Pinot Offline - Sydney

[Red Smurf]

I'm confirmed and have a 2005 Friedrich Becker Sankt Paul Spätburgunder

[TiggerK]

I'm confirmed and have a 2005 Friedrich Becker Sankt Paul Spätburgunder

Looking forward to this! Highly regarded producer, bit of age, one of their top wines too....

[dave vino]

Confirmed.

[Polymer]

So just waiting on Dan and Alex...

[catchnrelease]

Confirmed

[9redpens]

Sorry dudes, I can't do unfortunately. The bench still has strength!!

[Polymer]

So Wiz or Dingozegan? Not going to wait for Wiz to confirm or deny as it is coming up today...

[TiggerK]

I sent wizlb a PM to see if he's keen, hopefully he gets it, I note he hasn't logged into this site since 28 March, but could be browsing without logging in of course.

Maybe if we've not heard back by lunchtime, we can ask dingozegan if he's still keen? Bit tricky if wizlb turns up and says he's keen after that though I suppose, but maybe on the small chance that happens we could extend the booking by one more.

Sound OK?
Cheers
Tim

[Polymer]

Well I look at it as whomever responds first seeing as it is the day of...basically, waiting for wiz doesn't given dingozegan any time to know, prepare or decide to go....Or if you think we should give wiz until lunch and then whomever responds first (or at all), that's fine as well...

[TiggerK]

Yeah whoever is first sounds good.

[deejay81]

qq guys,

Are we BYO'ing glassware, and if so, what do people usually bring? Will a Burgandy glass suffice?

Cheers,

Dave

[TiggerK]

Most of usually bring our own glasses. Two each ideally, but I'd be pretty sure the restaurant will have plenty of OK glasses, so entirely up to you.

I'll bring out the big Burg glasses for this one, pain to carry but hey it's a Pinot night! When better to use them!

[maybs]

Hey all

Looking forward to tonight

Unfortunately I thought the Dujac Prem Cru was in my fridge at home but when I went to get it out this morning, not there. Must be at my offsite. Anyhow, I have the 2004 Bass Phillip and I have some other wine kicking around here in chambers so will bring something else. Not sure what yet, racked by indecision as to whether to bring one of the pinots that just got delivered from Tassie, a heavier red, or one of the old Rieslings I have here. Will figure something out. Short list is

2009 Pooley Butcher's Hill Pinot
1990 Wynns Cab Sav
Old German Rizza

If anyone has a preference I am open to suggestions, otherwise it might be the one that is closest to me as I am heading out the door

[TiggerK]

Whatever you feel like bringing maybs, it's all good. Looking fwd to the Bass Phillip!

Got a txt and Dingozegan can't make it on such short notice, so if no word from wizlb, a spot is available or we just enjoy slightly bigger pours.

Any issue if the numbers are only 11 Paul?

[pc79]

No issues with 11 at all Tim, the booking was initially for 10. I called the restaurant yesterday to reconfirm the booking for 10-12 people and they were good with a tentative number. I am bummed not to be able to join in the festivities! I'm sure there will be another soon enough though.

[Krusty]

Looks like I am going to be early. If any one is interested in a heart starter, I will be having a quiet palate cleanser in the Royal Hotel across the road from 6pm.

[TiggerK]

Anyone up to share a taxi?? I'll be at Wynyard around 5.55, can easy go a stop or two further to Town hall or Central and meet.

[Krusty]

A wee suggestion Tim. Get a train around the city circle to Museum and get a cab from there. At 6 bells from Wynyard it will likely take you 25mins to get on the other side of Hyde Park.

[maybs]

Anyone up to share a taxi?? I'll be at Wynyard around 5.55, can easy go a stop or two further to Town hall or Central and meet.

Tim, if you want to meet at the bottom of Martin Place, down where it intersects George Street, at approx 6pm, I will split a cab with you.

Edit - I note Krusty's comment that went up as I was typing that, a good point. I am happy to meet you anywhere in the CBD, within reason, and go from there. Otherwise I will just be getting a cab from Cnr King and Castlereagh Street where my chambers are anyway.

[TiggerK]

Anyone up to share a taxi?? I'll be at Wynyard around 5.55, can easy go a stop or two further to Town hall or Central and meet.

Tim, if you want to meet at the bottom of Martin Place, down where it intersects George Street, at approx 6pm, I will split a cab with you.

Edit - I note Krusty's comment that went up as I was typing that, a good point. I am happy to meet you anywhere in the CBD, within reason, and go from there. Otherwise I will just be getting a cab from Cnr King and Castlereagh Street where my chambers are anyway.

Hey Scott, how about I meet you on the corner of King and Castlereigh at 6pm, maybe 6.05. Near the escalators? Will txt if delayed later than that.

[maybs]

Anyone up to share a taxi?? I'll be at Wynyard around 5.55, can easy go a stop or two further to Town hall or Central and meet.

Tim, if you want to meet at the bottom of Martin Place, down where it intersects George Street, at approx 6pm, I will split a cab with you.

Edit - I note Krusty's comment that went up as I was typing that, a good point. I am happy to meet you anywhere in the CBD, within reason, and go from there. Otherwise I will just be getting a cab from Cnr King and Castlereagh Street where my chambers are anyway.

Hey Scott, how about I meet you on the corner of King and Castlereigh at 6pm, maybe 6.05. Near the escalators? Will txt if delayed later than that.

Done deal.

[catchnrelease]

Tim, if you want to meet at the bottom of Martin Place, down where it intersects George Street, at approx 6pm, I will split a cab with you.

Edit - I note Krusty's comment that went up as I was typing that, a good point. I am happy to meet you anywhere in the CBD, within reason, and go from there. Otherwise I will just be getting a cab from Cnr King and Castlereagh Street where my chambers are anyway.

Hey Scott, how about I meet you on the corner of King and Castlereigh at 6pm, maybe 6.05. Near the escalators? Will txt if delayed later than that.

Done deal.

Mind if I join too? I'll be in the area?

[maybs]

[/quote]

Hey Scott, how about I meet you on the corner of King and Castlereigh at 6pm, maybe 6.05. Near the escalators? Will txt if delayed later than that.[/quote]

Done deal.[/quote]

Mind if I join too? I'll be in the area?[/quote]

Sure mate see you then

[deejay81]

Am I the lone survivor from last night? Lauren is crashed out at home, lucky she's a school teacher so no work for her!
Sorry I couldn't join you mob for the post festivities on Oxford St.

I'm at work and more tired than hungover, so thats a good thing!

Anyway, was a really good night, and enjoyed everyone's company, the wines and the food. It was really nice to meet everyone and am already looking forward to the next offline. Thanks everyone for your warm welcome!

Took no notes and barely remember the names of the wines but here's my observations from a first timer:
The pace is quite fast (not in a bad way) but it wouldn't be to hard to be left behind dwelling on a wine, I suppose this was also in part with the sheer number of wines we had to get through?
My WOTN was prob the 2004 Bass Phillip Premium
Flight of the night was #noracist the white flight at the start
And most interesting flight was the "funky flight" with that 2012 Bannockburn De La Terre - I've never tasted anything like that.

Palate was pretty fried at the end of it all but thoroughly enjoyed myself and to have the chance to drink such a wide range of Pinot's and others that I prob never would have was great!

Cheers,

David

[Krusty]

All good here David. Lovely to meet you and Lauren, lucky her, I could do with a day on the couch.

No Oxford St festivities to be missed, just a walk up a hill to get some cabs !

Another great night with typical generosity from all punters.

Hopefully someone will post some notes but briefly, standouts for me were
the Bannockburn, loved the stalkiness of it, right up my alley
the Arnoux Lachaux, pure elegance, great nose, lovely to drink
the Mayer Close Planted, I am a fanboy of this maker and it showed so well up against the Vosne Romanee, glad to have converted you to the cause Dave Vino !
the Holyman Chard I loved as well, would like to see it again in another 3-5 years, went back for a second take at the end of the night, was still going strong
the Bass Phillip was also nice, although I found the nose much more appealing than the palate

Then there was the Thousand Candles. Unsurprisingly this wine created much discussion, I didn't like it at first, then I really didn't like it, and then I took another sip and still convinced myself I didn't like it but every time I put the glass down I kept coming back to it. Still don't think I like it, but was very intriguing, will be interesting to see how or if the sav blanc portion affects it as it ages.

Great night, thanks all, good to see everyone and meet a couple of new faces.

When's the next one ?!

[maybs]

Great night guys

Good to say hello to some new faces including David and Lauren and bob the spitter

Very enjoyable night as always, the company was brilliant and I thought that private dining room worked really well for us because we could just take over the whole space and we had that extra table for the wine.

On the wine, wow, some really interesting stuff and it was a real pleasure to taste so many different vintages and styles of pinot. I also really enjoyed a few of the whites quite a lot so I am glad it was not a total red fest! Pick of the pinots....tricky. I enjoyed most of them for different reasons. I thought the Jadot showed a lot of class but the way it closed my mouth up with tannin suggested it was way too young. The spatburgunder was really interesting and I felt it was evolving in the glass...but then it was all gone haha. I liked the Mayer and the Bannockburn, don't mind a bit of stalky funkiness. Anyhow, the long and the short of it is it was great to do a fairly wide ranging comparison of the variety, so thanks to everyone for the planning and generosity.

Oh and the 1000 candles ring in was definitely interesting. I didn't like it at first sip but left it for a bit and enjoyed it a bit more the second time around. Like Krusty I am not entirely sure how I feel about it, but would at least be interested enough to revisit it to form a clearer view.

Looking forward to the next one already.

[dave vino]

Very enjoyable night. The food was OK, I think all steak orders were cooked incorrectly and 2 were sent back. The space was a bit cramped although nice to have our own area.

As David (DeeJay81) said there were certainly a lot of bottles to get through so we had to be quite regimental in how we drank. In these situations the extra glasses I bring come in handy if you want to sit on certain wines although with table space at a premium it wasn’t easy.

Some brief impressions…
The Leflaive was all lemon sherbet and a purity of fruit. Very classy wine for a generic level AOC.

The Bannockburn was Polymers redemption wine, after being hounded about the previous one he brought along he was hoping this one was showing a lot better, I enjoyed it, leafy, stalky, nice acid with a nice level of extraction to balance it out. Much, much better than the last one

My Mayer Close Planted, reinforced my opinion of this winery. Very classy old world style wine with some tips of the hat to the new world which I love, very much in the same vein as the Curly Flat Pinots which are fantastic drinking and priced very well. Not much else I’d rather be drinking in the $50 range for Pinots than those two.

The Vosne-Romanee was very nice with that lovely floral nose with red fruits lots of class.

The Bass Phillip was another old world style which I really enjoyed, it has this inherent meatiness about it, the bricking throws you making you think it will be a lighter wine, right up there as my WOTN. The Jadot at first I thought was cooked slightly, this eventually subsided to a more soy characteristic as it settled down and opened up, although my Zalto spaceships probably weren’t helping it.

The Spatburgunder was all class and power, of all the wines this for me had the most complexity, a multi-layered wine, which kept on evolving in the glass. A wine of juxtapositions with a full mouthfeel yet delicate pure fruit flavours.

The Felton Road Calvert was Kiwi Pinot personified, ticking all the right boxes, so much so that you almost want something to be off kilter to make a point of difference. Nose, palate, structure all just right and very enjoyable.

The Domaine A was very much in the vein of Domaine A wines in that rustic, structured wines style, destined for the long haul. Still very primary, went well with food which softened the tannins a bit.

The Thousand Candles certainly was a talking point, for me it just didn’t work. There was too much happening in the glass and what was happening wasn’t complementary. It was like the various grapes were fighting for attention as individuals and not working together as a team. Seeing as it was so young it would be interesting to see it in 10 years to see if they do all come together in a Maurice O’Shea style vision of blending.

And thanks to Mick and Tiff for putting me up for the night!! Much appreciated.

[Polymer]

I enjoyed all of the Chardonnays...found myself drinking them more than I might normally...The Holyman was probably the biggest surprise just because I didn't really enjoy their Pinot (as a Pinot).

The Bannockburn de la Terre 2012 was toned down quite a bit from the 11...They do have a smokey savory vegetal thing going on...Even other Bannockburns with 100% whole bunch don't have that super greeny stalky buzzing my mouth feel to them...and this was very typical Bannockburn. Geelong is probably my favorite AU region for Pinot...they just have, what I think, is a good texture and weight for Pinot....Haha..I brought this to give Bannockburn a chance to redeem themselves...I actually didn't mind the 11 but I do agree it was a bit over the top...the 12 had much better balance and maintained the right texture that I was looking for from them...

I actually enjoyed the 13 Mayer CP a lot more than the 12 Dr. Mayer from a year or so ago...The Dr. is supposed to have more whole bunch but I thought it was on the really ripe side whereas whatever they did in 13 really toned that down and as Matt said, I actually think it held up quite nicely against the Arnoux Vosne which was a bit young but still showing nicely...There were actually a few common elements between the two wines as far as floral and some stalk but the Arnoux just had more elegance to it which came across on the palate more so than on the nose...and the Mayer still had a few elements that were sticking out but again, great showing..

Thousand Candles...The acidity on this was really very high..not sure if it just felt that way because of when we had it but for me to say that, it was really quite high....it was a bit all over the place...but it was interesting...You can see the acidity and tannins would allow this to age..but how is a red with sauv blanc going to age? Who knows...I also think it is odd that the blend changes in such huge amounts..I think the 12 had a lot more Pinot whereas this had 55% Shiraz...Not sure if the direction of the wine is changing or it is being adjusted as they go along..not sure...This might end up being fantastic in a few years..it is so hard to say and no point of reference either...

[catchnrelease]

Great night, highlight for me was the 2011 Leflaive White Burg. Loved the Mayer CP and the Bass Phillip. Thousand Candles..... mmmmm not sure. I liked the fruit combination but the acidity was off the charts and too distracting. Palate fatigue didn't help. I have two more bottles, I won't touch them for another 5 years at least.

[Michael R]

Yes, thanks everyone for a fun night
Great to meet Nick, David and Lauren too.

I thought food was pretty average, but enjoyed the wines. I liked the Leflaive and holyman, with Bass Philip and the Vosne standing out for the Reds.
Fwiw, I was disappointed with the Felton, had some volatility and heat on the finish. Has enjoyed perfect provevance so not sure what the issue was, maybe needed air time.

Till the next.