Gordon generously raided the cellar for a showpiece horizontal tasting of the 2010 Garden Series shirazes from Two Hands, but in the end they were out-shone somewhat by the three extraordinary still wines which preceded them, crowned by a magisterially astonishing 71 Grange.
- [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929836]NV Ruinart Champagne Brut[/url] - France, Champagne
{cork,12.5%} [Greg] Gorgeous bakery nose. Lots of autolysis character, with a red hint beneath. Strawberry tinge? Very good. The palate is less red than the nose, and also less leesy, with surprisingly fresh medlon-tinged fruit, carried by small/medium-sized delicate bubbles. It’s medium/full-bodied, with high acidity and great presence along the palate, all of which suggests a decent life in the cellar. Medium length finish of great satisfaction. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929837]2010 Giaconda Chardonnay Estate Vineyard[/url] - Australia, Victoria, North East, Beechworth
{screwcap, 13%} [Gordon] Quite developed nose of nuts, figs, yeast. Still has a hint of sulphur about it, despite the age. The palate is steely and mineral-like, a touch forward on the tongue but with a largely even palate, dry, with a hint of mushrooms (in a good way). A bit more earthy and open and, I dunno, textural, than the following Leeuwin wine. Perhaps more Burgundian, although I’m reluctant to use that term, since these should really be judged on their own merits (and I harbour a personal prejudice that top Oz chardonnay will spank a lot over over-priced Grand Cru Burgs in a way which local pinot won’t do to its red equivalents). This medium-bodied, with an even, medium-long finish of great interest and complexity. Very good, with plenty of life left, and amazingly different to the Margaret River alternative… - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929839]2010 Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay Art Series[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
{screwcap, 14%} [Aaron] …following the Beechworth Giaconda really highlights the stylistic differences in this wine, with its developing nose of peaches and cream araomas, sandalwood oak and all-round richness. The full-bodied palate is polished, with a malo sense of richness (although I gather it sees no secondary ferment), buttery fruit, yet not sweet; it has a savoury core pushing through. But the richness and multi-layered texture is hard to resist, that’s for sure. The peach flavours and beautiful oak combine to seduce, that’s for sure; I alternated between this and the Giaconda, and eventually decided this was just that bit more seductive. Not that the 8 year point is the whole story; it might be different a lustrrum hence. Choose between Beethoven sonatas, that’s what you’re doing here. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929840]1971 Penfolds Grange[/url] - Australia, South Australia
{cork, 12.3% [Gordon] Re-corked at the 2014 clinics, topped up despite level still in the neck. Tonight, decanted immediately prior to service, although sediment was minimal. Still a wonderfully dark garnet, with just the faintest bricking around the rim. Mature aromas of staggering beauty: leather and spice, chocolate and vanilla, laced with violets, aged plum and raspberry fruit. There’s just a hint of the trademark volatility that made this such a controversial show wine back in the day. The palate is mirror smooth, not really more than medium-bodied, but all of-a-piece. Ethereal flavours dance, kaleidoscope-like, on the tongue; everything that you sniffed is there, and the rest that can’t really be pinned down. A shopping list of flavours seems a bit pointless with a wine like this; it’s so much more than the sum of its parts. It’s well-aged, but it still has freshness and vibrancy. There’s even the presence of gentle low-level graphite tannins. Doesn’t seem especially oaky either. Immaculate balance on the tongue, and has an endless finish that make this a matchless wine. Considering this is approaching fifty years old, it’s extraordinary. It’s not fragile initially, although I wouldn’t decant it long, and it’s hard to see any improvement left, only the risk of decline. But anything non-ullaged, or ‘clinic-ed’ should hold a while yet. One of the great wines of the twentieth century by anyone’s standards and an absolute privilege to drink. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929841]2010 Two Hands Shiraz Harry & Edward's Garden[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Langhorne Creek
{cork, 15.5%} [Gordon] Developed. Gluey. Eucalypt. Very Australian. White pepper and bright cherry. On the palate, liqueured plums. Hot and baked. Faint gritty tannins. Medium-full body, with medium acid, but it’s hard to find under the heat of the palate. A bit fiery, with a medium length finish. I don’t believe further aging will help this. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929842]2010 Two Hands Shiraz Sophie's Garden[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Padthaway
{cork, 14.5%} [Gordon] Lots of mint. Some pepper, but mostly spearmint. Yes, the palate is the same. An after-dinner-mint (chocolate-coated) in a glass. Medium-full body, with minimal tannin. Some acidity though; drinkable enough. Big bloom on the palate, but then fades to a medium length finish. Drink up if it’s your style. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929844]2010 Two Hands Shiraz Samantha's Garden[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley
{cork, 14.8%} [Gordon] Plush caramel, menthol, blackberry. Warm palate, a touch baked, with minimal powdery tannin. Has a sense of being a fruity milkshake in a way; suffers a bit from soft (ie. verging on “lack of”) structure. Has a medium length finish, it’s medium/full-bodied in a crowd-pleasing way, with an otherwise erratic palate; drink now. Vies with Bella’s as the pick of the Gardens for me. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929845]2010 Two Hands Shiraz Max's Garden[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Heathcote
{cork, 14.8%} [Gordon] Maintains a regional earth-and-iron character to the nose, and indeed the palate, which has rusty, dusty red fruit, tinged with ochre. It’s medium/full-bodied, with low dusty tannins but also lower acidity. Had this been picked less ripe I think it could have been a winner. As it is it suffers in freshness, length and vibrancy, but otherwise conveys an aging dark fruit palate with a sound but not-interesting-enough mid-palate, culminating in a medium-length, slightly warm finish. Close but no bulls-eye. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929846]2010 Two Hands Shiraz Bella's Garden[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley
{cork, 15%} [Gordon] Rich strawberry fruit, liquorice, sweet US oak. I can see why it’s popular. The palate adds vanilla & chocolate to the strawberry, making it almost a dessert in a glass, although it stops short of obviously sweet. At eight years it’s developing a raisiny quality with plums; it’s generous but verging on crude and bumptious rather than smooth and seductive. A crowd-pleaser then, but in a slutty kind of way. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929847]2010 Two Hands Shiraz Lily's Garden[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
{cork, 15%} [Gordon] I wondered for a while if this was somehow ‘not right’; it had a big black olive nose, with coconut and glue-like oak. Almost industrial, but with hygiene. Dill aromas. The palate blooms with big flavours, but then collapses; super pruney fruit kicks things things off but can’t sustain a finish beyond short-medium. Nothing much beyond the front-palate, no real structure evident; no finish something of a mess. I mean, OK to drink (just), but they wanted nearly $50 for these on release, and the payoff isn’t here on this occasion (unless it was the cork…?) FAIL, as they say… - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929848]2010 Vasse Felix Heytesbury[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
{screwcap, 14.5%} [Gordon] The flagship red; mostly cabernet sauvignon, with a little PV and Malbec. A style-change bonus near the end of dinner. Very Margaret River. Olives, asparagus. British Racing Green in a glass. Medium/full-body, medium powdery tannins; there is somewhat developed assertive, austere curranty fruit, always with a green tint that just grates with me somehow… This has medium acid, a slightly weak mid-palate but with good presence at either end; might age well with more time but I still struggle with the overall flavour profile somehow… - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=6929849]2014 Nugan Estate Sémillon Botrytis Cookoothama[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina
{375ml, screwcap, 11.5%} [Greg] Super-rich honey nose, with a hint of caramel. Rich palate, medium/full-bodied, it’s overtly sweet, massively honeyed, but with rotten apricots and the whole botrytis phalanx in attendance. It’s lavish, in every sense. Think it’s meant to be drunk now, not cellared. I concur. With blue cheese.
cheers,
Graeme
