Billed as ‘Top Winery Night’ we saw a near full-house of fully-vaccinated diners with a mix of mostly locally-bottled offerings for the last dinner of this most wretched of years.
- [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535171]2005 Dom Pérignon Champagne[/url] - France, Champagne
{cork, 12.5%} [Gordon] Just a wonderful nose; all sourdough and brioche and autolysis. Quite enchanting. The palate is pretty austere and even immature; sour/dry and savoury. Like it’s closed down or something. I let it warm in the glass a bit but it was still a fairly obstinate as far as flavour goes. Powerful, vigorous, medium/large bubbles. Impressive palate but really needs time now. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535172]2013 Georg Breuer Rauenthaler Nonnenberg Riesling[/url] - Germany, Rheingau
{AP 3 14, cork, 11%} [Graeme] A monopol vineyard of 5.4ha sitting high on the north bank of, and a way back from, the Rhine. Not classed as a Rauenthal Gross Lage by the VDP, yet Breuer price it second only to Schlossberg in their portfolio of single vineyard Rieslings. This is mid-yellow in colour. Some development on the nose, but it has a slate-and-apple, custard, lychee freshness that really impresses. You’d almost expect it to be off-dry on the basis of the nose, but the palate is medium weight, dry but rich with apple, lychee, earth, sand flavours, and awesome construction, with an even presence right along the tongue and a long mouth-watering finish. Awesome stuff, but far from mature at the moment. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535176]2017 Tyrrell's Shiraz Vat 9[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 13.7%} [Aaron] This is unbelievable young still, with essence of blueberry fruit, and maybe some sulphur? I thought it a bit rubbery and reductive but I seemed isolated in that judgement. The palate is savoury and dry though, with a cranberry tinge to the flavour, and subtle smoky oak. Medium/high acid, medium chalky tannins, medium weight. But a long, savoury, balanced and even finish. Needs a decade probably at least. Served beside the Mount Pleasant; this tasted younger and fruiter, perhaps less complete just now, but with better potential for the future. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535179]2017 McWilliam's Mount Pleasant Wines Shiraz Mountain 'A'[/url] - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley
{screwcap, 14%} [Aaron] Purporting to be ‘medium-bodied’ expression of the ‘Mountain Series’. I’d call it medium/full, especially coming after the matching-vintage Tyrrells Vat 9. Black fruit aromas, malt, oak, and a hint of spice. Modern Hunter style. Juicily-fruited palate, with jubey black flavours, dry, with medium/high dusty tannins; stays just the right side of baked but lacks the fresh zip of the Tyrrells. Marginally better to drink now, but does sit more on the tip of the tongue and only finishes medium length. Probably at its best before its tenth year I’d reckon. This Mountain range was launched about ten years ago at around $75 a bottle, which I always thought was very ambitious pricing. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535181]2006 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
{cork, 13%} [DavidM] Opened & poured straight away. 71% cabernet, with Merlot, PV, Cab-F and Malbec adding 19/5/3/2% respectively. Developing nose of black fruit with a slightly herbal, but not too green aspect. The palate is initially austere, very cabernet-influenced, and becoming quite astringent with medium/high chalky tannins. Fruit-driven, not dominated by oak. I thought it a bit hollow, patchy somehow; a bit of a minority view. Given the following wine, maybe all it needed was decanting time? Medium weight; didn’t have the persistent finish I’d expect for the price. Keep longer or give it air. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535185]2001 Cullen Wines Diana Madeline Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot[/url] - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Margaret River
{screwcap, 14%} [Graeme] Double-decanted off minimal sediment four earlier, and then had an hour in an open decanter before drinking. This seemed to make all the difference, because it smelt quite stinky on initial opening at 4pm. Served blind, and despite following its 2006 sibling, no-one identified it; they were that different (it’s not just poor tasters!). This is developing, black-aroma-ed, even hinting at jammy-rich, and with a minty/dark chocolate sort of character. A tiny bit of herb also shows up on the consistent palate. Ticks all the ‘medium’ boxes; dusty tannins seem as much grape skin as oak. Quite a long and even finish too. In the end, not bad at all, even if it is a bit anonymous – it seems that some decent air exposure is key to this showing well. More cellaring time is no issue – at least for screwcap-sealed bottles. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535189]1998 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra
{cork, 13.5%} [Geoffrey] Open decanter for two hours before drinking. You wouldn’t keep current vintages of this label for twenty years but there was plenty of good shiraz fruit available from this vintage. That said, this is fully mature, with a leathery, old-red, softly spicy-smelling nose; but still very much alive. On the palate there are spicy aged red fruit, a little vanilla too. It’s not the last word in complexity but it’s well out-performed its price point all those years ago. Medium-sized wine all round, although the finish is shortening out a bit and the tannins are very soft too. Drink up & enjoy. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535190]2001 Yering Station Shiraz - Viognier[/url] - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley
{cork, 13.9%} [Stephen] Very advanced. Dust and earth. Not still evidently fruity; possibly riding on the oak and whatever Australian viognier does to a shiraz. A hint of volatility on the leathery old palate, with a spike of spicy, faintly sharp flavour on the tip of the tongue then a quick slide into a short finish with only a hint of powdery tannin remaining. Still drinkable but well on the downslope. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535192]2001 Penfolds Shiraz St. Henri[/url] - Australia, South Australia
{magnum, cork, 14.5%} [DavidH] A spongy, crumbly cork saw this open-decanted about two hours before consumption. Pure black ink aromas. Not oak, and not too hot. The palate is voluptuous and a bit heady, semi-mature only, with medium dusty tannins and medium weight. Always warm on the palate; solid and generous in the meaty Penfolds style, although without overt oak; it’s not missed at all. This is very drinkable now although it will last an age longer thanks to fine balance and ripely-judged fruit. A good, even presence along the tongue gives a medium/long finish. Very good indeed. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535193]2004 Penfolds Bin 389[/url] - Australia, South Australia
{cork, 14.5%} [Kim] As for the St Henri, another soft crumbly cork saw this open-decanted about two hours before consumption. I wasn’t convinced by this, finding the nose raw and chippy, like bottled particle-board, with a hint of volatility. Palate is more gluhwein-like, with baked fruit and a carpet-like flavour. There’s some jam character too, with lots of vanilla oak. Feels like a bit of a side-show alley wine after the St Henri. I suspect pH is too high, alcohol is too high… Dunno what’s happened to my relationship with Bin 389 over the last 20 years; it used to be the world’s most dependable wine; now it seems to have developed a bipolar disorder or something. Or is it me? - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535194]2016 Curtis Family Vineyards Shiraz Martins Vineyard[/url] - Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
{screwcap, 14%} [Greg] Late starter here! Very heavily worked jammy and raw fruit, with sweet raspberry and coconut oak. Throwback to the Parker style. Iodine & blackberry essence on the palate, but also raw and red, like an abrasion from a bicycle fall. Full-bodied, with medium gritty tannins but low/medium acidity. Feels like its assembled-by-the-book a bit. Plenty of flavour, to be fair. Medium length finish. A drink-soon style of wine. - [url=https://www.cellartracker.com/note.asp?iWine ... te=9535196]1977 McWilliam's Centenary Vintage Port[/url] - Australia, South Australia
{cork, 19%} [Gordon] Double-decanted four hours earlier off significant sediment. Smells like an antique shop, with old timber rafters, carpet, camphor, treacly sweetness. The palate is a fair stab at proper vintage port (even if the label said it’s made from cabernet sauvignon!), with fumey flavours, old barrels, caramel and dust. I suppose it’s medium-dry for sweetness but the finish is dryly refreshing. Long, lingering finish that avoids too much heat. Pretty damn good for 40+ years.
