- [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7914003]2002 Summerfield Shiraz Reserve[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Pyrenees (28/09/2019)
{cork, 14.5%} Perfectly consistent with April's bottle. Aged, leathery, a bit sweet in that old wine way, minimal tannins, trembling acid, raisins and leather flavours, medium finish. Medium weight and a bit warm, in the way that tells you that it's on the downslope of maturity. Drink up. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7910116]2014 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Wiltinger Riesling trocken[/url] - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (27/09/2019)
{screwcap, 12%, AP 05 15} Pale lemon straw colour. Moderately subtle nose of apple, custard, quince, only slightly developing. A prickly spritz character on the palate, medium acid of fine cut, and a distinct sweetness, despite the trocken labelling. The spritz saves it as far a balance goes; the flavours are dinstinctly fruity, per the nose, as opposed to minerals or earth. Still, it’s very seductive, although there really is a sweet touch to the just-medium length finish. Doesn’t have a lot of presence on the mid-palate, and perhaps it’s a bit simple, but it’s very nice, if suitably chilled. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7908147]2008 Dveri Pax Rumeni Muškat[/url] - Slovenia, Podravje, Štajerska (26/09/2019)
{screwcap, 12.5%} Deep yellow, with a flash of green. Aged nose, broad oxidative note, squash, a little tobacco, citric and mango mix. Passionfruit. Spritz sense on the palate, medium acid, little oak, but the sense of some off-dry sweetness from long ago. Floury sort of texture, despite the seeming acid. It’s all very unusual. I’d call it dry now, light-bodied, with a short medium finish that skips lightly but fairly evenly across the tongue. Probably not intended to be drunk at this age. Fun, although becomes increasingly simple and plain old with time in the glass. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7902022]2016 Fourth Wave Wine Partners Elephant in the Room Mammoth Cabernet[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast (22/09/2019)
{screwcap, 14%} Deep ruby/garnet. Toasted and roasted nose of jam, raisins. Not pure cabernet, but a cooked version. Roses, plums too. The palate has low/medium acid, only the faintest of gritty tannins, and lots of warm black fruit flavours, with a slightly briney character. Plenty of flavour, and avoids green characters, or an overstretched sense, but it’s still a pretty commercial offering, not destined for cellaring. Drink up, as long as you paid under $20. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7901542]2016 Pepperjack Shiraz[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (21/09/2019)
{screwcap, 14.5%} Black ruby colour. Spicy nose, as peppery as the name says. A touch raw and warm too. Jammy compote black fruit on the palate, some pepper and a bit of warmth. Low acid, low/medium grainy tannins. Dry, and afeels a bit stretched; worked fruit of slightly high yield perhaps. Shortish finish, fair effort for a commercial red. Not a cellaring whine, except for it to settle a bit, rather than improve. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7898344]2011 Pewsey Vale Vineyard Riesling The Contours Museum Reserve[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley (20/09/2019)
{screwcap, 11.5%} Mid yellow; looking its age. Broad lemon and melon aromas, developing. The palate has a smear of acidity, but it’s a bit short lived. Still the flavours are tangy, a bit broad, all tasting of yellow fruit, melon, even a nod to apricot. No sense of botrytis, but there’s something about that confirms the wet vintage. Has a slightly rotting quality to the palate that’s not apparent on the nose. Still, it’s actually a decent enough wine, although the fairly broad and simple finish - on the shorter side - suggests there’s no much improvement left here. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7896119]2010 Hillcrest Vineyards Pinot Noir Premium[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley (18/09/2019)
{cork, 13.3%} Murky deep garnet with some orange notes. Well-developed nose of rotting fruit and leaves, sweet compost, and meaty notes. The palate has a certain sweetness to it, with almost fizzy fermented strawberries, soft grainy cedary oak, fine but persistent dusty tannins, medium weight and a a long finish. You might argue it’s a bit sweet and obvious, but it’s so lavish and seductive it’s Hard to be too critical, especially since it has decent length and such structural presence. Perhaps it’s just too extroverted for old-world palates; I find it lavish and rich and although unlikely to be mistaken for burgundy it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Medium-long finish, immaculate cork; should hold on another and 5-8 years easily given the right cork. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7894943]2010 Brokenwood Shiraz Mistress Block[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (17/09/2019)
{screwcap, 13.5%} Deep mid garnet. Restrained nose of earth, savoury, spiced red fruit. Old fashioned Hunter Burgundy without the brett. The palate has a distant sweetness of raspberry jam, but overlaid with a dusty drying character that actually makes me wonder about hot storage, to be honest ( auction provenance). There are fine dusty tannins at a low level, medium acidity; there’s a lot to like about this but it lacks that magic spark somehow. Just medium weight and fairly evenly balanced along the tongue, it has a medium length finish that remains just a bit too one-dimensional to be memorable. Too old? Surely not. With known quality storage I’d gamble on this for a few years yet. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7893483]2018 Tahbilk Marsanne[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Central Victoria, Nagambie Lakes (16/09/2019)
{screwcap, 12%} Pale straw yellow. Dulite looking, no green here. The nose is a restrained as I can remember from a Tahbilk Marianne in youth; just a slightly briny nose with a hint of greasy melon. The palate is equally unforthcoming, with a slightly dense texture despite only light/medium weight, an impression intensified by low/medium acidity. It could almost pass for a northern Italian white: a Gavi or something. Honestly, not terribly rewarding to drink now, but I think a few years in bottle would do wonders. Not sure it has the acidity to go a decade and be worth it though. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7891178]2018 Andrew Thomas Wines Sémillon Synergy[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (15/09/2019)
{screwcap, 12.2%} Very pale straw. Grassy and sour lemon aromas. Light palate, refreshing, with medium acid, no oak. This bottle one a while in fridge; has lost a little freshness. Fresh bottle would be better. Short-medium finish. Not for aging though. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7905215]2018 La Scolca Gavi[/url] - Italy, Piedmont, Gavi (10/09/2019)
{procork, 12%} This is pale straw, with reserved notes of limestone and steel. Palate is medium weight, which a hint of white-fleshed fruit, but mild in flavour. Steely texture without being especially acidic, nicely balanced along the palate, but the finish tends towards short. OK, not exciting (€39 at Little Italy Restaurant, Wiesbaden) - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7905213]2015 Emilio Valerio Laderas de Montejurra[/url] - Spain, Navarra (9/09/2019)
This has a camphor quality to the aromas, old carpets, vanilla. Odd. Palate is a bit more promising, but the medium weight of the black-fruit flavour is overwhelmed by the fine dusty tannins, giving it a very astringent, if finely graded, finish. A pungent wine. Needs food desperately (Atrium Hotel Mainz). - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7878820]2016 Georg Breuer Rauenthal Riesling Estate[/url] - Germany, Rheingau (7/09/2019)
{screwcap, 12%, AP 6 07} Pale yellow. Muted nose, underlying stones and apple nose. Subtle. Is it slate? Granite with a lime twist? Palate is medium weight, nicely nuanced with stone, custard, apple; dry but intense, with spritz, fresh but not savage. Grows in interest as it sits in the glass. A seriously under-rated wine for just a village Riesling. Outstanding for sub-€20 at the winery. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7873262]2015 Artiste Riesling[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley (3/09/2019)
{screwcap, 12%} Mid straw yellow. Lime, slate, minerals. Still fresh and youthful. Gentle apple and lime fruit flavours. Initially medium acid, but it fades quite quickly. Ripe, almost to the point of verging on off-dry, despite the alcohol. Satisfying enough, it’s light-medium bodied, and finishes almost medium length. Better in the short term I think. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7878313]2010 Reilly's Shiraz Epitaph[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley (2/09/2019)
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=42589]NobleRottersSydney - even year Shiraz (360 Bar & Dining, Sydney)[/url]: [Graeme] {screwcap, 15.5%} There seemed to be more time and not more wine, so the back-up bottle went. Some kind of prestige cuvee from a maker I’ve never heard of, this had a fumey aroma, with blackberry liqueur on both nose and palate, with ink and iodine, and raisins. Medium acid, low/medium chalky tannins, but mostly too warmly alcoholic, manifesting as a tip-of-the-tongue presence and patchy, slightly hollow, medium-length finish. Despite the alcohol, there’s also a stalky character in the somewhere too. And a bit too much prune. Well. Epitaph might have been the right name after all. You could keep this if you wanted to, for some reason.
Graeme