A cabernet theme; even-numbered vintages, 1998-2010. Not specifically restricted to Oz, but that’s what we got! Actually, most of the wines were good too excellent; I didn’t have a particular standout, although some wines are clearly less ready than others. Served in pairs as listed, more-or-less. And we had a guest appearance from Andrew, smuggled out of Hong Kong by the French Resistance as the troops and civilians battled it out in the streets!
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838378]NV House of Arras Brut Elite[/url] - Australia, Tasmania
[Kim] {diam, 12.5%} Clean and fresh nose, apple-like, with some grapefruit quality too. Similarly clean palate, with light citric/lime flavours. Medium high acidity, vigorous medium/large bubbles, fairly aggressive. Medium length dry crispy finish. OK wine, but hasn’t had a lot of time on lees seemingly, and is just a bit simple overall. Bottling 1301; retails for ~$40; I think the value is a bit dubious.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838379]1998 Jamiesons Run Reserve[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
[Kim] {cork, 13.5%} A surprisingly impressive showing for a now-defunct (or at least bastardised) label. Leathery and aged but attractive aromas with some vanilla bean. A dry palate of aged red and blackberry fruit. A hint of cigar-box with a minty quality too, and some eucalypt. Medium weight, soft dusty tannins. Finish of just medium length. On the last edge of its peak I reckon. Flavourful old red with offering too much complexity.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838380]1998 Chapel Hill Shiraz The Vicar[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
[Geoffrey] {cork, 14%} I’ve had some rank old bottles of this years ago, and wasn’t expecting much. It smelt amazingly similar to the Jamieson’s Run at first; this had a decant just before serving which probably blew off a bit of bottle stink. Still leathery though, with muddy black fruit, well aged, less intense than the Coonawarra wine. It’s dry, with fine gritty medium tannins, a mix of faintly volatile flavours with the remains of some pricey vanilla oak. Medium weight, short/medium finish. A lot of 90s wines of this sort of pedigree peaked around a decade in my experience; further cellaring hasn’t help, as in this case. As a stand-alone wine this is OK; it was a bit overshadowed tonight.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838381]2002 Brand's of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
[Greg] {cork, 14%} Another wine probably better at ten years than twenty; this has a smoky, muddy nose of stewed blackberry. The palate is a touch metallic perhaps, with aged black fruit caked in old vanilla oak. It’s not actually unpleasant, but tends to the shorter simple side, although it did improve for a while in the glass. Low chalky tannins, shortish finish in the end; starting to dry out a bit. For me, Brands and Redman have always been the underachievers of Coonawarra; opinion reinforced here tonight.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838384]1998 Wendouree Cabernet Sauvignon Clare Valley[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Clare Valley
[Graeme] {cork, 13.1%} Double-decanted three hours before. Developing, not too aged; milder aromas of leaf, currant and eucalypt. Low/medium dusty tannins, medium acid. Even but low-key palate of mint and soft currants, with a medium finish. Hardly screams cabernet, but does suggest Clare. Not too old – it’ll take further cellaring, I think – but it’s neither particularly impressive nor terribly memorable. Certainly not heroic. As a soldier, the citation would read “They also served.”
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838387]2013 Woodlands Wilyabrup Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
[Aaron] {cork, 13.5%} Off-theme; a rogue bonus wine served solo. Sour cherry, white pepper, light currants. Palate is medium-bodied; stemmy, grippy, peppery; low/medium dusty tannins, medium acid. Not overtly green on the palate, not oaky. Short/medium dry finish. OK value for the ~$30ish it costs; still tasted a cut below the other wines tonight, even given its relative youth.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838388]2004 Petaluma Coonawarra[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
[Aaron] {cork, 14.5%} Held amongst the best vintages of this label. The nose was a bit stewed for me; more plums than currants. There was also a hint of mustiness, despite a 90 minute (open) decant. Didn’t taste especially aged, perhaps thanks to thick currant fruit, low/medium acid, and low/medium powdery tannins along with higher alcohol. Quite gentle palate (emphasised by the Bin 707 tasted alongside), although nicely even in presence along the tongue. Medium length finish just wanting a bit for complexity. I’d love to taste another bottle to know if this was typical. May age longer if this was sub-par, although I wouldn’t definitively call that here.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838391]2004 Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707[/url] - Australia, South Australia
[Gordon] {cork, 13.5%} Once they used to tell you the contributing regions on the label of 707; not any more. Certainly the (relatively) youngest of the reds here tonight, it parades the classic red meaty and black fruit nose which screams Penfolds. This is King Wenceslas in a bottle; deep and crisp and even. Black currant and plum fruits, softened vanilla/coconut oak, all nicely integrated. Big but balanced; medium/full-bodied, with medium powdery tannins, and a medium/long dry but rich finish. The only older wine tonight I’d confidently cellar for another decade.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838392]2006 Reschke Cabernet Sauvignon[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
[DavidH] {cork, 15%} Developing nose; pointed aromas of aniseed, blackberry, cedar. Powerful and sharp. The palate is voluptuous at first, with stewed plums, then shows some rasping astringency. Medium dusty tannins and just medium weight, but it gets ever hotter on the palate, which limits the finish to medium length at best and doesn’t really help the balance. Should have been picked a couple of weeks earlier I reckon.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838393]2015 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon Wilyabrup[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
[Andrew] {screwcap, 14%} In tonight’s context, way too young. All I found here was some resiny oak on the nose. The palate did cover the oak with round, ripe blackberry fruit, and no sign of olives or green. Seemed hefty on the palate, yet the tannins were subtle, powdery, and the acid quite reticent. Even palate, with a medium length finish; seemed very easy-drinking for a flagship cuvee with aging pretentions. Keep, if you want some value for your coin!
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838394]2000 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon[/url] - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
[Graeme] {cork, 13.5%} Perfect cork; no decant here. Developing nose of black olives, with just a hint of asparagus. Very much cool-climate in character, with medium acid, low/medium dusty tannins, medium weight and a nice even balance along the tongue. Aside from a lick of olive on the palate, the only wine here tonight which might pass for a Bordeaux. Will keep a while; but think it’s near peak as far as complexity and interest goes.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838396]2016 Nugan Estate Sémillon Botrytis Cookoothama[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Big Rivers, Riverina
[Kim] {375ml, screwcap, 11%} Vanilla and marmalade. Apricot notes. A low-acid, medium dry palate with a soft and syrupy texture. Sweetness is exaggerated by the relative lack of acidity. Medium weight. Tastes a bit rubbery to me. Short/medium finish; much of the presence is on the tip of the tongue. Easy dessert wine, not for cellaring.
[url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=7838397]2017 Heggies Vineyard Riesling Botrytis[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley
[Kim] {375ml, screwcap, 10%} Youthful nose of lime juice and tart apples. Clean and not especially botrytis-influenced (or was that just the comparison with the previous Riverina Semillon?). The palate is much richer than the nose suggested, with Riesling-charged sweet apple flavours. Medium weight, medium-dry, with balancing acidity. The sweetness doesn’t preclude a terrific Riesling transparency either. Medium/long finish; would have tasted better if a little colder.
Grand night. I’d expected some Coonawarra, but not a single Victorian cabernet? Oh dear. How much more SA-centric is next month’s the matching shiraz theme going to be?
thanks for the notes Graeme, an interesting read.
a word of caution though, this site is full of rabid Wendouree fanatics, if I were you I would desist from writing anything other than "perfection in a glass" about any of the wines, lest they seek you out and inflict all manner of terrible things upon you
I presume the Jamieson's Run Reserve is a reserve bottling of their regular blend? A disappointing result I should think considering that a number of years ago I opened on of my early Jamieson's Run, a 1992, and it was still rather dark and firm and just coming into its own.
My cellar door visit to Chapel Hill on the northern heights of the McLaren Vale was a disappointment as there wasn't anything there that impressed me. It was in early 2001 so I was likely tasting the '98s or '99s, or a bit of both. I'm therefore not surprised by your assessment of The Vicar.
The Wendouree Cabernet is another matter altogether. Though I have never tasted a Wendouree (the cellar door was closed when I was there) but the one thing I took away from the Clare Valley was how much I liked their cabernet. When I looked over my notes when leaving the Clare I noticed that more often then not I prefered the cabernets and their blend to the shirazes - at Jim Barry's, Mitchell's, Brian Barry, and Eldridge. This is not to say that the shiraz wines aren't good but rather that the cabernet flies under the radar. Intuitively, given what I have heard about their winemaking, I suspect the '98 Wendouree Cabernet needs more time in the cellar. Twenty years is not a long time for a big cabernet.
I haven't had the Cookoothama dessert wine for many a year but the one I had was very nice but it was from the early '00 if I recall.
I think the old Jamiesons Run (with that blue-ish label) was mostly a Bdx blend+shiraz, whereas this was straight cab. I think they had a few reserve bottling of different types back in the late 90s; typical brand manager sort of stuff.
I thought Chapel Hill's heyday was 80s/early-90s, so that might fir with your impression.
Wendouree, who knows? I have another bottle; give it another decade I guess.
Graeme
felixp21 wrote:thanks for the notes Graeme, an interesting read.
a word of caution though, this site is full of rabid Wendouree fanatics, if I were you I would desist from writing anything other than "perfection in a glass" about any of the wines, lest they seek you out and inflict all manner of terrible things upon you
Muwahhhahaha
It just needs another 10 years Felix ! And then you still won't like it which explains your disdain for Piedmont.
"Barolo is Barolo, you can't describe it, just as you can't describe Picasso"
absolutely don't have disdain for Piedmont!!!
like every great wine region, it is a minefield for the un-initiated like me, so I generally abstain from further exploration. (after many expensive, unsuccessful attempts)
I had an Aldo Conterno 2001 Barolo last year that I thought utterly brilliant.
Was only joking. How about then, you take some of my allocation of a very famous Barolo producer? As I get it mates-rates I take on the excess as an investment but in the end, will probably never sell them and having so much of it a little dreary. I'll PM at some stage. A Burgundy lovers Barolo in my experience.
"Barolo is Barolo, you can't describe it, just as you can't describe Picasso"
Mahmoud Ali wrote:
My cellar door visit to Chapel Hill on the northern heights of the McLaren Vale was a disappointment as there wasn't anything there that impressed me. It was in early 2001 so I was likely tasting the '98s or '99s, or a bit of both. I'm therefore not surprised by your assessment of The Vicar.
Now I've got this vague recollection, so happy to be corrected, but didn't the winemaker of the time have a problem wher she lost her sense of taste / some illness stuffed her palate up. It is a vague memory.
Mahmoud Ali wrote:Hmm, I do recall something like that but am not sure who it was. At the time Chapel Hill was definitely known for having a woman winemaker.
Yes indeed Mahmoud
Pamela Dunsford one of the pioneer women's winemakers. Roseworthy College Oenology graduate in 71...worked at the old Seaview Glenloft winery in MV when Southcorp ran the show. Then a stint at Wynns (funnily enough remember drinking Wynns BL cab at Seaview at a gourmet weekend 35 years ago), and was at Chapel Hill for nearly 20 years.
Cheers Craig
Thanks Craig, it was indeed Pam Dunsford, the name rocketing back from the memory banks when I read your post. That was the thing about Chapel Hill back then, the first woman winemaker in a large/major winery as well as the first woman to enter and graduate from Roseworthy College.
Now the question is was it her who lost her sense of taste at one time or was it someone else, if anyone at all?
Yes, when I found the interview I had thought that the answer to the question of whether she lost her sense of taste would be there as it would have been quite the hurdle to overcome. The interview itself was quite enlightening and well worth scroilling through.
JamieBahrain wrote:Was only joking. How about then, you take some of my allocation of a very famous Barolo producer? As I get it mates-rates I take on the excess as an investment but in the end, will probably never sell them and having so much of it a little dreary. I'll PM at some stage. A Burgundy lovers Barolo in my experience.
JamieBahrain wrote:Was only joking. How about then, you take some of my allocation of a very famous Barolo producer? As I get it mates-rates I take on the excess as an investment but in the end, will probably never sell them and having so much of it a little dreary. I'll PM at some stage. A Burgundy lovers Barolo in my experience.
If taking some of your wine will make you less dreary, sign me up!
