TN: MP Lizzie, Seppelt Original Sparkler and a great Burg

[dlo]

Opened a couple of cheapies in the last few days that mostly always punch way above their weight (read - price tag, not reputation). I paid 10 bucks for them at release and both continue to keep keeping on and don't look like falling over anytime soon. Mount Pleasant's 2001 Elizabeth Hunter Valley Semillon (cork, 11% A/V, 5 gold medals on the bottle) reveals a glistening light lemon gold colour with youthful greenish tinges, a nose awash with classic aged semillon notes of honey, toast and nuts over glorious grass- and lanolin-tinged pithy citrus (mainly grapefruit and lime) fruit. Almost paradoxically, the bouquet is all about envigorating lift and freshness and nought about decay or a hint of reaching a mature plateau. The palate delivers an even more backward mind-boggling equation - incredibly limey (verging towards cordial intensity!) in flavour with amazingingly lively grippy acidity and astonishing length; this has a such long way to go, I'm hesitating to suggest 10 years as a minimum cellaring proposition. Almost freakish, this wine has such unlimited potential, I'm unsure of what great heights it may achieve. On today's showing I'm happy to award 94 points with double plus signs for future reference. Drink 2015 - 2025+. I'm flabbergasted! Now, if McWilliams, had only sealed this in screwcap, I'd be giving everyone the big thumbs up. Caveat emptor with these being under cork!

Onto the second wine in question - Seppelt's Original Sparkling Shiraz from 1998. I've managed to score small parcels of this wine on the secondary market at good prices but I keep this stash seperate to my original purchase of two dozen bottles direct from Seppelt's amazing Great Western winery complex. This bottle is from the original parcel. Still holding an attrative purplish garnet hue and full of amazing effervescence, this outstanding sparkling red throws up enticing aromatics of brambly blackberry and earthy, plummy notes with hints of spice and mulberry. It hasn't budged now for several years. The palate's equally attractive with swirling mousse invoking strains of youthfulness to the maturing leather- and cherry-tinged solid blackcurrant fruit followed by a nice twist from some old dusty timber and, almost predictably, plenty of lively acidity common to this house's brilliant winestyle. It finishes with excellent carry and much aplomb. An outstanding example at the peak of its powers. 91 points Drink now - 2018+

Finally, I decided to open my first bottle of 2002 grand cru red burgundy from Frederic Esmonin - their "Ruchottes-Chambertin" from Gevrey-Chambertin. I've been lucky enough to try a considerable number of this fine maker's wine's going back to their famed 1990 vintage. And Esmonin's Ruchottes from this vintage provided us with superior pinot noir drinking until circa 2005 when the last bottle from old friend, the late Tom Low was opened. This week's offering opened with a surprising lightish, semi-transparent colour but adorned with a most regal robe. The bouquet utterly magnificent with a melange of sappy, sauvage red and black fruit with titbits of spice and classy savoury oak as top notes. The palate delivers a most similar theme - amazingly svelte and deadset gorgeous with glossy elegant red fruits (plum, redcurrant, strawberry), almost perfect oak usage and blessed with deft counterbalancing acidity. The standout feature, however, is the mesmerizing earthy, sappy, forest floor and gamy characters that make this grape variety, at its best, the most captivating of all. This wine has all of this in spades, but not in the blockbuster, take no prisoners style of some many of today's false heroes - just the opposite - delicate and understated but with no lack of intensity or restrained power. Couple to this, the most endearing of fine tannin regimes and a peacock-tail finish of great beauty and superb resilience and you almost have the complete burgundian experience. 95 points with some scope for improvement down the road. 13% A/V and all the better for it. Drink now - 2022.

[dlo]

Just a quick footnote to the 2001 Elizabeth. This has been sitting in the fridge without a cap for 36 hours and I had another glass with lunch today. Not one iota of deterioration! Identical smell, taste and score as last night's note.

[cuttlefish]

That's some interesting info about the '01 Lizzie. I bought a case of the 2002 Lizzie on its release (sealed under screwcap), and a magnum of the '01 was a bonus with the case. I never ever held high hopes for that magnum, and it has never been stored really well; in a drawer in a brick house in Sydney. I've actually looked for opportunities to open it, but it takes a particular crowd to devour a magnum of Semillon, so I've not popped it yet. It's days are certainly numbered now, though, as I need an excuse, and your report has just about tipped me over the edge.
The '02 Lizzie I'm a little concerned about. I'm reading mixed reports, and mine don't appear to have developed much at all.
For $10-12 odd bucks, however, one can't really complain
That Seppelt Original Sparkling (you're dead right) is a massive overdeliverer.
I have none in my cellar currently, but I should try and find some of that '06 before it completely disappears, and I think I noticed '07 on the shelves now, but I have no idea what that's like.
I discovered Anderson, and Grampians Estate's sparkling shiraz's, and have those to work through.

[Waiters Friend]

Opened a couple of cheapies in the last few days that mostly always punch way above their weight (read - price tag, not reputation). I paid 10 bucks for them at release and both continue to keep keeping on and don't look like falling over anytime soon. Mount Pleasant's 2001 Elizabeth Hunter Valley Semillon (cork, 11% A/V, 5 gold medals on the bottle) reveals a glistening light lemon gold colour with youthful greenish tinges, a nose awash with classic aged semillon notes of honey, toast and nuts over glorious grass- and lanolin-tinged pithy citrus (mainly grapefruit and lime) fruit. Almost paradoxically, the bouquet is all about envigorating lift and freshness and nought about decay or a hint of reaching a mature plateau. The palate delivers an even more backward mind-boggling equation - incredibly limey (verging towards cordial intensity!) in flavour with amazingingly lively grippy acidity and astonishing length; this has a such long way to go, I'm hesitating to suggest 10 years as a minimum cellaring proposition. Almost freakish, this wine has such unlimited potential, I'm unsure of what great heights it may achieve. On today's showing I'm happy to award 94 points with double plus signs for future reference. Drink 2015 - 2025+. I'm flabbergasted! Now, if McWilliams, had only sealed this in screwcap, I'd be giving everyone the big thumbs up. Caveat emptor with these being under cork!

G'day

The tasting note above, from mid 2012, describes a fabulous example of this wine. I note the writer posted a second note soon after of a poor example of this wine - the hit-n-miss ratio of this wine under cork is well documented.

The one I am drinking now is somewhere in between. a golden colour, it doesn't have the lift or freshness of the example above, but has more of the honeyed richness that goes with maturity for these wines. The lime, lemon, citrus notes have diminished, and the acidity is less prominent than younger examples. It's not going to get any better I suspect, and cork variation is likely to be a bigger issue than longevity for any of these wines you may have. Drink up and enjoy!

Cheers
Allan

[dlo]

Opened a couple of cheapies in the last few days that mostly always punch way above their weight (read - price tag, not reputation). I paid 10 bucks for them at release and both continue to keep keeping on and don't look like falling over anytime soon. Mount Pleasant's 2001 Elizabeth Hunter Valley Semillon (cork, 11% A/V, 5 gold medals on the bottle) reveals a glistening light lemon gold colour with youthful greenish tinges, a nose awash with classic aged semillon notes of honey, toast and nuts over glorious grass- and lanolin-tinged pithy citrus (mainly grapefruit and lime) fruit. Almost paradoxically, the bouquet is all about envigorating lift and freshness and nought about decay or a hint of reaching a mature plateau. The palate delivers an even more backward mind-boggling equation - incredibly limey (verging towards cordial intensity!) in flavour with amazingingly lively grippy acidity and astonishing length; this has a such long way to go, I'm hesitating to suggest 10 years as a minimum cellaring proposition. Almost freakish, this wine has such unlimited potential, I'm unsure of what great heights it may achieve. On today's showing I'm happy to award 94 points with double plus signs for future reference. Drink 2015 - 2025+. I'm flabbergasted! Now, if McWilliams, had only sealed this in screwcap, I'd be giving everyone the big thumbs up. Caveat emptor with these being under cork!

G'day

The tasting note above, from mid 2012, describes a fabulous example of this wine. I note the writer posted a second note soon after of a poor example of this wine - the hit-n-miss ratio of this wine under cork is well documented.

The one I am drinking now is somewhere in between. a golden colour, it doesn't have the lift or freshness of the example above, but has more of the honeyed richness that goes with maturity for these wines. The lime, lemon, citrus notes have diminished, and the acidity is less prominent than younger examples. It's not going to get any better I suspect, and cork variation is likely to be a bigger issue than longevity for any of these wines you may have. Drink up and enjoy!

Cheers
Allan

Greetings all.

I tried one of my few remaining 1998 Seppelt Originals last Wednesday with a close friend and we both loved it. Probably rated it slightly higher than in the 2012 TN above. Fabulous experience and in no sign of decline.

As to the 2001 Lizzie ..... rid myself of the lot because of the "poxy" bottle variation.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Unfortunately we do not get either the Mount Pleasant 'Elizabeth' nor the Seppelt's Orignal Sparkling over here in my part of Canada however I have always had them when visiting Austrlia.

I recall buying both the '01 and '02 Elizabeth some years ago when I was in Sydney and the '01 was clearly the cellaring vintage, much more tight,linear, and acidic in the young Semillon fashion. Later, on a subsequent visit I tried them again and the '02 was much further along though still pleasant (excuse the pun). The '01 was still good but definitely in need of more time.

As for the Seppelt's Original, the last one I had was from the early 2000s, though I cannot remember if they were from '02 or '04. In any case it was lovely when first bought and tried, dark, brambly, and intense. A bottle on the subsequent visit was still young but had only a slight edge of maturity, a hint of dustiness mixed in with the briary fruit. Lovely wine this, with plenty of time ahead.

We do get the odd bulk brand sparkling Shiraz here, like the Seaview or the Wyndham, but the best one was Peter Lehmann's 'The Black Queen'. It was a very fine example and had more in the way of sweet fruit and oak than the Seppelt's. after a few bottles of the '97 and '98 I thought it best to put a couple away to see how they fare.

Mahmoud.