It Sunday and work is still the ....

[TORB]

curse of the drinking class! Time for your weekly reports please, tasting notes, vibes or impressions most welcome.

In my case, it has not been a great wine week, staff shortages have meant I am working (gulp) almost full time which is seriously interfering with my wine interests.

Last night I opened my last 93 St Henri and thought I sniffed the slightest amount of taint on the first sniff. After that it was gone! When I tasted it, the wine seemed a bit thin and had a graphite taste to it that I did not remember previously.

Poured what was left of the first glass from the Spigleau into an ISO and the taint became instantly obvious. Now there is one in reverse.

After that, I opened a 96 Limestome Ridge. It is drinking beautifully and still may improve. Has many years ahead so no hurry to drink.

Your turn, what have you been drinking? Now I have to go to work.

[David Lole]

Bindi 1998 Original Vineyard Pinot Noir - impressive varietal definition, lovely silky texture and still with time to go - a terrific effort.

Leeuwin Estate 2000 Art Series Chardonnay - this is right on form displaying sensational aromatics and a palate that ain't too shabby either - worth the pennies. Outstanding.

Bowen Estate 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon - Passed its best. Tertiary barnyard/leather/damp earth over a little weedy blackcurrant fruit at first, falling apart within half an hour. Recommended at first, slipping to near undrinkable. Sink job.

Tyrrell's 1996 Futures Selection Semillon - Mild TCA affectation flattened the nose, although the palate revealed rich honeyed fruit and good length. Must try another - some potential here but for the taint.

Leasingham 1996 Classic Clare Riesling - still has plenty of life - intense aromatics with some toasty/petroleum complexity followed by a lively, crisp palate of some length. Classy wine.

Pol Roger 1995 Vintage Brut - Complex yeasty/vegemite notes on the nose, expansive palate, fine acidity and good length. Seemingly, at the peak of its' powers. Previous bottles have been fresher/better.

Seppelt 1990 Dorrien - Seriously good wine, fully mature and should hold for a few more years yet. Impeccably balanced from start to finish. Damn Rosecorp for axing this label!

DeBortoli 2001 Noble One - Developed colour, powerful bouquet - some acceptable lift, apricot marmalade, creme brulee, overripe pineapples and spicy/almondy oak. Unctious, very sweet palate revealing "more of the above" saved by good acid cut at the back. I'd opt for drinking this sooner than later. Highly Recommended.

[Kieran]

Torbreck Woodcutter's Red 2002 - Very simple, up-front style. A good quaffer, but nothing more, and I can't see any potential to improve.

Casa Madaro Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 - This was the only Mexican wine on the list at Azteca in Randwick. Actually quite drinkable, might improve with a little time. At $22.50 it was by a significant margin the most expensive wine on the list.

An aside - Ate at Old Saigon in Newtown last night, and their Vietnamese Salty Squid was absolutely lip-smacking delicious (although probably MSG infested).

Kieran

[Red Bigot]

A few on Friday night at dinner at Sage with friends from my Monday tasting Group:

Leasingham CC Sparkling Shiraz 95 - a bit more restrained than the sweet, oaky, hedonistic 94, but a very nice sparkling shiraz.

Seppelt Original Sparkling Shiraz 98 - great stuff as usual, especially for the price, will cellar a few years too.

Barossa estates E&E Black Pepper Shiraz 91 - how much coconut do you want? On first opening after decanting it reminded one person of his mis-spent youth lazing on the beaches, but the coconut breathed off fairly quickly, letting the lovely fruit strut it's mellow stuff and no one mentioned dill at all Just hitting it's peak for my taste, will hold or maybe even improve a little for several years yet.

Dalwhinnie Cabernet 1991 - impressive fine tannin structure, but the fruit seems to have gone on holiday, possible at an in-between stage.

St Hallett OB 94 - a good comparison in style to the hedonistic E&E, a great example of the older Barossa shiraz style, with chocolate and plums on a seamless palate, oak in the background, hints of leather just starting to emerge.

John's Blend Cabernet 1994 - another example of finely judging the long oak maturation (30+ months) to suit the lovely fruit, overtones of Langhorne mint on the berry fruit, just entering it's drinking window now, the oak is still prominent, but the fruit copes easily.

Mt Langi Ghiran Cab-Merlot 1997 - the first I've tried from the 6-pack I bought after tasting it at the winery. I think this is where the Dalwhinnie fruit went on holiday, it's all here, juicy cabernet with musky/violet overtones from the merlot, seriously good fine tannin structure, leave for a couple of more years.

Mitchelton Print Shiraz 98 - deceptively soft and approachable from the near-perfect balance, this wine develops layers of complexity in the glass, the best Print label vintage I can remember. Seriously yum.

To finish there was a McWilliams Botrytis Semillon (can't remember the vintage, possibly 2001), a 750 ml bottle show sample of a NWS gold medal winner, very luscious with a clean finish that wasn't cloying.

[n4sir]

What started as a fairly quiet week with just the one bottle at home, quickly turned into something bigger with an invitation to fill in at the Black Tongues (see separate link), and trying the latest Majella line-up on Saturday with a couple of surprise inclusions.

2002 Penfolds Thomas Hyland South Australia Shiraz This was one of the replacements for the corked 1998 Bin 138 I returned – it took about three weeks to arrive after being dispatched to Queensland instead of SA! Deep purple/red colour. At first there’s very obvious coconut oak on the nose, with blackberry, chocolate and mint, and some porty/raisin characters and liquorice with air. The palate is on the hot side (14.5%), with black olive/bitter chocolate fruit, a sweet blueberry rebound, and some coffee and traces of confectionery on the aftertaste. With more breathing there’s a lot of menthol on the palate, which seems to fuel my suspicion there’s a lot of fruit from recently planted Limestone Coast and possibly Riverland vines in this wine.

2003 Majella Riesling Pale green colour. The nose is very delicate and spicy, with some lime lurking in the background. The palate is very quite powerful with a mix of course slate/mineral flavours, and a long lemon/lime aftertaste on the finish. This is another convincing Coonawarra Riesling to argue not all of the vines in the region should be ripped up for planting more Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay.

2002 Majella Shiraz Deep purple/red. Gorgeous complex nose that’s continually changing; coffee barrel-ferment, chocolate, vanilla, tar, coal, rich blackberry and blackcurrants, a hint of mint, and fruit cake characters in a rich but elegant bouquet. The palate again is a lush mix of coffee oak and rich blackberry fruit, with very obvious and powerful powdery tannins. My favourite of the new releases.

2002 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon Deep, dark purple colour. An extremely green nose, with tea leaf, pencil notes, and some peas and cabbage characters that weren’t to my liking. The palate is slightly less green but still very minty, with the blackcurrant fruit in a reserved mode letting the fine-grained but hefty tannins stick out. The Prof (Brian Lynn) said that the Shiraz and Cabernet generally get a 50/50 split with peoples’ preferences – mine was for the former this time around. That said it could be a very different story with an additional 10 years bottle age.

2001 Majella “The Malleea” Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Deep, dark purple/red colour. I got to try this last year as a barrel sample, and it’s interesting to see how it’s progressed in 12 months. Back then the coffee barrel ferment, tar and VA were very obvious – this time around it’s a lot tighter, still with some coffee and tar there, but the blackberry Shiraz and green/minty Cabernet were in a real arm-wrestle. The result was that while the wine looked to have all the ingredients for greatness, it seemed to be locked up at present. The Prof seemed to agree, saying it had just started to come out of an exceptionally sulky stage of its early life in the bottle.

A customer had contacted the Prof earlier in the week saying he had a few bottles of the 1993, 1994 and 1995 Shiraz, and wanted to exchange them as he thought they were off. After trying them and assessing that absolutely nothing was wrong with the bottles, the Prof agreed to the trade and added the 1994 and 1995 to the Saturday public tasting!

1994 Majella Shiraz Deep, brick red. Wonderful complex bouquet of old leather, mint/menthol, some ash, grilled nuts and vanilla. The velvety tannins have fully integrated, with rich, subtle raspberry fruit flowing through the impressive length of the wine, finishing with a nutty aftertaste. Magnificent drinking now, begging for a good slice of aged cheddar.

1995 Majella Shiraz Deep, brick red. Again a wonderful complex bouquet; the mint/menthol was more obvious this time around, and there was a hint of barnyard and coffee oak as well as old leather. The velvety tannins were more obvious in the front palate of the wine, and the raspberry fruit while appearing more powerful at first, dropped off in the finish. An amazing subtle contrast to the 1994 to highlight the leanness of the 1995 vintage, and the general consistency of the style.

2002 Majella Sparkling Shiraz Deep, dark purple/red colour with an impressive mousse and very fine bead. In the past I tended to find the sparkling red too green and phenolic for my liking, but last year a subtle change in style changed my opinion. This vintage continues the theme, with rich earthy chocolate, blackberry fruit, some mint, and a hint of brandied butter and supporting coffee oak, which all flow on to the thick, creamy palate. The Prof explained that the only changes they made were that the wine spends a longer time on lees and lesser time in oak, but the oak itself is newer than previous vintages. While they haven’t noticed much change in the wine style themselves, I’ve certainly warmed to the results of the changes.


Cheers,
Ian

[Chuck]

Hi all.

Steppingstone 2001 Padthaway Shiraz.

Was not expecting anything great however this wine continues to improve with age. Lovely fruit and a steal at $11.00. Was better compared to the recently released 2002 although both were similar at same age. Managed to get another case and expect them to last another 2-5 years. 14% alcohol.

Petaluma 1999 Coonawarra.


Still quite closed on the nose with fruit well hidden even after 3 hours breathing following decanting. Subtle French oak (Nevers and Alliers) in the background. Last half glass showed its true colours so the rest will be placed in the rest area for another 3 - 15 years. 13.5% alcohol.

Jamiesons Run 2001 Cabernet.

Austere Coonawarra style with dominate gripping tannins. Can't see the fruit emerging to make any great impact but good value for money. 13.5% alcohol.

[Davo]

Ric, It must have been the night for it.

I had not had a dud for a while so was well in line for one.

Opened a bottle of Brown Hill Ivanhoe Reserve Cabernet 2001 to enjoy as the WCE defeated Geelong. The cork had wine stain along one side exiting onto the top of the cork. No problem, I have had plenty in the past with similar leakage that were just fine. Not this time however. The nose was lovely sweet nail polish remover and the palate hot vinegar with a metallic aftertaste. Oxidised. So opened my last bottle of the same to be greeted by the lovely aroma of soggy canine, wet hessian/cardboard etc etc. never even put it to my lips. Two bottles for 2 different cork faults.

Washed out the glasses and, determined to have a WA wine, opened an Alkoomi Jarrah Shiraz 2001. Bloody sensational cool climate shiraz which opened up over the 4 quarters of the footy and was drinking better at the finish. Started out dominated by the pepper but as it opened more and more dark berry flavours were coming through.

Followed with a Hamilton's Railway Shiraz 2000 to go with the Wallabie v Pacific Islands replay. Warm climate sweet fruit and vanilla chocolate. Somewhat simplistic but a great late night quaffer. A great comparison to the Alkoomi and really highlighted climatic influences.

2 wins, 2 fine wines and unfortunately 2 faults reinforced in the memory banks.

[Sean]

deleted

[TORB]

Ric, It must have been the night for it.
I had not had a dud for a while so was well in line for one.

Davo,

You bastard, you jinxed me. Tonight I felt like a bottle of FRS so I opened a 98 Yalumba Black D. Very little taste, except for the wood and almost zero aroma, even when it was warmed up.

The Profs 98 FRS was a very good alternative, so I am now happy again. Hoperfully the retailer wont give me hard time about it either. Ant....

[Red Bigot]

J said, "It's OK, but not really." He only drinks Shiraz you see. I suppose he's what you call a Shiraz Bigot.

A very rare and specialised sub-species of red bigots, I've never come across one in my lifetime so far. Each to his/her own tastes of course, there is a huge variety of shiraz to be had out there. I just hope he doesn't develop an allergy to shiraz like a couple of people I have come across in the past. There was one chap who we used to confirm if there was any shiraz in a wine labelled without mentioning any shiraz content, he'd get a blinding headache within 5 minutes of the first mouthful.

Anybody know any of the Cabernet Bigot, Grenache Bigot etc rare sub-species? I haven't met any of those either.

[ChrisH]

Sean

Easily fixed - just take a corkscrew with you when you BYO (I prefer to open them myself anyway, especially older wines with sediment)

regards
Chris

[JamieBahrain]

Henschke Green Hill Riesling 1998- Best riesling I have had from the Adelaide Hills. Consumed a six pack over the last week with family and friends in Australia. Trying to balance the cellar and consume early drinking whites-mistake as this wine has plenty ahead.

Glorious yellow gold, floral aromas with mature, honeyed undertones. Rich palate of considerable weight, with broad floral-lime flavours and some honeyed compexity ( one bottle out of the six had some botrytised palate flavour). The wine has an oily, viognier feel in the mouth, with a finish that is again, not unlike a good viognier which holds it's warmth well.



[/b]

[Billy Bolonski]

Campbells 'Isabella' Rare Tokay

What a great wine. Nothing really surprising about this wine, it is as good as would be expected. Simply stunning Rutherglen Tokay.

Miranda 'The Pioneers' Raisined Muscat

Bargain. This retails for about $10 or under. I picked up a heap a earlier this year for about half that.

Light, sweet and uncomplicated. Muscat grapes dominate and the light body and alcohol made this wine almost too easy to consume. It matched well to the deserts that were served with it. It is a more flexible choice than many other OZ desert wines

Turkey Flat Rose 2004.

Bright glowing red. A big Aussie rose. Dry, but not overly so, it was well in balance and offered sweet ripe berries, a little confection was detected and enough acidity to clean it all up nicely. Probably nicer if the day was not so cold.

Rouge Homme Cabernet Merlot 2002

Nice quaffer. Dark, indigo purple. This was very fresh with a violet profile that became consumed by dark cherries. Nice whack of oak and acidity. Great value wine.

[/b]

[GraemeG]

Anybody know any of the Cabernet Bigot, Grenache Bigot etc rare sub-species? I haven't met any of those either.

Ah, but Brian, there are plenty of 'Pinot Bigots' around...

Still moving house, and the week's delay has done terrible things to the stash of wine I had with me. So it's only;

2000 Hugel Gewurztraminer (Alsace)
Fine match with a Thai restaurant. Classic g-w nose with lychees, rosewater, pot-pourri aromas. More musky qualities on the palate, faintly oily in texture, yet still with a refreshing acid cut, this nicely balanced wine is very gluggable indeed. 13% and quite ripe, with a dry finish. Can be kept longer if necessary.

cheers,
Graeme

[PaulV]

Bit of an eclectic mix

1990 Pol Roger Mid yellow. Lovley rich toasty, bready nose with fine mousse. Palate similarly quite rich and long. Acid has softened quite sa deal and I think this is drinking at its peak. Excellent

1996 MICHELE CHIARLO Valle de Sole, Barbera d'Asti
Light to mid red with some browning. Some tar with lifted rose petal, floral nose. At best mid weight palate soft and spicy with some plummy earth notes. Maybe a bit light and not really intense. But lovely drinking now with an ox-tail raviolli from the recipe in the latest Gourmet traveller. Probably better a couple of years ago but on the night good to very good

1999 Geoff Hardy Kupito Shiraz What a disappoint. On special at the local reduced from $35 to $19.99. Probably worth $7. Thin mean green nose and palate. Lacked any fruit intensity and short pa;late. Maybe 1999 was very good in the Barossa but in this example not in the cooler areas of the Adelaide Hills. Poor



Tried the Boutique wine winners in a sydney bottle shop. Actually thought the whites were overall more consisent than the reds
Just some Tvs
2002 McLeish Semillon (Hunter Valley) Excellent - structured like a Tyrrell's Vat 1 with equivalent fruit depth. Lots of lemon and lanolin on nose and palate . Lots of acid also lots of length . Excellent
2003 Chawkers Crossing Riesling Some geranium and spice on nose but lacks real intensity. Slightly coarse palate but lots of fruit. Lacks intensity though. Good

2003 Lenton brae Semillon Sauvignon Blanc Vied with the McLeish as best of the whites. Incredibly intense lemony , lantana nose. very bright green citrus fruit palate but no hardness from sauvignon blanc. Surprisingly long palate. needs 6 more months to settle down then will be Excellent

2003 Clairault Sauvignon Blanc Not my favourite style. Thankfully wasn't over the top green pea/capscum nose. Ok palate but lacked excitement and structure. OK

2003 Chesnut grove Chardonnay (Margaret River) Avoid. Oak , oak and more oak on the nose - absolutely no fruit getting thru. Clunky linear simple fruit palate. no minerality or class. Poor

2002 Kies Sparkling Merlot Jube, jelly bean nose with some earthy foresty hints underneath Smoky, cola tutti fruiti palate, short finish but good acid and quite dry. Not my style. Average

2002 Port Phillip Estate Pinot Noir (Mornington Peninsula) Lifted beetroot but overwhelming green herbaceousness- [either overcropped or too much folage] No spicy oak. Midweight palate with some raspberry, plummy fruit although there is a greeness throughout. Simple and fruit dominated. OK luncheon wine but no more.

2002 Lynch Petit Verdot. Dark purple. Reeked of VA. Some pruney fermented dary cherry flavours on nose and palate. Sour , extremely short finish. Poor

2002 Plunkett Merlot At long last a decent red. Good rich dark plummy nose with some smoky oak. Spicy rich mid weight palate with heaps of fruit tannin. Slight bitterness at the finish but with time this will turn out to be a n excellent eg. of an oz merlot. Well done. very good.

2002 Cape Barren Shiraz (McLaren Vale) Slightly dumb nose at present but some tar and plummy fruit but no chrissy cake type aromas. Absolutley superb rich palate with heaps of shiraz fruit intensity and beautifully balanced palate and a long finish. Excellent. Interestingly, a 2nd bottle opened reeked of sulphur and burtn rubber - after 10 minutes started to blow off but maybe why first bottle still had dumb nose. Buy if you see it.

2002 Foggo Cabernet Sauvignon (McLaren Vale) relatively soft red berry nose - no cassis or cedar. lacled a bit of intensity. Palate was rich with back fruits , fairly soft finish for a cab. Not bad but not my style of cab. very Good.

Cheers

Paul

[brad]

2003 Lenton brae Semillon Sauvignon Blanc Vied with the McLeish as best of the whites. Incredibly intense lemony , lantana nose. very bright green citrus fruit palate but no hardness from sauvignon blanc. Surprisingly long palate. needs 6 more months to settle down then will be Excellent

He's a mate of mine but I don't mind saying that Ed continues to make one of the best in this style every year. Just got a Gold for this at the Aust Boutique Wine Awards. Pretty hard to get big medals with these styles usually.

2003 Chesnut grove Chardonnay (Margaret River) Avoid. Oak , oak and more oak on the nose - absolutely no fruit getting thru. Clunky linear simple fruit palate. no minerality or class. Poor

Margaret River or Manjimup?

[PaulV]

2003 Chesnut grove Chardonnay (Margaret River) Avoid. Oak , oak and more oak on the nose - absolutely no fruit getting thru. Clunky linear simple fruit palate. no minerality or class. Poor

Margaret River or Manjimup?

Brad I thought Manjimup was part of margaret River area - oops, where is it?

Paul

[Guest]

2003 Chesnut grove Chardonnay (Margaret River) Avoid. Oak , oak and more oak on the nose - absolutely no fruit getting thru. Clunky linear simple fruit palate. no minerality or class. Poor

Margaret River or Manjimup?

Brad I thought Manjimup was part of margaret River area - oops, where is it?

Paul

Boy, people have been killed for less.....

Manjimup is approx 150km east of Margaret River, it is a wine region in itself and it adjoins the Pemberton region. Like Pemberton it existed as a timber town but grapes and tourism are starting to make ground around there.

[simm]

J said, "It's OK, but not really." He only drinks Shiraz you see. I suppose he's what you call a Shiraz Bigot.

A very rare and specialised sub-species of red bigots, I've never come across one in my lifetime so far. Each to his/her own tastes of course, there is a huge variety of shiraz to be had out there. I just hope he doesn't develop an allergy to shiraz like a couple of people I have come across in the past. There was one chap who we used to confirm if there was any shiraz in a wine labelled without mentioning any shiraz content, he'd get a blinding headache within 5 minutes of the first mouthful.

Anybody know any of the Cabernet Bigot, Grenache Bigot etc rare sub-species? I haven't met any of those either.

I was a Cabernet Bigot a few years back, but with a bit of effort I feel I may be becoming more the Blend Bigot with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, and Shriaz of interest as Caberent mixers.

[bacchaebabe]

1996 Hardy's Tintara Shiraz
Deep red colour still but I fear this one has reached its peak. First of only a couple of bottles but I thought they'd go a bit longer than this. Lovely blue fruits shining through with fully integrated tannins and decent complexity although I found it to be slightly medium bodied and a little thinner than I would have liked or expected. Probably the result of just missing the boat on this one by maybe a year. Still a very nice drink but I won't be waiting any longer to drink the others.

Followed by 1999 Fox Creek Grenache Shiraz
Had all the body lacking in the tintara but lacked the depth and complexity. However it was only bought as a quaffer and it did that job admirably. Dark red again but none of the lovely blue fruits in the previous wine. Very little wood evident but it cost less than $20 from memory. Saying that, so did the Tintara.

[Gavin Trott]

Recuperating slowly here from knee surgery!

One stood out, no tasting note unfortunately, but I enjoyed a bottle of the 2001 Turkey Flat Cabernet Saturday night, and enjoyed is the correct word. Sheesh, great stuff, very classy Barossa Cabernet!

Not Coonawarra or Margaret River of course, but within its style as good as I've tried.

Highly recommended!

[TORB]

Recuperating slowly here from knee surgery!

One stood out,

Great pun Gavin!

Agree with your comments on the Turkey Cabernet, a very impressive wine for a Barossa Cab and one I have bought for my cellar.

Re Kris's comments on the 96 Tintara Shiraz. This wine has got me flummoxed. I have tried it about four times over the last year and all with completely differing impressions. From its "green" to its "not ready" to its "drinking beautifully" and everything in between.

Bottle variation? In a hole? Dunno! Problem is i loved it on release and still have 21 bottles. I dont know if I should be or Its

[GraemeG]

Re Kris's comments on the 96 Tintara Shiraz. This wine has got me flummoxed. I have tried it about four times over the last year and all with completely differing impressions. From its "green" to its "not ready" to its "drinking beautifully" and everything in between.

Bottle variation? In a hole? Dunno! Problem is i loved it on release and still have 21 bottles. I dont know if I should be or Its

I've no experience with the 96, but Kris' note, and Tyson's TN in the latest Winefront on the 98 certainly agreed with my last tasting of the 98. I've only 4 of the 98s left, but as soon as I get my cellar back I'm opening one to see what's up. I'm beginning to wonder if super-ripe McLaren Vale shiraz is just as much of a lottery as premier-cru Burgundy in terms of development and ageability...

cheers,
Graeme

[Rory]

A friend bought over a couple of rippers for dinner:

'98 Georg Breuer Rudesheim Berg Schlossberg Riesling.

A dry Rhine riesling (which I prefer over the sweeter styles). The nose lacked any "kero" at all, which was a nice change, with a powerfull lime and powder nose with a touch of honey, showing much younger than it's age.
As did the palate, which was full of the lime power of the nose, mixed with some toasty notes and the honey on the finish, yet still packed with zesty acid that drunk blind , would not have you guessing at 6 years of age. The length and persistancy of the palate was intoxicating. Left to breath in the glass over an hour, it only got better. Lovely wine!

'96 Katnook Odyssey Cab/Sauv.

A power packed yet still varietal nose rich in cassis, mint and cedar leads you into a palate of much the same. This is not a wine for the fainthearted, and although I don't prefer Cabs of this size, it was evidently still packed with quality fruit and well handled oak (which was probably a little more obvious in it's younger days). However, the 14% alc was immediatley evident on the first mouthfull - a little too hot. The tannins were drying and slightly grainy, yet the wine showed good structure. It is a mouthfull of a drink, one the yanks would love, and no doubt will get better yet. A show stopper for a dinner party!

'98 DeBortoli Noble One.

Had left a few of these in the cellar as I had tended towards French dessert styles and was over the cloying Aussie ones. But this pleasantly suprised me. A rich caramelled orange nose showed up once some VA had blown off (VA in a Botrytis?) with the palate not as sickly sweet as I was expecting. Very complex and rich, and very enjoyable to drink.

Morris Old Premium Liqueur Tokay.

If Grandma had lost the threepence pieces from the christmas cake, they were going to turn up here! Coz that's what this rich unctuous beast smelt like. Xmas Cake! And tasted as rich. With some dark chocolate thrown in. And you definately couldn't stop at one! Superb way to finish the night.



Rory

[Guest_Anders]

2001, 1914 Shiraz
Dak red. Nose filled with oak, dark fruit, bay leaves and pepper - quite "smokey". On the palate it showed elements of dark fruit and berries, chocolate, liquirice, and oak. everything is there and in 4 - 5 years this will be an even better wine.

1999, Jack Mann
BIG! HUGE! MACHO! Dark, dark red. Lots of fruit and toasted oak on the nose, accompanying dark fruit, chocolat and mint. A very full and BIG wine with lots and lots of dark fruit and berries. This too was somewhat smokey with the mint/eucalyptus quite evident on the palate. An absolute blockbuster of a wine. Looooooong! I loved it.

1998, Turkey Flat Shiraz
Dark red. Vanilla, plum and dark fruit on the nose (after a couple of hours it also showed caramel and chocolate). The same fruit and vanilla shines through on the palate, but unfortunately it ended very short. A disappointment, as I had expected a lot more form this wine.

To finish off the evening we had a bottle of a fortified wine from Sandalford (Sandalera or Sandolera something?). WOW! what a wine. Caramel, toffee, nuts, chocolate! All in abundance! Perfect!

/Anders

[Martin Phillipson]

Hi all

Long time no post! Been drinkin a whole host of stuff lately. Some good some not so good. Here are the highlights and lowlights

1996 Penfolds Bin 389

What a wine. Sensational stuff. Best 389 ever? Best I have ever tasted certainly. I have expressed doubts in the past but this was magnificent. Still jet black in the glass, great fruity nose with a hint of eucalypt and a great big mouthful of wine, lovely tannins. Still got ages and ages left in it and is only going to get better. Outstanding.

1999 Vasse Felix Cab Sauv

Another belter! Beautiful mid-weight cabernet. Good on the palate too, no doughnuts here! Best thing about this wine tho is the purity of that lovely blackcurrant fruit. V tasty now but could hold a couple more years.

2002 St Hallett Faith Shiraz

This has just arrived here in Canada and another sensational wine. I hope all the 2002's are as good as this. Classic Barossa shiraz and what a nose..could smell the glass across the room. Lovely soft tannins with rich ripe chocolatey fruit in the mouth.

Also, a nice fresh wine. Not smothered in forests of American oak, and a nice level of acidity to it. No palate fatigue after this bottle, just reach for another!

Could hold for a couple more years but so so hard to resist now. I can see why it won Uncorked for Best Red Wine. I can't believe you lucky people in Aus can get this for $15 a bottle!


1997 Penfolds St Henri

Disappointing. Found this very flat and one dimensional. Low level TCA perhaps as this wasn't even finished! Hopefully not representative.

1997 Clare Essentials Carlsfield Riesling

Hmm the plot thickens about these pesky 1997 Clare Rieslings. This was delicious! Lovely golden colour, slight hint of kero (which I like) and still some acidity in a refreshing limey palate. Went v well with food. Sadly my last but some other bottles of this 6 pack died an earlier death and weren't as good as this.

2001 Rosemount Traditional

Jimmy Watson Winner. Hmmm didn;t think much of this. Very pleasant nose, and a bit of fruit in the mouth but don't see what the fuss was about. Could be left a bit longer perhaps but not overly impressed

2001 Rosemount GSM

Yuck! It's stuff like this that gives GSM's a bad name. Over-ripe sweet fruit, with some heat from too much alcohol (15%). Tasted like Grandma's plum jam, and that's not meant to be a compliment. Lacking in structure and not much finesse. TO be avoided.

Some non-Aussie wines of note

1997 Rocca Della Macie "Ser Gioveto"

Sensational. Been disappointed by a fair few of the much hyped Tuscan 1997's but this was a ripper. One of the best Sangiovese's I have ever tasted. Jet black in the glass with a phenomenal nose of black cherries. Again, could smell this one all teh way across the kitchen. Still quite tannic in the mouth but plenty of cherry-fruit to balance it out. Has that lovely savoury flavour that good Italian wine has. Was a stunner with food. Will last for ages too, I have 2 left and will be holding them for a while. A real treat

2001 Stoneleigh Riesling (NZ)

Lovely wine, always a bargain and this one is no exception. Lovely crisp lime cordial flavours, and when combined with a Thai noodle salad there was an added complexity to the palate. Great summer wine.

2002 Pieropan Soave Classico

More great summer drinking. Most Soave is awful but Pieropan makes great ones. Again, lovely crisp fresh fruit with a nice almondy aftertaste. Makes you want to sit on the deck and eat seafood! Delicious.


Besserat de Bellefon Champagne (NV)

Not sure how widely available this would be in Australia, but this is great fizz in a lighter style. Lovely yeasty, baked bread nose and very lemony in the mouth, deliciously refreshing and disappeared v quickly. We have dirt cheap champagne here, I got this for $30 a bottle.


Finally, another ripper:

Emilio Lustau Almacenista Manzanilla (Spain)

Bought this at Heathrow for $10..simply superb sherry at a bargain price. Lustau selects certain sherry's from indivdual producers best Solera's and bottles them. Bone bone dry and with a lovely nutty flavour, if there is a better aperitif than this I'd like to try some (OK maybe excluding Champagne!) Great with garlic prawns and other tapas. Pity I only bought 1 bottle. I have a bottle of the Oloroso, but am waiting for winter and some fruit cake before I report on that one.

Cheers

MP

[Adair]

1997 Clare Essentials Carlsfield Riesling

Hmm the plot thickens about these pesky 1997 Clare Rieslings. This was delicious! Lovely golden colour, slight hint of kero (which I like) and still some acidity in a refreshing limey palate. Went v well with food. Sadly my last but some other bottles of this 6 pack died an earlier death and weren't as good as this.

I could not agree more. Opened 3 x 1997 Leasingham Classic Clare Rieslings in the last 4 days. 1 was gorgeous. Your above tasting note was scarily similar to mine of this wine... then the next 2 bottles I opened were flat and oxidised and went down the drain!

I hate cork. Are there any 1997 Clare Riesling under screwcap? I bet they would be showing well and this whole 1997 Clare Riesling debate would not be as big an issue.

Adair

[GraemeG]

I hate cork. Are there any 1997 Clare Riesling under screwcap? I bet they would be showing well and this whole 1997 Clare Riesling debate would not be as big an issue.

Adair

I don't think screwcaps will save 97 Clare rieslings. I bought 2 bottles of Pewsay Vale's 97 Contours Riesling (Eden, admittedly) under stelvin late last year. I notice the ullage is significantly more than in more recent vintages - I'm not suggesting there's been any leaking, just that perhaps the bottle shape has been modified slightly since to contain less headspace.

Anyway, I drank one of them last Christmas. It was very yellow indeed, with quite developed notes. The acid was soft, and everything about the wine suggested it was reaching the end of it's best days. The back label made no great promises about the longevity of this particular vintage, and I got the impression Ms Rose would not expect it to last much longer.

cheers,
Graeme

[David Lole]

I hate cork. Are there any 1997 Clare Riesling under screwcap? I bet they would be showing well and this whole 1997 Clare Riesling debate would not be as big an issue.

Adair

I don't think screwcaps will save 97 Clare rieslings. I bought 2 bottles of Pewsay Vale's 97 Contours Riesling (Eden, admittedly) under stelvin late last year. I notice the ullage is significantly more than in more recent vintages - I'm not suggesting there's been any leaking, just that perhaps the bottle shape has been modified slightly since to contain less headspace.

Anyway, I drank one of them last Christmas. It was very yellow indeed, with quite developed notes. The acid was soft, and everything about the wine suggested it was reaching the end of it's best days. The back label made no great promises about the longevity of this particular vintage, and I got the impression Ms Rose would not expect it to last much longer.

cheers,
Graeme

I tried the three '97 Clare Essential Rieslings last year, two were oxidised to buggery, one just drinkable. Martin emailed me about this and tried one which he thought terrific. By his own admission, above, subsequent bottles have been variable. I'd say cork and vintage have both played a role in causing the problems.

[bacchaebabe]

Re the 96 Tintara, it was drinking very well but just not as full bodied as I would have expected which led me to think I'd just missed the boat on it. The bottle said cellar for 5 - 8 years and that appears to be spot on. I believe it will still hold for a couple of years and makes great drinking but it's just a tiny bit thin and I think that will only get worse over time.

I've a few of the 98s so I might try one soon too.