Last month I attended a very rare event at one of my wine clubs, a vertical consisting of almost all of the Rockford Special Vineyard Selection wines ever made! Just as rare, we didn't have any cork failures, which helped guarantee this tasting will be long remembered. As usual, all of the wines were served in Riedel style glassware, and to preserve the freshness of the wines they weren't decanted but poured using Cantina wine filters. All of the wines were from a Stonewaller who purchased them on release and cellared them in ideal passive conditions.
1996 Rockford SVS Moorooroo, Barossa Valley (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium garnet. A classic, fully developed Barossa bouquet to open the night with, raspberries, oil, earth, petroleum, smoked meats and some mushroom; the palate shows a little more of the cool vintage, some tomato skin and strawberry/cherry fruit to go with the smoky chocolate and leather, finishing minty with velvety, grippy tannins. A few thought this was a little past it, and while it was showing its age it was also superbly balanced; the presented said this was a particularly good bottle, his previous two were well past their best.
1996 Rockford SVS Hoffman, Barossa Valley (cork): 14.5% alc. Medium to dark blood red. Very oily, full of diesel, dark chocolate and smoked meats; likewise the palate initially seems darker and riper than the Moorooroo, cherry and raspberry leading to a slightly green, stalky mid-palate with lots of acidity, finishing minty and chalky. A wine that is a bit of a paradox, at times very ripe, at times very green; good now, but it could be significantly better in a few years if those tannins soften.
1996 Rockford SVS Flaxman Valley, Eden Valley (cork): 14.5% alc. Medium to darkish red/garnet. The nose is a touch volatile and very ripe, deep set with black cherry, rum and raisin chocolate, some vegemite, paneforte and graphite; likewise the palate is slightly jammy and porty, with very fine tannins but a short, minty finish compared to the Moorooroo and Hoffman. Overall I found it was the least convincing of the three.
1998 Rockford SVS Flaxman Valley, Eden Valley (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to darkish red. Very smoky/oily nose that's a touch vegetal too, full of diesel, petrol and celery greens; a sweet entry leads to a spicy, smoky mid-palate with some popcorn characters suggesting some possible DMS, the green tea tannins very grippy and velvety with hints of chocolate and caramel, the finish extremely long and dry. I loved the length and structure of this wine, not so sure about the greenish characters; it may come around in a few more years.
1999 Rockford SVS Flaxman Valley, Eden Valley (cork): 14.8% alc. Medium to dark red. Fresher red berry fruit than the 1998 vintage with lovely touches of cedar, but it is still a touch vegetal with some tomato skin characters; the palate's spicy, sweet cherries and raspberries leading to a minty mid-palate, finishing minty with chewy, grippy tannins and a little pepper. Drinking well now, the alcohol warmth is in check, but only just.
2002 Rockford SVS Flaxman Valley, Eden Valley (cork): 15.5% alc. Medium to very dark red. Sweet and syrupy nose, opening with celery greens and cedar, smoked meats and raspberry concentrate, pencil shavings and mocha, but there's also some heat in the background. The palate is very ripe, with a hot, peppery mid-palate yet chalky and slightly green tannins, finishing sweet and minty. There are some nice things here, but the alcohol warmth is just way too hot for my liking.
2004 Rockford SVS Flaxman Valley, Eden Valley (cork): 15.5% alc. Medium to very dark red. Powerful nose full of chocolate coated raspberries, graphite, violets and black cherries, a little diesel and mocha chocolate with breathing; a smoky/sweet entry leads to a hot, minty, peppery mid-palate with strawberry and boysenberry, finishing minty with chalky tannins, some smoke with breathing. I liked this the best of the Flaxman Valley wines, but as a series I found them the most difficult to appreciate, in general just too much heat and too many green characters.
2005 Rockford SVS Flaxman Valley, Eden Valley (cork): 14.8% alc. Medium to dark red. Stalky nose compared to the 2004 vintage, but there's also some nice cedar oak here too; a soft entry leads to a bright, plummy palate with powerful acidity and cedar oak mid-palate, finishing green and chalky. It's comparatively elegant but also really lacks weight compared to the other vintages of Flaxman Valley.
1999 Rockford SVS Helbig, Barossa Valley (cork): 15.4% alc. Medium to very dark red/garnet. From the first whiff this is absolutely stunning, amazingly complex and balanced, cedar, pencil shavings, cocoa, celery greens, plum, bitter chocolate, petroleum, dried oregano and sage. The hedonistic palate's just as good, smoky with raspberry, dark chocolate and espresso, a genuinely minty mid-palate (absolutely no alcohol heat here) with powdered chalk and cedar, finishing extremely long and velvety with mocha chocolate. This little parcel of joy from the Moppa region ticked all the boxes, complex, genuinely full-weight and impeccably balanced with stunning length; easily my favourite of the whole SVS series.
1997 Rockford SVS Hoffman, Barossa Valley (cork): 15% alc. Medium red/garnet. Sweet nose of caramel and choc-cherry, with nice hints of cedar; the palate's not in as good shape, some tomato skin, leathery and oxidised notes, bright with acidity but short of fruit and length, finishing slightly green. The weakest of the Hoffman wines.
2001 Rockford SVS Hoffman, Barossa Valley (cork): 14.5% alc. Medium to darkish garnet. Very complex, earthy and bordering porty with some Touriga-like characters, mushroom, dried herbs, black cherry and lantana; likewise the palate is earthy and leathery, with heavy cedar oak and dark chocolate, finishing long and grippy. At its peak now on this form.
2002 Rockford SVS Hoffman, Barossa Valley (cork): 15% alc. Medium to very dark red, still a hint of purple there. Like the colour the bouquet is still quite primary, black cherries, paneforte, engine oil, diesel, boysenberry and mocha; the palate’s is full of black cherry, mint and pepper, there's a warmth but it handles it much better than the Flaxman, finishing very long with sweet fruit and oak. Good drinking now, but this is really built for the long haul.
2003 Rockford SVS Hoffman, Barossa Valley (cork): 15% alc. Medium to very dark red/garnet. Very ripe and jammy with sappy, caramel oak, smoky boysenberry fruit taking a backseat to obvious acidity and thick tannins on the mid-palate and finish giving the wine a hard edge that I don't think will ever soften. I wasn't a fan of this one.
2004 Rockford SVS Hoffman, Barossa Valley (cork): 14.5% alc. Dark to almost inky red. This has a lot in common with the 2002 vintage, lots of graphite and black cherry, dark chocolate and pencil shavings, the palate rich and fat with black fruits and thick, black tea tannins powering through the long finish. I thought this was the best of the Hoffman wines, for drinking now and for future cellaring.
2005 Rockford SVS Hoffman, Barossa Valley (cork): 14.5% alc. Medium to almost dark red/garnet. Cooler nose than the 2004 vintage with a slightly green elegance, celery greens, petroleum/oil and earth, plum and cedary oak, medium to full weight, the fine tannins resulting in a long, lacy finish. A lighter, elegant style compared to the 2002 & 2004 vintages that's drinking beautifully now, in a similar vein to the Flaxman Valley but much, much better.
1998 Rockford SVS Pressings, Barossa Valley (cork): 13.5% alc. Medium to darkish red. A refreshingly fruity wine coming after the previous blockbusters, sweet and savoury with boysenberry, cedar, smoked meats, petroleum, earth and leather matched to a medium-weight palate with fresh cherry/blueberry fruit. The tannins are fine and silky, the length, balance and complexity resulting in a wine that's nothing short of charming; I never thought I would say that about a Rockford red!
1999 Rockford SVS Pressings, Barossa Valley (cork): 14.3% alc. Medium red. Earthier than the 1998 vintage, a big mouthful of berry-tart fruit and lovely bright acidity, touches of graphite, finishing with thick, chewy, velvety tannins. Not quite as charming as the 1998 vintage, but not far off.
2001 Rockford SVS Pressings, Barossa Valley (cork): 14.3% alc. Medium garnet. Slightly porty/jammy, with more obvious cedar, leather, stocky and celery/stalky characters and harder tannins, still only medium weight but rather advanced compared to the 1998 & 1999 vintages. I liked it better two years ago at the Barossa Big Guns tasting, albeit in different company.
Cheers,
Ian
