Did Ben cull the wrong barrels?

[Red Bigot]

One of the brackets at last night's monthly tasting was a selection of 4 x 2002 Heathcote Shiraz from Nicks. Accompanied by almost interchangeable notes from Nick (pepper, licorice, blackberries, plums and spice, most of them had some of these, the differences were not evident from the notes, what does 'joosy' mean?), I and the group ranked them like this:

Tatiarra Culled Barrel $25 - clear group preference, a bit of a sleeper, initially a bit subdued, took a while to open up, but blossomed in the glass. 15.5%

Tatiarra Cambrian Shiraz $40 - easy to pick as the sibling of the other Tatiarra, very similar colour and flavour/structure profile, initially seemed to have more intensity than the CB, but it faded as the CB opened up. 15.5%

Sanguine Estate $35 - a few people liked this, it was dead last on my list, an estery, confected sort of nose and palate was not much different, a polarising type of wine, I hated it, bordering on faulty for my money. 14.5%

Mount Burrumboot Estate $30 - my second last and group last ranking, I thought it was reasonably similar to the Tatiarra's, but with less of everything. 14.0%

I won't be buying any of these, although the Culled Barrel is probably better than the Rufus Stone Heathcote and Mail Coach from recent vintages, I'd prefer to pay a bit extra for eg the Hanging Rock Heathcote shiraz or the delightful Dominique Portet Heathcote shiraz 01. The wines above didn't impress me as being great examples of the Heathcote shiraz style, I could have been told they were from Clare or even Langhorne Ck or Gt Western and believed it.

[SueNZ]

what does 'joosy' mean?),

same as 'juicy' from someone who can't spell?

Cheers,
Sue

[Irregular]

Brian, I tried the Sanguine a couple of months back and had exactly the same thoughts as you. It was dreadful, I poured it down the sink.

[Gerard Connors]

I'd prefer to pay a bit extra for eg the Hanging Rock Heathcote shiraz or the delightful Dominique Portet Heathcote shiraz 01.

Brian,

Agreed on the Portet. I was at CD a month ago and was pretty impressed with the whole range, especially the shiraz. The 01 had complex green pepper and eucalypt backed up by great fruit, grippy and long and rated 93. The yet-to-be-released Heathcote Shiraz 2002 was even more stunning, black, huge fruit brooding away behind a lifted green stems and pepper nose with a palate of massive concentration, great length and tannin structure, a great mix of sweet and savoury. I rated it 95-6+, which may well prove to be conservative. The 03 barrel samples were absolutely massive.

His cab ain't half bad either, but the shiraz was the pick for me.

Ged

[kenzo]

Hi guys,

Out of interest, what are the alcohol levels of the DP wines?

Cheers,

S.

[Red Bigot]

The 01 Shiraz is 14.0%.

[MartinC]

Hi fellas,

Has Monsieur Portet change his style? puzzled
Since his Taltani days until 2000, I found his wines were very much influenced by his AOC.

Cheers,

[Gerard Connors]

Hi fellas,

Has Monsieur Portet change his style? puzzled
Since his Taltani days until 2000, I found his wines were very much influenced by his AOC.

Cheers,

AOC? - Not sure I get you sorry Martin...

Certainly I know at Taltarni he was famous for making quite austere, "French", tannic reds - although I didn't try any personally. His current wines are a good balance between ripe fruit, savoury elements and good tannin structure.

Ged

[MartinC]

Gerald,

Wat I actually meant was his style is influenced by his "origine"
I've attended his winemaker dinner last yr tasting his entire range of wines released and find it "elegant" & food friendly and none of his wines leave me with a long lasting impression.

Rgds,