The two wines of the night
2009 Pooley Estate Grown Riesling, Coal River (screwcap): 12% alc. Bright straw. Pithy/lemony and grassy nose, the palate full of sweet lemon and mineral water; I found this a touch bland on its own, although it did match the entrees particularly well. This was very popular among the other diners.
1997 Brokenwood Semillon magnum, Hunter Valley (cork): 11% alc. Bright gold. Honeyed, lemony and biscuity, more than a little like the Tabilk Marsanne that followed it, very dry with racy acidity, but surprisingly lacking toasty and buttery characters. The first of a number of genuinely polarising wines tonight, some thought it was delightful, some thought it was slightly passed it or oxidised; I thought it was caught in a transition phase, not young enough and not old enough.
1982 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon, Loire (cork): 13.5% alc. Bright gold. Very honeyed and sweet but also varnishy, some lanolin and game in the background; the other bottle was a little fresher and better, but overall this wine wasn't anywhere near as good as the 1986 vintage we tried at the previous offline.
2002 Tabilk Marsanne, Nagambie Lakes (screwcap): 12.5% alc. Light gold. Still young and lemony, much like a semillon with some detergent suds and sugared biscuits, still full of fresh, racy acidity leading to a crisp finish. Again, I thought this was caught a little in between phases, and needs more time to show its best.
2003 Torbreck The Steading magnum, Barossa Valley (cork): 14.5% alc. Grenache, Mataro & Shiraz. Medium to almost dark red. Smoky and ripe, chocolatey, jammy and slightly porty in a good way, light to medium-weight with a minty mid-palate and smoky finish. It shows all the ripeness of the hot vintage without going over the top, a good drink but not a really great one; it isn't going to get better from here.
2002 Reillys Dry Land Cabernet Sauvignon magnum, Clare Valley (cork): 14.5% alc. Medium to very dark red. Very minty nose with a good wallop of nail polish and vanilla, lots of cranberry, EA and slightly bourbon oak; likewise the palate has a lot of extract, a lot of oak, mint, and chalky tannins on the finish. There are Reynella-like elements to this wine, but there's also a razor-thin edge it is treading on. I get the feeling the drinking window will be tricky with this wine, get it right and you will be rewarded, get it wrong and you will be bewildered.
1991 Tam Shiraz magnum, Barossa Valley (cork): 12.7% alc. Light-ish red. It's really hard to judge this wine tonight as it was served at the wrong time: before the previous two wines would have been much better. It's lightweight, medicinal and metallic, not overly offensive but very rustic in a Beaucastel-like way that I frankly find hard to take in this group of wines: as I mentioned it may have faired much better served earlier.
2004 Kalleske Greenock Shiraz magnum, Barossa Valley (cork): 15% alc. Dark to very inky red/crimson. At ten years of age the nose is still humongously big, full of malty oak, cherry cola, paneforte and graphite with touches of orange peel, dark chocolate and espresso. The palate is more restrained but still full-weight, with obvious smoky chocolate and VA characters but the fruit and acidity are well and truly up to it, finishing tight and minerally. I remember being impressed by a magnum Gavin took to a lunch when this was first released, and it was just as impressive tonight; it will probably outlive most of us.
1996 Lyndemans Pyrus magnum, Coonawarra (cork): 13% alc. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. Medium to dark red. Textbook Coonawarra, full of blackcurrant and ash, menthol and truffle; the palate's lighter than the surrounding wines, medium to full weight, but well balanced and long, a little foursquare although it still has time on its side. A bit of a wallflower wine tonight, although I know Marianne did say it was her WOTN.
1990 Yalumba The Signature magnum, South Australia (cork): 13% alc. 85% Coonawarra & Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Barossa Shiraz, 24 months in oak. Medium to almost dark red with a brick rim. The Barossa component seems take the lead, the nose full of smoked meats, dark chocolate and pan fried herbs, the palate medium to full weight, long and impeccably balanced. I took this along fully intending it to be a WOTN contender and it was, until the following two wines relegated it to third place!
1988 Wynns Coonawarra Estate John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon magnum (cork): 12.3% alc. Medium to dark red. Bottles of this wine in past (and especially certain magnums) have a rather spotty reputation - this one was an absolute belter, up with the best I have tried, full of blackcurrant, peppermint, powdered chalk and graphite, sous bois, cedar, ground coffee and spices. All those characters flow through to the palate, which is medium to full weight and velvety, long and perfectly balanced; my WOTN along with about half the room, most of the other half voted for the following wine...
1985 Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Shiraz magnum, South Australia (cork): 12.4% alc. I didn't note down the regions or breakdown of the varietals of this wine, it was late and I was getting slack; the web says it's 80% Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale & Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Langhorne Creek Merlot. It has a lovely nose full of cedar and red currants with touches of soy, mint and graphite. The palate's around medium-weight but perfectly balanced, bright and tingly fruit and acidity front and mid-palate, finishing chalky and minty (fruit not alcohol warmth - I'm guessing possibly the Langhorne Creek influence here), some vanillin/slightly bourbon oak on the rebound. An interesting contrast to the 1988 John Riddoch, just as perfectly balanced and enjoyable but a very different style.
By this stage I was burned out and put the notebook away, so I didn't write anything about the two wines Sam bought for the group after the dinner, a bottle each of 2007 Brothers in Arms Cabernet Sauvignon and 2009 d'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz.
Cheers,
Ian
Ps. Sarah posted some much better photos on her facebook page - I'll see if I can get her to post them here or grab them to share in this thread.
