weekly drinking thread commencing 24th feb

[monghead]

Hi all,

While David is enjoying another weekend of jazz with his buddies, I will kick this off.

TNs, vibes, impressions welcome...

Cheers,

Monghead.

[Craig(NZ)]

A tough weekend for me after a very gruelling run the day before. Just couldnt get into my wine the next day which was hot, hot hot

10 Fox Creek Short Row Shiraz. I really enjoyed this. Lovely confection fruit and texture. Drinking well even at this young age. 95

09 Fromm Spatlese. Gorgeous wine, fresh, vibrant balanced apple sweetness, icing sugar texture. Light and lively but with good richness on the palate. 99

07 Fritz Haag Bla Bla Spatlese. [Edit: 2007 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese ] Last bottle of this I had was fantastic. This one seemed quite developed and a touch cloying. Just average average i'm afraid. Just wasn't in to it. 91

10 Puriri Hills Reserve. Obviously young but wanted something rare to take to my fathers 70th, this fitted the bill. Well textured with fine creamy blackfruits. There was some hardness I think from the carmenere which tends to need time more than anything else. I struggled through this and again failed to get in to it. 91

[Craig(NZ)]

Id say the coriolle and dead arm are most likey to go better for a while longer so I would go Lawsons

[monghead]

Id say the coriolle and dead arm are most likey to go better for a while longer so I would go Lawsons

Ha ha, in wrong thread, but noted anyway, thanks mate.

[monghead]

2002 Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz- Medium bodied, blackberries, chocolate and menthol. Slightly spirity finish. Good.
2009 Seresin Leah Pinot Noir- Succulent strawberries and cherries intertwine with savoury, spicy, forest floor. Finishes with a whack of firm tannins, and slightly tart acidity. Good Good.

[phillisc]

2012 O'leary Walker Watervale
Lovely zingly crisp flavours, nice balanced acidity full fruit salad, limes on the nose...great for the price...think this one might be a drink now.

Cheers Craig.

[jafa]

Haven't been posting comsumption reports due to mostly drinking down the case lots of rose I've
previously reported on. However that's not been all the action;
Last night 2003 Ata Rangi PN 13.5% Alc. Deep dark red without the gloss of youth. Lovely nose of
dark cherries, plum and exotic spices. All of which carrys to the palate, great balance of red and black fruit flavours.
Resolved, balanced, great beverage wine. Best of the bottles I've had from this vintage and certainly the nicest AR
since I slurped up the 1999's during 2006-2008. Early contender for WOTY. Very very Good.
Last weekend, 2005 TeM Coleraine,13.5% Alc. Always found this bottling as easy drinking, forward, fleshy Merlot
dominated, but not this time. Late selection so only about 40 minutes to warm up from out of cellar, on cool side at
service, with little decant time, but maybe better for that as the cabernet was making a showing in tannic grip and
blackcurrant/cassis flavours. This could be starting to show some bottle development. Very good, good.
2010 Brancott Estate "O" Letter Series, Gisborne Chardonnay 13.5% Alc. Ripe, fat, lush. Boldly oaked.
I can see this having appeal for many drinkers, but not as beverage wine. Good.
Finally something that's been lurking in the cellar for a few years whose time had come.
1998 Robertson's Well Coonawarra Shiraz 14% Alc. A low expectation wine that really overdelivered in the
drinking. Dark red, a lot of sediment. Nicely resolved, secondary bottle development, but could easily have gone
on for another 5-8 years. Based on expectations Very Good, good.

[Craig(NZ)]

Id say the coriolle and dead arm are most likey to go better for a while longer so I would go Lawsons

Ha ha, in wrong thread, but noted anyway, thanks mate.

Oh dear dunno how that happened!!

[sjw_11]

Two tremendous whites this weekend:

Orlando (I cant bring myself to call it Jacobs Creek) Steingarten Riesling 2005... S/cap. Astonishingly youthful, on day 1 this showed with searing acidity across the palate, pithy lemon citrus peel, the colour still green/yellow. By day 2 it had settled down a bit and become slightly rounder with a hint of oiliness. Will clearly live for a very long time.

Mt Pleasant "Elizabeth" Semillon 2006... Not the current version now marketed as "special" but the original release from when this was still the bargain of the wine world as a $10 5-yr old pre-aged semillon. Astonishingly good qpr, mid-yellow flecked with green, a developing nose of toast, just a hint of honey, some citrus notes, and a pleasing, linear and well structured palate. Drinking nicely but well short of full maturity.

Also opened a Leuwin Estate Prelude Cab Merlot 2007... Disappointing. I bought this from a Melb St tasting and thought it was great, but this time it seemed a bit green, also a bit unbalanced and hot, even though the abv was only 13.5%.

[ross67]

10 Fox Creek Short Row Shiraz. I really enjoyed this. Lovely confection fruit and texture. Drinking well even at this young age. 95

Good to see you drinking and enjoying Aussie Shiraz Craig.
Glad also the '10 short row is good as I have a dozen arriving soon.

ross

[TiggerK]

Orlando (I cant bring myself to call it Jacobs Creek) Steingarten Riesling 2005... S/cap. Astonishingly youthful, on day 1 this showed with searing acidity across the palate, pithy lemon citrus peel, the colour still green/yellow. By day 2 it had settled down a bit and become slightly rounder with a hint of oiliness. Will clearly live for a very long time..

Great stuff Sam, but as you noted, still crazy young! So many of the 05's seem to be like this, while the 06's are so much more approachable. We had a Steingarten vertical in Feb 2012 and they were very enjoyable, especially the 2002 (also way young) and the 2001 (my pick as more interesting now).

Also, we had a mega Riesling event a month ago at my place, and I'm trying to find a spare few hours to properly write it up! Hopefully will do so in the next few days. 35+ Rieslings inc verticals of Leo Buring, Seppelt Drumborg, Pewsey Vale The Contours, as well as a fair few Kiwi's, some Grossets, old stuff and Germans and Alsacians for good measure. The Drumborg and Contours had us reeling with their acidic youth! (7-10 years old mostly).

Oh, and as for me, one of note... Henschke Julius Riesling 2012 - been aching to try it, but never seemed to happen until last night. Seriously good, juicy, fruity, crisp and will age wonderfully. Not cheap (for Aus Riesling), but great value, plus cheaper than and easily as enjoyable (IMHO) as the Grossets. Highly recommended!

Cheers
TIm

[Craig(NZ)]

10 Fox Creek Short Row Shiraz. I really enjoyed this. Lovely confection fruit and texture. Drinking well even at this young age. 95

Good to see you drinking and enjoying Aussie Shiraz Craig.
Glad also the '10 short row is good as I have a dozen arriving soon

I went off the style for quite a while but now am back enjoying the good ones at least. Just as well as I have quite a number of '94,96 and 98 vintage wines especially that have been in my cellar for 12+ years that are looking good drinking now! I just was never in the mood.

Just shows you our palates keep changing. For a while i was totally in love with bordeaux and NZ bordeaux blends. For now it is back to Shiraz. Who would have thought?!? Variety is the spice of life

[monghead]

2001 Jasper Hill Georgia's Paddock Shiraz
Lashings of charred oak, an odd Bovril broth type characteristic, and traces of sour stewed plums finishing with a fair whack of alcohol heat. This is probably how over-ripe and over-oaked wines mature/die... Sub Good.

[griff]

2007 Domaine Pavelot Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Peuillets Premier Cru
Cranberries strewn across a forest floor. Pinosity. Excellent.

2002 Gunderloch Riesling Spätlese Nackenheim Rothenberg
Honeyed white peach. Perhaps a little low in acidity. Excellent.

[dlo]

2007 Domaine Pavelot Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Peuillets Premier Cru
Cranberries strewn across a forest floor. Pinosity. Excellent.

2002 Gunderloch Riesling Spätlese Nackenheim Rothenberg
Honeyed white peach. Perhaps a little low in acidity. Excellent.

Pavelot is a favourite. Gunderloch can make good+ wine but too way too sweet and cloying in the Auslese level for me in the past. Haven't tried any of their spatlese. The low acidity does not surprise me.

[Mike Hawkins]

Tim - I agree with you on the Julius. A fantastic Riesling.

Mike

[phillisc]

Tim - I agree with you on the Julius. A fantastic Riesling.

Mike

+1 on that.
Even the Peggy's Hill which is often sub...well very cheap is excellent.
Cheers Craig.

[griff]

2007 Domaine Pavelot Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Peuillets Premier Cru
Cranberries strewn across a forest floor. Pinosity. Excellent.

2002 Gunderloch Riesling Spätlese Nackenheim Rothenberg
Honeyed white peach. Perhaps a little low in acidity. Excellent.

Pavelot is a favourite. Gunderloch can make good+ wine but too way too sweet and cloying in the Auslese level for me in the past. Haven't tried any of their spatlese. The low acidity does not surprise me.

Yes I thought it a declassified Auslese perhaps. The better half didn't mind though This was only the second Pavelot I have had but both performed well. Actually, I find Savigny-lès-Beaune itself providing a slightly higher strikerate than the Burgundy norm.

Tonight to start we had a 2006 Spinifex Espirit. Strange acidity that detracted to the point of looking for another wine. Two from two here so think it something about the wine itself that bothers me. I bought these with high hopes considering the review so a disappointment really.

The replacement was a 1994 Peter Lehmann Stonewell Shiraz. Still an intense limpid purple red. A nose of spiced cherries and red earth. A liqueur like palate of cherry and cinnamon. Initially some VA that blew off after an hour. Initially rated as Good but became Excellent.

cheers

Carl

[ticklenow1]

Carl,

Strange that with the '06 Spinifex Espirit. I bought 3 on release and I drank one early and the second one a month or two ago. Both were excellent to me and thoroughly deserved the praise accorded to them. I thought that it had grown into a fine wine for the most recent one. I have 1 left so now you have me curious.

Cheers
Ian

[Sean]

deleted

[Teisto]

2006 Paringa Peninsula Shiraz A splash of 5% viognier in this as well. Took some time to blow off and settle into something interesting. Nothing out of place. A solid decent cool climate shiraz.

[LawrenceM]

Had a cabernet offline with a few people including Auswine forum members. Australian cabernet and blends plus a Bordeaux spanning 1980 - 2004. Notes and pictures are here:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13042

[griff]

Carl,

Strange that with the '06 Spinifex Espirit. I bought 3 on release and I drank one early and the second one a month or two ago. Both were excellent to me and thoroughly deserved the praise accorded to them. I thought that it had grown into a fine wine for the most recent one. I have 1 left so now you have me curious.

Cheers
Ian

From the same source so most likely a transport/storage issue.

[Craig(NZ)]

Tasted an endless procession of Chardonnay at Kumeu river yesterday

Estate 09
Coddington 08
Hunting hill 08 09 10
Mates 06 08 10

Mates 06 was stunning and wotd
Hunting hill 10 08 not far behind
10 mates was suffering from last drizzle from the bottle that been open a while syndrome but still excellent

Coulda tried more but was driving. A Bonza show from a cellar door that is usually a bit "lawyers office"

[Mark Carrington]

• 2008 Freycinet Vineyard Pinot Noir - Australia, Tasmania, Freycinet Coast (3/2/2013)
  Bright, garnet, easing at rim; morello cherry, tapenade, smoky; fleshy, some unresolved ripe tannins, refreshing acidity, sleek; drinking really well right now, real depth & panache longish finish. (92 pts.)
• 2003 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (3/2/2013)
  Advanced brick red; baked fruit, prunes but not unattractive; distinctly porty, flat feel to fruit; fading, best to drink up. Another disappointing 2003. (82 pts.)
• 2007 Jacob's Creek/Orlando Riesling Steingarten - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley (2/28/2013)
  Fresh, steely, good backbone, accessible. Drink sooner rather than later. (88 pts.)
• 2000 Château Caronne Ste. Gemme - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (2/24/2013)
  Gutsy garnet colour, brick red rim; robust nose, cedary, briary fruit, plummy; meaty, gutsy but with plush fruit, substantial ; old fashioned, undermined by rusticity on the sinewy finish. Will age well for 5+ years. (90 pts.)

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