Weekly Drinking Thread Commencing 2nd Nov.

[VINH NGUYEN]

Moss Wood Chardonnay might worth a look at.

I'll give that a go, thanks mate. Any vintages in particular that stand out?

[dave vino]

2009 we had recently was fantastic.

[dlo]

Yesterday, band practice was my joint with Victorian jazz musician, Bill Beasley visiting for this weekend's jazz clug gig, expanding our lineup to 5 piece to run through about 20 tunes.

For such an occasion, lunch was "stretched" until 4pm and we quaffed 4 dozen large Tuross rock oysters, downed some sweet, freshly steamed king prawns wrapped in smoked salmon, topped with sour cream, capers, chives, pepper, avacado, red onion and a dash of virgin avacado oil, lemon and tabasco over a mesclun salad and finished proceedings with 100 day grain fed angus scotch fillet, char grilled served with a cheese-topped bacon, onion and potato bake, ratatouille and pan-fried turkish vegetables topped with a garlic yoghurt sauce.

The wines were all sensational. On the back of its performance earlier in the week we drank a remarkably fresh and acid rich 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon (95 points), a majestically smooth and fully resolved but amazingly fruit sweet and complex 1985 Leoville Las Cases (96 points) and finished with the "slouch" of the afternoon .... another gorgeous example of perfectly mature vinosity, the 1998 Peppertree Reserve Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (a mere 94 points!) Needless to say, with lots of laughs and banter, everybody seemed to have a fantastic time.

[Chuck]

Apart from the usual good quality cheapies last night we enjoyed a Forester Estate 2003 Margaret River Cabernet. Really lovely aged aromas and flavours. Fighting over the last few drops is always an indication of a good wine. These days our 18 year old son is in the mix having developed an expensive habit for aged red wines. I often wonder why we encourged his transition from beer to wine. A bit like my parents getting me hooked on oysters in my youth. Really dumb move!

Carl

[sjw_11]

These days our 18 year old son is in the mix having developed an expensive habit for aged red wines. I often wonder why we encourged his transition from beer to wine.
Carl

Think of it as an investment in the future Chuck ... my parents did similar when I was 18 ten years ago and now it is normally me who brings out the great bottles I have been squirrelling away or have bought at auction!

[Sipper]

[b]2001 Penfolds Bin 128[b]
Bought a few bottles at auction for the first time. A couple of heat affected bottles I think (Auction Wine - earlier thread). Until this one..........

I downloaded the tasting notes, being a new comer to older wines and after a careful decant WOW!

Blackberry and mint with a really luxurious finish - smooth. I bought two of these so will put the other away and wait for a Coonawarra Shiraz offline in Melbourne.

Sipper

[dlo]

Thanks for your note, Sipper, good to see you posting!

[dlo]

Just a short report about the bottle I have been imbibing for several weeks. I believe Lindemans Tawny RF1 Solera is quite famous. I purchased a half dozen of this for $17 a bottle from auction a few months back. All the awards on the label - championships, trophies and many gold medals date back to the sixties with the latest awards in the early seventies. This is a beautiful old tawny. It is so easy to sniff and sip. It is so easy to like. It just doesn't want to die. If it was released, say, with an average of 20 years in the sixties, how old does that make it now? Old? Yes, it is old. Yes, it is very bloody good indeed. End of report.

[Chuck]

These days our 18 year old son is in the mix having developed an expensive habit for aged red wines. I often wonder why we encourged his transition from beer to wine.
Carl

Think of it as an investment in the future Chuck ... my parents did similar when I was 18 ten years ago and now it is normally me who brings out the great bottles I have been squirrelling away or have bought at auction!

I hope you're right however the damage to the cellar in 10 years can be breathtaking.

Carl

[phillisc]

Just a short report about the bottle I have been imbibing for several weeks. I believe Lindemans Tawny RF1 Solera is quite famous. I purchased a half dozen of this for $17 a bottle from auction a few months back. All the awards on the label - championships, trophies and many gold medals date back to the sixties with the latest awards in the early seventies. This is a beautiful old tawny. It is so easy to sniff and sip. It is so easy to like. It just doesn't want to die. If it was released, say, with an average of 20 years in the sixties, how old does that make it now? Old? Yes, it is old. Yes, it is very bloody good indeed. End of report.

David, Just out of interest, I am trying to track down some old Lindemans Muscats and Tokay's, I think they were the white label with the WH2 and DP33. Surprisingly they were in abundance in Adelaide specialist bottle shops 10-20 years ago, but have not seen one for ages. Guess I need need to scour the secondhand market. I take the RF was part of the range.

Cheers
Craig

[rooman]

David is definitely correct about it being opened too early. All the Grosset Polish Hills really need at least a decade before being opened. I got impatient recently and opened a 2005. It was still incredibly young at 8 years with a slight lime greenish tone in appearance and massive acid. I put it back in the fridge and retried 48 hours later. By this stage the wine had opened up, the colour deepened and the palate filled out. On that basis of the development in the bottle over the two ensuing days i doubt I will bother opening another again inside 5 years.

Thanks for the note on the 2005... I only have the 2011-13 of these in the cellar so will TRY to resist those for at least 10-yrs.

I should point out in defense of my infanticide I dont have a wine fridge here yet, so... even under screw caps the consistent 29o everytime I turn the air conditioning off would probably not facilitate a long and restrained ageing process. Hence, buy, pop and pour on this occasion!

Sam

I appreciate everyone has different budgets in life but chances are if you are reading and posting on this site then you have The Bug; where you put off replacing the car or the tyres in order to take up your allocation of your favourite wine. If that is the case then I strongly suggest you consider storing your wine collection in a professional wine storage facility rather than buy a wine fridge. You can keep upsizing as your obsession worsens.

Aging wine for your personal enjoyment is to quote The Newroom: "a work in progress but I am in it for the long haul". The wine you are collecting now will form the basis of your collection in 10 or 20 years. More importantly you can not get these years back if the wine is damaged due to heat. Nowadays I operate a small wine fridge for 30-40 bottles with the main wine stored at Kennards. Actually I operate two wine fridges but the second wine was care of a slight marketing mishap by Penfolds years ago (buy $60 worth of wine, get a free wine fridge )

Mark

[dlo]

Just a short report about the bottle I have been imbibing for several weeks. I believe Lindemans Tawny RF1 Solera is quite famous. I purchased a half dozen of this for $17 a bottle from auction a few months back. All the awards on the label - championships, trophies and many gold medals date back to the sixties with the latest awards in the early seventies. This is a beautiful old tawny. It is so easy to sniff and sip. It is so easy to like. It just doesn't want to die. If it was released, say, with an average of 20 years in the sixties, how old does that make it now? Old? Yes, it is old. Yes, it is very bloody good indeed. End of report.

David, Just out of interest, I am trying to track down some old Lindemans Muscats and Tokay's, I think they were the white label with the WH2 and DP33. Surprisingly they were in abundance in Adelaide specialist bottle shops 10-20 years ago, but have not seen one for ages. Guess I need need to scour the secondhand market. I take the RF was part of the range.

Cheers
Craig

This is the best muscat I've ever seen from Lindemans - Lindemans Show Reserve Rare Rutherglen Muscat Z295. Ancient material and not suffering from the staleness some of the older Rutherglen's acquire being in the bottle just too long.

Also another one, I've tried that was exceptional but this was probably in the nineties when I bought it as a classic release - Lindemans Classic Old Liqueur Muscat Solera 1625 (2 Trophies, 26 Gold medals)

The WH1 Solera was definitely the old liqueur tokay, so WH2 is probably a refreshed version of the old solera.

You'll find DP33 is a Seppelt Rutherglen Muscat.

The best and oldest blends still come out of Chambers (ridiculously priced at the top end), All Saints (read ditto to Chambers and thensome), Morris (best VFM by a country mile). If you ring David Morris (one of the nicest guys ITB) at the winery, he might still be making the odd bottle of Show Reserve available. I used to get one bottle every couple of years, but I don't know if he still lets any out to the public. Very special stuff, if you can get it. Campbell's may still have a solera barrel that's probably just as good but I have noticed their pricess have gone a bit north, too. Buller's have been liquidating for a while now, so there might be a chance of picking something nice at the right price there.

Good luck.

[Panda 9D]

I've had a new shipment of wine so have been trying out the ranges of Head Wines and Michael Hall. Both are making awesome wines and I wouldn't hesitate to buy anything they make. I won't go into detail on them because it would be unseemly, I think.

Jacques-Frederic Mugnier - Nuits Saint Georges Clos des Fourches 2008: This was wine that didn't hit your palate but somehow, miraculously, floated above it. Tasting notes wouldn't do this wine any justice. It's fruit was clean, pure, long and quite difficult to define on the nose as well as the palate. It's tough for me to decide between this and the DRC RSV for pinot of the year. The RSV ticked more boxes but this wine had a mysterious beauty that was utterly pleasurable but impossible to grasp. If you see this, I would recommend you buy it.

Had the Jacques-Frederic Mugnier in July this year and your description is spot on! Absolutely loved it.

Bern

I found some 09s at a decent price so now it's just a matter of how long I wait before I drink them too early.

[phillisc]

Yes sorry David you are right DP 33 is Seppelts. Cheers and will keep hunting. Craig

[rooman]

The best and oldest blends still come out of Chambers (ridiculously priced at the top end), All Saints (read ditto to Chambers and thensome), Morris (best VFM by a country mile). If you ring David Morris (one of the nicest guys ITB) at the winery, he might still be making the odd bottle of Show Reserve available. I used to get one bottle every couple of years, but I don't know if he still lets any out to the public. Very special stuff, if you can get it. Campbell's may still have a solera barrel that's probably just as good but I have noticed their pricess have gone a bit north, too. Buller's have been liquidating for a while now, so there might be a chance of picking something nice at the right price there.

Good luck.

David

We visited Rutherglenn last year on the way to the Macedon Ranges at Christmas. Of all the muscats we tried, I think my favourite was probably Bullers whilst I was probably least impressed with the Campbells. Sadly we didnt manage to get to Morris. We are heading back again however this year and Morris will have to be on the list.

Mark

[dlo]

The best and oldest blends still come out of Chambers (ridiculously priced at the top end), All Saints (read ditto to Chambers and thensome), Morris (best VFM by a country mile). If you ring David Morris (one of the nicest guys ITB) at the winery, he might still be making the odd bottle of Show Reserve available. I used to get one bottle every couple of years, but I don't know if he still lets any out to the public. Very special stuff, if you can get it. Campbell's may still have a solera barrel that's probably just as good but I have noticed their pricess have gone a bit north, too. Buller's have been liquidating for a while now, so there might be a chance of picking something nice at the right price there.

Good luck.

David

We visited Rutherglenn last year on the way to the Macedon Ranges at Christmas. Of all the muscats we tried, I think my favourite was probably Bullers whilst I was probably least impressed with the Campbells. Sadly we didnt manage to get to Morris. We are heading back again however this year and Morris will have to be on the list.

Mark

Thanks Mark,

Did you get to try the Merchant Prince or Isabella at Campbells? If (anyone thinks) those are good, you should try what they hold back as their "show reserve"! (If, in fact, they hold back such material, these days?) I take it they didn't serve any of the really good stuff at cellar door?

[LGW]

The best and oldest blends still come out of Chambers (ridiculously priced at the top end), All Saints (read ditto to Chambers and thensome), Morris (best VFM by a country mile). If you ring David Morris (one of the nicest guys ITB) at the winery, he might still be making the odd bottle of Show Reserve available. I used to get one bottle every couple of years, but I don't know if he still lets any out to the public. Very special stuff, if you can get it. Campbell's may still have a solera barrel that's probably just as good but I have noticed their pricess have gone a bit north, too. Buller's have been liquidating for a while now, so there might be a chance of picking something nice at the right price there.

Good luck.

David

We visited Rutherglenn last year on the way to the Macedon Ranges at Christmas. Of all the muscats we tried, I think my favourite was probably Bullers whilst I was probably least impressed with the Campbells. Sadly we didnt manage to get to Morris. We are heading back again however this year and Morris will have to be on the list.

Mark

Thanks Mark,

Did you get to try the Merchant Prince or Isabella at Campbells? If (anyone thinks) those are good, you should try what they hold back as their "show reserve"! (If, in fact, they hold back such material, these days?) I take it they didn't serve any of the really good stuff at cellar door?

Was in rutherglen last weekend.
Campbells had the merchant prince and isebella on tasting for members (if you ask nicely they might be able to let you try) both I found to be excellent. Didn't know they had a show reserve.

Morris had both muscats and topaques on tasting all the way up to their old premiums. I grabbed a few of the grand muscat and topaques. Unbelievable QPR. They had the CHM muscat at $500 a half bottle, obviously not on regular tasting!

If anyone is heading up that way I highly recommend doing the seasonal food foray lunch made by the pickled sisters. 4 courses each at a different winery (coflield, pfeiffer, stanton and campbells) matched to one of thir wines.

[Luke W]

2001 Roehr GSM - only got this a couple of weeks ago as part of a commercial dozen - remarkable age for a "new wine".
Beautifully balanced, wonderful flavours - even the missus wanted to fight me for the last glass. Won't get any better and someone has done the hard work. Would love to get more (only $15 a bottle) but no room in the cellar.
2006 Maglieri Shiraz - one of my quaffers, drank half and then left the other half vacuvinned in the fridge for 3 days, still quite lovely. Unbelievable value for around $10 a bottle.
2009 Marienberg Reserve Shiraz - way above expectation at $7 a bottle - part of the aforementioned liquidation - wished I'd bought the 50 dozen!

[sjw_11]

Sam

I appreciate everyone has different budgets in life but chances are if you are reading and posting on this site then you have The Bug; where you put off replacing the car or the tyres in order to take up your allocation of your favourite wine. If that is the case then I strongly suggest you consider storing your wine collection in a professional wine storage facility rather than buy a wine fridge. You can keep upsizing as your obsession worsens.

Aging wine for your personal enjoyment is to quote The Newroom: "a work in progress but I am in it for the long haul". The wine you are collecting now will form the basis of your collection in 10 or 20 years. More importantly you can not get these years back if the wine is damaged due to heat. Nowadays I operate a small wine fridge for 30-40 bottles with the main wine stored at Kennards. Actually I operate two wine fridges but the second wine was care of a slight marketing mishap by Penfolds years ago (buy $60 worth of wine, get a free wine fridge )

Mark

Hey Mark, I actually got offsite storage well before I had enough wine to make it worthwhile so yes I was definitely afflicted by the bug... at the moment the bulk of my cellar is up at Glen Ewin Estate just past Tea Tree Gully way, which is good as it is now a bloody long way away from me to stop me drinking things, but bad in that I can't get to anything!!

I intend to keep buying in Oz by mail order to stock the cellar (relying on my dad's kindness to take things up to the cellar for me before summer gets too hot!!) and I dont intend to buy much here in Singapore except for current consumption as the prices here are truly eye wateringly bad (the average quaffer here is $30-45/bottle, for what would be $15-20 in Oz)... even Jacobs Creek is usually $30/bottle.

My only problem now, as you suggest, is the need to upsize the storage as I am putting in more than I am taking out!

[rens]

2012 Mike Press Shiraz I filled out a mixed case with a few of these only because the Cabernet has not yet been released. Normally for my palate the Mike Press Shiraz is missing something- not sure what but it normally is good but not my thing. The 2012 is different. Perhaps fuller bodied than previous vintages, with ripe plumbs and red fruit that fill the palate. There is a nice acidity giving it a good structure. Firmish slightly dry tannins and good use of oak. By far the best of the last 5 years for my palate. At a pinch over $12, bring your ute or truck and load up. Oh, don't forget to save a few dollars for the 2012 Cabernet because based on the Shiraz it should be cracking value.

[daz]

Yesterday, band practice was my joint with Victorian jazz musician, Bill Beasley visiting for this weekend's jazz clug gig, expanding our lineup to 5 piece to run through about 20 tunes.

For such an occasion, lunch was "stretched" until 4pm and we quaffed 4 dozen large Tuross rock oysters, downed some sweet, freshly steamed king prawns wrapped in smoked salmon, topped with sour cream, capers, chives, pepper, avacado, red onion and a dash of virgin avacado oil, lemon and tabasco over a mesclun salad and finished proceedings with 100 day grain fed angus scotch fillet, char grilled served with a cheese-topped bacon, onion and potato bake, ratatouille and pan-fried turkish vegetables topped with a garlic yoghurt sauce.

The wines were all sensational. On the back of its performance earlier in the week we drank a remarkably fresh and acid rich 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon (95 points), a majestically smooth and fully resolved but amazingly fruit sweet and complex 1985 Leoville Las Cases (96 points) and finished with the "slouch" of the afternoon .... another gorgeous example of perfectly mature vinosity, the 1998 Peppertree Reserve Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (a mere 94 points!) Needless to say, with lots of laughs and banter, everybody seemed to have a fantastic time.

I've tried to play spoons before. Can I come to band practice?

[dlo]

Yesterday, band practice was my joint with Victorian jazz musician, Bill Beasley visiting for this weekend's jazz clug gig, expanding our lineup to 5 piece to run through about 20 tunes.

For such an occasion, lunch was "stretched" until 4pm and we quaffed 4 dozen large Tuross rock oysters, downed some sweet, freshly steamed king prawns wrapped in smoked salmon, topped with sour cream, capers, chives, pepper, avacado, red onion and a dash of virgin avacado oil, lemon and tabasco over a mesclun salad and finished proceedings with 100 day grain fed angus scotch fillet, char grilled served with a cheese-topped bacon, onion and potato bake, ratatouille and pan-fried turkish vegetables topped with a garlic yoghurt sauce.

The wines were all sensational. On the back of its performance earlier in the week we drank a remarkably fresh and acid rich 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon (95 points), a majestically smooth and fully resolved but amazingly fruit sweet and complex 1985 Leoville Las Cases (96 points) and finished with the "slouch" of the afternoon .... another gorgeous example of perfectly mature vinosity, the 1998 Peppertree Reserve Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (a mere 94 points!) Needless to say, with lots of laughs and banter, everybody seemed to have a fantastic time.

I've tried to play spoons before. Can I come to band practice?

You can, but don't worry about the spoons.

[rooman]

The wines were all sensational. On the back of its performance earlier in the week we drank a remarkably fresh and acid rich 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon (95 points),

David

I still have part of case of the '99. I was amazed last time I had a bottle just how fresh the wine was, still with high acid levels. Based on its current condition I can easily see another decade ahead for this wine. I also had an amazing Lovedale Semillon 99 recently. In contrast to the Tyrrell this had entered a wonderful full blown stage of development with deep golden hue, soft acid and amazing honeysuckle and lime fruit. With this wine I now understand why the likes of James Halliday go bat crazy over old Semillon.

Mark

[timmspe]

The wines were all sensational. On the back of its performance earlier in the week we drank a remarkably fresh and acid rich 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon (95 points),

David

I still have part of case of the '99. I was amazed last time I had a bottle just how fresh the wine was, still with high acid levels. Based on its current condition I can easily see another decade ahead for this wine.

Mark

I have seen a few of these on sale at the local, and I am keen to see what an aged and reputable Semillon has to offer. With the '99 under cork, I was surprised to see that the bottles were being stored upright. I hope I'm not being too paranoid, but would this (and potential other storage related problems) be enough to deter you from making the plunge? Thanks!

[TiggerK]

If it's from the local, they would be legally required to replace it or refund if the wine was not in good condition. Ah the joys of being in Aussie Retail...

Not the case with auction houses though of course.

So keep the receipt, and if it's bad take the (nearly full) bottle back quickly with the cork jammed back in. I've never had an issue, and if they have Vat 1 99 in stock, I'm assuming your local quite possibly has the same name as mine.

Cheers
Tim

[timmspe]

If it's from the local, they would be legally required to replace it or refund if the wine was not in good condition. Ah the joys of being in Aussie Retail...

Not the case with auction houses though of course.

So keep the receipt, and if it's bad take the (nearly full) bottle back quickly with the cork jammed back in. I've never had an issue, and if they have Vat 1 99 in stock, I'm assuming your local quite possibly has the same name as mine.

Cheers
Tim

Thanks! Much appreciated!

[dlo]

The wines were all sensational. On the back of its performance earlier in the week we drank a remarkably fresh and acid rich 1999 Tyrrell's Vat 1 Semillon (95 points),

David

I still have part of case of the '99. I was amazed last time I had a bottle just how fresh the wine was, still with high acid levels. Based on its current condition I can easily see another decade ahead for this wine.

Mark

I have seen a few of these on sale at the local, and I am keen to see what an aged and reputable Semillon has to offer. With the '99 under cork, I was surprised to see that the bottles were being stored upright. I hope I'm not being too paranoid, but would this (and potential other storage related problems) be enough to deter you from making the plunge? Thanks!

Look for bottles with high fill levels. And what he said, too ....

[crusty2]

I still have part of case of the '99. I was amazed last time I had a bottle just how fresh the wine was, still with high acid levels. Based on its current condition I can easily see another decade ahead for this wine.

Mark

I have seen a few of these on sale at the local, and I am keen to see what an aged and reputable Semillon has to offer. With the '99 under cork, I was surprised to see that the bottles were being stored upright. I hope I'm not being too paranoid, but would this (and potential other storage related problems) be enough to deter you from making the plunge? Thanks!

Look for bottles with high fill levels. And what he said, too ....

Remembering the old Lindemans 1968's and 70's White Burgs the levels were not a critical factor. These were labelled as 738ml with levels well down. The biggest determining factor in drinkability was the colour.
If purchasing I would suggest lining the bottles up and buy the one with the least colour development. This will not weed out any TCA but will cull the obviously oxidised bottles.

cheers
phill

[dlo]

I have seen a few of these on sale at the local, and I am keen to see what an aged and reputable Semillon has to offer. With the '99 under cork, I was surprised to see that the bottles were being stored upright. I hope I'm not being too paranoid, but would this (and potential other storage related problems) be enough to deter you from making the plunge? Thanks!

Look for bottles with high fill levels. And what he said, too ....

Remembering the old Lindemans 1968's and 70's White Burgs the levels were not a critical factor. These were labelled as 738ml with levels well down. The biggest determining factor in drinkability was the colour.
If purchasing I would suggest lining the bottles up and buy the one with the least colour development. This will not weed out any TCA but will cull the obviously oxidised bottles.

cheers
phill

Agree with you about those old Lindy's, Phill, especially with that freak of nature, the 1970 "Chablis" .... still can't get over those generic names! BUT ....
my experience with Hunter semllon's since then has been, mostly, a different story. Colour in bottle, yes, agree again, most important, but time after time I've punted on older Sem's and blow me down if (especially) Mount Pleasant, Tyrrell's amongst others don't always taste "half rooted" or "not nearly as good" when just minor ullage is evident. Not always, but mostly.