August - Sydney Offline - Hunter Valley

[dave vino]

Did you get Burges' ones as well? I thought I was picking up yours and his Zaltos tomorrow?

[TiggerK]

I assume 6.30 or 6.45 type thing?

Also a hearty reminder for people to try and bring cash to cover the dinner please. $80 per head, and I assume a 'gratitude for putting up with our madness' 'tip on top of that, so budget for 90 each max. There will be plenty of food people, so come hungry!

Salt Pepper Nutmeg is right next to the Roseville cinema. If training, get off at Roseville station, up the station stairs, go right, cross pacific highway, turn right, walk a minute or two. No obvious sign marking the restaurant from memory, but it's next to the cinema near the end of the row of shops (before the cinema).

Excited! Hunter goodness.

[dave vino]

Aim for 6pm for a 6.30pm start. If you are driving aim for Maclaurin Parade and then Larkin Lane and there is a small carpark behind the shops. Although with the Cinema there parking is at a premium and most are there for at least 2 hours. I've been told the smart money is on parking on the other side of the station and walking over.

[Bobthebuilder]

Did you get Burges' ones as well? I thought I was picking up yours and his Zaltos tomorrow?

Sorry Dave, I would have grabbed them too if it clicked that it could save you the trip
I'm probably going past tomorrow too so could grab them then?
Is it just one box?

[burges]

Did you get Burges' ones as well? I thought I was picking up yours and his Zaltos tomorrow?

Sorry Dave, I would have grabbed them too if it clicked that it could save you the trip
I'm probably going past tomorrow too so could grab them then?
Is it just one box?

Thanks guys, but there's no need for you to go tomorrow to pick up the Zaltos for me.
I'm in absolutely no rush and will collect them whenever we meet next.

[dave vino]

All good am only 5 mins from Greg. Least I could do.

[burges]

Thanks, Dave. Much Appreciated.

[rooman]

Dave my apologies for the late withdrawal but I've been laid low with one of the kids fly bugs. At present its a diet of hot lemon drinks and codral. Drinking anything is off the list at present. Sounds like it will be a great night.

Mark

[pc79]

97 O'Shea was MIA, so instead an 07 Vat 9 is the sub.

[TiggerK]

So people will need...

2 or 3 glasses each
$90 cash
Wine
Hunger & Hunter thirst

[Croquet King]

Working from home today so I'll be training it down from Turramurra.
Looking forward to it. See you all there.

I've got my two trusty travelling wine glasses - acquired from a Langtons tasting one year.
Must not forget the wine.

[dave vino]

Dave my apologies for the late withdrawal but I've been laid low with one of the kids fly bugs. At present its a diet of hot lemon drinks and codral. Drinking anything is off the list at present. Sounds like it will be a great night.

Mark

OK.

If anyone else wants to come along as a late inclusion, by all means.

[TiggerK]

In case anyone is checking in...

Dave's stuck in traffic, my ETA is 6.35. If people are early, can they please find seats on the appropriate half of the table. Should be some chalk on hand for that dividing line!

[Bobthebuilder]

Hey guys,thanks fora fantastic night
Just incase your still there Kev and trying to work out who the hell owns that zalto, it's not ours
Just unpacked the box and the six that went there all came home
And a big thanks to dave for the organising
Now, time to drink water

[pc79]

A quality night again! Thanks all for your generosity, banter and general enthusiasm, excellent food and some great wines all through the night. Hopefully Nick, you'll use the 'box cutter' on your waiters friend for its correct purpose going forward. .
Highlights for me: there were countless great wines. Maybe the 07 O'Shea, or the 98 Vat 9 were the goods for me in the reds. Of the whites, the 99 Vat 1 was amazingly fresh and alive, the 92 had a beautiful caramelisation to the nose and palate, and was still hanging in there. The 06 Braemore was excellent too. All wines showing really well, and quite tough to pick a clear favourite of the night.

[dave vino]

Yep was a great night, Paul and Marion and the crew did a great job in keeping us watered and fed. All the dishes worked for me, no fancy pants stuff here, just honest, well cooked dishes made with good ingredients, exactly what you need with 30+ bottles of wine coming around. The pace was good and didn't feel rushed even with the number of wines. Also good to see a couple of new faces, hopefully they enjoyed themselves.

The numbers worked out well, with bottles being passed around both tables.

Standouts for me were the 04, 07 O'Sheas, 2000 and 97 Folly's. 96 Lovedale, 92 Vat 1. All the wines had something interesting to talk about.

[Pat]

Thanks Dave for organising the night. I had a great time, and even got an extra 45min sleep on the train on the way home!

For me WOTN was a tie between the 04 and 07 O'Shea. However not a dud wine the entire evening.

[dave vino]

Oh and Croquet King, next time there is an offline we are at I'll bring this along. I don't have any expectations for it from reading the back label. "is a light dry full flavoured wine, which is made from Cabernet, Malbec and Hermitage grapes.. and is ready to drink now....it is made that way to give you the easy to drink flavour of good Red wine without the necessity of bottle ageing. So open it, drink it and enjoy it now"

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[Croquet King]

What a great night - Thanks for organising Dave.
Hunter wines often get bagged but last night showed a wide array of very nice wines.

Highlights for me:

Thomas Breamore vertical - loved the 09. It stood up against the Vat 1's and Lovedales. Nice acid, citrus and years ahead of it.
Vat 1's - I really liked the 00. Still seemed a young wine that was drinking well, not too astringent and had that started getting that Hunter toast.
Gundog Sem - didn't know much about this but really enjoyed it. Very well made and had something about it. Was drinking well young which a lot of Hunter Sem's don't do.
Vat 47 - always enjoy this, just such a consistently good wine.

Vat 1 (09,00,99,92) vs Lovedale's (03,96) - some interesting conversation at the table about this. I think I'm falling into the Vat 1 camp. The Lovedales seem closer to Claire Rieslings that I realised (not that there's anything wrong with that) .Not often you get to try 6 of these wines together. Fantastic stuff and would give any white wine a run for its money on the world stage.

O'Shea's - Enjoyed all of these but the 07 was a standout. They are all good wines but I wouldn't have said they were from the Hunter, so more Shiraz than Hunter to me.
Lakes (00,97)- of all the reds these two had the most Hunter funk. More Hunter than Cabernet to me. Enjoyed them both.
Vat 9 - not sure of the vintages but liked the younger one better. They've changed the style over the last 8 to 10 years which I'm liking.
Did we have the Aristea on table 1? I think this was the wine that I really enjoyed. Has a long life ahead of it. Never heard of or tasted it before but super impressed.


Table set up - I really liked having 2 tables. Most wines made it on to the other table and I don't feel like I missed out on anything.
Food / Venue - Pace was good. Service excellent as they just let us talk and taste. Tables were a good size and shape to allow us all to have glasses and bottles in the middle. Easy to have conversation with anyone at the table.
I enjoyed the food. For a venue to host a wine dinner I'd give it 7 1/2 stars out of 9.

Great night everyone - thanks again.

[Croquet King]

Oh and Croquet King, next time there is an offline we are at I'll bring this along. I don't have any expectations for it from reading the back label. "is a light dry full flavoured wine, which is made from Cabernet, Malbec and Hermitage grapes.. and is ready to drink now....it is made that way to give you the easy to drink flavour of good Red wine without the necessity of bottle ageing. So open it, drink it and enjoy it now"

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Fantastic - I'll have to show this picture to my dad.
You might have one of the last remaining LFR's from 82.

To everyone else - There is a back story to this. When I was a young lad we went on an excursion to the country which was the Hunter Valley. We visited a sewage treatment works, a farm and a vineyard.
Back in the 80's they allowed us to buy a bottle of wine for our dad's. I got an 82 Long Flat Red.

My taste in wine has gone downhill ever since.

[Polymer]

Great night....A lot of really great wine...going over the wines it was really hard to pick any standouts and as I started naming some off on the night I kept adding more and more..

A bit surprised at how quickly we went through them all..It actually worked well with two tables...most things made it around to both but the main intent of your primary table and then stuff from the other table as "extras" made it less like I had to go through each wine in a normal way...It just seemed to work out nicely...

[felixp]

Domaine de Bauolier 2008
Premier Cotes de Bordeaux, a great little quaffer. Bright red fruits, anise, melted tannins. Not complex, but very moreish 88pts.

[felixp]

oooops, wrong thread

[felixp]

but, on topic, I mentioned how great the 07 O'Shea was in another thread here about a week ago... glad to see it is being well appreciated. Just about my favourite Aussie shiraz ATM.

[deejay81]

Really enjoyed the night, and big thanks to Dave for organising and everyone else's generosity.

My standouts were both Lovedale's, and the O'Shea's, but honestly, i was not disappointed in ANY of the wines that night, and I don't recall any "bad" bottles either!!

I was feeling it the next morning though because I forgot to drink any water throughout and after the night.

[sjw_11]

Oh and Croquet King, next time there is an offline we are at I'll bring this along. I don't have any expectations for it from reading the back label. "is a light dry full flavoured wine, which is made from Cabernet, Malbec and Hermitage grapes.. and is ready to drink now....it is made that way to give you the easy to drink flavour of good Red wine without the necessity of bottle ageing. So open it, drink it and enjoy it now"

You might get lucky Dave... I recall a few years back buying a couple of Jim Barry 1987 Cab Merlot's at auction (for about $7 each). The back label said it was a great easy drinking lunch time red. Yet in the mid-2000s they still drank remarkably well (as in, actually enjoyable, not just drinkable at a stretch for curiosity sake!)