Canberra Offline No. 4 - Friday 30 May 7pm

[The fish]

That's good news Travis. Looking forward to meeting your better half. My wife has committed to coming when we start hitting the 'hatted' venues

My work colleague has bailed - he has to travel out of town at short notice - bring's us back to the magic number 10. I'm still keen as mustard.

I have 5 good glasses that I can bring. Obviously the number 5 is the result of an earlier incident. Can anyone else bring a 6 pack along with them?

Cheers
Matt

[rossmckay]

I'll bring along six. It would seem thought that my wife volunteered to babysit that night. I'll check

Have checked and she apologises to you all. I will be a one, with a sem and a shiraz

[TravisW]

'Twas very good. 10 people and 10 wines from France, Germany and Oz. Wine of the night for me... the Tyrrell's Stevens Semillon 1998. So beautiful, fresh and young!

[TravisW]

Up at 6AM and first patient at 7:30AM. Hmm, shall we try Sat nights?

[rossmckay]

A great night, and lovely to meet you all.

The two german rieslings were outstanding and it was hard to pick between them, but if pressed the Kupp had such purity of fruit it was a sneak away into a corner and stroke it type of wine, precious. The 96 Marsanne and 98 Steven were both drinking superbly and surprisingly the Steven still had a life ahead of it.

The Moulin a Vent was exceptional. Like some decent Fleurie, It would be a great wine for an options game. The burgundy was finer than I expected for a CdN and needs another 5-10 in the cellar but is all class. The Douglas was mature and if you have any of these left, drink up now because it won't get any better.

The four reds were all drinking well but if I had to choose the Joseph and Petaluma suited my palate the most.

The cork gods smiled upon us although I believe there may have been low level taint ion a bottle, but which one it was, cannot recall.





Now to back up for a pinot night tonight with a different crew

[The fish]

Another top effort from the Canberra crew on Friday night. $30 a head for the food and 13 or so bottles of decent wine. Does it get any better than that?

Wines, wines...let's see what I can remember? They were all pretty good:)

Peter Lauer 'Kern' 2011: the marketing slogan for this in Europe is I believe "Riesling for advanced drinkers". Balance, precision and purity of fruit. Delicious. Ross's description of the wine as precious is on the money. Sadly there is none left in the country until next year I wonder what this would look like with a bit of age on it?

Reinhold Haart Piesport Domherr Spatlese 2007: I think this had 90 grams or so of residual sugar. Lashings of paw paw and mango? Either way it was well matched for a fiery chilli dish with perhaps beef? Happy days. I've found this wine to be a little polarising. I've had some drinkers with an oz-centric palate describe it as a dessert wine. For me it's been an entree into the world that is spatlese. Plenty in the tank to go (a lot) longer.

Tyrells Stevens Semillon 1998: Omg...a perfect bottle (cork).This was probably my favourite wine for the night. Plenty of interest in it and it seemed like it has time to go. Will it improve though?

Tahblik Marsanne 1996: how do they do it for the price? Top notch - everyone should buy a couple of bottles of this to put away in the cellar every year...thanks Julian (was this yours?)!

Collector Lamp Lit Marsanne 2013: a good wine to compare with the mature Tahblik. Alex mckay is a genius. Very young but a long life ahead of it.

Tyrells Vat 63 Chardonnay Semillon 2011: too young? Perhaps a bit 'squeaky' in the mouth? Nice but would not buy.

Jules Desjourney Moulin a Vent 2008: very nice refined gamay. Fresh and clean on the palate. A touch banana-like for me at the end of the night? Buy more.

Maison D'ange Cote de Nuits Village 2010: made by Frederic Magnien. Deft use of oak to create a really lovely smokey and slightly spicy wine. Plenty in the tank. Class. Back up the truck on this one as a quaffer if you see it.

Bannockburn Douglas 2008: GSM? Nice but atypical Oz GSM. Fully mature - drink up.

Joseph Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 1997: it was a toss up for me between this wine and the Stevens Semillon for my WOTN. Made part Amarone style. The back palate was beguiling - there was a lick of something there that really held my interest. Kept going back to the glass over the night.

Petaluma Coonawarra 2003: a good 'solid' wine. I don't think it paired well with the food and it might have shown better otherwise.

Marienberg 'the Clifton' Cabernet Sauvignon 2004: tidy. Preferred this over the Petaluma. My Memory gets a little hazy on this wine...

Kalleske Greenock Creek Shiraz 2004: it was the end of a long evening but I reckon that I've had better bottles of this wine. Missing its 'oomph'? Possibly corked or heat affected. 15% alcohol - it certainly wasn't evident though.

A top night - Let's do it again soon? Did someone mention a private dining room?

Cheers
Matt