last night 8 of us gathered upstairs at The Bishop in Surry Hills for 'The #OMB Chardonnay Challenge - Part 1, The Heats'. The idea is loosely based on a wonderful yearly tasting done by 'johnshumphrey' in Brisbane where he gathers all the Chardonnays rated 96 points or higher on The Wine Front and judges them single blind with a small group. This year he also had both Mike Bennie and Gary Walsh in attendance as well, and his writeup is always informed, well written and very interesting.
So being the Chardonnay tragic that I am, I decided I'd repeat that kind of concept. I had done two similar ones a year or so ago with both an Auswine crowd and a GrapeMates crew, so drew on that experience. While still a proud GrapeMate, their tastings are becoming more sporadic so I'm now a regular with a fresh, enthusiastic and experienced new group of wine lovers (christened OneMoreBottle or #OMB), so off we went to sort the wannabes from the champions. The aim of this tasting being to see what 2 or 3 wines would progress into the finals where some established legends await the winning newcomers from these heats.
Wines were based loosely on the WineFront tasting, with a few extras in there based on our stylistic enjoyment and of course our ability to source the wines.
4 wines per flight, 4 flights. Wines chilled and decanted for 15-30 mins. Order was randomised and wines served single blind (i.e overall lineup was known, but not the serving order). The wines were then mixed up further on each flight to give me some kind of blind tasting as well (so I knew the wines in each flight but not the order). Lots of fun, great space and excellent food at The Bishop. Highly recommended for organised wine tastings, groups (upstairs) or just a meal for two & a glass or two of wine downstairs.
The lineup and winners in order were as follows (points in brackets - votes taken per flight - 3Pts for 1st, 2Pts for 2nd, 1Pt for 3rd)
1st - A. Rodda Willowlake Vineyard 2017 (24)
2nd - Sorrenberg 2017 (22)
3rd - Oakridge 864 Funder & Diamond 2015 (18)
4th equal - Kumeu River Coddington 2014 (17)
4th equal - Oakridge Willowlake 2017 (17)
then....
Felton Road Block 2 2017 (16)
Salo 2017 (15)
Tolpuddle 2017 (14)
Tyrrell’s Vat 47 2017 (11)
Hoddles Creek Syberia 2016 (10)
Neudorf Moutere 2017 (8)
Onannon 2017 (7)
Eastern Peake Intrinsic 2015 (6)
DCB Chardonnay 2017 (5)
Brokenwood Indigo Beechworth 2016 (3)
Pooley Wines Cooinda Vale 2017 (0)
The DCB was a late ring in after the attendee with the Tapanappa Tiers 2016 had to withdraw.
All wines are very young, and many of them really felt like they need more time to compose themselves, or at least a longer decant. Most noticeable here for me was the youth on the Felton Road, the Pooley and the A. Rodda. An extra 2 or 3 years at least works wonders on most of these wines I think.
All wines were of a high quality, but what flight the wines ended up in was such a big factor in how they scored, which resulted in some anomalies in the overall ratings. The obvious example here is the Pooley Cooinda 2017 which was just a little bit outshone by the Salo, Felton Road and Oakridge Willowlake in the same flight (the Pooley Cooinda is a very restrained, elegant, less showy style), so while it was a lovely wine, everyone rated it 4th in their list, but I'm sure no one would have put it last on the night overall. I'm going to revamp this flight by flight ranking method for the finals, but don't like using a 94, 95 point type scale for this kind of event that much either. Of course wine is so subjective, and no system is perfect, least of all the one I used here! Anyway, it's all a bit of fun, they are ALL wines I'd be happy to drink anytime, certainly no duds anywhere. And it's a good excuse to drink lots of good Chardonnay! (spittoons get a workout of course, we do drink responsibly - mostly
). My personal favourites in order were the A.Rodda, Sorrenberg, Tolpuddle, Salo and the Kumeu Coddington.
Anyway, the main take away from this is the great state of Chardonnay in AU and NZ at the moment. With good producer Chablis and White Burgundy going up in price so much every year, and the ongoing prevalence of premox, it's reassuring to know that great Chardonnay from Australia or New Zealand can always be had for well under $100, if not under $50 in many cases. Interesting that Margaret River wasn't represented at all, our WA friends won't be happy with that, but for my stylistic tastes, I'm not too surprised! Ok that's fighting talk eh Perthites! I'm just not a fan of the typically heavier, more viscous, higher alc style that WA so often produces, LEAS included, although there are exceptions like the Cullen Kevin John and a smattering of others. Anyway, we can be here all day talking about wines that should have been in the lineup, feel free to suggest some!
The top 2 or 3 from last night now advance to the finals where they meet established legends and new rockstars including Giaconda, Kumeu River Mate's & Hunting HIll, LEAS, Kevin John, Holyman and some decent Frenchies. Will report back on that in a few weeks......
Have a great weekend everyone and a slightly belated Happy New Year!!
Cheers
Tim
[img]http://www.grapemates.org/files/TimMiscStuf ... .14.37.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.grapemates.org/files/TimMiscStuf ... .14.31.jpg[/img]
