As usual all wines were tasted blind and served in the order listed, and after about an hour all participants voted for their most preferred, two next preferred and their least preferred drops.
2003 Two Hands Bad Impersonator Shiraz $55: Dark to inky red/purple colour. While not labelled as a blend, there were very obvious Viognier influences from the outset with stewed/meaty and apricot characters immediately on the nose, leading some of the panel to think there was more than 5% in this wine. I would guess there’s actually less due to the lack of glowing purple in the colour, the nose evolving from the obvious jammy apricots to some soapy and floral characters with breathing, and the lack of razor fine/drying tannins on the palate. That said I still found the Viognier too obvious in this wine, with the Shiraz fruit lacking in the sickly-sweet, hot and stewed palate. I have an obvious bias against these blends and initially felt a touch guilty when I scored this last, but the identity and price tag of the wine cleared that up – on QPR alone it was deserved.
My ranking: 10th place
BTs: 0 most, 1 second, 5 least
2002 Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz $35: Inky purple/red. The nose was dominated by funky and sweet oak with marzipan and coffee characters. The palate has a soft entry, and very sweet cherry/blackcurrant fruit shot with spice, finishing long with fine tannins and cherry fruit. When I heard this wine was in the line up the sweet fruit and oak made it an obvious guess, and while it was near my top wines the entire tasting I found the palate lacking weight during the taste-off for third. While it’s a good wine, there’s no way I’d think it’s a Max Schubert Trophy winning standard; could this be the wine that Winemaker was referring to last week?
http://www.auswine.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2217
My ranking: 4th place
BTs: 2 most, 5 second, 0 least
2002 Murray Street Barossa Shiraz Cabernet $25: Inky purple/red. A quite stinky nose at first that sweetens up with a little air to reveal blackberries and vanilla/toasted oak, then stalky cherries and greens, and finally very green and floral geranium characters. The palate is equally green on entry with VA, oak and chocolate, finishing green – very unusual.
My ranking: =5th Place.
BTs: 0 most, 1 second, 1 least
2002 Flints Gammons Crossing Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon $23: Glowing inky purple/red. Distinctive chalky/coal nose that screams out Coonawarra, with hints of closed canopy mint/green leaf & meat-pie, vanilla, peppermint, and some coffee oak with breathing. There’s some savoury/spicy olive on entry, but the palate is well and truly dominated by the chalky tannin structure standing over the fruit, providing great length. The panel was divided to whether there’s enough hidden fruit to surface and fill out that imposing structure – this could be a wine to watch.
My ranking: 3rd place
BTs: 1 most, 2 second, 3 least
2002 Majella Coonawarra Shiraz $28: Glowing inky purple/red. The nose had a hint of chalk/coal like the previous wine that also hinted Coonawarra, but it was far more complex and ripe with chocolate, plums, green leaf, some tar and a hint of VA. The palate again seemed a riper development on the previous wine, with the big chalky tannin structure matched by rich fruit flavours of blackberry, chocolate and mint. There’s also a hint of some big oak on the palate, but it’s dwarfed by the tannin and fruit structure that provides great sustain. While I don’t think it’s totally integrated, the wine has great cellaring potential.
My ranking: 2nd place
BTs: 3 most, 2 second, 1 least
2002 St Hallett Blackwell Barossa Shiraz $28: Glowing inky purple, the best colour of an extremely strong group. A reserved nose at first, with malty/wheaty oak and earth, a hint of tequila spirit, greens, ocean air, detergent, and some stinky oak. The palate had a soft entry and a powerful build-up of plummy fruit that seemed to drop off at first. With some air that stinky oak began to impact the palate too, becoming rather dry with spicy/malty and spirity characters. I ranked it second at a previous tasting panel where it opened up beautifully at the end of the tasting – this time I think I ran out of time, although it was still ranked the best overall wine by the panel tonight.
My ranking: =5th place
BTs: 6 most, 6 second, 0 least
2002 Leasingham Bin 61 Clare Valley Shiraz $18: Glowing inky purple/red. From the beginning I found this to be the most complex nose of the group, with sweet American oak matched to powerful blackberry fruit, hints of meat-pie, paint, marzipan, greens, burnt rubber/bitumen, roast nuts and ground coffee. The palate was just as powerful and balanced with a slow build-up of savoury black olive/blackberry fruit, finishing long with coffee oak and dry tannins. This was the second time it topped my scoresheet, but quite a few of the panel found the wine too stinky for their liking.
My ranking: 1st place
BTs: 1 most, 1 second, 5 least
2002 Water-Wheel Bendigo Shiraz $19: Glowing inky purple/red. A slightly green nose at first tinged with vanilla oak, then becoming almost soapy/floral with a mixture of ocean air/toilet deodorant. The palate had a green and tannic entry with some dusty liquorice and wheaty/hot alcohol, and mouthwash heat on the chalky finish. I had the feeling this also needed more time.
My ranking: =5th place
BTs: 0 most, 3 second, 0 least
2002 Dowie Doole McLaren Vale Reserve Shiraz $35: Inky purple/red. A funky/stinky nose at first of diesel exhaust fumes, before sweetening up with dark cherry, some liquorice and medicinal characters. The palate is equally savoury/funky at first, with stewed sweet plum/cherry fruit, big tannins and big alcohol heat. This was a stinky, extracted style that frankly I didn’t like.
My ranking: 8th place
BTs: 0 most, 0 second, 1 least
2002 Kilikanoon Killerman’s Run Shiraz $19: Dark to inky purple/red colour. A very closed nose that showed only hints of spicy stewed fruit. The palate had an entry of sweet blackberry followed by a spicy build-up of fruit, finishing with obvious tannins and a hint of chocolate and VA. While the rest of the panel rated it highly, I had the impression it was lightweight and contrived, which mirrored what I thought of it two weeks ago at an instore. If it weren’t for the Shiraz Viognier blend I would have this dead last by a fair margin.
My ranking: 9th place
BTs: 3 most, 8 second, 0 least
Again my thanks to the Steve and the gang for hosting another challenging line-up.
Cheers
Ian
TN: Blacktongues 27/10/04 Current Releases
TN: Blacktongues 27/10/04 Current Releases
Last edited by n4sir on Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone.
Thank you for the notes, Lord Vader 
TORB's beaten me to the punch, but interesting call on the Bin 61, and one I happen to agree with. Great complexity, depth of flavour, palate weight and length. The force is strong with this one. I actually found some lovely floral notes on the nose amongst it all, but nothing 'stinky', in the usual sense anyhow. With the first bottle, several weeks back, I thought, for an instant, "Is it mis-labeled Classic Clare?"; it's just that good, and I think the best Bin 61 in years. Did you happen to note the alc/vol?
TORB's beaten me to the punch, but interesting call on the Bin 61, and one I happen to agree with. Great complexity, depth of flavour, palate weight and length. The force is strong with this one. I actually found some lovely floral notes on the nose amongst it all, but nothing 'stinky', in the usual sense anyhow. With the first bottle, several weeks back, I thought, for an instant, "Is it mis-labeled Classic Clare?"; it's just that good, and I think the best Bin 61 in years. Did you happen to note the alc/vol?
Looks like Leasingham hit a purple patch in 2002, a pre-release sample of the 2002 Bin 56 Cab-Malbec was outstanding as well, including some 'earthy' notes (see weekly drinking report), I'll have to try the Bin 61 soon.
Cheers
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
The Bin 61 was interesting in that you loved it but 5 others voted it last. You mentioned the descriptors and said it was stinky, in what way?
One panellist mentioned it was like "Bolivar on a bad day" (something like a mix between sewerage and roadkill) at the previous panel it was included, and he said the same thing this time too.
Another seemed to be really put off by the burnt bubber/bitumen characters, which I think was more common with the others who voted against it.
I found it had slightly stinky but sweet oak with a touch of VA at first, but I worked it pretty hard and got that wonderful roasted nut/sweet coffee/blackberry mixture that took my breath away. I think it's 14.5% alcohol, but it's all in balance - at present anyway.
Some of the other panellists worked it just as hard and had no luck - a bit like my story with the Blackwell which I couldn't get to come around this time.
Looks like Leasingham hit a purple patch in 2002, a pre-release sample of the 2002 Bin 56 Cab-Malbec was outstanding as well, including some 'earthy' notes (see weekly drinking report), I'll have to try the Bin 61 soon.
I heard last week the 2002 Bin 56 is virtually 100% Cabernet Sauvignon with a bare splash of Malbec to keep the label name intact. I've heard mixed comments too, with some huge raves and some disappointments. I look forward to trying one for myself.
Cheers
Ian
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone.