- [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7968345]2018 Gunderloch Jean Baptiste Riesling Kabinett[/url] - Germany, Rheinhessen (30/10/2019)
{screwcap, 10.5%, AP 3 19} Pale straw. Looks a bit spritzy. Soft youthful custard and steely yellow notes. The palate has vivid acid, luscious off-dryish fruit. Light-bodied, but still with a classic Rheingau slate quality. Spritz too. Ddspit the flavours, the finish isn’t especially long. Gentle stewed-apple-with-cinnamon character. Nice enough, probably best fresh. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7962877]2007 Tyrrell's Shiraz Vat 9[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (27/10/2019)
{screwcap, 13.5%} Still a vivid purple garnet colour. Only marginally developed nose of mild spice, black pepper, plums. Ripe and rich, even a touch sweet. The palate is about richness rather than sugar, although it’s super-ripe, with a cranberry twist to the sweet plum jam flavours. It still has medium acidity to give it freshness, there are low/medium dusty tannins in support, but almost devoid of overt oak influence. It’s not much more than medium-bodied, but it has a fleshy ripe character, and so much fruit still that I wonder if the structure will keep up over the years. The finish is medium-long, and nicely balanced too; this will take as much time as you give it. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7950628]2007 Domaine A Sauvignon Blanc Lady A[/url] - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River (20/10/2019)
{cork, 14%} Deep yellow. Advanced nose of marzipan, nougat, lots of spicy French oak, a hint of apricot. The palate is a fruit salad mix of sweet decaying pineapple fruit flavours, butter, oak, nougat. Full-bodied, but really edgy, like sweet fruits have been blended with vanilla, cedar and past-expiry tropical fruits. There’s still sufficiently vibrant acid; there’s nothing wrong with the structure, but the flavours are so weirdly like an aged fruit salad on drugs it’s hard to know what to make of it. Has a medium/long finish, which is good or bad depending on your response to the flavours. Odd. Ready to drink (as the back palate promises with its 7-10 year cellaring recommendation), possibly will age longer, but you’d need to have tastes matching the proprietor’s wife, since it was made for her. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7950634]2009 Bonny Doon Vineyard Syrah Le Pousseur[/url] - USA, California, Central Coast (19/10/2019)
{screwcap, 13.5%} Pretty much as for last year’s note, with warm, slightly spirits and drying cranberry fruit, medium weight, gentle acid... I didn’t note tannins especially, but the finish became increasingly astringent as time wore on. Medium weight; sound spicy Shiraz but time to drink. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7946601]2016 Bakkheia Tripartite[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe (18/10/2019)
{screwcap, 14.3%} Solid garnet with a purple touch. Lovely youthful nose of spice, chocolate, low-level oak (despite 10 months in french oak), blackberries, rich and ripe. The palate has all the richness of a typical South Australian GSM blend (this is 68/23/9 mix of grenache/shiraz/mouvedre) but with medium acidity, and gentle, fine-textured dusty tannins. Structure - oh my god! - how wonderful! Certainly tastes less sweet than it smells. Flavours follow the nose, with a liquorice twist over black fruits. Still primary at this age, medium-bodied at least, perhaps a bit more; but wonderfully drinkable now; yes, a touch short on the finish, and maybe not all that even on the palate, with a bit of a hole toward the back of the tongue, but still it's a hugely impressive effort for just $25 from the winery. Wish I had a second bottle to age for five or six years to see what happens. Just 1785 bottles, according to the (classy, discreet) label. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7945815]2015 Trimbach Pinot Blanc[/url] - France, Alsace (17/10/2019)
{screwcap, 13%} Mid yellow, with a green flash. Nose is spiced pear, oak-free. Fleshy white fruit. Palate is low/medium acidity, just enough to hold it together, medium weight and a dry but shortish finish. OK but lacks real depth or intensity of fruit. A couple of years in bottle has given it some heft but it's still a bit one-dimensional. Nice to see the screwcap. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7943298]2019 Bakkheia Cojones Muy Grande[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe (13/10/2019)
{screwcap, 12.4%} Light pink, no orange here. Bright nose of strawberries and some grenache-like bubble gum. Palate is very light, almost without tannin, but with medium acidity for freshness. Simple red fruity flavours, properly dry (but not rasping). Finish is a touch short. Very gluggable with pizza but hardly a reflective wine. Drink this summer. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7934675]2011 Tyrrell's Chardonnay Vat 47[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (11/10/2019)
{screwcap, 13.5%} Mid-yellow. Expressive nose of figs and nuts. There’s a buttery character despite the lack of malo here. Developing but hardly aged. Steely palate; oak is more a light flavour than texture. Flavours are cashew-like, with some grapefruit maybe, but still tinged with sandalwood oak. Curious palate; seems to have a bit of a hole in the centre; the flavours dance in a circle. It’s medium weight, with discreetly medium level acidity, not really tending to flabby but it is a kind of contrast to the initially steely impression. Curious. Not fully mature, but I’m not sure there is true complexity or development to come. I’m being very picky; it’s a pretty nice wine all round. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7928119]2018 Saltram Shiraz 1859[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa (7/10/2019)
{screwcap, 14.5%} Nose of coconut, vanilla, fennel, blackcurrant. Palate is youthful, thick, not especially oaky except for a vanilla quality, low acidity, low/medium powdery tannins. Becomes thick and warm on the palate; needs more acidity and freshness. Medium/full-body, ripe, not too sweet but a bit cloying anyway. Fair effort, best over a few years. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7923507]1999 Penfolds Shiraz St. Henri[/url] - Australia, South Australia (5/10/2019)
{cork, 14%} Fairly Deep garnet still. Gentle, leathery nose. No powerhouse. Almost seductive. Old plums, but gently spicy too. The palate is a bit gaunt in some ways, with aged leathery flavours, spice, bramble; at a nice maturity point, with rich fruit and some structural elements too. Soft, powdery tannins, medium acid, still sweetly fruity; for all the gentle age, there’s not really true complexity of flavours. Slightly boney finish, medium length at best. On this showing, drink up. Level good, decanted for an hour, cork immaculate. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7923574]2013 Marius Wines Shiraz Simpatico McLaren Vale[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale (5/10/2019)
{screwcap, 14.5%} Deep ruby. A touch off primary, liquorice, blackberries, rich, red fruits. Touch of oak-related smoke. Big, rich palate. Lavish, berries, medium dusty tannins. Vanilla oak, but balanced. That’s the hallmark of the wine ; balance. Even palate, medium length finish, rich bust classy. Still less than mature, seems to have plenty of time still left; another five years won’t hurt at all. Really good illustration of top notch McLaren Vale Shiraz. Good wine. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7918150]2013 Lyrarakis Vilana[/url] - Greece, Crete (1/10/2019)
{cork, 14%} Solid yellow. Greasy smelling nose, mango, vanilla and coconut. Palate has aged remains of sweet oak, still with a distinct mango touch to the fruit, although the palate is dry. Medium acid still; this has decent structure enough, but the flavours are a bit simple and riding on oak. Medium-bodied, but still has interest, and a medium length finish, dry, and from an unusual grape. Not for further cellaring, although the cork was immaculate I must say. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7918147]2014 Delamere Vineyard Chardonnay[/url] - Australia, Tasmania, Pipers River (1/10/2019)
{screwcap, 13.2%} Mid straw yellow. Mildly developed nose, attractive, of cedar, oak, grapefruit, stones qualities. Quite vibrant and intense. The palate is beautiful, with a fizz of lively acid, classy oak, rich melon and grapefruit flavours, fine oak nuances, and marches a steady line down the palate to a long finish of medium weight. Really impressive. Stick it in a line of top burgundy and chill out. Maybe it lacks the longevity, but this is rich and balanced, has great dimension of flavour, and is so good now it’s almost risky to ask to age it too much longer. Very impressive wine indeed.
Graeme