Melbourne Offline - Fri June 19

[alexc92]

What a great list! Fairly certain the Sparkling was Heemskerk Abel’s Tempest Chardonnay Pinot Noir 2009, unmistakable bottle shape!

[conformistpete]

Close!

Heemskerk - Chardonnay Pinot Noir Coal River Valley Tasmania 2009

Edit: and yes brutal bottle shape.

Doesn't fit anywhere, including my carrier.

[gggaz]

Crazy to think we got through all of that between 8 of us. Bloody good effort fellas

[gggaz]

Oh and Ozzie, Jean Bourdy is the full name of the producer of that Cotes du Jura I bought.

Was fun seeing the reactions of people first trying that not sure everyone loved it as much as I did though!

[Ozzie W]

Thanks guys. Looking forward to the next offline.

[Rory]

My WOTN was a toss up between the Burgundy and the Paringa, so I went local.
But there was some excellent showings, particularly, for me, the Lubiano Chardy (on the radar now), and the Muddy Waters.
The Jura was a lesson to me.... don't discount the oxidized Chardonnay!!!

Rory

[gggaz]

That Paringa was WOTN for me. Gorgeous wine.

[Ozzie W]

It was neck and neck for me between the Gevrey-Chambertin, Paringa Estate & Hoddles Creek. So hard to pick a winner, moreso after drinking so much wine,

[Michael McNally]

Sorry for the delay with the notes, but I had to work all day Saturday and then travel home. Currently trying to work and be a steward at the Royal Queensland Wine Show. Time poor!

Thanks for a great night. It was a lovely group and very relaxed. The food was excellent! Can someone post the list of what we ate? I think Gareth would recommend the vegetarian options!

Here are my very brief notes and impressions. The impressions were on the whole written before the wines were revealed and mainly demonstrate my lack of depth of knowledge of Pinot Noir!!

2009 Heemskerk Chardonnay Pinot Noir Coal River Valley Tasmania Lots of lemon pith and very refreshing. A good start!

2011 Stefano Lubiabna Chardonnay. Classic Chardonnay nose with some peach and cashew. Fruit driven, but very well balanced. Got better and better in the glass. The powerful almost tropical fruit meant no one guessed Tasmania!

2008 Jean Bourdy Cotes Du Jura. Quite stinky nose. Funky palate. Quite 'green'. Very oxidative. When I came back to this it tasted very much like cider. Very interesting as never had anything like it before.

2012 Bourgogne Cotes d'Auxerre Gueules de Loup Goisot. More restrained than the Lubiana. Lemon butter and some nuttiness. Less fruit forward, good length - food!

2006 Hoddles Creek Estate Yarra Valley. Franco said he wasn't bringing any of his wines - Franco lied! Stewed fruit compote (in a good way). Gorgeous tannin. Some eucalyptus. Nice grip and length. I guessed Adelaide Hills.

2004 Paringa Estate Mornington Peninsula. Decanted. Vibrant nose. Black cherry, full fruit. Tannic. I was surprised when this was revealed as an 04.

2010 Moorooduc Estate McIntyre Mornington Peninsula. Eucalypt/menthol. Genache-like nose. Grippy. Very good.

2013 Yabby Lake Single Block No 1 Mornington Peninsula. Restrained nose. Quite full-bodied fruit. Lovely candied note with clove. Tannic - will age.

2012 Bernhard Huber Pinot Noir Germany. Light. Bramble, truffles. Savoury fruit. Dusty and dry. This didn't really grab me.

2012 Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Poissenot. Again with a hint of eucalypt. Might be me! Gorgeous nose. Lovely tannin. Beautiful fruit. Excellent with food.

2009 Copain Kiser "En Bas" Anderson Valley California. Bright. Savoury small dark berries. Doesn't taste like Pinot. Doesn't smell like Pinot.

2009 Muddy Water Slowhand Waipara. Ironically, quite muddy, murky looking. Limited fruit, which is very dark. Medium-bodied.

2010 Felton Road Cornish Point Central Otago. Fuller-bodied. Meaty. Good.

2012 The Wanderer Yarra Valley. Gunsmoke. Nougat. Asparagus. Light. Tannic. Wrong time to try this.

2012 Riorret "The Abbey" Yarra Valley. Don't seem to have any note for this one. Even though I was spitting most of the night, the volume may have caught up with me. I can see the label, but can't remember the contents......

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for the generosity with their wines and the general bonhomie!! Wine of the night votes as recorded on the night were split 4-4 with Gareth, Rory, Peter and Ward opting for the Paringa, and Ozzie, Alex, Franco and I opting for the Gevrey-Chambertin. Wine was definitely the winner!

Cheers

Michael

[Ozzie W]

Great notes Michael. Thanks for writing that up. I didn't realise we had a tie for red WOTN. Must have been all that wine.

The menu was as follows:

Carpaccio Di Pesce: Carpaccio of Cobia with orange and crushed pistachio
Pappardelle Al Ragu Di Pernice: Handmade Pappardelle pasta with partridge and nebbiolo ragu
Ossobuco Su Polenta: Slow cooked veal shin in tomato and white wine, served on soft polenta
Formaggi Misti: A selection of Italian Cheeses with leatherwood honey, walnut bread & fruit

[dave vino]

The Bourdy Jura would have been a bit of hard work blind. I can imagine all the polite expressions and diplomacy kicking into gear on first noses

It's not something you give to someone who is 'just getting into wine' that's for sure.

I love the paradoxical nature of Jura wines, it is like the Washed Rind Cheese of wine.

Sounds like it was a great night, no pics?

[mjs]

Dave,
Did you bring that Jura to the off-line in Sydney earlier this year? I respect your enthusiasm, but i struggled with it to be honest, sounds like the Melb one was similar. Not sure I can hack the oxidised style. Just me.
cheers, Malcolm

[Ozzie W]

Sounds like it was a great night, no pics?

I took pics of most of the bottles. I'm normally much more thorough than this, but after so much wine...

[Polymer]

Not all Juras will be oxidized....A lot are...some are not or not made purposely that way but will have some elements of that...but yeah, a lot of people won't like that style..
Then add some funkiness...some a lot more than others...
Then add the ripeness level (which won't be very ripe at all) and that throws people off as well...(They tend to all be higher acid which some like and some don't).

Great stuff IMO...Not sure I'd say it is objectively a better wine compared to many things out there....but it is different and interesting and that is what is holding some people's attention...

[pc79]

Call me a pleb or whatever, but for me, Jura = Bin Juice. Over fermented fruits with funk, acid and rot. Still willing to try to get my head/uneducated palate around it, but being a fruit snob (eg banana's have about a 2 day window of good eating, bruised fruit get chucked) the examples I've tried are barely palatable. This means, there's more for everybody else.

[Michael McNally]

Not sure I can hack the oxidised style. Just me.
cheers, Malcolm

It's not just you....

Cheers

Michael

[Michael McNally]

Call me a pleb or whatever

You're a pleb (or whatever).

But take up your and Malcolm's point, I think there are some wines, such as the Jura, that are interesting to experience, but that I wouldn't buy to drink in a fit.

Life's too short and there is such an incredible diversity of wines that I like. That said, trying different (weird) things is the way our tastes change.

Cheers

Michael

[Polymer]

Life's too short and there is such an incredible diversity of wines that I like. That said, trying different (weird) things is the way our tastes change.

I agree...You should drink what you like...but the great thing with all of these offlines is getting to try different things...sometimes you'll like it..sometimes you won't...sometimes you'll grow to like it..sometimes you won't...

I love seeing lesser known producers and regions...Doesn't necessarily mean I'll really like the wine...but I really appreciate and enjoy the chance to get to try them...

[conformistpete]

...but I really appreciate and enjoy the chance to get to try them...

...and this is why I love offlines.

Thanks again for organising Ozzie. Fantastic night. Loved the diversity of wines across regions (terroir too), vintages and winemakers.

[pc79]

Absolutely agree on all fronts. Off lines present a great opportunity to try wines that you'd not necessarily have the inclination, access or exposure to. Plus to share some of your own gems that others may not be aware of. Good times, and good drinking (even Jura)

[Ozzie W]

The Jura is such a polarising wine. I like how it's so different from a typical Chard. It was quite compelling to drink and the fact that we're still discussing it a week after the offline says a lot. The Stefano Lubiabna, our white WOTN, has barely got a mention in our discussion.

This Jura also got me thinking about the difference between an "oxidative" wine and an "oxidised" wine. To me, the former is a wine style and the latter is a wine fault. What determines the cut-off point between oxidative and oxidised?

[gggaz]

Good points, I really did bring the Bourdy out of a motivation to show a different side of Chardonnay that maybe others hadn't a chance to try. I'm not some obscurity-worshipping wine hipster, but at the same time, life's too short to only try one sort of wine, you know.

Ozzie, I think the difference between oxidative handling and oxidation is in the name - oxidative wines are 'handled' that way with careful exposure to oxygen. There's a good read on some of the history and winemaking methods here: http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/wink/jura.htm

I remember quizzing Franco on this at the offline, he suggested that oxidative handling begins even before fermentation, I assume by not using CO2 blankets when the wine is being pressed or fermented. I think it's also important that the grapes have a low pH, as juice not acidic enough would oxidise quicker and more unpredictably.
Basically the wine is fermented, then left in old oak barrels and not topped up. As the wine evaporates, a voile (a film of yeast similar to the flor in sherry) is formed, and this prevents it from turning into vinegar. The barrels are monitored closely to check on this, and some, such as the famous Vin Jaune, are left in barrel for 6 years and lose nearly 40% of their original volume.

Oxidised wines are wines that the cork has failed, letting uncontrolled oxygen into a wine that has been made reductively, forming acetic acid bacteria and turning the wine into vinegar.

[Michael McNally]

Life's too short and there is such an incredible diversity of wines that I like. That said, trying different (weird) things is the way our tastes change.

I agree...You should drink what you like...but the great thing with all of these offlines is getting to try different things...sometimes you'll like it..sometimes you won't...sometimes you'll grow to like it..sometimes you won't...

I love seeing lesser known producers and regions...Doesn't necessarily mean I'll really like the wine...but I really appreciate and enjoy the chance to get to try them...

I think I said that too.

Cheers

Michael