Its that time of the week again, please let us all know what you have been drinking. In my case not much of any repute. Even AFD's as I was suffering from a bloody head cold that made drinking good wine a waste.
The low light of the week was a 91 Seppelt Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz. Even with a stuffed nose I could smell the Band-Aids from three feet away as the wine was poured. One sip and yuk. The wine is great - if you find the pervading taste of Band-Aid adds "character" to a wine.
The highlight was a 96 Orlando Lawson which was terrific and still has years ahead of itself.
I don't drink a lot of Sauvignon Blanc but I did try the Lawsons Dry Hills Sauv/blanc 04, and it is a ripper. A massive improvement on the dissapointing 2003. Full of tropical fruit up-front, but then finishes quite dry which is what I like.
Also had:
Hugel Alsace Riesling 2000: hasn't really gone anywhere since release. Marmalade, touch of apricot. Don't think it will ever be a great wine due to the lack of acidity. Just shows why Clare and Eden Riesing is so popular.
Hubert-Lamy Chassagne-Montrachet Village 2000: went to Pacific House in South Yarra, which is a great little BYO that is always packed to the rafters. This went a treat with Peking Duck. Not your most complex Pinot, rather straight forward and easy to drink.
Also consumed a bottle of Chrismont King Valley Merlot 2002 and Jim Barry McCrae Wood Shiraz 1999. Both were quite enjoyable without blowing me away.
cheers
anthony
Good wine ruins the purse; bad wine ruins the stomach
Spanish saying
First vintage of this wine that was tight and lean when first release released. After over a decade in the cellar and 4 hours breathing the nose opened up and still surprising tight. Lovely small berries, capsicum and a smidgen of tar flowed onto the palate with well integrated oak. Long aftertaste and well worth the wait. Could see another 5 years at least. 13.2% alcohol – surprising for Penfolds.
Steppingstone 2002 Padthaway Shiraz
Simple but good fruit with all those lovely Padthaway chocolate flavours. Good BBQ wine although will not last long as it had already thrown a crust. 14% alcohol.
Kaiser Stuhl 1973 Vintage Port
Another auction bargain and very nice.
Pirramimma 2001 Stocks Hill Shiraz
Always good.
Going to Yalumba in Barossa now to taste the 2000 Octavius and Voss Vinyards Ocala from California.
I have heard opinions about this wine that have been quite negative. All I can say is I love it. Beautiful fruit, plenty of acid and not too powerful, but ample, tannins. Altogether a delicious wine which will improve for some years. At $17 plus a Magnum of Moon Mountain Chardy, a good buy.
MM.
I’ve had a hectic last couple of weeks, and computer problems and missing notes have limited my input of late. I’ve made separate posts for when I filled in at the Black Tongues again last Wednesday, and the d’Arenberg latest releases, leaving these:
2001 Olssen Clare Valley Riesling (Stelvin): I snapped up a few bottles of this on sale, opening two with very different results. Both had a glowing, golden yellow colour. The first seemed to be particularly advanced, with some very toasty and spicy aromas with underlying perfume, and the palate was very acidic/dry. The second was chilled and seemed a lot fresher, with hessian/wax dominating the nose. The palate was tight and pithy at first, developing some grassy and herbal characters with breathing.
1998 Tollana TR222 Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: Deep crimson colour. There was a forum thread recently that touched on the subject of mild TCA, and experiences like the following illustrate why I hate it so much. The first bottle had some green leaf and tobacco characters, then what seemed to a hint of TCA; the palate seemed to confirm this on the finish, so I corked it for return and opened up a second bottle. The second bottle again had a stalky nose, with hints of tea and tobacco, and coffee and spices with more breathing. The palate seemed to be richer at first with a mixture of currant fruit, and spicy oak, but finished with a bitter stalky back-palate. Definitely not TCA affected, but it made me go back to the first bottle, and with a lot more air it came around to be almost identical to the second. I ended up drinking both over the week and vowed not to buy that label again, as it’s obviously not to my taste and I didn’t enjoy them.
1994 Kaesler Old Bush Vine Shiraz: Deep brick/tawny colour. Wonderful aged nose of mint, olives, Worcestershire sauce and armchair leather. The palate is classy, rich and lingering; slightly porty opening, then some leather, apricot, brandy, raisin and coffee accents, ripe red berries, and thick milk chocolate. The wine is ripe, but not hot (13.5%), and is at its peak now, although I suspect it will hold.
2002 Penfolds Bin 138: Dark, inky purple colour with a glowing purple rim. A rich and spicy nose at first, with some boiled lollies/confectionery, a touch of sugared raspberries, liquorice and chocolate. The palate features rich strewed plums, raspberry, blackberry, powdery tannins, hints of blueberry and yeast with breathing, and a long blackberry finish. The wine is now carrying its 14.5% alcohol, and is a lot more open and balanced than on release.
Recently in a bric a brac/second hand store I saw a container of "Wine Bottle Cellar Dust" that you could shake over your bottles to give them that cellared look ..........
2003 Margan Semillon , Hunter Valley ($17): Good fresh lively Semillon.
1994 Greenock Creek Cabernet Sauvignon , Barossa ( cellar ) : Full bodied - 14.6% alc , spicy , soft , sweet fruit , fine powdery tannins. Enjoyable - more Regional than Varietal.
2000 Chateau Forcas Hosten , Listrac Medoc ($35) : Decent real Bordeaux. 12.5% alc , dry , nice cabernet fruit , oaky in a nice way , fine but you know they're there tannins and what I really love is that " clean farewell".
Recently in a bric a brac/second hand store I saw a container of "Wine Bottle Cellar Dust" that you could shake over your bottles to give them that cellared look ..........
I've got a tub of this at home from a friend who knew the guys who came up with the idea (I think they worked for Orlando). The creator bet that wine lovers would fork out money to buy a container of dust with a label on it, and produced them to prove his point.
Recently in a bric a brac/second hand store I saw a container of "Wine Bottle Cellar Dust" that you could shake over your bottles to give them that cellared look ..........
I've got a tub of this at home from a friend who knew the guys who came up with the idea (I think they worked for Orlando). The creator bet that wine lovers would fork out money to buy a container of dust with a label on it, and produced them to prove his point.
Cheers Ian
But did anyone buy any?
For me it was disappointing
St. Hugo 99 - corked, nose dead but you could still taste the power of the fruit underneath (only took one home, bummer). Down the plug-hole. To replace it I only had a bottle of:
Wynns Shiraz 02 - that had kept a hole in a cupboard because I didn't like it. And still don't. what flabby rubbish. Koonunga Hill has more style and class than this cordial. Just because they suuposedly put the parcels from Michael into it doesn't mean they were any good. Barely got through it
Chatsfield Reisling 02 - found a few more bottles of this for $13 and my wife adores it.
99 Grosset Gaia - Again! Bought the last Hong Kong stocks of this wine. Superb blend, well textured and structured, with the best of each varietal components expressing itself.
Wolf Blass Brown Label Shiraz 01- Ripe, rich fruit, plenty of oak with the style ( as expected ) but not over the top. Medium to full bodied, rich palate flavours with persistence from the grainy oak tannins on the finish.
No complaints. Knew what I was getting. The Wolf Blass style very nice every now and then.
Katnook Estate 2001 Chardonnay - Nice chardonnay. Good fruit nuances-melon, peach with hazlenut and honey on a palate with a buttery mouthfeel. Good, fresh acid carries the wine, more so than the rounded 2000 vintage.
Guigal Gigondas 2000 - Rustic or poor man's CNP. Medium weight style, inviting nose obviously grenache dominant-fine berries, licorice and earthy. Though rustic was the overall impression, mouthfeel was quite supple, with good fruit and finishing with fine tannins and stewed fruit aftertaste.
Not bad, not great. Better and more interesting wines from within the Gigondas region.
Penfold's Bin 2 Shiraz Mouvedre - Lovely quaffing initially. Rich licorice, wild berry flavours, plush mouthfeel and honourable length. A bit of air time and that distinctly, but hard to describe impression, of sunbaked Riverina fruit came to the fore. Bottle noted fruit sourced from South Eastern Australia-narrowing it down to a dozen or so regions!
Lindemans Padthaway Chardonnay 92 - A little more developed than last time I tasted this - it was mature, but not past it. Highly Recommended; a bargain at $22.
Vintage Cellars Marsanne Roussanne 02 - A Tahbilk in disguise. Tasty but gentle wine which will probably age gracefully. Could do much worse for a cheap cellaring white.
Kays SMG 00 - Again. Still tasty. 10 down, 14 to go.
Bleasdale Wood Matured Verdelho NV - Much tastier than I remembered. Sweet but not cloying, a good fortified for quaffing on a winters night.
Kieran wrote:Kays SMG 00 - Again. Still tasty. 10 down, 14 to go.
This was an absolutely great bargain from the cellar door. I never said Thank You for the tip. Unfortunately it is now all gone but the 2000 Merlot has taken its place at the $120 per case price... still a good quaffer but does not have as good middle palate or the same complexity as the 2000 SMG.
I should have bough 2 cases but went halves in 1 case... which is now all gone!
2002 Kays Hillside Shiraz - up to the hype and worth the money. Great balance, even at 15% alcohol. Obviously still very, very tight even after 2 hours in the decanter. Will drink another bottle soon over a few nights just for fun! Amazingly, despite the 28 months of American oak, I though the oak handling was superb!
NV Kays Muscat - great mouthfeel. Soooo creamy - of Grand level easily and makes the first few sips amazingly enjoyable, but just relies too much on sweetness, especially on the second glass.
De Bortoli Black Noble - Gorgeous wine! Much more complexity than the Kays Muscat. Some very nice Tokay flavours as well as serious Muscat luscious flavours but not as sweet. Lovely balance. Worth every cent. 2nd glass was as enjoyable as the first.
TORB wrote:The low light of the week was a 91 Seppelt Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz. Even with a stuffed nose I could smell the Band-Aids from three feet away as the wine was poured. One sip and yuk. The wine is great - if you find the pervading taste of Band-Aid adds "character" to a wine.
Yep, I also got rid of my 1993s for the same reason.
Adair wrote:De Bortoli Black Noble - Gorgeous wine! Much more complexity than the Kays Muscat. Some very nice Tokay flavours as well as serious Muscat luscious flavours but not as sweet. Lovely balance. Worth every cent. 2nd glass was as enjoyable as the first.
Adair
Interesting it's turned out this way, especially since I don't think it has any Tokay or Muscat in it at all (it's made from Botrytised semillon, at least mostly).
Adair wrote:De Bortoli Black Noble - Gorgeous wine! Much more complexity than the Kays Muscat. Some very nice Tokay flavours as well as serious Muscat luscious flavours but not as sweet. Lovely balance. Worth every cent. 2nd glass was as enjoyable as the first.
Adair
Interesting it's turned out this way, especially since I don't think it has any Tokay or Muscat in it at all (it's made from Botrytised semillon, at least mostly).
Kieran
Yep, I know. But I can only compare it to fortified that I have tasted. I don't think I have ever had a fortified Semillon before.
Kieran wrote:Black Noble has some similarity to a really good PX too. (As does Australian Tokay)
Kieran
Well picked Kieran:
"Wine background
A quite fascinating wine, first released by De Bortoli in mid-1998, but coming from a lineage dating back to the 1930s, thence 1972 and finally 1982, the last being the year in which the first (conventional) Noble One Botrytis Semillon was released. This wine is made in the fashion of a fortified wine from northeast Victoria, and is very like a Rutherglen Tokay, except for its slightly lighter structure. Parcels of botrytised semillon have been set aside each year since 1982, and a blended solera system established incorporating a minute part of the 1972 Pedro Ximinez experiment. The wine is released at an average age of seven to eight years.
Len Evans May 29 2000
A most interesting development. This is from botrytised fruit, which is then fortified and then aged in old oak for some years. The varieties used are not stated. There is a strong Tokay (Muscadelle) element and coffee, the palate is extremely soft, even creamy. The back palate has not the searing intensity that one gets with long age in old wood, but it is very soft and easily appealing. I didn't see the botrytis influence, other than the grapes would have been highly concentrated. Expensive but interesting.
James Halliday Jul 31 2001 Rating: 94 out of 100
Mahogany brown with no red tints; you can literally see the raisins and the plum pudding swirling through the intense bouquet and through the classic plum pudding and spice-flavoured palate. Great length and balance, and not too heavy."
Had a couple of bottles a few years ago; bought at cellar door in 2000, I think for about $30 which puts it a bit above Seppelt DP57. The Black Noble is very nice, and different, but I don't recall it having the same complexity and depth of flavour of DP57.
Anthony wrote:Also had: Hugel Alsace Riesling 2000: hasn't really gone anywhere since release. Marmalade, touch of apricot. Don't think it will ever be a great wine due to the lack of acidity. Just shows why Clare and Eden Riesing is so popular.
cheers anthony
Anthony
For a better Alsace challenge to Clare/Eden, see if you can find Paul Blanck (esp. Schlossberg Vineyard) & Trimbach (esp. Cuvee Frederic Emile). Hugel are reputedly not on their best form.
Ian
Anthony wrote:Also had: Hugel Alsace Riesling 2000: hasn't really gone anywhere since release. Marmalade, touch of apricot. Don't think it will ever be a great wine due to the lack of acidity. Just shows why Clare and Eden Riesing is so popular.
cheers anthony
Anthony For a better Alsace challenge to Clare/Eden, see if you can find Paul Blanck (esp. Schlossberg Vineyard) & Trimbach (esp. Cuvee Frederic Emile). Hugel are reputedly not on their best form. Ian
Thanks Ian,
I have access to Trimbach so will give it a try.
Kieran wrote:Black Noble has some similarity to a really good PX too. (As does Australian Tokay)
Kieran
Well picked Kieran:
"Wine background A quite fascinating wine, first released by De Bortoli in mid-1998, but coming from a lineage dating back to the 1930s, thence 1972 and finally 1982, the last being the year in which the first (conventional) Noble One Botrytis Semillon was released. This wine is made in the fashion of a fortified wine from northeast Victoria, and is very like a Rutherglen Tokay, except for its slightly lighter structure. Parcels of botrytised semillon have been set aside each year since 1982, and a blended solera system established incorporating a minute part of the 1972 Pedro Ximinez experiment. The wine is released at an average age of seven to eight years.
Len Evans May 29 2000 A most interesting development. This is from botrytised fruit, which is then fortified and then aged in old oak for some years. The varieties used are not stated. There is a strong Tokay (Muscadelle) element and coffee, the palate is extremely soft, even creamy. The back palate has not the searing intensity that one gets with long age in old wood, but it is very soft and easily appealing. I didn't see the botrytis influence, other than the grapes would have been highly concentrated. Expensive but interesting.
James Halliday Jul 31 2001 Rating: 94 out of 100 Mahogany brown with no red tints; you can literally see the raisins and the plum pudding swirling through the intense bouquet and through the classic plum pudding and spice-flavoured palate. Great length and balance, and not too heavy."
Had a couple of bottles a few years ago; bought at cellar door in 2000, I think for about $30 which puts it a bit above Seppelt DP57. The Black Noble is very nice, and different, but I don't recall it having the same complexity and depth of flavour of DP57.
Cheers
daz
Thank you Daryl for the history and notes. I finished my bottle last night and its resemblance to Tokay is more pronounced than the previous night. In fact, I would have not hesitated to pick it as Tokay blind. Some of the sweet, luscious Muscat-ness had dropped away and the front and middle palate were full of citrus-like Tokay flavour. In fact, this created a much more complex and enjoyable wine, especially as the fine acid throughout the wine provided more balance and life. The alcohol is nearly unnoticeable. This is a gorgeous yet delicate Australian fortified.
Thought: The fact that both Muscadelle (Tokay) and Semillon are Bordeaux white varieties, and that this wine is similar to Tokay, is not coincidence.
Anthony wrote:Also had: Hugel Alsace Riesling 2000: hasn't really gone anywhere since release. Marmalade, touch of apricot. Don't think it will ever be a great wine due to the lack of acidity. Just shows why Clare and Eden Riesing is so popular.
cheers anthony
Anthony For a better Alsace challenge to Clare/Eden, see if you can find Paul Blanck (esp. Schlossberg Vineyard) & Trimbach (esp. Cuvee Frederic Emile). Hugel are reputedly not on their best form. Ian
Thanks Ian, I have access to Trimbach so will give it a try.
cheers anthony
Anthony,
Reputedly, the Trimbach 2000 Reserve Riesling is very smart indeed.
1999 Seppelts Sparkling Shiraz Deep ruby/black colour - still incredibly youthful. Nice mousse - some red berry with quite a bit of earth on the nose. Full-bodied rich palate with just enough residual sugar to balance the tannins. A bit simple and maybe too big for my style.
1998 Ata Rangi Chardonnay [ not sure what vineyard in Martinborough] This was extremely impressive. Lovely green/gold colour with nuts, white peach and spices on the nose, mid weight palate with a lovely minerality covered by more nutty flavours and a lovely long finish. Buy it if you see it.
1998 Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir A bit of a butch pinot that hasn't worn its age that well. Nice truffely, earthy black fruit nose but the palate is big , broad and extracted - much better in its youth when the fruit was more primary.
1991 Rosemount Show reserve McLaren Vale Shiraz Now here's a lovely old fashioned oz red. Soft earthy nose [no overy oak thank god] Rich palate filling soft and cuddly on the palate - lots of leather, plummy flavours with a lovely gentle finish. Excelletn but drink up.
