Right, what are we/you drinking now .. tonight

[mychurch]

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A tale of 2 vintages.

Both bought at a recent auction and I presume the storage was the same. Probable true, but the cork on the 92 came out easy and appeared to be quite dry, while the 91 broke into a 1000 pieces and I had to push it in and double decant.

92 is known as a wet vintage and I probably should have left this alone. It’s brown, devoid of fruit, slightly cloudy and has the classic cold tea and Forrest floor. Not really drinkable on its own, but these lean, crunchy wines come alive with food and this was no exception. Creeps in as a 2*

The 91 was a year older and a lot younger. Still with some deep red colour and plent of fruit. The cork issues frazzled my brain a bit. So although I double decanted, I don’t get the sediment out. That left an almost mousey note to the finish. Shame, as this was a lovely, food friendly old wine. It has lasted overnight and now that the wine has settled it’s great. Reminds of a 60’s or 70’s Cru Bourgeois, with good acidity, some berry fruit and some violet. Nice.

[mjs]

2012 Bowen Estate Shiraz. Sadly, it was corked, so down the drink

[mjs]

Tonight’s wine ...

2010 Leconfield Cabernet
Great colour, just a touch of garnet around the edges, typical Leconfield nose, slightly vegetative, a bit leafy, dark fruits, but there’s an underlying harshness on the palate, perhaps a little under ripe, some chalky tannins, fruit but not quite together, probably some better 2010 Coonawarra cabs.

[Mike Hawkins]

Tonight’s wine ...

2010 Leconfield Cabernet
Great colour, just a touch of garnet around the edges, typical Leconfield nose, slightly vegetative, a bit leafy, dark fruits, but there’s an underlying harshness on the palate, perhaps a little under ripe, some chalky tannins, fruit but not quite together, probably some better 2010 Coonawarra cabs.

Nice note… it could describe every Leconfield cab I’ve had over the last 30 or so years!

[mjs]

Revisited a wine from earlier in the week that was sadly corked, this bottle was perfect

2012 Bowen Estate Shiraz
Beautiful dark blood red, some dark notes, blackberries and plums, velvety plush mouthfeel, still young, great fruit, silky tannins, enjoying revisiting the bouquet, nothing to complain about with this bottle compared with the example earlier this week.

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[Rory]

A couple from the past few days.

Forget Brimont Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs

I love BldBl and really love this. Bright fruit, great acidity, great bead.

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Seppelt St Peters 2002

Dense dark plums and earth. A lick of dark chocolate. Power in a velvet glove! Looking great, not sure you'd need to keep it longer!

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[mjs]

This might surprise some of you, me drinking a Barossa Cabernet ... but hey, there's more in my cellar than Coonawarra

2010 Peter Lehmann Mentor Cabernet
Purchase a couple of six packs not long after an enjoyable masterclass tasting at cellar door maybe eight years ago. Finally pulled one out to have with a marvellous roast dinner.
Dark red purple, some slight brick to the edge revealing some age, full bodied, mulberries and bit of chocolate, still youthful though, good tannin structure, reasonably generous in the mouth, good length. Still plenty of dark fruits. Perhaps not in my preferred part of the cabernet spectrum, but drinking well now at 10+ years of age and with years still ahead of it. Very enjoyable.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Thanks for the note on the 2010 Mentor, it is one of three vintages that I have in the cellar and the youngest of the three. Although young it sounds like it is in a good place.

Cheers ...................... Mahmoud.

[Sean]

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[JamieBahrain]

I’m going to get a mixed case of Chiarlo’s Barberas.

I’m struggling with screw capped Aussies in this price range. Rarely do I not have a few glasses of Italian of an evening. Simple yet pleasurable wines. Quaffing Aussies have removed my desire for a drink at day’s end. Can’t separate varietals nor find nuance and often a headache.

They say your palate adjusts!

[Rory]

2010 Wantirna Estate Amelia Cab/Merlot.

Elegant, earthy cassis aromas lead into a soft, elegant palate. Its' rounded and light on its feet, not showing it's age, but perhaps was expecting something with a tad more impact.
Still loverly tho!

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[Sean]

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[Matt@5453]

A few 2021 Clare Valley Rieslings are starting to pop up in the market, some have been out of for a couple of months now, an earlier market entry for some given the very lean volumes of 2020 (which is understandable). I have had a look at a few in bottle and some out of tank in recent weeks. 2020 was a very strong Riesling Vintage in the region, 2021 is looking very strong also, with volumes below expectation. The examples I have seen so far are lovely aromatic, fruit driven wines with balanced acidity. A few I have tried thus far out of bottle:

2021 RieslingFreak No.3, Clare Valley – the aromas on this are intoxicating. Minerally, flinty, lemons. This is delicious.
2021 Jim Barry, Watervale – typical of its style year in and out, soft acid. A bit lemon ‘pithy’ for me. Does not overly grab me at this stage.
2021 Sevenhill Cellars ‘Inigo’, Sevenhill – lemon and tropical fruits, slightly ‘puckering’ acidity. Very good

Looking forward to likes of Pikes, Pauletts, Naked Run etc.

A highlight in recent weeks was a 2012 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra. I decanted and let sit for a couple of hours. The nose through to the palate is super enjoyable. The structure and balance is very good, in all, its starting to soften up, with the tannin and oak starting to fade. The palate is packed with deep and rich cassis, black currant, some dark chocolate, with some ever slight smoky/charred oak notes on the finish. There is some acid and grippy/drying tannin on the finish, but overall a lovely long finish. Based on this, I think in another 5-10 years it should be in a really good spot, but certainly lovely now. In terms of 'points', a comfortable 93 at this stage.

[Sean]

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[Rossco]

A highlight in recent weeks was a 2012 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra. I decanted and let sit for a couple of hours. The nose through to the palate is super enjoyable. The structure and balance is very good, in all, its starting to soften up, with the tannin and oak starting to fade. The palate is packed with deep and rich cassis, black currant, some dark chocolate, with some ever slight smoky/charred oak notes on the finish. There is some acid and grippy/drying tannin on the finish, but overall a lovely long finish. Based on this, I think in another 5-10 years it should be in a really good spot, but certainly lovely now. In terms of 'points', a comfortable 93 at this stage.

Great note Matt, thank you! Have a doz of these stashed away for one of my kids birthyears, so great to hear its still not ready.

[phillisc]

Rory, thanks for the note on the St Peters, have a few of these tucked away. Interesting 2019 just out and a new more expensive wine, 2018 Arrawatta to celebrate Seppelts 170th. Surprised that with the Benno, Mt Ida, St Peters and other offerings that there would be a single vineyard release.

Cheers Craig

[phillisc]

A highlight in recent weeks was a 2012 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra. I decanted and let sit for a couple of hours. The nose through to the palate is super enjoyable. The structure and balance is very good, in all, its starting to soften up, with the tannin and oak starting to fade. The palate is packed with deep and rich cassis, black currant, some dark chocolate, with some ever slight smoky/charred oak notes on the finish. There is some acid and grippy/drying tannin on the finish, but overall a lovely long finish. Based on this, I think in another 5-10 years it should be in a really good spot, but certainly lovely now. In terms of 'points', a comfortable 93 at this stage.

Great note Matt, thank you! Have a doz of these stashed away for one of my kids birthyears, so great to hear its still not ready.

+1
I am getting back to Majella after a bit of a hiatus. Great wines and good VFM. A nice foil to Wynns BL.
Had an '02 last year, fresh as a daisy. 2012 under screwcap will be a 25 year proposition.

Cheers Craig

[Rory]

2010 Hurley Loadstone.

In my mind, the pinnacle Pinot producer on the Peninsula. Paradigm and Moorooduc right up there as well.

Served blind you would not have picked it as 11 yo. Fresh, alive, complex, structured and that sweet/feminine middle palate Loadstone has. Sits so well between the Garamond and Harcourt as single site wines.

[Alex F]

2010 Hurley Loadstone.

In my mind, the pinnacle Pinot producer on the Peninsula. Paradigm and Moorooduc right up there as well.

Served blind you would not have picked it as 11 yo. Fresh, alive, complex, structured and that sweet/feminine middle palate Loadstone has. Sits so well between the Garamond and Harcourt as single site wines.

Thanks for the note. I had this about six months ago and I was disappointed (perhaps due to my overly high expectation). Did get the sweet fruit that you reference, and in comparison to most it is doing well as a 10 year old Aussie pinot, but for me there was not enough acidic thrust. In contrast, the De Iuliis Limited Release Hunter Valley Shiraz 2014 has great acid structure on the finish that energises and provides immense length to the finish, which is intense yet not intense (in sweetness), in keeping with a wine that to me seems tart red plum/blueberry like. There is some earth and char characteristics developing as well. Quite high alcohol (14.5%, not really noticeable) which is counterbalanced by increased intensity of the fruit on the middle palate. Some complexity but my very wild guess is that this wine will develop and drink well for a very long time. I would agree with Halliday's 98 and window to 2054.

[Alex F]

I was also privileged enough to enjoy Standish 'The Standish' Shiraz 2018 and Sami Odi Hoffmann Dallwitz Shiraz 2019 side by side over a couple of days. Both are wines that offered me maximum pleasure. The Standish seems to be an archetypal Barossan shiraz but turn up the dial on intensity/length/flavour 10x. It's very dark fruited, blackforest cake nature offers the goodness of a fine port without the sugar, with very fine tannins and excellent acidity to the intense/long finish. If it could be possible, the Sami Odi in comparison is more red fruited, 'sweeter', with much chunkier tannins and vanilla oak showing through the middle palate in both texture and taste. It is also however, at this stage, a much more 'profound' wine. Interestingly with a couple of days aeration the two wines seem to converge more towards each other, the Standish in particular developing very attractive notes of spice. Tangentially related, I was less impressed by the Sami Odi Little Wine #10 as it seemed to be sweeter again compared to the HD, but I think that this wine will still knock the socks off someone else who appreciates its flavour profile more (so 4.5 stars). A disappointment (well, mainly price wise) was the Standish Schubert Theorem Shiraz 2017 which for my tastes was overripe and truncated the intensity to the finish.

[kenzo]

2000 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Very savoury on opening day one with some oxidized characteristics and ferrous earth, then the fruit came to the fore with raspberry, dried herbs/garrigue, the undercurrent of earth and dark fruit, some soy-like notes, and good depth of flavour. In its plateau now for mine, but with years left in yet, depending on how you like them. Would recommend a 3 hour decant. Very nice, a white from this producer had recently was even more memorable - and also ageworthy.

[Sean]

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[Sean]

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[Rory]

2010 Petaluma Coonawarra.

The question you've got to answer about this monolithic Petaluma, is whether the oak will prevail, or the masses of fruit will.

Whilst I don't think it is out of balance, I've never drunk one with masses of averythin!

Cheers

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[mychurch]

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Picked up a mixed case of older wines at auction that will be used to try out the Durand that my wife bought me recently. This was one of the younger wines and when I checked the price and the ‘drink by 2007’ on the back of the label, and decided it would be perfect with some spaghetti, tomatoes and kranski. Opens up well over a few hours and there is a lovely perfume of dark frui and clove soaring from the glass. Flavour initially is secondary in nature with not much fruit and plenty of savoury earthiness. Opens up though and eventually some silky red fruit and licorice appear. Lovely stuff and just shows that even modest wines can age well under screw cap.

[DJ1980]

Some pretty good wines this month.

2002 Henschke Hill of Grace. Classic pepper, cloves, plum and leather on the nose. Very typical of the cooler vintage. Looks better than it did a few years back. Sadly my last bottle. Tannin beautifully woven with the fruit now. 4/5

2002 Billecart Salmon Nicolas François Champagne. Super wine. Far out this was good. Baked apple and pastry and later bready notes. Balance was really great. Had it next to a 166 Edition Krug and it beat the pants off it imo. 5/5

2019 Standish The Standish. Waaaay too young without a day in the decanter. But we all knew that. Amazing colour and nose. Spicy and fruity and herbaceous and earthy. Will be a knockout in 8 years or so. A knockout. 4/5

2018 Penfolds Bin 704. Most exciting Penfolds red I have had in years. Medium/full bodied and with poise to really pull you back into your seat. Was the balance of the tannin and fruit that impressed. Couldn't help but buy more and feels a relative bargain compared with the rest of the Penfolds Range. I can see this being $200 in a couple of vintages. 4.5/5

Morris of Rutherglen Old Premium Muscat. If you have ever had this you know it's one of the best priced, generous and simply one of the most outstanding wines in the country. Every swirl gave more something different. Wood, spice, molasses, dried fruit and the rest. 5/5

[phillisc]

08 Mr Riggs Outpost Coonawarra Cabernet. Last of the dozen... should have brought a lot more!
Lovely mature balanced wine, blue fruits mellow palate a lick of acid and drying tannins. Really good drinking...at $8 a bottle, a bargain
Cheers Craig

[Chuck]

should have brought a lot more!

Ditto above. How often have we said this and generally the last bottle is the best. Well I've learnt from hard lessons and today ordered another case of a wine I know I would regret not having more.

[Chuck]

should have brought a lot more!

Ditto above. How often have we said this and generally the last bottle is the best. Well I've learnt from hard lessons and today ordered another case of a wine I know I would regret not having more.Perhaps it deserves a separate thread - "Should have Brought More"

[Chuck]

should have brought a lot more!

Ditto above. How often have we said this and generally the last bottle is the best. Well I've learnt from hard lessons and today ordered another case of a wine I know I would regret not having more of.Perhaps it deserves a separate thread - "Should have Brought More". We in NSW affected areas need something to keep us interested.