada mainly I believe. Grapes mainly from Limestone Coast that reflects the warmer year. Good well made wine that after a year or so since last tasted has developed well. Should get better.

Jacob's Creek 2003 Johann(cleanskin). Not release under label this was a great find. Not up to the usual standard but fine drinking with some serious oak.

Lake Breeze Old Windmill Tawny Port. I wrote about this recently. One of the best tawny's I've enjoyed that would give Penfolds Grandfather Port a run for its money. $25 at cellar door. I'll be buying much more of this fine 12+ year old tawny.

Carl

[dlo]

Thanks to Mong for getting the thread started ....

1990 Lindemans Coonawarra St. George Cabernet Sauvignon - good good - 92

2003 Mesh Riesling - muchly good - 93

2009 Barossa Valley Estate Chardonnay - a good quaffer and still hanging in there - low alcohol and good acid saves it - 84

[Cloth Ears]

2003 BB Patricia Chardonnay. Had with Thai on Valentines' day. Definitely needed some time after opening to open up, and was quite nice. Complex, with some oak still hanging in there. Possibly a little past it's prime, at least to this boys nose, but definitely still good (and only one step below great, imo).

2006 Rosenvale Semillon. Very tasty drop, still enjoying these after 3 years. Smells like it's just been bottled still! Doesn't have the backbone to be a great ager, but is definitely with the wait for a couple of years.

[Craig(NZ)]

A weekend off running giving my niggly achilles a rest so....

2010 Sacred Hill Riflemans Chardonnay - Excellent, peaches and cream sensual 98 points
2008 Kumeu River Mates Chadonnay - Cut grapefruiit bottled lemons and quartz - 98 points
2009 Clearview Resereve Chardonnay - Big, rich and opulent - 97 points
2004 Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay - MAramalade, bottled lemon, grapefruit, massive intensity and concentration 99 points
2010 Sacred Hill Helmsman Canbernet Merot - Riche finely structured, textured 97+ points
2010 Sacred Hill Deerstalker Syrah - Fragrant, medium bodied. Missing a bit of fruit but classy 95 points
2010 Sacred Hill Brokenstone Merlot - Soft, elegant but with good depth and body 96 points
2007 Matariki Syrah - Full package, classy, deep finely structured, drinking really well 97 points

[GraemeG]

I'm still writing up 70-odd notes from the Sydney SHow tasting on Friday - and subsequently had an AFD on Saturday - but there was this last night:

2001 Grosset Riesling Polish Hill - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Polish Hill (2/17/2013)
{screwcap, 13%} Mid yellow, but still with a flash of riesling green. Somewhat aged nose of some petrol and browning lemon juice. Quite pungent, quite intense. The palate still reminds you of drinking molten steel, with its wet granite and mineral flavours. Lemon curd and an apple note constitute well-developed fruit; this is still quite acidic - almost hard - but not painfully so. It's actually very satisfying to drink, but you'd never call it charming. At least medium-bodied, it does kind of grow on you after the shock of the first glass. Dry as bones, and medium-long in its mineral/lemon finish, I doubt there's much real improvement (in the complexity sense) here, but I think it will keep another 5-6 years quite happily. It might be interesting to see if the inherent steeliness fades, and what happens to this wine once it gets into the tertiary/decrepit phase. You know it won't be oxidised or corked, at least!

cheers,
GG

[sjw_11]

Some wines from evening round a friend's place on Saturday...
Meadowbank Riesling 2004... Tasmanian. S/cap. Glowing green/gold in the glass this leaps out with aromas of lime juice, kero and citrus zest. I liked it, but a few others disagreed.

Pooley Pinot Noir 2003... Good wine but perhaps not great qpr at c$60/bottle. A little warm/ripe, was it a warmer year in Tassie? No one was sure. Certainly a more masculine, muscular style.

Bowen Estate Shiraz 1993... Provenance. Opened well with a still robust hue, brick red. Lively, deeply fruited nose (unmistakably shiraz)... was probably a bit of a fruit bomb in its time and this has given way to delicious, elegant red fruits and a soft, supply palate. Nice.

Petaluma Coonawarra 1986... Auction buy. Opened quite well, but just a bit subdued on the nose. A good wine, classic claret vs the Bowen's classic shiraz, medium bodied, cedar & earth notes, just perhaps lacking a bit of stuffing.

D'arenberg D'arry's Original 1999... Provenance. Cork. Really nice Shiraz Grenache blend but by now I was probably past the point of crafting excellent thoughts on the wine - sweetly fruited, elegant and pleasant wine.

Tollana VP 1972... Nice enough, sweet brandy plums, not particularly amazing though (was only about $11 with a weeping cork from oddbins!)

Then a glass of excellent and excellently unecessary Tequila...

And from last night:
Rockford Moppa Springs GMS 2008... Needs a bit of time to open up, starts a bit simple with sweet confected Grenache. Traditional style, light hue, slightly warm from the 14.5% abv. Will give it another look on the last 1/3rd of the bottle tonight.

Jim Barry Riesling 2012... Another good bottle! So its 1 bad from 4 then... pristine, lovely riesling and great qpr.

[Michael McNally]

A weekend off running giving my niggly achilles a rest so....

2010 Sacred Hill Riflemans Chardonnay - Excellent, peaches and cream sensual 98 points
2008 Kumeu River Mates Chadonnay - Cut grapefruiit bottled lemons and quartz - 98 points
2009 Clearview Resereve Chardonnay - Big, rich and opulent - 97 points
2004 Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay - MAramalade, bottled lemon, grapefruit, massive intensity and concentration 99 points
2010 Sacred Hill Helmsman Canbernet Merot - Riche finely structured, textured 97+ points
2010 Sacred Hill Deerstalker Syrah - Fragrant, medium bodied. Missing a bit of fruit but classy 95 points
2010 Sacred Hill Brokenstone Merlot - Soft, elegant but with good depth and body 96 points
2007 Matariki Syrah - Full package, classy, deep finely structured, drinking really well 97 points

Poor bunch. Nothing even close to 110 points...pity.

Did the wine help with the Achilles?

Cheers

Michael

[monghead]

A weekend off running giving my niggly achilles a rest so....

2010 Sacred Hill Riflemans Chardonnay - Excellent, peaches and cream sensual 98 points
2008 Kumeu River Mates Chadonnay - Cut grapefruiit bottled lemons and quartz - 98 points
2009 Clearview Resereve Chardonnay - Big, rich and opulent - 97 points
2004 Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay - MAramalade, bottled lemon, grapefruit, massive intensity and concentration 99 points
2010 Sacred Hill Helmsman Canbernet Merot - Riche finely structured, textured 97+ points
2010 Sacred Hill Deerstalker Syrah - Fragrant, medium bodied. Missing a bit of fruit but classy 95 points
2010 Sacred Hill Brokenstone Merlot - Soft, elegant but with good depth and body 96 points
2007 Matariki Syrah - Full package, classy, deep finely structured, drinking really well 97 points

Poor bunch. Nothing even close to 110 points...pity.

Did the wine help with the Achilles?

Cheers

Michael

Hmmm,

I must have been missing from this forum for too long! I was reading through these notes, and I thought, "wow, superlative wines, must try them...", but now I am reminded of the 110 point scale...

Also, did the wines help with the achilles? I've been up at 4:45 on week days for the last 2 months pounding the pavement, and my right achilles is pretty sore. If the wine helped, based on the n=1 with a 100% success rate, I would have to conclude that I need to drink 4 chardies, 2 bordeaux blends, and 2 shirazes each w/e "to heal" of course...

Cheers,

Monghead.

[griff]

Managed to have an Aussie this week. Need to start drinking the cellar down as coming back to Sydney in June. Looked at shipping the wine over but the tax is scary! Can't see a way around it either apart from the few you can carry in duty free. At least we are drinking well

2005 Rolf Binder Heysen Shiraz
Quality oak overlaying the blueberry fruit. Too much oak though and not sure where this is going. Good.

2002 Bollinger Champagne Grande Année Rosé
Quality wine this. Prefer it to the 2002 white and that is saying something. The addition of red wine has provided a turkish delight rose petal and vanilla cream character that really is special. Outstanding.

2005 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel
Instense nose of mineral white peach fruit with jasmine flower top notes. Slightly spritzy. Palate of white peaches and honeyed lime that deepened over a few hours air to a more tropical guava flavour. Perfect balanced acidity allowing this to finish clean and fresh. Great food wine. Excellent/Outstanding.

2008 Conterno Fantino Barolo Sorì Ginestra
Slightly closed at first. Cherry and earth on the nose. Ripe palate with smoke, cherry stones and a lick of anise. Very savoury yet clean as whistle. Rich mouthfeel with sneaky tannin showing its hand after the second glass. Constant evolution until the last drop. Found itself used as a perfect foil for a homemade beef rendang. Excellent/Outstanding.

Niepoort Crusted Port (bottled 2011)
Inciting, dark fruited savoury nose. Lovely savoury licorice notes on the palate. Slightly simple if pleasurable if you wanted to be picky. Very good.

cheers

Carl

[monghead]

Yes Carl, I definitely hear you! Prices of wine here crazy bad. Just spent done time in the US, and wine was about half the price! Felton Road was the weekly quaffer, at 25-30 a bottle! Managed to take about 4-5 cases of good stuff home, with family, visitors throughout our stay, but for high end stuff, I now buy from the US, and have started a cellar in NY.

Hmmm, many trips to the US in the future...

[monghead]

2010 Picnic by Two Paddocks Pinot Noir
Delightful dark cherries, supple, moorish, silky tannins. Fantastically slurpable. Good Good.

[griff]

Five cases! I bow to your foresight regarding duty free. Yes I am seriously tempted to keep some wine in bond over here. I'm sure explaining it to the better half will be simple

[bob parsons]

Had a wonderful evening at a new Chinese restaurant with some pals from the Yukon. I was allowed to bring in 2 German wines that I had previously enjoyed at a recent Xmas staff party!

`08 Emrich Schonleber Monzinger Holenberg Riesling R (Nahe).

Went quite well with Peking Duck courses. Medium lemon colour, great elegance and concentration. Pear, melon, pineapple very delicious.

`09 Weingut Hupfeld Hochheimer Kongin Victoriaberg Riesling Spatlese, Rheingau.

I have been informed that the son is making big changes here, for the better I believe. This is a very good wine for under $30 Cdn and I will buy more asap. Very good balance here, sweet, lots of complexity, excellent finish, melon, lemon tones. Was a treat with stuffed crab claws, loved the glass stopper.

[Chuck]

Petaluma Coonawarra 1986... Auction buy. Opened quite well, but just a bit subdued on the nose. A good wine, classic claret vs the Bowen's classic shiraz, medium bodied, cedar & earth notes, just perhaps lacking a bit of stuffing.

Early Petaluma wine of the 80's were quite average as they chased the Bordeaux lighter low alcohol style. It took until the late 90's before they realised riper fruit made better wine. I've tried many of their earlier wines including many 86's and was forever disappointed. Like many other Coonawarra wines from the 80's. Try the Mildara Alexander from the 80's to experience an austere cabernet. Some were 12% alcohol. They are holding up well but as you say - lacking stuffing

Carl

[damonpeyo]

2008 Cockfighter's Ghost Langhorne Creek Cab Sav

Too much concentrated and intense berry notes and aromas at opening.

Average. Improved just OK to quaffable after over a hour of breath. Eating Grilled Eye Fillet steaks helped.

Damon.

[Craig(NZ)]

Hmmm,

I must have been missing from this forum for too long! I was reading through these notes, and I thought, "wow, superlative wines, must try them...", but now I am reminded of the 110 point scale...

Also, did the wines help with the achilles? I've been up at 4:45 on week days for the last 2 months pounding the pavement, and my right achilles is pretty sore. If the wine helped, based on the n=1 with a 100% success rate, I would have to conclude that I need to drink 4 chardies, 2 bordeaux blends, and 2 shirazes each w/e "to heal" of course...

Cheers,

Monghead.

109 points not 110! Jeez how would a 110 point scale work? 110 is not a prime number for a start!

With the risk of covering all too familiar ground, rating out of 100 is as stupid as rating out of 109. Thinking that a 95 point wine from Mr X is comparable to a 95 point wine from Mr Y is nothing but folly. It gets way too star wars wine nerdy for me. However any rating is useful to compare a set of wines across the same taster. stars, /20, /10 who cares.

In my write up you can happily determine that WOTN for me was the Neudorf. In no way do I think you can look at someones 96/100 wine and conclude therefore it is a better wine than someone elses 95/100 wine.

Talk like "Oh I tried a wine today. It would be at least a 94/100!!" ??? Go on, put your sausage away son. I'm not listening

[sjw_11]

Craig, why dont you adopt my more ... colourful scoring system? I am determined to drive its mainstream acceptance (even though I myself stopped trying to use it after about 3 notes haha)

http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12905&p=103548#p103548

[sjw_11]

Also on the whats drinking thread: the mid weekies:

Scarborough "Green Label" Semillon 2012... Not bad, fresh, clean ... just lacking something, a bit dilute, a bit green. I thought this was better when I tried and bought it at the cellar door.

De Bortoli Estate Shiraz Viognier 2008... Y/valley. S/cap. Mid-red, bright hue. Bright red berries, mountains of finely ground pepper, and lively, crunchy acidity. Medium length. These were great value at $15/bottle or so half price, Im undecided if a couple of years in the dark would cause them to settle down a bit on the acid & the pepper and gather a bit more nuance & elegance. Nice wine but will it become "good good" (to use yet another scoring system from these boards!)?

[Teisto]

2000 Penfolds Bin 28 - Tired wine. Starting to fade in colour and fruit. Potentially poor cellaring (was from Father in laws cellar) as a 2001 I had last year was as fresh as a daisy. Expected better - If this is how they all are then drink up as it is on a downhill slide

[dlo]

Been working my way through a bottle of 2002 Yalumba Hand Picked Eden Valley Riesling and blow ne down if this thing is ever going to die. At least one glass a day since Monday night and this afternoon another tipple and it's probably got better every day since being opened. Fascinating green gold colour. Lots of oily, petrolly stuff day one that does blow off with air but never fully retreats. Underneath you have loads of pithy citrus fruit with plenty of honey and toast as top notes and a strong river pebble, mineral and lime undercurrent driving the whole operation. Lashes of redcurrant and dried herb also add to the wine's overall complexity The palate holds true to what precedes it with refreshing acidity holding the fort while the beautiful fruit gushes through to the back of the mouth like a small mountain stream. The finish if juicy, almost crunchy with terrific persistence long after swallowing. A near faultless aged riesling unless you're intolerant of trimethyldihydronaphthalenes. And as my three day experiment proves .... plenty of petrol in the tank. An exceptional white and an easy 95 from me. Drink now - 2025+. Screwcap. 12.5% A/V.

[dlo]

1997 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Herrenberg Riesling Auslese #89 7.5% AV

I ventured into my cellar to grab one of my Von Schubert numbered Abstberg Auslese’s from 1995, but noticed a weeping cork in this bottle in the same box, so, as is my policy, leakers always get drunk first.

Garnishing a spectacularly bright, burnished pale gold colour, this outstanding wine offers a smorgasboard of aromas that includes freshly cut crispy green apples, mango, peaches, apricot, cream, honey, redcurrant, lemon merangue, lime and salty minerals. The palate’s a virtual rehash of the vast array of exotic flavours that were noted in the bouquet. Lavish and compelling in nature this decadent riesling swells into the mid-palate with gusto than settles with smoothness and great resolution from deftly-judged acidity on the dramatic and lengthy back end. These great German white’s are almost enigmatic given their incredible extract and lusciousness yet are almost always light on their feet and just so easy and delightful to drink by themselves on a very warm summer’s afternoon. 93 with a drinking plateau of at least 10, perhaps even 20 years?

[monghead]

Hmmm,

I must have been missing from this forum for too long! I was reading through these notes, and I thought, "wow, superlative wines, must try them...", but now I am reminded of the 110 point scale...

Also, did the wines help with the achilles? I've been up at 4:45 on week days for the last 2 months pounding the pavement, and my right achilles is pretty sore. If the wine helped, based on the n=1 with a 100% success rate, I would have to conclude that I need to drink 4 chardies, 2 bordeaux blends, and 2 shirazes each w/e "to heal" of course...

Cheers,

Monghead.

109 points not 110! Jeez how would a 110 point scale work? 110 is not a prime number for a start!

With the risk of covering all too familiar ground, rating out of 100 is as stupid as rating out of 109. Thinking that a 95 point wine from Mr X is comparable to a 95 point wine from Mr Y is nothing but folly. It gets way too star wars wine nerdy for me. However any rating is useful to compare a set of wines across the same taster. stars, /20, /10 who cares.

In my write up you can happily determine that WOTN for me was the Neudorf. In no way do I think you can look at someones 96/100 wine and conclude therefore it is a better wine than someone elses 95/100 wine.

Talk like "Oh I tried a wine today. It would be at least a 94/100!!" ??? Go on, put your sausage away son. I'm not listening

Craig,

Not looking at your points and judging it against others or halliday or whatever. Was looking at your points, and thinking they were out of 100, thought these were superlative wines for YOU, the stuff that dreams are made of. However, being reminded that your score system is out of 109, I now know to place them in the very good to excellent range, but certainly not perfect wines. And yes, of course I can easily see that the Neudorf was you pick of the crop there...

I am certainly no fan of scores, and thus have a rating of "good"ness.

Anyways, cheers.

Monghead.