TN: An Auswine Offline in Fairfield

[mychurch]

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2nd tasting of the new Auswine Melbourne group. Hope some of the other board members can join us in a few months time.

I've done a lot of these tastings over the years, but this was the first home event for a while and I did go a bit overboard - I had 12 wines ready for "just in case" moments. Everyone does these events differently, but this is how we always did them in the Netherlands - too much food and too much wine. Still eating and drinking from the leftovers tonight

Theme was White or Red outside of the Big 4. All served blind, although I new which were mine. Short notes are:

Palate Warmers

Laurent Perrier NV:
Trudi was not joining us, but wanted a glass for herself. Obviously it was passed around. Modern style and a bit fatter than the old cuvees. Nice. 3*

2015 Domain Huards Cuvee Francois
100% Romorantin. Very Loire. Its not sweet, but the fruit has a sweet candied chenin attack. Its very linear though, with lots of acidity. Needs time. (3.5*)

Flight 1

2019 Schoenberger, Bream Creek
My wine, so not tasted blind. Lots of musk on the nose. Spiciness is less than the previous bottle. Touch of Turkish delight, good acidity. Needs food, but very exotic and will improve over the next few years. Yum (3.5*)

2005 Springfield Gewurtztraminer
Obvious age from the colour. Nose is all green veg and reminds me of an old Cotat. That puts me in Sauv Blanc territory. Palate is all over the place. It’s fat, with more green veg, but it also shows traces of old Auz Riesling. Have to go with a SB blend. Nope. Gewurtz. No spice, lychee or Turkish Delight…Wonder what this was like when it was young. (3*)

Flight 2
2019 Concongella Blanc, Best
Pale colour. Very young. Talc on the nose, refreshing style. Seems to be some Muscat. Lime as well. Maybe a Riesling blend ? Nope, an everything blend - 38 differ varieties, 8 of which have no name. Been on my wish list for a while, but it’s not actually my style of white - too grapey. Would be interesting to try an aged version. (3*)

2008 Gouais, Chambers
Mine. Similar colour to the Gewurtz of the first filght. Its not as aged though and still has structure. Aged semillon style, some sherry and old Vouvray notes. Very complex. You get why its not planted widely - its intellectual rather than fun. Yum. (3*)

Flight 3

2018 Trial Batch Nebbiolo, Handpicked
Light colour. Strawberry nose, bubblegum texture. Very pinot like. Given that there is no Pinot allowed, I presume this is Gamay. Good midweek quaffer that runs out to be Nebbiolo. One of those wines where the finished product is more important that the contents -prefect Bistro wine (2.5*)

2018 Spring Release Cab Franc, Penley Estate
My wine. I thought this was carbonic in style, but no. It has more structure and depth than the Neb. Tannins in the background, slightly juicy red fruit, some pepper. It’s not the Loire, but it’s a nice Cab Franc. (3*)

Flight 4

2018 Pawn Star Matruana Tinto, Pawn
Great packaging. From memory this looked like a modern Cab style grape, so Malbec was a possibility. Didnt take notes, but there was something about it that took me to Petit Verdot. Nope. We go Portuguese. Good wine that needs age. (3*)

2017 La Longa Sangiovese, Fighting Gully
Very similar to the Nebbiolo. Slightly darker colour, lots of bayleaf, silky texture. It’s better than the Handpicked wine, but I cant really tell that it’s a different grape, so I go with Nebbiolo. Nope Sangiovese. I have had bubblegum textured young Italian versions, but they put on weight and become earthy with time. No idea if this will happen here. Nice now though. (3*)

Flight 5

2019 Kyoho, Bella Ridge
This had everyone in a conundrum. The nose has a familiar savoury component, there was some Spanish Grenache flavours and the whole thing reminded me of an American GSM blend. Nobody had ever drunk a Kyoto before but on this evidence it has potential. (3.5*)

2014 Malbec, Wendouree
This was one of my backups. I had a great Cab-Malbec from this vintage last week and this was up to the same standard. Its young, but you can pop and pour with no worries. Silky texture, good dark berry fruit, touch of camphor on the nose. Needs time, but yummy now (3.5)

Flight 6

2002 Saperavi, Symphonia
We knew this had age in it, but it was younger than the Wynn’s that was next to it. Not far away from the ‘14 Wendouree Malbec, with similar dark fruits. Quite supple still. Mid 90’s Petite Verdot ? Nope, it’s an aged Georgian style wine. Very good. Find of the day. Drank well watching Eurovison 24 hours later (4*)

1982 Black Label, Wynns
Themes are all very well, but everyone appreciated a high quality ringer. This was obvioulsy aged Coonewarra Cabernet. Its in a great place,with the leafy fruit in amongst the cassis. Did not stand out like it did at Cons big Wynns vertical, and the sort of wine that gets a bit to complex maybe for this style of tasting, Lots of references to honey by other tasters, which I did not get. Yum (4*)

The Extras
That was us done with the main tasting and at this point I had planned to serve an apple pie. Did not have time to make it though and we were all stuffed. Still, the desert wine was already decanted

1989 Moelleux Vouvray, Pinon
Decanted at 11am, but really I should have done it 24 hours earlier. Lots of baked and bruised apple. Frame is there, but its only tonight (48 hours later) that the wine has really relaxed and the silky sweet fruit has come to the fore. (3.5*) on the night, (4.5* now)

1977 Bundarra Classic Hermitage, Baillys
Of course backups were brought by others, and this was one. Fantastic label and a wine that was incredibly interesting. The nose is reticent and although there is some fruit, its almost closed. When the wine hits the tongue though there is an explosion of red fruits. Its totally unexpected and shockingly decadent. Given its age and background, Con thought it was a risky wine to bring, but it ended up being the highlight of the day. Yum. (4*)

I also had a backup for the desert - some Epoisse I bought from the South Melbourne Market. Jura goes well with this so

2013 Vin Jaune, Pirou
The first bottle of this looked good, but there was an astringent hot taste on the finish. Seemed faulty, so I opened another which had the proper yellow colour and a lot of the expected curry funk. Great with the cheese, although we really did not need either.

The standout wine of the day was obviously the Black Label, but I think the Saperavi and the Kyoto were the real surprises. Would not mind having either in my cellar.

Next time the theme will be Chardonnay or Cabernet from 2 different regions. Looking forward to it,

[Hacker]

2014 Malbec, Wendouree
I had a great Cab-Malbec from this vintage last week and this was up to the same standard

Interested as to what you thought of the 2014 Cab Malbec. It also contained 20% shiraz and on a number of occasions I felt the shiraz, for want of a better word, polluted the fine cab malbec mix. Was the shiraz in evidence for you?

15 bottles! How many of there were you?

[mychurch]

Last weeks was the first Cab Malbec I had tried from Wendouree. Didn’t notice the Shiraz, but I was not looking for it either. Very smooth and supple wine.

[cuttlefish]

Yeah, that was interesting with the honey note on the Wynns. By my final sip of that wine I was picking up tomato soup aroma. That was a beauty of a wine.
My fav. white would be the Bests field blend.
My fav. reds of the themed reds would be the Kyoto for interest and drinkability, and the Saperavi for development.
Both the Wynns and the Baileys were excellent wines both in great nick, and the Vouvray was exceptional.

Thanks to all for their generous contributions!

[Mahmoud Ali]

Sounds like it was a marvelous tasting - and a lot of fun. Blind tasting is always an educational experience. Loved reading about the 1977 Baileys, since I have a few older ones that I picked up at cellar door a few years ago, though unfortunately not as old as this one.

[mychurch]

15 bottles! How many of there were you?

There were 6 of us, but we really were tasting rather than drinking. It may seem a waste to some, but a lot of us probably own more wine that that will ever drink and sharing bottles like this is a good way get through some of them.

If it’s a dinner and the plan is to drink all the wine then 1 bottle pp, with maybe a sparkler and a desert wine is plenty.

[MBHB]

Wow, what a great event.

Would love to host something like this - first task of preparation would be to buy a lot more wine glasses!

[I Love Shiraz]

Great to hear it was a great event. It was disappointing I could not make it.

[Hacker]

It may seem a waste to some, but a lot of us probably own more wine that that will ever drink and sharing bottles like this is a good way get through some of them.

I resemble that remark! I was recently going thru my bulging stash at Kennard's and realised I could live fifty more years and not need to buy another bottle.

[Mike Hawkins]

It may seem a waste to some, but a lot of us probably own more wine that that will ever drink and sharing bottles like this is a good way get through some of them.

I resemble that remark! I was recently going thru my bulging stash at Kennard's and realised I could live fifty more years and not need to buy another bottle.

I calculate that at the rate of my consumption over the past three years I have a wine supply of 34 years… yet I keep buying.

[phillisc]

It may seem a waste to some, but a lot of us probably own more wine that that will ever drink and sharing bottles like this is a good way get through some of them.

I resemble that remark! I was recently going thru my bulging stash at Kennard's and realised I could live fifty more years and not need to buy another bottle.

I calculate that at the rate of my consumption over the past three years I have a wine supply of 34 years… yet I keep buying.

And that's not including the Champs eh Mike
Cheers Craig