August - Sydney Offline - Hunter Valley

[dave vino]

I thought the 2000 Maurice O'Shea Shiraz might be a good segue into the next months tasting?

Give people a chance to break out their O'Shea's, Graveyards, Lakes Folly's, 4 Acres, Vat 1, Vat 47, Lovedales, Munros etc, etc.

Considering this is a Sydney Offline we should do the Hunter Valley

Any interest?

[TiggerK]

Nice theme Dave, epic in fact, count me in 1000% !!

Since I'm away for a chunk of August, and there's a few other tastings on too, can I ask/suggest we look at 25, 26, 27 or 28 August ??

[Krusty]

Sounds good Dave, end of August best for me as well.

[Croquet King]

Count me in for this one.
I've got a few Lakes from the 90's in the cellar.

[dave vino]

OK let's aim for Friday 28th, I like the idea of not having to worry about work the next day.

I can bring a 2000 Lakes Folly, 2004 O'Shea

Table 1
1. Dave Vino (2000 Lakes Folly, 2004 Maurice O'Shea)
2. TiggerK (Red and White)
3. Krusty (Thomas Braemore '06,'09 & '12)
4. Croquet King (90's Lakes Folly)
5. Burges (03 Lovedale Durif)
6. 9RedPens
7. 10RedPens

Table 2
8. PC79
9. Polymer
10. Deejay (96 Lovedale Sem, 98 Mt Pleasant Late Harvest Semillon Dessert Wine)
11. Lauren (99 Vat 1)
12. bobthebuilder (92 Vat 1)
13. barbthebuilder (2007 Meerea Park Alexander Munro Shiraz)
14. Rooman (99 Lovedale)
15. Pat
16. Dingozegan
17. Winetragic

[Croquet King]

I can also bring a 2000 Vat 1 or a couple of Lakes. Will decide vintage later on (see whats others have) but will be from 92 to 98

[maybs]

Bugger, almost responded yes to this without even checking the diary, then realised it is our annual floor dinner that night

Great theme Dave, should be a cracker.

[burges]

Count me in, Dave.
I'll get Lovedale. Yes, Lovedale. 2003.

[TiggerK]

Count me in, Dave.
I'll get Lovedale. Yes, Lovedale. 2003.

Didn't know they did a Lovedale Shiraz?

[pc79]

In for this. Great theme

[Hacker]

Sorry, away seeing daughter in Europe in August. Have a great night chaps!

[Red Smurf]

Yep, keen

[camw]

I'm probably keen for this one please.

[9redpens]

I'm in!!! Can I plus 1!!

[Polymer]

I'm up for this if there are spots..

I'll get Lovedale. Yes, Lovedale. 2003.

WTF...I had to read that three times to make sure I was reading it correctly...haha...

[burges]

5. Burges (03 Lovedale Durif)

Didn't know they did a Lovedale Shiraz?

WTF...I had to read that three times to make sure I was reading it correctly...haha...

Heyyyyyyyy !

So maybe I’m beginning to really enjoy my white wines and this being one of Australia’s finest Semillons, I just can’t wait to open the Lovedale.
or
Maybe this single bottle of white has been a thorn in the side of my otherwise pristine red cellar and I just can’t wait to open the Lovedale.

Anyway, I sure would love to share it with you fine folk, as I would really hate to drink it all by myself

[burges]

I'm in!!! Can I plus 1!!

7. 9RedPens
8. 10RedPens

[deejay81]

In Plus +1 (Lauren)
Please!

[Bobthebuilder]

bench please

[rooman]

If you end up with a spare spot I've got some old Semillon I can bring.

[pc79]

Could do an 06 Vat 1 and a 78 Lakes Folly (possibly dead - the label is ripped and faded)

[Pat]

I would like to come as well if there is a spare spot.

I could bring a 2000 or 2002 Vat 1,
or some 2004/5/6 Tyrells Stevens Semillon,
or I think I have some 2006 Vat 9 (I may have already had it... i'll have to check!)

[Pat]

I would like to come as well if there is a spare spot.

I could bring a 2000 or 2002 Vat 1,
or some 2004/5/6 Tyrells Stevens Semillon,
or I think I have some 2006 Vat 9 (I may have already had it... i'll have to check!)

Actually looking at Cellartracker I have a 2007 Brokenwood ILR which should be worth a taste, or a 2007 Mistletoe Grand Reserve Shiraz.

[dingozegan]

Sounds good. Please count me in if there's space (otherwise as reserve).

[Polymer]

If I'm counting right there are 17?

Rather than 12+ 5 reserves should we consider 2 tables or leave it with 5 reserves?

We can split the whites/reds and randomly place them or just cut off at the first 9 or 10 and the second half is another table..either way..

[dave vino]

Updated attendee post.

Re two tables, always a can of worms. Do the first 12 get the first 'table' and the left overs get another table or do we split beforehand into 2 equal groups? Who decides where everyone sits? We had 13 at the last tasting I believe and there were a couple of occasions when we had to reverse back pours to enable the last person to get any. So maybe bump it up to 13 people?

Let's see how things pan out, as there is always usually drop outs.

[Polymer]

13 should be ok normally but last time we ran into a few issues where there wasn't enough wine so I'd probably rather avoid that and stick with 10-12.

We're already at 9 and 8 so if we can get a few more and expect a few to drop out we'd probably have two tables of 8+....which I think is preferable to 12 or 13 and 4+ reserves...

Or if many drop and that isn't a possibility...I'd be ok with giving up my spot to someone that hasn't had the chance to go to one of these...

[Red Smurf]

I'm happy to sit on either table and happy to drink with anyone. Your call though Dave.
Would probably have a +1 then as well.

[rooman]

Not sure if anyone follows the UK wine forum site but they appear to do similar themed functions at the Ledbury with 3 or 4 tables. They appear to work out what people are bringing and then split the people and the wines across the two tables. Where the idea falls down is if one or two people bring "lesser" wines either current vintage or entry level wines. I believe the moderators help people establish through PMs why is and is not appropriate.

[Bobthebuilder]

Being on the bench I am obviously going to be a little biased in saying this
But things just happen so quickly, less than 24hrs and the offline is full and there's already half an offline just on the bench
By now there'd probably be a full offline on the bench, but when it gets to 5 already waiting, I reckon there are people that don't even bother putting there names up at this stage.
Its a great theme, love the hunter, would love to make it and with dropouts probably will. But I reckon there's quite a few others further down the list that would contribute greatly to the night, and it would be a shame for them to have to sit at home as opposed to the next table on the night.