Coonawarra Roadshows 2014

[Andrew Jordan]

Any forum members planning to attend these in the coming weeks? I am planning to be at the Sydney one at Town Hall again this year. Great venue!

Looking forward to tasting the new Wynns range especially the 2010 Alex and the 2012 BL Cabernet.

[Michael McNally]

Yes, I go to the Brisbane event every year.

Cheers

Michael

[Teebs]

Will be working with Kidman's in Melb so drop past and say howdy.

[TravisW]

Went last year and it was great fun. Alas, The 'Berra has been dropped from this years roadshow. Boo!

[Andrew Jordan]

Yes, I go to the Brisbane event every year.

Cheers

Michael

Michael,

Went to the Brissy one a few years ago with my Dad. Nice venue from memory by the river? Anyway my only memory of the night was Dad talking to Doug Balnaves all night while getting drunk on the Tally. I think he managed to drink over 3/4 of a bottle by himself!

[Michael McNally]

Michael,

Went to the Brissy one a few years ago with my Dad. Nice venue from memory by the river? Anyway my only memory of the night was Dad talking to Doug Balnaves all night while getting drunk on the Tally. I think he managed to drink over 3/4 of a bottle by himself!

Yes it used to be at the Rugby Club on the river there. Now at the City Hall.

Nice story about your dad, at least he picked the good stuff!! I took my dad to the same venue. He had never been to a big tasting before and when I suggested he spit like me he scoffed. After about an hour we had to go outside and sit down for a bit! He took it easier and tried to spit after that, but the damage was done.

Happy times!

Cheers

Michael

[The fish]

Went last year and it was great fun. Alas, The 'Berra has been dropped from this years roadshow. Boo!

Apologies in advance - totally sucks balls for us. Have hit them up on twitter for all of the good it will do.

[paulf]

I'll be at the Melbourne tasting, and have been most years.
It is always an enjoyable tasting, and is often an opportunity for me to taste wines that I have already bought!

[Michael McNally]

A brief report from yesterday's Roadshow in Brisbane.

Started with the Majella 2008 Sparkling Shiraz - excellent and an improvement on the previous 2005 release. Will buy.

There was a person doing research on tasters perceptions of world Cabernet regions with 6 bottles of Cabernet from different regions to taste blind and record your impressions, scores and rank them. An interesting exercise which demonstrated just how little I know about Cabernet outside Oz. Fun!

the tasting highlighted just how good 2012 was to Coonawarra, Standouts included:
2010 Bowen Estate Shiraz (if it didn't have a cork I would buy).
2012 Brand's Laira 'Tall Ships' Shiraz, 'August Tide' Bordeaux Blend and 'Blockers' Cabernet.
2012 Lindemans Limestone Ridge and St George were both excellent. Not so fussed on the Pyrus, but couldn't say why.
2010 Di Girgio Cabernet Sauvignon. Beautiful tannin and fruit. I liked the Tempranillo as well, but not as much.
I liked the Highbank wines, but thought them a bit exxy.
The 2009 Katnook Odyssey and Prodigy were both awesome (but out of my league price wise). The 2012 Founders Block Cab was up there in the best Cab around $20 category.
The 2012 Leconfield Merlot was as usual the best Merlot after the Petaluma
2012 Majella Cabernet was excellent and is a 6 bottle buy again this year. The 2010 Mallea was fantastic and I will get some for the first time (Usually out of my price range)
2012 Parker Coonawarra Terra Rossa Cabernet and Shiraz were both excellent. The Block 95 which sits between the Terra Rossa and First Growth was also excellent. The First Growth was wonderful
2012 Penley Estate 'Phoenix' was in the running for the best Cab around $20 and the 2010 'Reserve' was excellent.
Rymill had a good range and the MC2 blend was also in the running if not the winner of the entry level section. The 2012 Cabernet is pretty handy also.
Wynns had a strong range also. The BL is a buy again this year, maybe 12 if the price is right. The BL Shiraz didn't jump out at me. The higher end wines were all very good.
I liked the 2010 Yalumba Menzies a lot. The 2011 Cigar less so!
I also liked the 2009 Zema Estate Family Selection Cabernet.

Of the older vintage wines presented I really liked the 2004 JR, the 1996 Zema 'Family Selection', and the 2006 Majella (which confirmed that I don't have to start on mine any time soon!)

All in all a great tasting, but I don't like venues that only have spittoons on the tables where the wine is being poured. It is nice to be able to take a wine away and assess it more slowly and without having to edge through a scrum of tasters to spit. The olives and pretzels provided were adequate.

Cheers

Michael

[phillisc]

Thanks Michael, great report...hope to be going to the Adelaide event at the wine centre this Sunday.

Did Wynns have the 2010 JR and Michael on tasting?
Thinking of maybe getting a few more of these.

Cheers
Craig.

[rooman]

Any forum members planning to attend these in the coming weeks? I am planning to be at the Sydney one at Town Hall again this year. Great venue!

Looking forward to tasting the new Wynns range especially the 2010 Alex and the 2012 BL Cabernet.

what date is the Sydney one, does anyone know?

[Polymer]

It is Tuesday the 12th.

[Michael McNally]

Did Wynns have the 2010 JR and Michael on tasting?
Thinking of maybe getting a few more of these.

Cheers
Craig.

Hi Craig

Not in Brisbane, but they might be saving them for the connoisseurs in the southern capitals rather than wasting them on the unwashed north.

Cheers

Michael

[phillisc]

Michael, you have made my day mate can you hear me laughing??

Re my post in the wynnsday thread, it might be the young person from front of office doing the tasting in SA...we are also the land of the great unwashed...water must be sparkling in VIC/NSW, or perhaps they bathe ala Cleopatra style.
International companies are always talking about how they can reengage with the public...here's their chance...exhibit your best wares!!!

Cheers
Craig.

[Duncan Disorderly]

Did Wynns have the 2010 JR and Michael on tasting?
Thinking of maybe getting a few more of these.

Cheers
Craig.

Hi Craig

Not in Brisbane, but they might be saving them for the connoisseurs in the southern capitals rather than wasting them on the unwashed north.

Cheers

Michael

At least they made it to Brisbane, clearly the 400,000+ people in Canberra/Queanbeyan don't drink enough (not that we lack for reasons).

[markg]

Yep, just booked the tickets for this Sunday in Adelaide. Should be a good afternoon. Looking forward to Majella and Wynns tastings..

[catchnrelease]

I'll be at the Sydney one! $40 doesn't seem too bad. Here's hoping it's organised well!

[mjs]

going on Thurs in Melb with grb2001 plus wives!!

[catchnrelease]

Sydney report here!

Let me just start by saying that it was a great night - Schott Zwiesel (Vina Bordeaux?) glasses, lots of wineries, nice venue, plenty of space, ample water and breadsticks to cleanse the palate AND the spit buckets were regularly emptied by the staff there (did not envy those guys!). Very well put together and for $40 it's an absolute bargain! Definitely recommend going.

As previously mentioned there was a lovely lady doing a blind tasting of six Cabs (or Cab dominant blends) from around the world, one of which being Coonawarra. Your job was to score and rank the six according to your palate and see how well you could describe or even pick out where they were from. Very fun, I was the first one to do it and seeing how she only has one bottle of each to sample I'd make it the first thing you do!

As a foreword, I didn't get to taste every winery (didn't get to Jim Barry or Katnook ), and my notes were a bit simple (good, bad etc...). I only made note of wines that particularly impressed me from each of the wineries I tasted, or that I thought were very sub par (fortunately not many were in that category). Additionally, I barely tried any whites at all so ignore their absence! If I don't mention the winery then I didn't taste any of their wines, and for each winery the wines that aren't mentioned were either just 'okay' or not really worth mentioning.

One thing I noticed was a trend to make wines more approachable when they were young. A lot of the cheaper Shiraz was very fruity and juby, some verging on Grenache like profiles. That's not a bad thing, but not many of the Shiraz I tasted were big and bold, which is more to my taste.

Anyway, on to the wine! These are listed in the order they are in the booklet, not the order I tasted them.

Balnaves of Coonawarra 'Heart and Soul'
2012 'The Blend' would be a great quoffing wine. Very smooth and easy to drink. The 2010 and 2006(?) 'The Tally' Cabernets were fantastic wines, for $90 I'd say maybe a tad over priced. The rest of the line up I thought was a bit forgettable.

Blok Estate Coonawarra
Their Cab was above average but I really liked their 2006 and 2009 shiraz offerings. Big, bold, plenty of tannins - maybe not showing their best now but built for the long haul.

Brand's Laira Coonawarra
Got to try the 2012 Tall Vines Shiraz and really liked it. The 2012 (I think) August Tide Bordeaux blend was also very smart. 2012 Blockers Cab was good, but its best years are ahead of it. Did not think the Stentiford was worth what they were asking, in fact I thought it was a bit thin and lacked oomph.

Highbank 'Coonawarra's Artisan'
2008 Cab was very very tight and not really revealing anything. Their 2004 offering was much more open, a beautiful drink with plenty of life ahead. Classic Coonawarra.

Hollick Wines
Their standard 2012 Cab was pretty good, very approachable now. A good quoffing wine. Having said that their older offering ('08) was pretty good, so the wine has legs. Their Ravenswood Cab was very good, but a stretch at $75.

Leconfield Wines
I was really looking forward to their 2012 Merlot, and it was very good! Having said that, I preferred their straight 2012 Cab offering. The 2012 Cab Merot was also solid. I really liked their 2013 (I think he said it was 2013 and not NV) Syn Rouge Sparkling Shiraz! Raspberries - yum! Would be great chilled with ham or turkey on a hot Christmas day.

Majella Wines
Their 2012 Cab was very good, as was their premium 2008 'Malleea' Cab Shiraz. Everything on offer was good, solid, and you'd be happy drinking it - but nothing else apart from those two really wowed me. Maybe I'm just picky.

Parker Coonawarra Estate
The 2012 95 Block Cab was good, very good in fact. Their 2009 First Growth Cab was very nice - whether it's worth the money??? They also had a 2005 on offer that was good, although you could taste it was from a hot vintage. Very concentrated flavours, maybe lacked a tiny bit of balance.

Patrick of Coonawarra
The 2006 Grande Reserve was very very nice, pricy but this was up there with one of the better wines on show. Not a huge line up on display, and the others were kinda meh.

Penley Estate
I didn't get to try all of the wines on offer here. I thought the 2010 Hyland Shiraz was good value at $20. The 2010 Reserve Cab was very very good, I'd say worth $50.

Petaluma
One of the most popular tables! I thought the stand outs were the 2010 Merlot and the 2010 Cab. They had a double magnum of 1994 Cab on offer too, had a taste and thought it was really good, the only thing stopping it from being great was the length of the finish - it was just a bit too short given my expectations.

Reschke Wines
The 2008 Bull Trader Shiraz was really good, noticeably developed too which is a good thing if drinking it now, but may indicate it doesn't have a massive life ahead of it. Should go to the end of the decade, though. 2006 Empyrean was really good, it could have been a bit longer on the finish but still a great great wine.

Rymill Coonawarra
Again I don't think I tried the full line up here, or maybe I did? I can't remember, I squeezed these guys in in the middle of the night somewhere. The 2008 Cab Sav (mature release, I think) was very very good. Fruit, furry tannins that coated your mouth, great structure, will go the distance if needed. I wrote down "best of it", so I guess that says something.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate
Again, another popular table and one I came back to a few times. The 2010 Alex 88 was great, surprisingly delicate, but needs time. Of the 2012 Black Labels I liked the Cab but didn't like the Shiraz - the Cab needs to be forgotten for a while, though. The 2012 V&A Lane Shiraz was very light and fruity, maybe too much though? I thought the V&A Lane Cab Shiraz was much better, very yummy, although not sure about how long it'll go given how approachable it is now. The 2012 Wynns Shiraz is phenomenal value at $12 or whatever it is. The 2004 John Riddoch was, as expected, fantastic. Very glad they decanted it prior, and a close runner up for WOTN.

Yalumba Coonawarra Estate
Didn't bother trying the 2011 Cigar. They also had a 2001 Menzies on offer which I thought was good, although maybe slightly past it? The finish was a bit short, potentially a bad bottle? The 2010 Menzies, however, was brilliant. Dark fruits, great structure, tobacco, cigar box, long lingering finish - a wine that commanded attention. There were many other wines similar to it in style but this one did it best for me. Very glad I have one of these in the cellar, but will probably grab some more. If only it was under screwcap. My WOTN, simply because it's exactly what I look for in a Coonwarra Cab! Delicious.

Zema Estate
I can't remember the vintages of these wines unfortunately. Both the cheaper Shiraz (very juby) and Cab offerings were good, particularly the Shiraz. Of their higher end 'Family Selection' wines, the Shiraz stood out. I tried a 1996 offering of their Family Selection Cab and it was good, but unfortunately I got the last bit and the sediment may have spoilt it a bit - judgement reserved. Their premium 2006 'Saluti' Cab Shiraz was very nice, probably one of the better Cab Shiraz offerings but pricy at almost $100.

Anyway if you're reading this, hope you enjoyed the notes. Would love to compare with others who are going to the future events!

Alex

[catchnrelease]

Has anyone been to any of the subsequent tastings?

[Polymer]

I went to previous ones....Sounds like a lot of places didn't have as many things to try (like Brand's Laira).

Good call on passing on the whites though...They tend to have a couple of ok Sauv Blancs but the Rieslings are pretty bad IMO..