Steve Norman arranged this dinner at The Sauce to indulge in some special wines and superb food while Bert was on a lightning trip over here to visit a few wineries.
This week I’ve been back on painkillers for an injured shoulder, and the side effects have been really screwing me up – gastric, sleeping and attentiveness problems particularly. For the first half of the dinner I was semi-comatose, and only really kicked into life after I had the main course – at that stage I was really questioning what I was sensing, so please take that into consideration when you read these tasting notes!
The wines are listed in the order that I tried them, which could also account for some of the differences between Mark’s tasting notes and these.
1996 Seppelt Dorrien Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon: Glowing, dark to inky red colour. A beautiful, complex Cabernet nose to begin the evening, with bread dough/grilled nuts, then powerful blackcurrant and iodine with a hint of VA, and later on some vanilla and mint. The palate is velvety and rich, with deeply set chocolate and briar and sweet red berry/spice highlights, and great length. In a close call this would probably be my second favourite wine of the night.
2002 Raveneau Chapelot Premier Cru Chablis: This was supposed to be an all-red night, that was until Kane & Marta showed up with this bottle! Pale, glass hugging straw/yellow. A spicy nose of ginger, orange peel, mineral and hessian, with some pear with breathing. The palate was quite spicy and to me a bit puzzling, with mushrooms, balsamic/vinegar, honey, pear and mineral, with a glycerol-like slippery texture and good length. This was the first time I tried a decent Chablis, which is probably why I found it a bit strange; trying it after the Dorrien probably didn’t help either.
1993 Kay Bros Amery Block 6 McLaren Vale Shiraz: Inky crimson colour. Quite a stinky/horsey nose at first, with some old leather, smoke, fish sauce and concentrated tomato. The soft palate opened spicy, with medicinal and cherry cola flavours that grew in intensity over the evening, also developing some smoky bacon and slightly green characters. I couldn’t help thinking this was suffering a bad case of Brett, a suspicion not helped by the medicinal finish. My least favourite wine of the evening.
1995 Summerfield Pyrenees Shiraz: Superb glowing inky purple colour. A beautiful, elegant nose of pepper, dusty lanolin and buttery, pan-fried mushrooms that led me back to the bottle at the end of the night. The palate is spicy and smoky, with rich plum/cherry fruit characters and a hint of beetroot, finishing with huge chalky tannins and a touch of black cherry on the aftertaste. At the end of the night it was amazing to have a glass of this side-by-side against the 2002 St Peters; for a 1995 wine the colour, power, balance and texture were amazing – my favourite of the night (thanks Wicko!).
1995 Houghton Jack Mann WA Cabernet Blend: Inky red/purple colour. Like the Dorrien, a complex and inviting nose that an aged Cabernet should have; bread dough, grilled nuts, blackcurrant, and a touch of mint and violets. The palate is slippery and rich, featuring ripe blackcurrants, integrated soft tannins, and again that touch of mint on the finish. It had a lot of similarities to the Dorrien, with the latter a touch more powerful and youthful.
1998 Rothbury Estate Brokenback Hunter Valley Shiraz: The Max Schubert Trophy Winner at the 1999 Adelaide Wine Show and the only Hunter red to win a Blacktongues blind panel, this was my contribution for the evening. This was my last bottle, and I double decanted it through a breatheasy to hopefully be less oaky this time around. Glowing dark to inky red/purple colour. A fairly open nose featuring some VA, concentrated tomato, mint and vanilla oak, and later on some earthy raspberry/blackberry. The mid-weight palate features soft, earthy raspberry fruit and grippy tannins, but in this group of wines appeared lightweight and simple.
2002 Seppelt St Peters Shiraz: Glowing, glass hugging, inky black/purple colour – a mean look by an absolute MF to let you know the thrashing you’re in for! The wine hadn’t been decanted in advance, so the nose opened with the burst of clean red/black fruits I was expecting; concentrated blackberry/blueberries dusted in icing sugar, boiled lollies, a touch of aniseed and cashew. The palate likewise opened with rippling, reduced blackberries and creamy vanilla, massive unresolved tannins and a long, slippery finish. While the others finished their glasses I let mine sit and breathe, and at this point something very strange happened: I started picking up some crab-meat/lobster bisque characters on the nose, something I dismissed as a food smell coming from another table. Half an hour later - WTF - it was still there and more intense, and on the palate too! The table looked at me as though I was nuts (they’re probably right) although Bert said he also could pick up some very creamy characters. The verdict? – there’s no question this will be an icon, but leave it quietly alone in a good cellar for a decade or two.
2002 Mongeard-Mugneret ‘Les Boudots’ Premier Cru Burgundy: Dark red/purple colour. A complex, smoky and savoury nose that features some BBQ meat, black cherry/medicinal characters, VA/green leaf, roasted nuts and varnish. The mid-weight palate opens with soft, tangy raspberries, some mint, sweet cherries, and tobacco on the finish. I wasn’t as taken as Mark was; while it’s quite complex now, I think it’s a while off its best – again the tasting order in my case could be a major factor here too.
2003 Mitolo Savitar McLaren Vale Shiraz: Inky purple colour. I found the nose a little stinky at first with heavily toasted oak and ripe/porty fruit, but it didn’t take too long to shake this and hit stride; tomato/leaf, varnish, and grilled cashews on a backdrop of pure concentrated blackberries set a good balance between fruit and oak. The palate opens with milk chocolate and prune, and some alcohol heat that thankfully drops away mid-palate; the mid-palate features very ripe fruit in the prune/fruitcake spectrum, finishing very long with smoky/black olives and big, drying tannins.
1996 Orlando Lawsons Padthaway Shiraz: The decanter never got to me at the start of the night, so it had a lot of breathing time by the time I got to try it. Inky red/purple colour. The nose opens with a rush of spearmint, with some bubblegum/vanillin oak. The mid-weight palate follows the same theme, with sweet, spicy/smoky blackberry fruit underpinned by significant bubblegum/vanillin oak, finishing long and minty. It’s a good effort, but after all the previous wines this could probably be summed up in just two words – mint bomb.
My thanks again for Steve for taking charge and putting this together (and pressuring me to go), and again the staff of the Sauce for faithfully serving our group of Bozos among all the celebrities!
Cheers
Ian
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone.
