Last night 12 of us had an extremely enjoyable evening at Clique French Exhibition on O'Connell St North Adelaide. Upstairs, single long table, really good vibe and good glassware.
Thanks for TQ for organising and good to meet Mr TQ. Food (and there might be photos to come) was magnificent, I will never look at lamb the same way again but set in a crusted cube on a bed of potato puree with snow peas was delicious, as was the pork, chicken, salmon, beef cheeks, and lovely pate starters, salads and sides such as cheeky French Fries...really lovely and for once too much food! Very attentive and friendly staff, kept the water topped up etc.
All for the princely sum of $60!!!...will definitely be returning…and we have found a venue for future offlines.
Onto the wines and not much of note taker, but did the best i could, with a slightly congested snoz
A 97 Penfolds Clare Riesling, still had some vibrancy, fresh nose, a little acid…very good…thanks to John for bringing this.
All Wendouree wines opened earlier in the day, then decanted and served. With the Wendouree’s, general comments around the table reflected the incredible brightness, colour and freshness of all wines, a twinge of brett in one of the Shiraz's and the cork gods were smiling, no presence of any taint
Shiraz Malbec/Malbec Blends
93 Shiraz Malbec, really fresh and so balanced for a wine of its age, Shiraz for me won the fight just poking through, lovely tannins and another 5 years easily... a great bottle and a great way to kick off proceedings
92 Malbec, stunning colour, absolutely lies for its age, sweet and savoury notes all at once, grippy tannins, again another 5 years easily, a delight.
08 Malbec, nose quite closed, soft delicate palate, tannins very restrained, reflection of a change of style in the 2000’s, 92 for mine was showing the better, but still a very pleasant drop.
Shiraz Mataro
99 Shiraz Mataro, interesting wine, if anything a bit astringent, not unpleasant but found myself searching for the wow, good acid, chalky tannins with a nice lingering after taste…one to watch.
Cabernet Malbec
2000, a really beautiful wine, twinges of green notes, dark cabernet fruits, lovely palate soft sweet fruit, delicate tannins.
2001, most fragrant nose, flowers, berry a little spice note, has more structure on the palate than the 2000, the only wine where I picked up a bit of brett, very fine tannins, really at its peak.
2002, the best of this bracket and all the 02’s showed well tonight, great depth, balance, acid, lovely finish, a WOTN contender. Perhaps peaking but does not look like falling over anytime soon.
Shiraz
2011, this wine polarised the group, John Mack absolutely loved it, and yes can see where he is coming from that it is a very good effort from a difficult vintage, but for the rest of us, it probably struggled. Very acidic on the palate almost medicinal, for those who have this vintage, open one up.
2006, amazingly youthful, more like a new release than a decade on. Again quite medicinal and to be honest I found it hard going. It has the acid and the structure for longevity. This wine is simply way too young, has 20 years ahead of it
2002, In a really good spot, nose of rich fruits and berries, the first wine of the night where oak was really detectable, the palate just went on and on, fruit vs. acid vs. tannins…just great and entering a 20 year drinking window, an absolute treat.
1998, even better than the 02, beautiful fruits, spice, sweet, savoury all in one, then the sweetness and savoury kicks in on the palate with fine tannins roaring through, so balanced and went back to this glass 2-3 times. Still feel it’s on the way up. Best of the Shiraz bracket.
Cabernet Sauvignon
1999, beautiful colour, so bright. Mint and eucalypt characters but not in an unpleasant way, strong varietal character, many of us commented that these wines are so obviously different to the preceding bracket. Really fresh on the palate, savoury sweet, good acid, gentle tannins, a very good bottle.
1994, a step up in class, for me and perhaps bias, I brought this one along, the best of all the cabs/cab blends. A little less mint, but gorgeous nose, palate magnificently balanced, everything in harmony, such softness and fine fine tannins. A wine of beauty and not likely to fall over anytime soon. Happy that TQ voted this wine of the Wendouree tasting for Tasting Australia and this bottle was as good.
Pressings
97, a very small M imprint on the label, so assumed to be a Malbec, and perhaps should have been grouped in the Malbec bracket. 2005 Pressings has no such notation on the label. This wine polarised the group, most felt there was no point of reference. The nose was quite muted, but palate incredibly long and quite acid driven. Disclosure, I brought this one along, and like others present, did not really know what to make of it. It almost felt a fraction porty, and certainly the odd man out tonight.
Muscat of Alexandria
98/98, looked brown in the bottle and certainly a traditional Muscat colour, quite raisiny and a touch caramelised, pleasant but not great.
2004, this was a much fresher example, lovely sweetness balanced with acidity, very enjoyable.
Thanks to John Mack for bringing us to order on the end of each bracket. Consensus that the surprise wines were the Cabernets, and the two older Shirazes were excellent. It was a really positive experience to look at all the Wendouree wines across a 25 year period. Just shows what diversity there is, and yes they will live for a long time.
Great to catch up with ScottyV again, to have a laugh with George, and as we all loosened up a bit, the friendly banter with Mark and Gail was very amusing. Thanks again TQ, and David I’ll see what we can do about that Ampelon.
Cheers
Craig
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