Noble Rotters July 2004 dinner – theme ‘Any wine, anywhere – must be a blend’. Notes made from wines tasted blind.
2000 Franklin Estate OlmoÂ’s Reward [Cabernet Franc, Merlot, CS, Malbec, PV](Western Australia)
Bright red with a brick hint. Confected lifted raspberry notes. Warm climate fruit-cake flavours on the palate, which is fruity-soft and quite lightweight, with a shortish finish of some warmth. 14%. Average.
2004 BruceÂ’s wifeÂ’s sisterÂ’s father-in-lawÂ’s Shiraz Sangiovese
Unusual medicinal nose, unless youÂ’ve worked at that undertakerÂ’s office located between the abbatoir and the sewage plant, in which case it would be quite familiar. A home-made wine, doubtless sulfur-free, displaying a plethora of yeasty and bacterial faultsÂ…
1994 Henschke Keyneton Estate [Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec](Eden Valley)
Bright red, with plenty of sediment. Nose of quality oak, spice, tar, liquorice and blackberries. Tannins very soft on the palate, yet still with some astringency. There’s significant fruit-sweetness to the flavours of this wine, which incline very much to the front palate, although within the bounds of ‘balanced’. Gentle finish of moderate length. Drink now.
2003 Tower Estate Pinot Noir (Tasmania)
Bruce’s attempt at restitution for inflicting Wine No 2 upon us doesn’t fit tonight’s theme, but… Crimson pink. Light cherry nose. Spritz. Strawberries. Cherry flavours predominate on the clean and antiseptic palate. Very light, quite short, and not particularly impressive. Unpretentious wine – catastrophic value at $40, however.
1995 Lindemans Pyrus [CS, CF](Coonawarra)
Bluish-red in colour. Sweet spicy fruit on the nose; developed aromas of berries and oak mingle together. Drink now. A pleasant wine, but far from complex. Presumably pretty strict fruit selection went into this wine in a difficult vintage - there are no signs of unripeness – but it really doesn’t have anywhere to go. Drink now.
1995 Virgin Hills [Cab Sauv, Shiraz, Merlot, Malbec] (Macedon Victoria)
Brick red with a distinct orange rim. Very developed nose, with a bit of woodspice and stewed fruits. Light/medium body, but aged and somewhat lacking freshness. Odd for such a recent vintage.
1981 Chateau Lezongars (Cote de Bordeaux)
Pale red. Cedary, pine-box nose. Secondary flavours – all tannins have gone now. Soft flavours, and a short soft finish. Beginning to get a little tarry as well. Not a bad effort for a modest Bordeaux-satellite wine, although it’s best years were in the 90s, I suspect.
2000 Cullen Malbec Petit Verdot (Margaret River)
Deep red. A brute of a nose after the last wine! Spicy, brambly fruit – finely grained yet somehow unfocussed, as if the wine’s in a bit of an intermediate stage. Balance is somewhat towards the front/middle palate, weighty and warm. Good, but needs time
(2003) Farnese Cinque Autoctoni (Abruzzo & Puglia)
A bit of this, a bit of that, and you have an Italian Frankenstein. Presented in a bottle so vast and heavy it was scarcely any lighter with all the wine poured, this wine is not allowed to display a vintage, by virtue of its being sourced from two different regions in Italy. It does, apparently, meet the definitions of ‘wine’. Pitch black in colour, it’s a huge inky, tarry, ultra-tannic monster of a wine. McLaren Vale meets the Mafia. Whether it will live forever, or collapse into a hot alcoholic mess in a few years is anyone’s guess. The harvest year (2003) appears as a kind of watermark on the label.
2002 Kangarilla Rd Shiraz Viognier (McLaren Vale)
Dark red. Deep focused nose of bitumen, tar, and blackcurrant. This is a weighty wine, mostly on the front & middle palate. ItÂ’s very clean and clinical, though. Pleasant but otherwise undistinguished. Pretty good value at $20, though.
2003 Teusner ‘Joshua’ [Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre](Barossa)
Bright red with a splash of crimson. Very young primal fruit aromas. Candied, yet not particularly suggestive of warm-climate grapes. Yet the finish is warm and jammy – no real surprise at 14.5%. Low tannins reflect the no-oak treatment this wine received. Average at best.
1995 Miranda Golden Botrytis [Riesling Semillon](Giffith)
Deep coppery brown. Dried apricots. The acid has softened right out, and the wine now has nowhere to go. Not quite coppery in flavour yet, but heading that way, this is quite decadent and seductive without being especially inspiring. Drink up.
Overall I was a little disappointed at the standard of the nightÂ’s wines. IÂ’ve long thought that blends made wines greater than the sum of the parts, but tonightÂ’s offerings were less than effective as witnesses for the prosecution. Some too young, some too old, and none really hitting the target dead centreÂ…
Cheers,
Graeme
TN: Blends night - mixed bag but nothing outstanding...
MartinE wrote:Graeme,
Anyone who actually tastes a large format bottle of Farnese has my undying admiration and a lend of my stomach-pump!!
MartinE
No, no, no, this is not the cheapie 1.5 litre stuff on the bottom shelf of your local dodgy grog shop. This is a very expensively packaged super-VdT wine aimed squarely at the New World. The bottle was only 750ml, despite being of the heaviest glass imaginable. No, it's serious wine all right, it's just a little freaky running into an Italian wine that's hell bent on breaking all the rules.
cheers,
Graeme
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Guest
Re: TN: Blends night - mixed bag but nothing outstanding...
GraemeG wrote:Noble Rotters July 2004 dinner – theme ‘Any wine, anywhere – must be a blend’. Notes made from wines tasted blind.
2000 Franklin Estate OlmoÂ’s Reward [Cabernet Franc, Merlot, CS, Malbec, PV](Western Australia)
Bright red with a brick hint. Confected lifted raspberry notes. Warm climate fruit-cake flavours on the palate, which is fruity-soft and quite lightweight, with a shortish finish of some warmth. 14%. Average.
Er... shouldn't this be Frankland Estate?