Friday 19th August O’leary Walker Premium Wine Tasting Bellevue Hill Sydney 7pm – 9pm.
Arriving about 7:30pm I was greeted by one of the Madden Children whose parents had graciously opened the doors of their wonderful Bellevue Hill home for the private tasting of the current range of OÂ’leary Walker premium wines. I had already been told both Nick Walker and David OÂ’leary would be present for the tasting and to discuss the wines throughout the evening. My partner and myself were handed our name tags and a glass of the new Sparkling wine from the OÂ’leary Walker stable, The Hurtle Chardonnay / Pinot Noir 2002. As we stepped from the Verandah of this fine home into the crowded foyer area the sounds of the Sydney Jazz Quartette could be heard ever so softly in the background of a buzzing, conversation rich crowd.
Once in the door and sipping on our glass of Hurtle sparkling I bumped straight into Susan, the Australian Product Manager for OÂ’leary Walker who greeted us with a happy enthusiasm and introduced us to a few of the guests she was currently conversing with. A quick look around found all 90-100 guests tightly fitting into the foyer and two of the adjoining rooms of the ground floor level of the Madden residence. Susan then told us she was to take control of the proceedings in 10 minutes and introduce the wine makers who would each give a short talk and then we would proceed with the tasting of the wines.
On this note we proceeded further into the room meeting and talking with some of the other guests and yet moving ever so closer to one of the tasting tables to see just what was on the palate agenda for the evening. Nicely laid out with white wines on one side of the table and reds on the other with glass ware in the centre, there were three tasting tables (one in each room). The White side of the table had four wines: 2005 Sauvignon Blanc, 2005 Polish Hill Riesling, 2005 Watervale Riesling and 2003 Chardonnay. The red side of the table: 2003 Pinot Noir, 2003 Shiraz and the 2002 Clare Shiraz.
Whilst chatting to some guests from Canberra who had made the trip up to Sydney for the occasion, Susan took the stairs of the Marble Foyer we were all standing in eventually grabbing every ones attention and welcoming us all to an evening of OÂ’leary Walker wine tasting. Susan went on to tell us family and friends of the wine makers and all who are involved as well as invited guests were in attendance on this occasion. Thanking everyone for attending then suggesting we all enjoy and taste some wonderful wines moving to a cheerful introduction to David OÂ’leary.
David again welcomed everyone and spoke briefly about the recent achievements of the wines from the OÂ’leary Walker range, in particular he spoke of the recent accolades accredited to the 2005 Sauvignon Blanc including Gold at the recent Melbourne Wine show.
Nick Walker then took the stairs and provided us with a brief insight to the process involved in making sparkling wine and in particular talked about the 2002 Hurtle. Nick started with where the grapes were sourced, covered the origins of sparkling wine which included a bit of History on his grandfather whom the wine is named after, moving into Methode Champagnoise and onto the final product. With Nicks close came the invitation to gather round one of the three tasting tables, taste the wines, enjoy the finger food and discuss the wines with the makers and everyone else present.
My tasting notes will be brief as the environment did not really allow for the taking of proper notes. The Wines in order of taste:
2005 Sauvignon Blanc
Clear slightly silver grey green tinge, nose of lychee, passionfruit and stone. The palate was well balanced with tropical fruit, guava, mineral slate and an acidic clean cut to the finish. IÂ’m not a big fan of Sauvignon Blanc but this one gave me plenty of reasons to suddenly become one. This is fantastic stuff in my opinion.
2005 Polish Hill Riesling
Straw green/yellow in color, the nose was quite floral with a touch of lime. The palate was smooth lime citrus and cool stone lasting long and minerally. This was a wonderful second taste to the palate and I thought this was very very enjoyable even though it is still a young Riesling.
2005 Water Vale Riesling
Similar color to the Polish hill though slightly lighter in my opinion. The nose was lime and mineral. The palate I found crisp citrus and acidic on the finish with plenty of cool steel like nuances. I did not enjoy this as much as the Polish Hill but I would say this needs a little time to fully show as it seemed quite closed at this stage.
2003 Chardonnay
This was golden yellow in color, the nose full of rich stone fruit and honey. The palate was full and powerful with hints of honey, slight caramel and stewed peaches. This was another great wine that I thoroughly enjoyed and could not help but wonder how awesome this would be in 4 or 5 years.
2003 Pinot Noir
I must admit IÂ’m not much of a light bodied Pinot Noir fan and that is exactly what this was all about. Only slightly darker then a Rose in my opinion. Red fruits on the nose, the palate soft, light, juicy and red fruit orientated. Still a well balanced and enjoyable wine if you like this breed.
2003 Shiraz
Dark opaque purple with crimson hues, the nose was dark fruit, spice and liquorish. The palate complex plum, blackberry, dark chocolate, coffee and liquorish with a touch of spice and nice oak. This was fantastic and I being a big fan of full body shiraz I loved every thing this was about. Well balanced with fine tannins this will be exceptional given more time but is still approachable now.
2002 Claire Reserve Shiraz
The Big one I think everyone was waiting to try. This was Big, complex, concentrated shiraz. Black purple in color, the nose intense with ripe dark berries, plum, mocha, coconut oak and liquorish. The palate very tight knit and extremely well balanced, dark brooding fruits, spice, mocha, coffee, liquorish, quality oak and very concentrated. This is definitely one for the long term that can only get better and better. In a word: Sensational!
The time passed rather quickly as you could guess with all that wonderful wine to taste and unfortunately I only spoke very briefly with David OÂ’leary due to the wine makers popularity on the night. Both wine makers seemed rather swamped with people wanting to talk to them all night so I took the opportunity to acquaint myself with some the many wonderful down to earth and friendly family and friends of the winemakers and people behind the scenes.
The Sydney Jazz Quartette were perfect for the evening and provided some great soft jazz that sat smoothly in the background all evening long. I would like to pass my thanks on to all those that were involved with this evening as I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Also a special mention should be made to the Madden Family of Bellevue Hill who opened their doors to everyone and happily put up with us overstaying the finish time by almost an hour. As for the wines all I can say is a stunningly very good line up across the whole range with some serious wine making effort and skills behind these magnificent wines.
