TN: 80s wines - Hunter, Grange, etc

[GraemeG]

A mere seven hardy Noble Rotters showed up tonight - illness and travel taking their toll. Disappointing to see that absent members failed to care enough send their bottles along...

The theme was Australian wines from 1982, 83, 85, 86, 88, 89 - a somewhat odd selection of vintages which seemed to pick the best Bordeaux years of the 80s - not that we were actually drinking any of those tonight!

All wines were decanted bar the first and last...

1985 Mount Horrocks Chardonnay (Clare) 12%
You'd expect a glass of brake fluid. You'd be wrong. It's golden yellow, yes, but there's barely a hint of oxidation on the nose. Instead, some faintly stoney, gently cedary aromas emerge, with honey overtones. Minimal nuttiness. Inititally feels soft on the palate, yet the acid is still there, providing a freshness that's somehow lasted 20 years. Persistent finish, in some ways sweet - I wonder if there's just a dash of botrytis helping to lift things? Remarkably good wine by any standard. A different era - the back label confidently states "cellaring recommended". Long time gone since that's appeared on a bottle of chardonnay costing so little....

1989 Orlando Lawsons Shiraz (Padthaway) 13%
Brick red with a paler rim. Initially smells a bit rubbery and reductive. It's cleans up a little and points the way to a palate of menthol and violets, finishing with a licorice twist. Balanced more toward the mid and back palate. Texture is quite soft - tannins are very discreet. The finish is quite persistent, yet with a mixture of both aged and primary characteristics. Unusual but attractive. I wonder about 1989 in South Australia generally - they don't seem to taste like a typical 'poor vintage;' they seem confectionery-like to me. Very unusual.

1988 Lakes Folly Cabernets (Hunter) 12.5%
Lakes has a bit of a bad rap in this group, but none of the four bottles I've tasted in the last six years has done anything to deserve such condemnation. This is mid-red, seems a bit cloudy to me, but still has some sediment which doesn't help. The nose presents a deep rich earthy aromas, but clean and healthy, not fungal. Brambly red fruits, smooth palate. More burgundy than bordeaux. Soft texture, mid-weight, terrifically integrated balance except for a little falling away on the back palate. It did fade quite quickly (within half an hour) in the glass, but lovely while it lasted.

1988 Lindemans Bin 7600 Hunter River Burgundy [Shiraz] 12%
88 was a pretty catastrophic year in the Hunter, so it was all the more surprising to find this showing so well. Mid red with bricking at the rim. The aromas are earthy, leafy, and a bit bretty (some traditional Hunter sweaty saddle). The underlying fruit is soft and sweet - strawberry? Doesn't taste nearly as aged as you'd expect. A dash of VA gives it some life. A medium-weight wine of great character and interest!

1991 Lindemans Bin 8200 Hunter River Shiraz [Classic Release 2003] 12.5%
Remarkably dark red for a wine of this age. Initially the nose is rubbery, the fruit reticent. Seems like a much-faded version of the previous wine - which is odd considering a famous vintage and twelve years of cellaring by Lindemans before re-release. A single mouthful provides the answer. The palate is entirely stripped and tastes of cardboard. Another fifteen minutes in the glass and the aromas of TCA emerge in all their offensive, wet, mouldy glory, just revelling in their opportunity to spoil a wine kept for so long. A terrible pity because there was a really fine wine lurking underneath. I say: DEATH TO THE CORK!

1983 Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Merlot (Langhorne Creek) 12%
Brick red, but the lightest of the wines so far. The nose is dominated of soft vanilla oak in a Rioja style. Some cedary graphite notes accompany, and its hard not to look at this vintage of Wolf Blass and not taste that ripe Langhorne eucalyptus! The palate has a little mint, some soft furry but not especially subtle tannins and a sweet fuzzy oaky finish. A lovely old wine if you like the style - it's not exactly polarizing! - with nowhere further to evolve, but will probably hang on a while yet.

1988 Penfolds Grange 'Hermitage' [Shiraz] (Barossa) 13.5%
Still red-black after all these years. Dark aromas - blackberry, blackcurrant, licorice, tar and iodine, underlying chocolate/vanilla oak, but the nose is very integrated and compact. The palate has all this and more - zippy acid, fine yet soft tannins which do build after a while; a full bodied wine that's not too overpowering. Still very young - in truth at this stage the nose is more rewarding than the palate - the wine hasn't quite come together yet (it sounds ridiculous I know). There's a long way to go before much in the way of secondary development will be apparent - I wouldn't drink any more of this for another 5 years, and then only to confirm that it will be better in 10... Very good, obviously, but yet to reach its potential.

2002 Miranda Golden Botrytis [Semillon] (Griffith) 10%
Golden honey colour. Assertive apricot and marmalade botrytis nose. Acid is fresh enough, but this is extremely sweet. Good but was a better wine the 90s I think...

I have to add as a postscript that none of these wines suffered in any way for remaining quite modest in alcohol by today's standards. Will the 98s (or 2002s) live so well. Wait and see...

cheers,
Graeme

[Attila]

There you go.
I didn't have to shell out the big bucks for a time machine adventure.
Because I am an 'old' person, I remember most of these wines from the past. Ah, the 1989 Orlando dying ever so slowly, and the 1988 Lakes Folly that should have been drunk in 1994 is still (somewhat) alive with the 1991 Lindeman's is now a dying zombie.
Yes, I do remember the 1993 Black Label, a soft and fruity wine in 1999 but in 2005?
The last two I've never tasted.
Graeme G thanks for the excellent report, I enjoyed your writing a lot especially your sense of humour and the truthful description of each vintage.
Cheers,
Attila

[RedVelvet]

I tasted a nice medium bodied 84 Wolf Blass Presidential Selection Cabernet last week that would have fit quite nicely amongst those wines above, unfortunately i did not make any TN's wish i had now.

[Baby Chickpea]

Nice one Graeme. I remember having had all these wines, some many years ago. Still have the 88 Grange though. Brought back some memories...