Right, what are we/you drinking now .. tonight

[Luke W]

Salitage Pemberton 2007 (stelvin) mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot from Pemberton WA. Originally tried at the winery in 2009 and bought a few bottles at about $35 a piece.
A year or 2 later saw them being flogged at auction for about a third of their original price and so bought a couple of dozen. However they didn't appear as wonderful when they arrived and so I off loaded 7 or 8 as gifts and put the rest into the cellar. I've had 1 or 2 over the years and noticed that they've improved. Last night another but this had morphed into a wine of considerable finesse and elegance.

[Rocky]

Interesting Luke. I too picked up a half dozen of the 07 at that auction for what I considered a good price. From recollection the first was ok, just holding on. The remainder, whether bad luck or not, were dreadful and went straight down the sink. It was a gamble and I lost. IMO, poor fruit and/or structure prevented any aging capacity.

Good luck with your remainder.

[cuttlefish]

2005 Frankland Estate Isilation Ridge Riesling
13.5% alc. Very light just golden straw colour. Opened with some real sulphurous pong, but that blew off to reveal some creamy lemon citrus, wet slate aromas. Light to medium bodied slightly bitter lemon flavours and maybe vague crab-apple flavours. Still vibrant length. Not too bad.

[mychurch]

2000 Petaluma Coonewarra Cabernet\Merlot
Fully mature now with a touch of briking on the edge. Lovely, round old wine that is starting to develop some interesting aromatics: cedar, spice, red fruit - very Bordeaux. Dont think this was a great year, and although there is plenty of fruit, its slightly diluted. Good persistance though and while it does not have the power of a top year, its seductive and even slightly feminine. Although this may continue to develop aromatically, the fruit will start to fade and I'd say this the optimum time to enjoy. A bit of a quaffer and to which the the old adage "luncheon claret" could easily apply.

[Chuck]

Ad Hoc 2008 Margaret River Cabernet Merlot etc.

Larry Cherubino's third ranked label. Not sure what the "etc" is. Probably leftover bits and pieces from a great vintage. Black fruits, resolved tannins and all the great flavours MR brings. Great value.

Carl

[scribbler]

2006 Clonakilla Shiraz/viognier 14% (screwcap)
6% viognier, but its not obtrusive. This wine is basically a cult Canberra district wine. The brand came to my notice with the 1997 and 1998 vintages – a wake-up call about Australian cool-climate Shiraz efforts that included co-fermented Viognier. This technique is a mainstay of Cote Rotie in the Northern Rhone, (although many makers do not utilise Viognier).

Shiraz/Viognier blends have not been successful in Australia. Whether its clone, whether its young vines, whether its over-cropping, over-enthusiasm with the amount of Viognier employed, whether its picking times, the result is many more failures than successes. Clonakilla stands alone with its track record. In some years Clonakilla also releases a varietal Shiraz which would be a very interesting tasting comparison.

This particular wine is still developing; retaining freshness while displaying the benefits of bottle maturation.

It’s a cunning combination of sweet and savoury fruits backed with plush leather. Floral black cherry, and black pepper make their presence felt, while there is still grainy tannin and clean acid to make the slightly syrupy mouthfeel pleasurable. It’s a model of restraint and will provide complex enjoyable drinking over the next 8 years or so, and no quibbles with drinking now.

[cuttlefish]

2003 Richmond Grove Limited release Riesling
Screwcap. 12% alc. A fairly youthful looking just golden straw colour. Very closed at first, with faint rainwater notes. Aromatic ally, over the course of an hour or so, it really only reaches a pithy lemon kind of aroma. I can't detect any kero aromas at all which is great. It's on the palate that this wine is really singing; so fine-boned and delicate, but with clean and resonant lemon and candied lemon flavours. Light, long and lovely.

[mychurch]

2000 The Steading, Torbreck
Saw this for $22 today at a well known wine shop and thought it would be interesting to try after last nights 00 Petaluma. Tried quite a bit of Torbreck at the end of the 90's and had it not been for the terrible bottle shape, I'd probably have a few in the cellar. There is a definite cloudiness to this and I'd be the first to admit that taking it home via tram and train, and then popping and pouring, was probably not the best idea. Still there is plenty to like here. There is a stong backbone of refreshing acidity and combined with some rhubarb its got a touch of burgundy about it. Crunchy and refreshing, this is light and food friendly. Browning a bit on the edge, so its definetly a wine to drink up. 2 others are lying on the rack next door and I imagine they'll be a lot better if I stand them up for a day beforehand.

[Vlad]

Recently I realised that I had never tasted wine from Côtes du Rhône region of France. Today I closed that gap in my oenophilic experience by opening a bottle of 2011 Guigal Côtes du Rhône Rouge. The aroma reminded me of light Pinot Noir, and on the palate it was like those darker, chocolatey Pinots I found in Tassy. Turning the bottle to confirm my guess led me nowhere - as always French did not bother to mention the grapes from which the wine was made. I had to find their website where, to my surprise, I discovered that it was a GSM blend - Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre. The deceivingly light taste can be attributed to a large proportion of Grenache (35%) and the fact that the main variety is Syrah - a leaner cousin of the bold Australian Shiraz.

After 1.5 years in oak and 3 years in a bottle it's great to drink now and, according to the winemaker, can be cellared for another 3 years. For $22 a bottle I think it's good value for money and in my books it is rated 5/10.

[Phil H]

2006 Glaetzer Amon -Ra Big Bold Barossa Shiraz. Text book stuff, without being a fruit bomb. Popular amongst my friends, but lacking something for me.

2006 Bloodwood Cab Sav (Orange) Starting to show its age with some classic cab Sav characteristics - cedar and cigar box with some quality fruit. Very good.

2010 Bloodwood Chardonnay Oak, Oak and some more Oak. A bit too much wood for me. Heavily worked - lacking fruit purity.

2005 Giaconda Warner Vineyard Shiraz Wow, wow & wow. Hardly showing its age, light to medium bodied Shiraz, elegant with white pepper and red berry fruit with quality oak in the background. Evolving with every glass. It doesn't get much better than this.

2012 Rusden Driftsand (GSM) Upon opening sweet red berry fruits, however after about 1/2 hour showing some spice and development. At around $20, great VFM, good mid week quaffer with a pasta dish, could almost be mistaken as a Pinot.

[mse]

Henschke Hill of Grace 96' (Occasional bottle for Easter Sunday)

Cork - crumbled (not happy, Jan!)

Colour - Garnet with Light Red hue on the rim

Aroma - Wood Cabinet, Autumn leaves, Licorice, Blackberry, Vanilla.

Palate - Maraschino Cherry, sour plum, bush tomato, little tannin (not enough grip for my liking), long finish though (flavour lingers for 40-50 seconds)

Probably past its peak by 2-3 years. 5 more bottles to go, should finish them by 2020 as suggested by Henschke's website.

[Hacker]

1998 Reynella Cab Sav from Mclaren Vale. Last of a six pack and loved by the group who tried it. While it had shed its original cloak of dark fruits like blackcurrant, it presented as a rich, long complex yet velvety experience. The couple of non cellaring wine drinkers were expressing their amazement at this wine's beauty and the reward of being kept so long. They were a little dismayed at the time kept (16 years from release) as they think of wine as a drink now experience.

[Ian S]

Burg (thankfully for the wallet) is not a big part of my wine drinking, but I did start buying a few more over the last 5 years. Here's one that hadn't received a CT Tasting note in the last 7 years, so was that a sign I'd left it too long? Not at all.

• 2001 Domaine Jean Chauvenet Nuits St. Georges - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges (27/03/2016)
  Surprisingly primary, though the cork was a very solid one.
  
  Blackcurrant and violets are to the fore on the nose along with supporting smoke/fig/cherry. Swirling reveals really quite rich black cherry fruit.
  
  On the palate, the bright acidity is the canvas supporting fresh cherry fruit, with a touch of violet. A little tannin still there on the finish. Less complexity than on the nose.
  
  With a good cork such as this one, there is plenty of life left in this wine, maybe even a decade or more, and the nose suggests there is more complexity to come on the palate in the future.
  

[cuttlefish]

1973 Southern Vale Wines Private Bin 27 Cabernet (50/50 cab/shz)
A special release for the 1976 Adelaide Festival Of The Arts. Fully soaked cork. Very mature colour with a wide brown rim. A real mixed bag aromatically on opening; quite medicinal and mushroomy. It recovered somewhat with decanting to show some distant baked fruit, dry leaves and kept that mushroominess, with a clear dry cedar note. Still some fruit sweetness on the palate which was quite tart and angular at first, but smoothed out over time. Fairly simple, probably past its best, but certainly tolerable.

[Rossco]

1988 wynns john riddoch: This was sensational. Quick 20 minute decant and bang it was on. Succulent, silky and full of grace. Old leather, still some spice and mint but the mouthfeel....oh....that will remain with me forever. Old oak was just lovely. WOTY so far for me.

2002 trevor jones wild witch dry grown reserve shiraz. In magnum. Have posted about this before. Powerful and rich. Not porty or boozy but still in its youth. Bright black berries. Stunning.

2006 rockford rifle range cab. 3rd or 4th bottle of this and its has changed a lot. Quite herbaceous and (dare i say it) feminine. Has lost the harsh acidity of the other bottles i have had. Beautiful purple Violets with the typical brown earth of a barossa cab..... Seriously love barossa cab and its really an under rated region for the variety.... Or maybe its just over shadowed by shiraz.

[Andrew Jordan]

1990 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos de Goisses - This was the wine and vintage that gave me my first champagne moment, an epiphany of what all the fuss is about vintage champagne and therefore a suitable wine to celebrate the birth of our second child. Medium golden in colour, with plenty of brioche and apple with a hint of vanilla on the nose. Small, fine bead. Still quite fresh on the palate with lots of acidity. However quite rich and powerful, full-bodied. Great balance between the two. Quite dry with nuances of creamy green apple, nut and toast with undertones of oak. Long, long enjoyable finish which makes you want to go back for another glass. Went well with BBQ Queensland King prawns. Still has plenty in the tank so no rush to drink this 25 year old champagne. Truly the best Pinot dominated blend coming out of Mareuil-sur-ay. A very special wine for a very special occasion.

[Con J]

2006 Clonakilla Shiraz/viognier 14% (screwcap)
6% viognier, but its not obtrusive. This wine is basically a cult Canberra district wine. The brand came to my notice with the 1997 and 1998 vintages – a wake-up call about Australian cool-climate Shiraz efforts that included co-fermented Viognier. This technique is a mainstay of Cote Rotie in the Northern Rhone, (although many makers do not utilise Viognier).

Shiraz/Viognier blends have not been successful in Australia. Whether its clone, whether its young vines, whether its over-cropping, over-enthusiasm with the amount of Viognier employed, whether its picking times, the result is many more failures than successes. Clonakilla stands alone with its track record. In some years Clonakilla also releases a varietal Shiraz which would be a very interesting tasting comparison.

This particular wine is still developing; retaining freshness while displaying the benefits of bottle maturation.

It’s a cunning combination of sweet and savoury fruits backed with plush leather. Floral black cherry, and black pepper make their presence felt, while there is still grainy tannin and clean acid to make the slightly syrupy mouthfeel pleasurable. It’s a model of restraint and will provide complex enjoyable drinking over the next 8 years or so, and no quibbles with drinking now.

Hi All.
I’ve been reading Auswine for a number of years and thought it was time to join up.

Had the 2003 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier last night.
This had 7% co fermented Viognier and pretty much like you described the 2006 except the tannins were fine. This was lovely wine and probably at it’s peak but will hold.

I’ve had a few older bottles in the past 2 or 3 years and some were undrinkable with brett.

Cheers Con.

[cuttlefish]

1982 Saxonvale Bin 169 Claret
Completely soaked and disintegrating cork. I think 12%alc. This was mid-low shoulder.
Clear ruby in colour with only a suggestion of browning. Looking remarkably youthful to be honest. On the nose it's got a lovely cheesy earthiness. Not particularly "dirty", but it's unmistakeably "Hunter" if you get my drift.
Wonderfully light palate entry. Fine acidity, and almost completely resolved tannins. You can sense this is drying out/oxidizing noticeably with every minute that passes, so it's time to drink up !


Edit: This ended up drinking well over 2-3 hours so I was pretty happy with that !

[WAwineguy]

Went down to Margaret River for Easter with friends, so of course took only WA wines:

2011 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay - can't go past this one, very nice, if a little young

1995 Cape Mentelle Cabernet Merlot - now called the "Trinders", this was tasting its age initially but after about 30 minutes opened up beautifully and for a reasonably cheap wine, was very good

2004 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon (magnum) - delightful, smooth, many more years left in this one

2009 Cullen Diana Madeline - while still young, it slide down very smoothly and was eminently drinkable!

All in all a great weekend of premium WA wines.

[rens]

2004 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon (magnum) - delightful, smooth, many more years left in this one

Beautiful wine. So sorry I only got four of them. Wish I'd have got a dozen!

[Jay60A]

2006 Clonakilla Shiraz/viognier 14% (screwcap)
6% viognier, but its not obtrusive. This wine is basically a cult Canberra district wine. The brand came to my notice with the 1997 and 1998 vintages – a wake-up call about Australian cool-climate Shiraz efforts that included co-fermented Viognier. This technique is a mainstay of Cote Rotie in the Northern Rhone, (although many makers do not utilise Viognier).

Shiraz/Viognier blends have not been successful in Australia. Whether its clone, whether its young vines, whether its over-cropping, over-enthusiasm with the amount of Viognier employed, whether its picking times, the result is many more failures than successes. Clonakilla stands alone with its track record. In some years Clonakilla also releases a varietal Shiraz which would be a very interesting tasting comparison.

This particular wine is still developing; retaining freshness while displaying the benefits of bottle maturation.

It’s a cunning combination of sweet and savoury fruits backed with plush leather. Floral black cherry, and black pepper make their presence felt, while there is still grainy tannin and clean acid to make the slightly syrupy mouthfeel pleasurable. It’s a model of restraint and will provide complex enjoyable drinking over the next 8 years or so, and no quibbles with drinking now.

Hi All.
I’ve been reading Auswine for a number of years and thought it was time to join up.

Had the 2003 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier last night.
This had 7% co fermented Viognier and pretty much like you described the 2006 except the tannins were fine. This was lovely wine and probably at it’s peak but will hold.

I’ve had a few older bottles in the past 2 or 3 years and some were undrinkable with brett.

Cheers Con.

Welcome Con ... nice wine to start posting with!

[mjs]

1973 Southern Vale Wines Private Bin 27 Cabernet (50/50 cab/shz)
A special release for the 1976 Adelaide Festival Of The Arts. Fully soaked cork. Very mature colour with a wide brown rim. A real mixed bag aromatically on opening; quite medicinal and mushroomy. It recovered somewhat with decanting to show some distant baked fruit, dry leaves and kept that mushroominess, with a clear dry cedar note. Still some fruit sweetness on the palate which was quite tart and angular at first, but smoothed out over time. Fairly simple, probably past its best, but certainly tolerable.

Was this a wine from the Southern Vales Wine Co-op?
Seem to remember having more than few of the Trophy cabernet back in the late seventies, great value wines then.

[cuttlefish]

1973 Southern Vale Wines Private Bin 27 Cabernet (50/50 cab/shz)
A special release for the 1976 Adelaide Festival Of The Arts. Fully soaked cork. Very mature colour with a wide brown rim. A real mixed bag aromatically on opening; quite medicinal and mushroomy. It recovered somewhat with decanting to show some distant baked fruit, dry leaves and kept that mushroominess, with a clear dry cedar note. Still some fruit sweetness on the palate which was quite tart and angular at first, but smoothed out over time. Fairly simple, probably past its best, but certainly tolerable.

Was this a wine from the Southern Vales Wine Co-op?
Seem to remember having more than few of the Trophy cabernet back in the late seventies, great value wines then.

Yeah, I would say it was

[maybs]

2004 Penfolds Grange, 4 hour decant.

Dark, dark purple. Massive nose of black fruit and oak. Multi layers of black fruit, plum, spice, oak. Several levels of flavours all intertwined but also distinct. Super long finish. Mouth coating tannins. Too young but lovely rich hedonistic stuff.

This was an anniversary present from my wife recently (anniversary year) so decided to open it. Got a few others plus some other good anniversary year bottles so not too worried about vinfanticide and was happy to see that this is quality juice just waiting to evolve.

[Michael McNally]

2004 Penfolds Grange, 4 hour decant.

Dark, dark purple. Massive nose of black fruit and oak. Multi layers of black fruit, plum, spice, oak. Several levels of flavours all intertwined but also distinct. Super long finish. Mouth coating tannins. Too young but lovely rich hedonistic stuff.

This was an anniversary present from my wife recently (anniversary year) so decided to open it. Got a few others plus some other good anniversary year bottles so not too worried about vinfanticide and was happy to see that this is quality juice just waiting to evolve.

As the kids would say, YOLO!!

Cheers

Michael

[maybs]

2005 Taitringer Comtes de Champagne

On pour in Qantas First to London right now. Nice aromatics, lovely interplay between beginnings of toasty development and fresh apple. Rich, creamy, mouth filling. Very satisfying. No 2002, but definitely not complaining.

[rens]

Another 2008 Marques de Murrieta finca ygay reserva. Everything that has been said about this is so true. Great value at $30 despite having some rough edges. A Classic Rioja that I could drink everyday.

[Bobthebuilder]

Wake in the street last night for a neighbour
BYO food and drink
It's events like this that are dangerous with the cellar so close to the party



2002 Taylors St Andrews Chardonnay - golden yellow, creamy, toasty, honey, good amount of acid still present, reasonably long finish. Has aged beautifully but most definitely drink up now while it's still this good.

1992 Tyrrells Vat 47 Pinot Chardonnay -appearance almost exactly the same as the Taylors, and surprisingly very similar on the palate. Slightly better complexity, With some lovely nutty notes. As with the Taylors, a surprising amount of acid still present and a very nice long finish. This went almost totally the opposite direction to what I was expecting, I honestly thought it was going to have Buckley's chance of being drinkable. Neighbours loved it.

2013 Clonakilla Riesling - still very young, lively on the palate, like sherbet almost, zesty, Lime with a little bit of sourness but not in a negative way. I'm putting some of these away for atleast another 7 years as it seems to have good structure that will benefit from a decent sleep.

2010 Paolo Scavino Barolo - probably not the best idea to have opened this so young and with so little time to let it breathe. Put in the decanter and then left to sit for nowhere near long enough - 20 mins or so. Decant back into the bottle then out to the street to go around. Very closed on the palate but not so much on the nose that was full of ripe cherries, dried herbs and roses. As expected, lots of mouth gripping tannins that settled down a little by the time we had our final sips, but clearly a wine that needs a lot more time in the cellar. I would let this sit in the decanter for 24hrs or more if I have another in the near future.

[Mike Hawkins]

2005 Taitringer Comtes de Champagne

On pour in Qantas First to London right now. Nice aromatics, lovely interplay between beginnings of toasty development and fresh apple. Rich, creamy, mouth filling. Very satisfying. No 2002, but definitely not complaining.

I dont think Qantas got any 2002... From memory there was only about one third of normal volumes produced. That said, Qantas has been serving the 2000 for some years, and I'm surprised they (seemingly) never offered the 2004 which is excellent and made in massive quantities.

For me the 2005 CDC is a lesser release from this label... Perhaps the weakest since 1999. Having had the 2007 on pre release, i believe it is even weaker. On the flipside, the 2008 pre release was even better than the 1996 IMO.... Only 18 months to wait !

[cuttlefish]

2003 Richmond Grove Limited release Riesling
Screwcap. 12% alc. A fairly youthful looking just golden straw colour. Very closed at first, with faint rainwater notes. Aromatic ally, over the course of an hour or so, it really only reaches a pithy lemon kind of aroma. I can't detect any kero aromas at all which is great. It's on the palate that this wine is really singing; so fine-boned and delicate, but with clean and resonant lemon and candied lemon flavours. Light, long and lovely.

Finishing off the last 1/3 bottle tonight, and it's hanging in there. Some nice lime notes coming through.