Seppelt Show, Kistler, Giaconda, CdP, Beychevelle, Rieussec

[Baby Chickpea]

Dinner at the always excellent Atelier in Glebe to welcome Michel and Dominique to Sydney from Brisbane.

1994 Seppelt Show Sparkling Shiraz: Lovely red/ruby colour. No browning. Simple nose but finely focussed. Palate more complex, with good primary and secondary flavours. Drinking very well. Won’t get better.
88/100

2000 Kistler Les Noisetiers Russian River Valley Chardonnay
Very buttery and malo-like but still quite tight and youthful. Palate is a touch oaky though. Others reckoned the wine needs time. I thought it was drinking pretty well.
87/100

1996 Giaconda Chardonnay
Stunning nose of peach, minerals, oyster shells and all things nice. Palate however has far too much acid which unbalanced the wine significantly IMO. Either needs 5-8 more years rest or going downhill. I thought the latter. Not a fan at all.
85/100

2000 Domaine Chandon de Briailles Ile de Vergelesses 1er cru
Appeared thin and dilute and pretty mediocre.
82/100

1985 Châteauneuf-du-Pape 'Château de Beaucastel'
Stunning colour and clarity. No ullage whatsoever and perfect fill level. Beautiful nose of animale, game, meat, herbs, and blackfruits. Palate is beautifully balanced, with good length and silky weight. Much better than expected. My WOTN. Yes, it was my bottle too!
91/100

1986 Chateau Beychevelle
Another excellent bottle. Lovely nose of dark fruits, camphor and forest/herbs. Palate is drinking beautifully already, with lovely fine tannins and excellent length. A wine with better structure than the silky smooth CdP but not as balanced. An excellent wine with many years to go but ready to go!
90/100

1995 Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte
Bit stinky then an avalanche of pencil shavings. Disliked this alot, as did most. Palate is dilute and lacking.
81/100

1978 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella Classico
A blend of Corvina Veronese; Rondinella; Molinara. Rich nose of stewed pomegranate molasses. Tastes like molasses too. Thick and unctuous. Not pleasant at all.
78/100

1988 Chateau Rieussec
Mid yellow. Much lighter than recent 90 Rieussec had recently. Still elemental nose of honey and marmalade. Showing obvious botrytis character. Palate is beautifully structured with great potential and super acidity on back palate. Still primary at this stage and needs 5-10 more years at least. Much better than last bottle had one year ago at Attila’s.
90/100

[Aussie John]

Thanks for the notes Danny.

IMO, the 1996 Giaconda Chardie has always been way out of balance, as are most of his wines, and your TN is very consistent with many of mine re that wine. The score Jeremy Oliver gave this wine has always been a total mystery to me. Even worse were his early scores for the appalling Pinot Noir, although I have to admit that he has reversed his opinion on that marque now that he has seen how terribly they age (as a supposed expert, he should have been able to pick that 10 years ago)

The 95 SHL is a shocker- their 94 kills it and is pretty good- plus back in 2000 you could buy it by the case from Dan Murphy for $25 a bottle!!! (I helped myself to plenty)

Sounds a good showing from Beychevelle... i think i under-rate this wine. Must have another look at it when 2003 hits the shelves.

2000 Burgundy is a real crap shoot, isn't it!! Some beauties, some shockers. Thanks for the heads up on the CdBr... i'll give it a wide berth.

[Grant]

Danny,

Have you had the 82 Beychevelle? Picked it up recently at a decent price but have no experience with this label.

Cheers

[Baby Chickpea]

Grant, last had 30 june last year. Great wine.


http://forum.auswine.com.au/viewtopic.p ... eychevelle

1982 Château Beychevelle (St.-Julien)
Super long cork – only 25% saturated. I timidly approached this wine with great trepidation given I’d heard this wine was on the downhill slope from certain posters on the Parker forum. I felt like Proust’s aristocratic stockbroker, M. Swann who, deeply in love and wildly obsessed with the ravishing and highly sought-after Odette, follows her every movement in hellish jealousy only to discover the heartbreaking truth – whom he painfully loves is a frequent visitor and participant in Paris’ lesbian salons and a “lady of the night”. How wrong I was, especially to put faith in solitary bottle TNs from cellars that lack proper provenance (especially for bottles of wine that are over 20 years of age). Colour is rich medium red with a minute dash of brick red. So far so good. Bouquet is at first extremely leathery and horse-like, reminiscent of an aged Hunter Valley shiraz from the 70s and 80s. 15 minutes (with some deft swirling) later the glass was jumping with perfumed black fruits, sweet cocoa, beetroot and iodine. Truly superb. Two out of two. Palate? Beautiful balance. Appears at its best and fully mature. More complete than the 83 Margaux. Outstanding length, finishing with wholly integrated tannins. The only flaw that detracts from first growth quality is that the second wave on the palate slide is not as persistent (but how many wines give you that second ride?). Then went and checked Robert Parker’s TN in his 4th edition Bordeaux book. He is spot on in every respect (score and description). Top wine. Given current auction prices for the 1982s, this stands out as a relative bargain. This wine will last a very long time. This particular bottle didn’t.
95/100

[Grant]

Great note- I got a bit sidetracked when I saw the word "lesbian" but managed to re-focus and finish the read .

Sounds excellent, looking forward to trying it. I'm doing a tasting of it up against 82 Montrose and 82 La Lagune- any thoughts on how long these should be decanted for before serving?

GD

[Baby Chickpea]

Grant, there have been reports of very bretty bottles of 82 Beychevelle. Personally decanting for 30min to one hour should be fine, although the Montrose and La Lagune are pretty much ready to go from opening!