707 wrote:Very interesting tasting to get ten Heathcotes in one line up. Down our end of the table we commented how as a group they had great colour, good noses that suggested big rich palates but they were all just medium weight and generally had quite a deal of tannin. Flavours are not as ripe and juicy as we normally see in Barossa and McLaren Vale, nor in the savoury, minerally spectrum. The best were very good but the prices are generally steepish.
My best was the 2004 Jasper Hill Georgias, classic wine. Next I had three wines very close, 2004 Wild Duck Creek Springflat, 2005 Both Hands Max's Garden and whilst it probably had too much oak the 2004 Taltarni.
2004 Mt.Ida & 2004 Heathcote Estate were quite drinkable, but wasn't rapt in the 2005 Occam's Razor, 2005 Jasper Hill Georgias (same flavour profile as the 2004 version but much lighter, I've tried better bottles of this vintage I'm sure) or 2004 Carlei Greens Vineyard.
Unfortunately "Murphy" intervened and the 2004 Tatiarra Cambrian was corked - the only one I can't get replaced in Adelaide!
Plenty to agree and a bit to disagree with here - time for another showdown Steve when I post the TNs?
Firstly I thought as a whole it was a very enjoyable tasting, and like Steve it was a difficult decision to rank the wines in the given time - needless to say there were a lot of mini-tasteoffs. The wines were generally very aromatic, tannic, and more medium weight than big SA styles, and the flavour spectrum cooler with more earthy cherry/pepper characters. I thought the best were reasonably elegant, which would probably explain why I found them so appealing. I also agree the prices are on the steep side.
My favourite was the Max's Garden (overall most preferred), followed by the Heathcote Estate & Taltarni (yeah it was oaky, but still very good). I really didn't like the Occam's Razor (no surprise there, and overall equal least preferred) or the 2004 Georgia's (which was very similar to what I thought last year at BT's SS).
In contrast to you I really didn't see any similarity between the 2004 & 2005 Georgia's at all! The 2005 is really an atypical vintage and I thought it showed - far lighter bodied yet still very tannic, lower alcohol and very floral, however it became decidedly funky and gamey/stocky unlike my previous taste instore. It was surprisingly savoury/Rhone-like this time, and not surprisingly got voted down because of these bretty characters and the lighter weight (the other overall equal least preferred).
Cheers,
Ian
