Hello - hello, its that time of the week again....

[TORB]

how times flys, seems like only seven days ago it was Sunday. so its time for the weekly drinking reports again.

Leasingham Classic Clare 1991 Sparkling Shiraz

This bottle arrived in the post as a totally unexpected Christmas present and as Brian and I were having an unusual weekday get together lunch, I could not think of a person who would enjoy sharing it more. The bouquet showed fresh fruit with the addition of good aged mushroom characters and loads of oak. Brian said, "The wine has great density, is very dark and on first sip has loads of oak! Its a bloody nice drop!!" Blackcurrant on the uptake, almost Cabernet like, chocolate, mulberry, blackberry on the mid palate with mushroom on the back palate that finishes dry. Complexity is excellent and as it warmed up, the impact of the oak lessened and the sweet fruit came to the for. Rated as Excellent without a second thought it was a bloody enjoyable drop and was terrific with out Pork Belly Confit with lightly seared scallops.

Rockford 2002Rifle Range Cabernet Sauvignon

The half bottle of wine was decanted in the restaurant for about thirty minutes prior to tasting it. It stained the decanter. The bouquet was initially closed and very tight but we worked hard to get it to open up and then it showed strong lemon mint, earthy forest floor characters and chocolate. On tasting it, Brian said "this is unlike any other Barossa Cabernet I have ever tasted." There was l streak of lemon mint right though the palate as well as chocolate and blackberry. Full-bodied, the wine certainly has an excellent structure with good length and in many ways that's about all you can see at this early stage; its a baby that needs a big long sleep.

After some time, the lemon dissipated a little and Brian thought it was like a young Dorien but to me, once the lemon reduced, it turned to menthol and was very Clare like in appearance. No matter what way you look at it, this is good wine that is far to early to drink. Rated as pi$$ off and come back in about 2012+.

Now what have you guys been drinking?

[Ian S]

(aside) Asked the boss what she wanted & she voted for the Palliser Pencarrow chardonnay. She decided to make a rare trip into the cellar to find it...
"Where is it?" she asked
"B2" I said in my helpful manner
"Where the f**k's that?" she enquired
"From the left, 2nd along & 2nd one up" (it seemed logical enough to me)

She returns with a bottle in a Palliser bag, cracks the screwcap & then takes the bag off to reveal ... the Palliser Pinot Noir (B4 - 2nd across 4th up). No worry, not one I'd planned to keep more than a year or two.
so,
2002 Palliser Estate Pinot Noir
Shocker of a match with Satay Beef and Chicken with Cashew from the local Chinese! The Satay was just too spicy to get anything back from the wine - put it to one side for a half-hour...

On return, typically bright but pale Pinot, Cherry/Raspberry on the nose with touches of undergrowth & the faintest suggestion of mushrooms. The fruit was still strong though.
Reasonable acidity and a longish finish with more than a hint of tart raspberries, though certainly some fruit sweetness and a degree of complexity there.

Overall, a pinot in my preferred style, though I can't see me ever going wild about it. Cost something like NZ$28 from Cellar Door, which seems fairly priced. Would buy again, but wouldn't go out of my way to get it. Pinot's yet to be my thing.

Ian

[markg]

Stacks last night including a 1999 Greencok creek Roenfeldt rd, 1990 Penfolds 707, 1994 Veritas Hanisch, 2000 Bransons Coach house, Seppelts DP 63 muscat, 2003 Noon reserve shiraz.... etc. but I can't remember any details at the moment and Steve has my notes !!

[707]

Mark, yes I've got your note book which I'll drop off to Magill Road probably Monday morning then you can post the TNs during your lunch hour.

I think we gave Mike (KMP) a suitable warm Auswine greeting, the food and service at The Sauce were superb as usual, the wines were generally excellent to ethereal. A perfect mix of mature and newish releases, across several varieties and regions inc the US and the balance between red and white almost perfect, a lone Chardonnay anf Frog Fizz kicked us off.

Ian (n4sir) will also post some notes, providing he managed to wobble home safely. No, he wasn't driving!

[Red Bigot]

A few one-line impressions:

Monday:
Tait BP Shiraz 2002: Fragrant, viscous, silky mouthfeel, yummy ripe Barossa shiraz. 15.3%, $33 delivered from CD.
Tait BP Cabernet 2002: A little more closed, but shows some decent berry fruit after a while, good structure, firm, fine tannins, an interesting change from all the Coonawarra and WA cabernets at Wine Oz recently. 14.8%, $28 delivered from CD.

Thursday:
Majella Sparkling Shiraz 1998: Ripe and quite oaky, very yum.
Majella Sparkling Shiraz 2002: Leaner and less oaky, more typical of Coonawarra Shiraz, needs a year or two in the cellar.
Leasingham CC Cabernet 93: Pretty mellow, nice mature Clare Cabernet, close to peak.
St Hallet OB Shiraz 1994: Earthy in a nice way, mellow, seamless, classic older style Barossa shiraz nearing its peak.
Penfolds Bin 389 1991 It's examples like this that encourage you to persist with this line despite the the last few vintages and price hikes, drinking superbly now, will still improve and hold for many years.
Gartner Estate Cabernet 1998: Nice enough wine, but seems to be in a slight hole at present, outclassed in the more mature company.
Wendouree Cabernet Sauvignon 1991: Classic mint/menthol, still firmly structured, nice fruit underneath it all, but a small amount left a while in the glass turned full menthol and nothing else, an enigma.
Houghton Gladstones FR Shiraz 2000 Classy stuff, great structure, firm, come back in 4-5 years.

Saturday:
Sepplets Show Sparkling Shiraz 1991: After a good run with this vintage I finally struck the full-on bretty one, couldn't drink much of it.

[JamieBahrain]

Chateau de Beaucastel Chateaneuf du Pape 1999 13.5%

Full ruby-red.

Youthful and complex, without integration on the nose. Darkfruits prominant- licorice, blackberry and quite seperately youthful Grenache nuances of confectionary and berries. Of course there is underlying Rhone smoke and feralness!

Still elemental on the palate, austere somewhat and needing time to build fruit weight into it's framwork. A layer of closed blackfruits evident, with earthy notes and truffles evolving in later glasses, the tannins are powerful and like a compression ring in the mouth, riding a very long, austere acid finish. The palate could be compared to an un-pretentious Clare shiraz in youth.

Overall impression of the wine was it's balance and austerity; but with undisputable longevitity and potential.

A crime to consume so young ( there are so many approachable 99 CNP's on the market ).

91pts but with a higher score likely in a distant future!

$45 Australian from Colmar, Alsace.

[n4sir]

I managed to get home safely, but man, what a hangover this morning! It's a price I'm quite willing to pay to try a line-up like that last night - my notes may not be the greatest though, as they seemed to go a little astray at the finish (and I took absolutely none for the Seppelt Liqueur Muscat or the Skillagollee VP).

The usual weekly notes:

1998 Mitchell Sevenhill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon: Inky purple/red colour, with a dark purple hue and virtually no crusting. The nose of cassis, perfume and earth is very pretty but reserved, even after being flushed with the breatheasy. The palate is delicately poised, with perfectly weighted chocolate/cassis fruit matched to prominent but fine tannins and acid, those tannins providing punch and length. This is still such a young wine that’s a long way off reaching it’s transition phase, and long before those wonderful aged savoury characters come to life.

1996 Tatachilla Keystone Grenache Shiraz (Magnum): The risks of buying at an auction; while not listed as such, when I got the magnum the capsule appeared to be badly corroded through the top, and recently began ullaging. Sh!tty brown colours with no signs of red - looking rather like diarrhea or the Yarra on a particularly bad day. Slightly porty nose dominated by Worcestershire sauce and earth, with hints of leather, varnish and barnyard. The palate is spicy, acidic, porty and earthy, with Worcestershire sauce, barnyard and some nutty/mushroom characters. I’m sure someone would still like this, but it’s an acquired taste, and well past its best.


Cheers
Ian

[GrahamB]

Not much drinking going on with working evenings leading up to Xmas.

2001 Wirra Wirra RSW Shiraz - A real monster when opened. Decanted and left in an airconditioned room and within minutes the air was alive with lovely ripe shiraz and oakey smells. I could have been over the limit just being in the room with the opened bottle.

It needs some years for everything to come together and I don't know if it will be as good as some of the previous vintages. The 02 RSW order is due next week. How long would you wait to try one?

Graham

[Attila]

Opened the 2002 CRUICKSHANK Callatoota Estate Shiraz this weekend as I was doing stocktake in the cellar to keep myself occupied and test some new red wine glasses. This Upper Hunter Valley red from the Wybong Valley is very decent for an under $20 wine.
Very dark red with an earthy, typically Hunter nose of wet earth and burnt rubber. Very flavourful and savoury. Still too young, needs four more years to settle. Medium bodied and well balanced, it was a good drink during the day.
Cheers,
Attila

[Rory]

A few last night with dinner:

'00 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (Stelvin).
Boy, searing acidity still on opening, quite amazing for a nearly five year old, courtesy of the stelvin I guess. The acidity actually calmed down quite a bit with breathing (something I wasn't aware actually happened) to reveal typical Grosset power and richness with intense citrus fruits. Great wine, loved it.

'00 Brokenwood Semillon.
I had a bottle of this a month or so ago, and it was showing more development than this one. This particular bottle wasn't showing much at all of anything, but maybe overshadowed by the intensity of the Grosset. Liked the previous bottle more.


'02 Ata Rangi Pinot.
Beautiful sappy complex nose that kept evolving for ever, unforced fruit sweetness on the palate with a spicy finish, great length of palate. If my expectation of very good pinot is that it must keep me coming back to smell it time and time again, and marvel at it's beauty, then this hit the mark. Remarkable wine, years left in it, glad I've got plenty more!

Would have been wine of the night, if it weren't for:

'77 St Henri Claret.
EVerything I love about old St Henri, leather, earth, tobacco, and still fruit sweetness on an incredibly smooth long palate. Everything that confirms for me why I prefer an old St Henri to a Grange because of it's inherent "character" that grange lacks!
Outrageously great wine!

Rory

[Pelican]

The plethora of free end of year wine lift outs from newspapers have come in really handy during Spring cleaning - especially the Uncorked from The Age for clobbering spiders with.....very useful indeed....

2003 Ashton Hills Salmon Brut ( $ 27.50 ) : lovely pink bubbles similar to the 2001 version - nice depth of fruit but still quite elegant....also had a bottle of the 1999 which is more austere but still a lovely drink....this is the house bubbly at Chez Pelican

2002 Chapel Hill " Il Vescovo " Sangiovese Cabenet' ( $ 23 ) Stelvin : Not bad at all. Fresh , medium bodied , some chocolate/cherry/savoury characters. I think the local Sangiovese wines are worth buying now and again.

2002 Langmeil Valley Floor Shiraz , Barossa ( $ 27 ) : good medium bodied true expression of Barossa Shiraz. Good.

[thelongroad]

Had a meander through the Yarra Valley yesterday and stopped off for a slurp at a few places.

Punt Road -

Tried a couple of cellar door only wines.

Sparkling Pinot Noir - pale, neutral, not interesting at all... yawn

2004 Yarra Valley Riesling - weighing in at 11%a/v -very pale, nice delicate young riesling - very germanic in style - aromatic, musk, floral, sweetish, quite delicious on a hot day.

(p.s.) their botrytis semillon 2003 is IMHO damn fine).

Long Gully -

2000 Yarra Valley Shiraz - deep deep red colour, quite nice ripe berry fruits, a little spice, touch of cool climate pepper - altho this wine weighs in at 13.5%a/v and from a warm year - nice soft tannins and plenty going on on the palate.

2003 Reserve Iced Riesling - yellowish, lots of honey on the nose, floral notes, with perhaps some dried apricot - sweet and fruity palate with the riesling doing its thing to keep the finish from becoming too flabby.

Yarra Track -

2003 Lucys Chardonnay (12.6%a/v) - this was the youngest of three consecutive chardys available - the 01 not for tasting. Palish colour - aged in french oak with extended time on lees. Typical citrus and melon on the nose, a little whiff of the oak, and the fruit delivering on the palate as well, nice acidity - finishing long and clean with a little zing still there (the 02 had developed buttery characters but was still very pleasant and quite complex).

2003 Pinot Noir (13.9%a/v) - again the youngest of three pinots available - with the 01 not for tasting - the 02 nice but a little light on and delicate for mine. This 03 was nice and dark in colour (harvested at 1.5 tonnes per acre). Black cherry, plums and a hint of cloves on the nose. French oak delivering spice on the palate, quite savoury despite the dark fruits on the nose, a dusting of soft, long tannins - long satisfying finish - my kind of pinot.

cheers - John

[GraemeG]

Still suffering with dreaded summer lurgy. Can't taste a thing. Probably just as well; Friday night's office Christmas Party had 'Glenbawn' reds and whites (a Tyrrells proprietory brand) and in terms of texture they were pretty grim. Can't imagine what they actually taste like.

See, you don't value your health until it's gone.... (cough, cough)

cheerse,
Graeme

[Adair]

Over the weekend:

2003 Wignalls Sauvignon Blanc
2001 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay
2003 Disgorgement Balnaves Sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon
2002 Disgorgement Rockford Sparkling Black Shiraz
1986 Lindemans St.George Cabernet Sauvignon
1995 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabermet Sauvignon
1996 Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet/Shiraz
2001 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon

All wines impressed. Each wine well worth their price. Full notes to follow.

Adair

[Adair]

Friday night's office Christmas Party had 'Glenbawn' reds and whites (a Tyrrells proprietory brand) and in terms of texture they were pretty grim. Can't imagine what they actually taste like.

Graeme,

You don't want to imagine what they taste like. I was offered to have these as my wedding reception wines... no chance!!!

Adair

[707]

Graeme, you need to do what myself and several associates have done, volunteer (read insist) to buy wines for Xmas parties, social club functions etc. Even at a low price you can always do better then some proprietary s..t that often gets supplied.

I always buy very low priced whites because they taste ok when they are chilled (and white drinkers can't tell anyway), then use the extra cash to go a little up market on the reds.

[Elvispga]

Friday night wine tasting at the Wine Vault, Columbus Ohio.

2001 Mount Eden Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Cruz Mountains. 75% Cabernet, 22% Merlot 3% Cabernet Franc. $US33. Earthy herbacious Cab. Very nice.

1999 Barossa Valley Estate Ebernezer Shiraz. $US36. Smooth well balanced. Not the big fruit bomb I expected.

2002 Ramey Claret Napa Valley 14.5% Smooth and buttery according to my partner. Bordeaux style. $US32

2003 Marquis Philips 9 Shiraz 60% McClaren Vale 40 % Padthaway $us40. Deep purple and very fruit. Would love to try this in a couple of years once the tannins settle a bit.

2001 Whitehall Lane Winery Cabernet SauvignonNapa Valley. 14.2% Aged in American and French Oak for 19 months. Full bodied complex. Very Good

1995 Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace Cabenet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain. 12.5% Tartrate Crystals on the end of the cork. I'm told that all this means is that the wine has been exposed to some cold temperatures whilst being shipped. Still medium purple with leather and earth. Bordeaux style again. A very nice drink. Expensive $US 200!!

1998 Chateau Montelena - Calistoga Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. Once again Tartrate crystals on the cork. Decanted. Aparantly not the best Napa vintage but after an hour I got an amazing stawberry taste which was very unusual to me. Yum.

2000 Isole e Olena Cepparello Sangiovesse Toscana 100% IGT. Can't recall this one but there wasn't a bad drink all night.

2001 Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon Sanoma. Too Many Cabs.

Rockford Black Shiraz Disgorged 2003 A beautiful drop. Has settled since I last tried it but still very young. It really shocked and confused many at the tasting. They had definatley not ever tried it and it recieved a good response. I did tell them that they were being spoilt as it was difficult to get a hold of. $AUD53

2000 Heitz Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 14.5% This is a really solid Cabernet. Just seemed to be opening but has got a long life ahead of it. $US40

2002 Joh. Jos. Prum Graacher Himmelreich Auslese I love this riesling. Semi sweet and fruity. But not at the Dessert wine stage. 7.5% $US37