Melbourne Offline / 12 May / Shiraz - VIC vs. SA

[Con J]

I'll bring a fortified to finish.

Cheers Con.

[phillisc]

Have a great night you Melbourne Forumites....wondering if there will be a certain SA Shiraz present at your show, that the Adelaide crew will be imbibing in at their offline tonight too?

Cheers
Craig

[Ozzie W]

Have a great night you Melbourne Forumites....wondering if there will be a certain SA Shiraz present at your show, that the Adelaide crew will be imbibing in at their offline tonight too?

Cheers
Craig

Thanks Craig. I for one would love to see an aged bottle of Wendouree Shiraz in tonight's line-up.

[Rossco]

Have a great night you Melbourne Forumites....wondering if there will be a certain SA Shiraz present at your show, that the Adelaide crew will be imbibing in at their offline tonight too?

Cheers
Craig

Thanks Craig. I for one would love to see an aged bottle of Wendouree Shiraz in tonight's line-up.

I cannot wait for tonight! See you guys soon

[phillisc]

Have a great night you Melbourne Forumites....wondering if there will be a certain SA Shiraz present at your show, that the Adelaide crew will be imbibing in at their offline tonight too?

Cheers
Craig

Thanks Craig. I for one would love to see an aged bottle of Wendouree Shiraz in tonight's line-up.

Cheers Ozzie and to you Rossco, I am putting it in my to do list to get to a Vic offline...seems like you boys and girls have a lot of fun.
Equally, hope the Adelaide one goes well and yes very much looking forward to it.
Craig

[Sipper]

I know there will be others...... have a great night

Chris

[mjs]

Well, an excellent and varied night. Great range of Shiraz from both SA and Vic. Thanks guys.

We found it easy to pick the state, less so with the region. Beechworth, Heathcote, Great Western, Clare, Barossa, Coonawarra among others. I am sure Ozzie will post some pics.

[Ozzie W]

A fabulous night with a great line-up of wines and food. A big thanks to everyone for their generosity and great conversation!

I was hoping we'd get a Wendouree in the line-up and we got two. The difference in style between the wines from SA and VIC was fairly consistent across the board. The line-up of wines were as follows:

2004 Seppelt Show Sparkling
2004 Giaconda Warner
1991 Wendouree
2004 Wendouree
1990 Wynns Michael
1996 Wynns Michael
2007 Peregrine Ridge
1999 Tahbilk 1860 - corked
1991 Rockford Basket Press
2013 SC Pannell Koomilya DC Block
2006 Yarra Yering Underhill
1998 Mount Langi Ghiran
2008 Castagna Sparkling Genesis
1951 Seppeltsfield VP

[TiggerK]

OK nice one Melb's. So now we get to guess what were the standouts??

I'll go Wendouree 91, Mt Langi 98 and BP 91? Maybe Wynns 90 if the oak has finally integrated.

[Rossco]

Was such a mind blowing tasting again guys. Easily the greatest Shiraz line up I have ever had in one sitting!
Such diversity, quality and rarity of wines with the company just as good!

I sincerely thank all involved. Your generosity, enthusiasm and warmth is infectious. So knowledgeable and educational,
its wonderful to be apart of.

Not sure which was the best as quite simply they were all excellent examples of their region/vintage.

My 1999 Tahbilk having TCA was a massive disappointment for me, lucky the back up was more than up to the task!

[Chris H]

Yes another excellent night, thanks gents. A good variety of regions and styles, obviously a lot of thought had gone into the offerings.

Whilst I tend to prefer the Rhone-like style of cool climate Victorian Shiraz, ironically my two favorite table wines were both South Australian. The 1991 Wendouree and 1991 Rockford Basket Press were as good examples of the marques as you could ever hope to try. The Wendouree tannins had now softened back into the fruit and it was now a lovely complex, mid weight Shiraz. Almost ethereal. I've always through the Basket Press drinks best at 10-12 years of age, but this one showed what extended cellaring can do for great examples. Beautiful violets, liquorice and plum pudding fruit with great length.

My favourite Victorian was actually the 2004 Seppelt Show Sparkling. Now tremendous complex drinking.

The Coonawarra King generously put on two Wynns Michaels (1990 and 1996) for scientific comparison, but I wonder how much better they would be if Wynns allowed the quality fruit to speak more clearly without the slathering of new oak.

And a privelege to finish with a 1951 Seppeltsfield Vintage Port. Now fully tertiary but not over the hill by any means, it tasted to me like a good aged Liqueur Tawny Port, with perhaps more mid palate fruit to have helped it survive so well for this long. Thanks Con.

[Rory]

Yep, ditto, great night... and always great humour!!

For me the Seppelt Show Reserve '04 is an Iconic wine for a very good reason.

The '91 Wendouree and the '91 Basket Press were standouts, yet I was particularly taken by the Peregrin Ridge. Never had one before, beautiful wine. I believe it was the Winemakers Reserve? It had seen French oak. Has now come on to my radar.

The Koomilya was not picked as McLaren Vale by anyone, yet it is a brooding wine built for the long haul.

And the '51 Seppeltsfield VP was simply amazing.

[mjs]

OK nice one Melb's. So now we get to guess what were the standouts??

I'll go Wendouree 91, Mt Langi 98 and BP 91? Maybe Wynns 90 if the oak has finally integrated.

Standouts for me were the Seppelts Show Sparkling, the 91 Wendouree, 91 BP, the 98 Mt Langi and the 51 Seppeltsfield VP was just gorgeous to finish. I liked both Michaels (well I would , wouldn't I), others found the Am oak a bit too dominant.