1981 Labata pty. ltd. (Rothbury Estate?) Hunter Valley Cabernet Savigion

[Oroboru5]

Hey all,

I'm new to the forum, but I guess I have a pretty interesting story to tell.

About a week ago, I was helping my mothers partner clear out his parents old property to sell.

We got to the kitchen (which is dugout below ground level) and just started pulling out bottles of wine from seemingly every single nook and cranny.

In total we ended up finding ~four dozen bottles of wine with vintages ranging all the way back to the early 60's (2x 1962 Coonawarra Estate Shiraz Claret)!
He's not a big wine drinker, and apparently they had no real intrinsic value to him, because they ended up in my hands! (He was more interested in the various unopened bottles of spirits dating back to the 40's)

A few of the other bottles of note found include a 1972 Seppelt Moyston Claret, which looks in pretty good nick, 2002 Glen Creek Reserve Merlot (which was delicious!), various bottles of Australian 'Champagne' of unknown vintages, they have names but I can't recall any of them right now, and a bunch of other old reds and whites which I'll list here at some point (including photos if anyone cares).

There is a small number of a particularly interesting wines, the subject of this post: 1981 Labata pty. ltd. (Rothbury Estate?) Hunter Valley Cabernet Savigion, six to be exact, after I drank one on the weekend (it was great, by the way). I was wondering if anybody here knows anything about this particular bottle, I'll include photos for visual effect!

http://imageshack.com/a/img923/8844/YGBeRJ.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img924/4166/zx4lnZ.jpg

Cheers,

Oroboru5

[Mahmoud Ali]

Nice story there, and congratulations on your haul.

I know nothing about Labata but surely someone on the forum might. Two thoughts though, first there must not have not been that many Hunter Cabernets around as it was not a traditional area for planting Cabernet until Lakes Folly did it sometime in the 60s (hence the name). Secondly, here is a wine probably made from younger vines that appears to be drink well 36 years later. I don't know anything about the '81 vintage, and certainly nothing about how Cabernet fared, but clearly it was a well made wine.

Please, more photographs.

Cheers .................. Mahmoud.

[dave vino]

It matches up year wise,

First registered in 1968 (previously Labata)
https://www.australiacheck.com/business ... ty-limited

but it looks to have done other things, hospitality wise
http://abr.business.gov.au/SearchByAbnH ... 00+640+540

Rothbury Estate founded in 1968 by Len Evans
http://chrisshanahan.com/articles/1993/ ... len-evans/

You can also see the other trading name of the Rothbury Wine Society so it may have been a Society wine, hence the lack of producer details.

[TiggerK]

Hi Oroboru and welcome to the forums!

Great looking bottle! Pleased it showed well, aged Hunter can be up there with the best Oz has to offer. The 72 Seppelt Claret could be good too, possibly loaded with rustic tannins (I'd suggest leaving the bottle standing up for a day or two before opening and decanting carefully). Can't say I have the same optimism for the older Oz 'Champagnes' though!

Cheers
TiggerK

[Ian S]

Really pleased to see that you did the sensible thing and started drinking them. Such things rarely have meaningful value (but do post on anything you think might - the old hands here may be able to help id'ing them), but some old wines outperform a lack of reputation.

I agree the fizz might be a bit iffy, but open it and see. As long as there is something of interest still there, it can be useful for cooking, even if suffering oxidisation.