- 2021 Holm Oak Chardonnay - Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley (31/10/2022)
(Screwcap, 12.5} Quite pale yellow, although fairly dark for 2021. Soft oak nose, sandalwood, figs, nuts! some yellow flesh fruit aromas. For a wine with a natural yeast barrel ferment it’s fairly anonymous all found, I must say. Polished sort of palate, with malo-influenced flavours without being too buttery. Medium acid, slippery sort of oak, dry finish, but with sweetly ripe fruit. Never quite tropical, but hinting at it. Medium-bodied, with a medium length finish. Nice enough, just a bit anonymous overall. Perhaps a few years will bring out more personality; there’s no harm in trying. - 2016 Weingut Thörle Saulheimer Hölle Riesling trocken - Germany, Rheinhessen (29/10/2022)
{cork, 12.5%, AP 28 17} Quite a deep yellow for just six years. Fairly reticent nose, with a sandy, minerally sort of aspect; the fruit seems very subdued. But there’s plenty of flavour on the palate, with strewed apples and classic Riesling flavours. Close to dry, medium/full in weight for the grape, with some initially spritzy acid that blew off fairly quickly. But there’s plenty of structure still. It’s quite big-boned, even if the flavours are a bit mild. Medium/long finish. I think this is about ready to drink, given the fairly developed nature of the flavours overall. - 2020 Bakkheia Aequitas - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe (28/10/2022)
{screwcap, 14.3%} Mix of slightly reductive rubber and liquorice. Not overly sweet though, just black, ripe fruit. Subtle oak on palate, with black, macerated fruit, blackberry perhaps? But not hugely distinctive. Low/medium acid, low/medium dusty tannins. Medium length finish. Decent wine for the shorter term. Struggles with identity, although I’d concede it’s very young. - 2018 Paradigm Hill Pinot Noir L'ami Sage - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula (26/10/2022)
{screwcap} Pale, translucent, light garnet. Muted nose, light cherries and the faintest hint of tobacco. Light-bodied palate in every respect, with medium acid, low dusty tannins, under-stated oak and not much flavour overall bar the faintest hint of cherry. Medium length finish at best. Pretty under-whelming all round. $140 at Otto, Wooloomooloo. Wow. - 2019 Clyde Park Shiraz Block G - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Geelong (23/10/2022)
{screwcap, 13.5%} Glowing ruby. Rich nose of blueberry and liquorice, but with a kind of purity to it; not all oak and sugar. Slithery sort of texture, with ultra-fine dust tannins emerging at the end to coat the soft blackberry flavours. Medium acidity. Has a savoury spine to it, despite the fruit sweetness, and a little tobacco twist too. Very seductive indeed. About medium weight, with a good even presence along the tongue, and a medium length finish. Really impressive. Should sail through a decade in the cellar and be better for it. 45 rows of PT23 clone, planted 1999, make up 100 dozen of this. 40% new French oak. Lovely stuff. - 2018 Mount Pleasant Wines Mount Henry Shiraz Pinot Noir - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (22/10/2022)
{screwcap, 14%} Still very young. Vivid crimson colour. Youthful nose of glue, brambles and a kind of sweet cherry jam aroma, but always light. Maybe a pepper influence too? The palate is kind of sandy and briney, with savoury earthy flavours nodding at chianti, minimal apparant oak, light/medium weight, and medium acidity. Low/medium finely gritty tannins round out the palate. It's not terribly concentrated and perhaps sits a bit on the front of the tongue. It actually does taste rather like a shiraz leavened with pinot, so it is a bit of an odd beast in its youth. I can picture the style being enchanting after many years perhaps; this is perfectly OK, but I'd really like to see it in its maturity. Keep as long as you like. - 2018 Teusner Shiraz Albert - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (21/10/2022)
{cork and screwcap, 14.5%} Curiously, I have this wine sealed under cork and screwcap. The cork note is overall a little more muted. It’s a vibrant, juicy wine, of blackcurrant fruit. Mild oak, nicely supporting, with medium acidity, not too artificial, even if it is! Medium/full-bodied, with plenty of ripe flavour, never savoury admittedly, so don’t count on food to bring it out. Black ripe fruits, quite new world but not too sweetly so. The screwcap iteration is less blurry - like watching a tv show on HD as opposed to SD. Is one better? Hard to say. Slightly different accent to the same language. Ripe, decent expression of most of the joys of Barossa Shiraz with a minimum of the downsides. Good until 2028, as long as your choice of seal holds up! - 2016 Seppelt Riesling Drumborg Vineyard - Australia, Victoria, Western Victoria, Henty (18/10/2022)
{screwcap, 11%} Still a pale yellow. Gentle lime and apple aromas. Initial spritz still obvious on entry. Minerally palate, stones, rocks, brine, limestone. Really lovely. Ligt/medium weight, with medium acidity. Dry, medium/long finish, becoming increasinly mouth-watering with time. Has a beguiling sort of purity about it, I must say. Does Drumborg overlook the Great Southern Ocean? 'Cause that's what it tastes like. Barely developed, I think. Will hold an age longer. - 2009 Craggy Range Syrah Gimblett Gravels Vineyard - New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay, Gimblett Gravels (17/10/2022)
{screwcap, 13.5} Generic, aging red. Softening red berries, gentle oak, moderate structure. There's really nothing wrong with this; it's a perfectly pleasant, aging red wine, which sings pretty nicely with food. It wasn't that expensive on release, nothing is overdone, nothing is out of balance. And although fading now, I think, there's nothing faulty about it. It's just honestly reflecting the quality of its constituent grapes, which I suspect were good, honest, syrah, but not spectacular. Knowing CR a little, I'm juggling some disappointment against the knowledge that I'm probably judging it against an unrealistically high standard. So, nice wine, terrific for the price, nowhere left to go, not worth seeking out any longer. Overall, nice work, chaps. - 2016 Hillcrest Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Premium - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Yarra Valley (16/10/2022)
{cork, 13.3%} Quite brickish around the rim; more than I expected. Pretty nose of cigar box, mild oak, currants - all the right smells here. Quite advanced though. I was fearing warm storage at this point, to be candid (auction buy). Palate supports that I think, with ripe sweetish but not overdone black fruits, subtle oak, medium dusty tannins, medium weight, with low/medium acidity. But this bottle feels a little washed out somehow. Still a nice wine, but I get the sense it’s not at its best here. Double decant off minimal sediment, perfect cork. - 2018 Chateau Tanunda Shiraz Terroirs of the Barossa Eden Valley - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Eden Valley (14/10/2022)
{cork, 15%} Dark crimson. Baked, prune and liquor red cherry nose. Curious palate, syrupy with prune flavours and alcohol, with some hot acid on the tip of the tongue and little detectable tannin, or indeed oak. Black jam, iodine, raisin, liquorice, prune. Medium/full weight. Hollow finish though, patchy with heat. A niche and troublesome style in my view; not one that ages gracefully. A spirit-drinker’s wine. Seems to be the prevailing style at Tanunda these days. Not for me. - 2018 First Creek Wines Shiraz Winemaker's Reserve - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (12/10/2022)
{screwcap, 13%} Still with a distinct crimson tinge to the rim. Opened too early, I knew it. Savoury white paper and dark cherry nose. Smells tight, if that’s possible. The palate has ripe, polished and restrained flavours, always with the peppery tinge, medium acidity, low/medium gritty tannins. But there’s an underlying syrupy sweetness of fruit too. No more than medium bodied, with barely noticeable oak. Mostly, too young. It’s barely moved off primary, and it was a generally fine vintage, so it’s likely to be very long lived. A tangy sweetness to the finish, but never verging into fruit bomb territory. Patchy sort of finish, medium/long, but will only fill out with time I think. Keep five years at least. - 2018 Murray Street Vineyards Shiraz - Cabernet - Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley (11/10/2022)
{screwcap, 14.5%} Only a week ago, but I hardly remember this. Nicely ripe fruit in the modern Barossa style, but without much distinction. Too little structure, with minimal acid & tannin. Medium/full weight. A nice wine to drink a bunch of without thinking too much. Not for aging though. - 2013 Caillard Cabernet Sauvignon Reynell Selection - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra (10/10/2022)
{screwcap, 14.8%} Slightly less impressive than previous bottles, for whatever reason. Auction buy, so maybe dodgy storage. Still a lovely nose, but palate was a little dried out somehow. Remains a nice drink. - 2017 Tenuta di Sesta Rosso di Montalcino - Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino (8/10/2022)
{cork, 14.5%} I hunted down another bottle of this to see if the last was typical. This was better, or at least without suggestion of overt fault. But it still seems a bit dilute. Dry, mild blackberry fruit, savoury in character. Dusty sort of palate, with thick grape tannins, not much oak, but surprisingly dense anyway. Acid not prominent, gives it a thick sort of texture. I wanted to like it more, but it seems devoid of much liveliness somehow. Medium weight. shortish, dull sort of finish. Meh. - 2014 Domaine A Petit 'a' - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River (7/10/2022)
{diam, 13.9%} Medium garnet. Developing nose of blackcurrant and blackberry, hint of chocolatey oak, tomato leaf. Some Cabernet herb too, but always nicely ripe. Medium weight palate with medium acidity, tasting as per the nose. At first I thought the tannins dusty but very soft, but with more air they come charging through. Medium length finish. It has very much that feel of a good second wine from a decent producer (which it is); always somehow just leaves you hankering after the flagship wine. But this is very acceptable, probably near its peak too. - 2018 Andrew Thomas Wines Sémillon Braemore - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley (6/10/2022)
{screwcap, 11.8%} Still a very pale yellow straw colour. Mild, restrained and hardly developed nose of wet straw and lanolin. Doing its best to impersonate a marsanne or a rousanne. Fairly watery texture, medium in acid, with a slightly earthy aspect to the squash and faint melon flavours. Barely more than light/medium in weight. The medium length finish is all texture rather than flavour; not actually all that interesting now, but not without a sense of possible development here. I’d go as far as to say don’t drink now, give it til it’s ten at least. - 2012 Canard-Duchêne Champagne Brut Millésimé - France, Champagne (5/10/2022)
NobleRottersSydney - Light reds (Fix, St James, Sydney): {cork, 12.5%} [Kim] Beautifully developing nose of autolysis aromas and ripe melon fruit. Partly-developed palate, very dry, with a crisp yet verging-on-dusty sort of texture. There’s less fruit presence than the bouquet promised; it feels a bit dilute or in need of more time. Chardonnay flavours; the two pinot grapes are less obvious. Medium weight, with medium creamy bubbles. I liked this but think more time will only benefit it; potential not quite fulfilled at this point. - 2012 Louis Chenu Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Les Lavières - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru (5/10/2022)
NobleRottersSydney - Light reds (Fix, St James, Sydney): {cork, 12.5%} [Graeme] Opened and poured at table. A pretty, floral, and surprisingly youthful nose for ten years. With air, there’s some earth, compost, tobacco too. The palate though, despite the gentle roses-and-flower flavours is neither especially fruity nor developed or complex. There’s a tiny bit of glue-like oak, but then it settles into a low-key, dustily dry finish of just medium length. Quite OK, but only going to fade away in the future. Probably best a few years ago. - 2014 Domaine Simha Cabernet Franc Sanskrit - Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley (5/10/2022)
NobleRottersSydney - Light reds (Fix, St James, Sydney): {screwcap, 12.5%} [Graeme] Nice to drink a wine right on its peak. This is maturing, with a terrific nose of chocolate, prunes, spices, lifted and exotic. A medium-bodied palate has evolved in line with the nose, balanced with lively acidity and low powdery tannins. Tangy red cordial flavours (in a good way) were sweetly ripe and spicy but not sugary. Medium/long finish. Still had plenty of colour, and wasn’t murky as I might have expected from this edgy sort of maker. Double-decanted two hours prior off minimal sediment despite its no-fining, no-filtering treatment. Lovely stuff, at peak now. - NV Campbells Muscat Rutherglen - Australia, Victoria, North East, Rutherglen (5/10/2022)
NobleRottersSydney - Light reds (Fix, St James, Sydney): {375ml, screwcap, 17.5%} [Kim] These base level ‘Rutherglen’ sweeties are so flavourful it’s hard to imagine paying for the bottlings further up the hierarchy. Although blind, I’d have picked this as a tokay, with its caramel and cold tea flavours. Even the honey and caramel on the palate have a lightness to the flavour spectrum, as opposed to the more treacley molasses-like character I’d expect from muscat. This has only low/medium acidity, but despite the full-throttle sweetness it’s still satisfying enough to drink. - 2010 Château Sénéjac - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (3/10/2022)
{cork, 13.5%} A little bricking around a nicely garnet core. Richly modern Bdx nose, with plummy fruit and a chocolatey aspect. A little cigar box oak too. The palate still maintains a medium level of dusty tannin, with medium/low acidity. A ripe vintage, but a modern style too. I’m guessing lots of Merlot here? Plummy & chocolate flavours, blackberry too, medium weight. Fairly even palate presence, medium length finish. Drinking very nicely now; close to peak I’d reckon. Gotta love those ripe vintages. - 2008 Craggy Range The Quarry - New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay, Gimblett Gravels (2/10/2022)
{cork, 14%} Looks ok; garnet with some aged fading, not excessively. Nose is volatile and a bit flat. Distinctly acetic. No sign of fruit on the palate; a varnishy red character dominates and there’s nothing of interest here. The cork looked immaculate and there was no ullage apparent, so I’d guess the appalling showing was due to poor storage over the years, since this was an auction buy of unknown provenance. Pity, because normally it’s a nice wine. Notably, the back label promises improvement for a decade - but this level of decay is attributable to more than four horizontal years! NR (flawed) - 2019 Bakkheia Fumé Blanc Different Drummer - Australia, Western Australia, South West Australia, Geographe (1/10/2022)
{screwcap, 12.5%} Quite varietal, with a seasoning of oak. Hint of asparagus. The oak tones down the cat pee, for sure. The acidity in this seems to have softened right out; although it’s still a pleasant drink, with a pointedly mineral character. About medium weight, with a decently even palate too, and a medium length finish. Only the flavour profile isn’t quite up my street, but I’ve not ‘official’ criticism, this is a top fume Blanc expression of the grape. Even allowing for that, I think it’s worth drinking soon.
TN: Notes from October
TN: Notes from October
At the risk of provoking a "Waldorf & Sattler" type of reaction to old notes (Per Sept!), here are some notes I took from October's tasting and drinking!